Vancouver Trendz [THURSDAY]

A Feast of Films

Thursday, September 28, 2006

For movie-lovers, the best two weeks of the year begin tonight as the first movies of the Vancouver International Film Festival flicker onto theatre screens around the city. It's all-out bliss for celluloid addicts, no doubt already engaging in bets to see who can watch the most movies.

The strength of the festival comes from its amazing breadth. But we figured you might not have time to read about every one of the more than 300 films showing this year. So here are a few that we think look good.

The Dragons and Tigers exhibition--movies from East Asia--is always a highlight of the VIFF. From Japan, Kore-eda Hirokazu's Hana tells the usual samurai story of revenge but with one complicating factor: the protagonist is an awful swordsman. More dramatic will be Jia Zhangke's Still Life, about a man and woman who come to a town in China scheduled to be flooded and demolished after the building of that country's massive Three Gorges Dam.

Canadian movies get a lot of well-deserved airtime. Definitely catch the directorial debut of Sarah Polley with her version of Alice Munro's short story Away From Her, an unpredictable tale of love and Alzheimer's disease. On a lighter note, Michael Mabbott continues his work in mockumentaries (he did the hilarious Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico) with Citizen Duane, a fake tale of a high-school student who runs for mayor of his small town.

And documentaries are always a big attraction. Engage your neurons with The Epic of Black Gold, a French doc that tells the history of the 20th century through a history of the oil industry. Canadian Gary Burns pokes fun at the bizarre world of the suburbs in Radiant City. And Nick Bicanic gives us an in-depth look at the 20,000 mercenaries hired by the U.S. to fight in Iraq in Shadow Company.

Obviously, this is just a small sample of the goodies that will be on display. Go to the VIFF website, www.viff.org/home.html, for a complete schedule of all films. Tickets are $9.50 for evening shows, $7.50 for matinees. Festival passes are available starting at $120. Shows play at the following theatres:

Empire Granville 7, 855 Granville St

Pacific Cinémathèque, 1131 Howe St

Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus St

Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St