The 35th annual Vancouver International Film Festival returns this week with a cinematic feast for the senses.
Over 300 films from around the world will be screening at various venues through Oct. 14. This year VIFF has organized the festival into eight specific film streams replacing the multi-category sections of past years. The designated streams – Panorama, Ignite, True North, Impact, Next, Gateway, M/A/D and Alt – will be integrated into year-round programming at Vancity Theatre.
Below are some of the must-see films at this year’s VIFF:
Moonlight (USA 2016)
Huge buzz at TIFF for Barry Jenkins’ Florida-set coming-of-age take on what it means to be a black man in America today.
Manchester By The Sea (USA 2015)
Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams star in Kenneth Lonergan’s calamitous family epic set on Massachusetts’ North Shore.
Toni Erdmann (Germany 2016)
Director Maren Ade’s comic masterpiece competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. Chosen Best Film at Brussels 16.
The Ornithologist (Portugal 2016)
Like a Portuguese Pasolini, João Pedro Rodrigues fills his work with religious iconography and a Rabelaisian world view.
Paterson (USA 2016)/Gimme Danger (USA 2016)
Two new films from Jim Jarmusch. Paterson is a comic masterwork while Gimme Danger takes a long hard look at the music of Iggy Pop and The Stooges.
BANG! The Bert Berns Story (USA 2016)
The untold story of rock/R&B legend Bert Berns is worth telling.
Don’t Blink: Robert Frank (USA/CANADa 2015)
Beat Generation icon Robert Frank is the subject of Laura Israel’s documentary. Intimate and candid look at a life in art.
Harry Benson: Shoot First (USA 2015)
Profile of Scottish news photographer Harry Benson.
Frantz (France/Germany 2016)
François Ozon provides a Proustian period piece.
Personal Shopper (France 2016)
Kristen Stewart again works with director Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria). This time as a fashion designer in a Hitchcockian horror story set in Paris.
