(October 20, 2014 – Vancouver, BC) The 33rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) set a new box office record, seeing a 10% increase on 2013, the festival`s previous benchmark year. Between September 25 and October 10, 2014, VIFF presented 549 public screenings of 349 films from more than 70 countries, confirming its status as one of the continent’s largest film festivals.
Over the course of those 16 days, 219 feature films and 130 short or mid-length films played on nine screens at seven venues. An additional 24 media screenings occurred prior to the festival and there were 25 VIFF Repeats screenings over the holiday weekend that followed the festival. All told, gated attendance for VIFF and the VIFF Industry conference exceeded 144,000.
“It was a pivotal year for VIFF as we focused on internal transition and Industry repositioning,” said Jacqueline Dupuis, VIFF Executive Director. “In addition to the overwhelming response from audiences and the box office, we also tested new initiatives from the sold out Style in Film series to spoken word artist Shane Koyczan world premiering his new piece prior to the Closing Gala screening of Whiplash. The foundation has been set for our next stage of growth and we are excited with what we now have planned for audiences in 2015.”
“We were fortunate to have a truly outstanding array of films in the festival this year,” said Alan Franey, VIFF Programming Director. “The response from visiting filmmakers, industry attendees and our large and diverse audience all points in one direction: tough as making a movie is, the seventh art is alive and capable of amazing us. People long to renew the pleasures of seeing cinema as it was intended: on the big screen in the presence of others.” Here are the winners, runners-up and special mentions of our adjudicated awards, as well as the films that scored big with audiences.
Following is a list of the adjudicated awards:
Best Canadian Film ($8,000 cash prize sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada):
Violent (dir. Andrew Huculiak, British Columbia)
Best BC Film
($10,000 development bursary sponsored by the Harold Greenberg Fund plus a $15,000 post-production services credit supplied by Encore Vancouver) Violent (dir. Andrew Huculiak) Honourable Mention: Everything Will Be (dir. Julia Kwan)
BC Emerging Filmmaker Award ($7,500 cash prize sponsored by the Union of BC Performers/ACTRA and ACTRA Fraternal Benefits Society plus a $10,000 equipment credit supplied by William F. White) Sitting on the Edge of Marlene (dir. Ana Valine)
VIFF Impact Award ($5,000 cash prize sponsored by Agentic Digital Media plus $5,000 in marketing and strategic in-kind services supplied by Agentic and Story Money Impact) Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (dir. Grant Baldwin, British Columbia)
Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film ($2,000 cash prize sponsored by an anonymous donor) The Cut (dir. Geneviève Dulude-Decelles)
Best New Director (international) ? ex aequo Miss and the Doctors (dir. Axelle Ropert, France) Rekorder (dir. Mikhael Red, Philippines) Honourable Mention: Asteroid (dir. Marcelo Tobar, Mexico)
Thousands of ballots were cast during VIFF 2014, representing a considerable proportion of the audience at every screening. Of our 219 feature films, 117 were rated 4 to 5 (very good to excellent) and 92 were rated 3 to 4 (good to very good). Following are the International Winners at VIFF
The Rogers People`s Choice Award:
The Vancouver Asahi (dir. Ishii Yuya, Japan)
VIFF Most Popular International Documentary Award
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me (dir. James Keach, USA)
The next 22 international films (10% of 230 programs) in order of popular rating are:
Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) (dir. Damián Szifrón, Argentina/Spain)
Whiplash (dir. Damian Chazelle, USA)
Living is Easy with Eyes Closed (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados) (dir. David Trueba, Spain)
The Salt of the Earth (dirs. Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, France/Italy/Brazil)
Jalanan (dir. Daniel Ziv, Indonesia/Canada)
Lakshmi (dir. Nagesh Kukunoor, India)
Difret (dir. Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, Ethiopia)
Coming Home (Gui lai) (dir. Zhang Yimou, China)
Behavior (Conducta) (dir. Ernesto Daranas, Cuba)
Marmato (dir. Mark Grieco, Colombia/USA)
Red Army (dir. Gabe Polsky, USA/Russia)
Handmade with Love in France (Le Temps Suspendu) (dir. Julie Georgia Bernard, France)
Una Vida: A Fable of Music and The Mind (dir. Richie Adams, USA)
Boychoir (dir. Francois Girard, USA)
Still Life (dir. Uberto Pasolini, UK/Italy)
Advanced Style (dir. Lina Plioplyte, USA)
Noble (dir. Stephen Bradley, Ireland/UK)
Charlie`s Country (dir. Rolf de Heer, Australia)
The Liberator (Libertador) (dir. Alberto Arvelo, Spain)
Foxcatcher (dir. Bennett Miller, USA)
Class Enemy (Razredni sovraznik) (dir. Rok Bicek, Slovenia)
Force Majeure (Turist) (dir. Ruben Östlund, Sweden)
The Canadian winners at VIFF included:
Most Popular Canadian Feature Film Award:
Preggoland (dir. Jacob Tierney, British Columbia)
VIFF Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award:
All the Time in the World (dir. Suzanne Crocker, Yukon)
Runners-up: Marinoni (dir. Tony Girardin, Quebec) and Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (dir. Grant Baldwin, British Columbia)
The next 8 Canadian films in order of popular rating are:
Boy from Geita (dir. Vic Sarin, BC)
Mommy (dir. Xavier Dolan, Quebec)
The Price We Pay (dir. Harold Crooks, Ontario)
Everything Will Be (dir. Julia Kwan, BC)
Black Fly (dir. Jason Bourque, BC)
Violent (dir. Andrew Huculiak, BC)
Turbulence (dir. Soran Mardookhi, BC)
Elephant Song (dir. Charles Biname, Quebec)
