The 33rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival welcomes the world's finest films to our city. From September 25 to October 8, almost 365 films from over 70 countries will play on nine screens. Dozens of directors, writers and actors will also be on hand for insightful and occasionally provocative post-screening Q&A sessions. For full film listings and tickets, visit www.viff.org.
Everything Will Be
Julia Kwan (CANADA, 85 min)
Mon. Sep 29, 9:00 pm, SFU Woodwards
Wed. Oct 1, 11:00 am, SFU Woodwards
Fri. Oct. 3, 10:30 am, International Village #9
Director Julia Kwan documents the pivotal changes affecting the culture and economy of Vancouver's Chinatown, one of the oldest in North America. With humour and sympathy, Kwan introduces us to residents who see their way of living eroding and to others who welcome the transition, including real estate consultant Bob Rennie.
The Vancouver Asahi (Vancouver no Asahi)
Ishii Yuya (JAPAN/CANADA, 130 min)
Mon. Sep 29, 6:30 pm, Centre for Performing Arts **Special Presentation **
Sat. Oct 4, 2:30 pm, Centre for Performing Arts
Fri. Oct 10, 1:00 pm, Playhouse
Special Gala Presentation/ World Premiere. Back in the 1930s, in Vancouver’s old Japantown, a group of Canadian-born kids launched their own baseball team, the Asahi. Ishii’s lavish-scale entertainment chronicles their battles against failure, racism and prejudice--and the brief moment of triumph they enjoyed before Pearl Harbour changed everything. An epic tale, rich in humour and humanity.
Jalanan
Daniel Ziv (INDONESIA/CANADA, 107 min)
Thu. Sep 25, 3:30 pm, SFU Woodwards
Fri. Sep 26, 8:30 pm, SFU Woodwards
Canada’s Daniel Ziv has made the most successful documentary in Indonesian history. Shining a light on urban poverty, it’s also made stars of three inspirational Jakarta street musicians whose talent is only rivalled by their resourcefulness. Life is hard for these troubadours but commitment and passion always have a fighting chance. “Stunningly vivid and full of energy” – Tempo Magazine Winner, Best Documentary, Busan 2013.
The Dossier (Dang’an)
Zhu Rikun (CHINA, 128 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 9:00 pm, Cinematheque
Mon. Sep 29, 4:00 pm, Cinematheque
Among the most eloquent voices advocating for Tibet and its people is that of Beijing-based Tibetan writer/blogger/activist Tsering Woeser. This sharply designed, formally innovative documentary is completely in her own voice: combining readings from her secret government “dossier” with her own passionate, moving account of her political awakening and unrelenting advocacy.
The Golden Era (Huangjin Shidai)
Ann Hui (HONG KONG/CHINA, 178 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 6:00 pm, Centre for Performing Arts
Tang Wei gives her best performance yet as the sometimes yearning, sometimes heartless Xiao Hong drifting in and out of contact with the literary giants of her day, including Lu Xun and Ding Ling. The Golden Era captures the bigger picture vividly, the Japanese invasion, the hounding of “leftists” by the authorities – but also gets all the intinmate details right. By the end, we’re persuaded that Xiao Hong was one of the defining voices in modern Chinese culture.
Uncle Victory (Shengli)
Zhang Meng (CHINA, 105 min)
Mon. Sep 29, 7:00 pm, International Village #10
Wed. Oct 1, 11:30 am, International Village #10
Ex-con Shengli, whose rough exterior hides a gentle soul, has a nutty plan: open a kindergarten with his dancer-cum-nurse partner. But he can’t shake the violent shadows of his past. Zhang Meng’s controversial winner at the Shanghai Film Festival is a rare Chinese commercial film that’s dramatically powerful, absurdly comic, politically astute and somehow censor-approved. Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Shanghai 2014.
Exit (Hui guang zoumingqu)
Chien Hsiang (TAIWAN/HONG KONG/CHINA, 94 min)
Sun. Sep 28, 2:15 pm, Cinematheque
Tue. Sep 30, 6:30 pm, Vancity Theatre
In Chienn Hsiang’s subtle urban drama, the great Chen Shiang-chyi plays Lingzi, whose romantic imagination strains against the boundaries of a downwardly mobile working woman’s life. When she encounters an injured, almost comatose man lying next to her mother-in-law in hospital, she seizes the opportunity to transform her life, one tender, anonymous touch at a time. Best New Director Award Nominee. Winner, Best Feature, Best Actress, Taipei Film Awards 2014.
Flowing Stories
Tsang Tsui Shan (HONG KONG/FRANCE, 97 min)
Sun. Sep 28, 6:30 pm, Vancity Theatre
Tue. Sep 30, 12:00 pm, International Village #8
Tsang Tsui Shan brings the past to life in this beautiful, bittersweet documentary that shares the story of a Hong Kong family and recounts their fortunes over the span of decades, replete with home videos and photos. The culture the film sketches is unique but the emotions it evokes are immediately familiar. "There's much nostalgia to feel for, and much beauty to behold..." - Hollywood Reporter.
Uncertain Relationship Society (Aimei buming guanxi yanjiu xuehui)
Heiward Mak (HONG KONG , 71 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 11:45 am, Vancity Theatre
Mon. Sep 29, 7:00 pm, Cinematheque
Hong Kong pop meets art in Heiward Mak’s latest feature, a rich, moving, dazzling, and deeply, sympathetically savvy look at the amorous and professional lives of six twenty-something Hong Kongers. Their complex, ambivalent lives play out over six years in fascinating, interlocking stories. Mak’s fiercely contemporary sensibility creates an essential snapshot of Hong Kong’s hopes, anxieties and pleasures today.
The Sun, The Moon and The Hurricane
Andri Cung (INDONESIA, 101 min)
Sun. Sep 28, 6:30 pm, Cinematheque
Wed. Oct 1, 12:15 pm, Cinematheque
Rain falls in love with the enigmatic Kris when they’re both high-school seniors and is devastated when Kris abruptly goes abroad. Several years later he gets an invitation to visit his former crush, now married and living in Bali. But what does Kris really want? Andri Cung’s debut feature is sexy, seductive and emotionally intense. Best New Director Award Nominee.
Disconcerto (Mahoro Eki-mae Kyosokyoku)
Omori Tatsushi (Japan, 124 min)
Fri. Sep 26, 8:15 pm, International Village #9
Sat. Sep 27, 10:30 am, International Village #9
Omori follows The Ravine of Goodbye with a delicious comedy-drama about the perfect odd couple: Tada (Eita), who runs a shaky do-it-all service, and his buddy Gyoten (Matsuda Ryuhei), who usually gets in the way. The storyline involves phoney organic farming, pensioners, babysitting, yakuza and lesbian parenting. Two hours of sheer charm!
The Horses of Fukushima (Matsuri no uma)
Matsubayashi Yoju (JAPAN, 74 min)
Mon. Sep 29, 10:00 am, Cinematheque
Wed. Oct 1, 9:30 pm, Cinematheque
Much of Matsubayashi’s prize-winning documentary was shot inside the “exclusion zone” around the crippled nuclear power-plant at Fukushima. He finds a stable of horses injured in the tsunami, and follows their rehabilitation to take part in a local horse festival. Very movingly, we watch one horse overcome its traumas... and one man overcome his fears.
Sharing
Shinozaki Makoto (JAPAN, 94 min)
Tue. Sep 30, 2:30 pm, Cinematheque
Wed. Oct 8, 9:00 pm, Cinematheque
VIFF regular Shinozaki brings a touch of his enthusiasm for horror-fantasy movies to the tragic story of a teacher who has lost her fiancé in the 2011 tsunami. Her traumatizing loss meshes with her interest in precognitive dreams... and with the post-tsunami play developed by one of her students. Hirabayashi’s brilliant short also explores the aftershocks of the disaster.
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (Kaguyahime no monogatari)
Takahata Isao (JAPAN, 137 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 11:30 am, Centre for Performing Arts
Princess Kaguya has the feel of a true Takahata film, from its unshrinking emotional fidelity to its sudden, exhilarating leaps into fantasy… There is a deep wisdom in this film, but a deep sadness too. If it is Takahata’s farewell, it’s one that will have a long echo, just like his 1,000 year-old source.
Shorts: Amazing Anime
Various directors (JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA, 86 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 6:30 pm, International Village #8
Sun. Sep 28, 1:45 pm, International Village #8
An old VIFF tradition is revived in this electrifying anthology of new indie animation from Japan--with a special bonus in the form of Hwang Gyuil’s Deaf and Wind from Korea. A wide range of graphic styles and techniques, tackling everything from a ninja vendetta to the secret origin of the universe. The full listing is on VIFF’s website.
Rekorder
Mikhail Red (PHILLIPINES, 92 min)
Tue. Sep 30, 7:00 pm, Cinematheque
Thu. Oct 2, 12:00 pm, Cinematheque
Maven, once a camera pro, is now a scuzzy videographer who compulsively records everything from the birth of his daughter to crime on the streets. One night he shoots a murder, with ruinous consequences... A riveting debut from Mikhail Red (son of Raymond), half noir thriller, half study of what it means to stand apart and look.
Anmado/Clean Me
Kang Sangwoo (SOUTH KOREA, 3 min/20 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 9:00 pm, International Village #8
Mon. Sep 29, 3:45 pm, International Village #8
Kang’s first films since serving time (for conscientious objection) are studies of post-prison rehab and of life on Anmado island, both precise and poetic.
Hill of Freedom (Jaiyu ui Indeok)
Hong Sangsoo (SOUTH KOREA, 66 min)
Fri. Sep 26, 5:15 pm, Cinematheque
Wed. Oct 1, 5:15 pm, Cinematheque
Named after the coffee shop in which several key scenes are set, Hong Sangsoo’s latest centres on a Japanese man (Kase Ryu, Like Someone in Love) who fetches up in Seoul in search of a long-lost girlfriend. His amusingly awkward encounters with several other women and his landlady’s adult son make for Hong’s wittiest deconstruction of the rom-com in some time.
Journey to the West (Xi you)
Tsai Ming-liang (TAIWAN/FRANCE, 56 min)
Thu. Sep 25, 7:00 pm, Cinematheque
Sat. Sep 27, 2:15 pm, Cinematheque
A small miracle of a movie, Tsai Ming-liang’s insanely slow, magnificently gorgeous film is his most beautiful in years. For 56 minutes we watch Tsai’s actor fetiche Lee Kang-sheng, accompanied by French art-house icon Denis Lavant, walk ever-so-slowly through a series of urban spaces in Marseilles. Hilarious visual puzzles; plays of light and space; pure cinema magic.
NUOC 2030
Nguyen-Vo Nghiem-Minh (VIETNAM, 98 min)
Sat. Sep 27, 11:30 am, International Village #10
Thu. Oct 2, 6:00 pm, International Village #9
We’re in 2030, when rising sea levels have flooded much of the Mekong delta. A husband and wife live in a hut on stilts above their former land, subsisting on fish and seafood. Nearby, a slightly sinister corporation experiments with salt-water hydroponics. The husband dies mysteriously... Vietnam’s first sci-fi eco-thriller is a real eye-opener.
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