Do you want to become a real hipster, not just someone who plays the persona in floral clothes from Value Village? Want to be cultured and informed about issues plaguing all corners of the globe? Or, do you just want to be able to say you liked something before it was cool?
If you answered affirmative to any of the above questions, then the 33rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, which runs September 25 to October 10, will likely tickle your fancy. The event features almost 350 films from more than 70 countries, and this year’s festival is a strong meld of genre films, non-fiction documentaries, and undiluted short films, from established auteurs to up-and-coming filmmakers.
According to SFU alumnus Curtis Woloschuk, the festival’s program logistics coordinator, Canadian images shorts programmer, and above all, bona fide hipster, it’s “one of the strongest line-ups in recent years.”
Which films will different kinds of hipsters enjoy at this year’s VIFF? Read on.
Genre Films: For the phony hipster who likes to think he’s artsy, but goes to a film festival to see something accessible
The Rio Theatre has the bonkers genre films which play every Friday and Saturday night during VIFF (among other times). “I’m really happy with the genre line-up,” Woloschuk exclaimed, later saying that a film called Housebound is a “fantastic New Zealand horror-comedy that manages to subvert most expectations” and that two Canadian films playing late night at the Rio, The Editor and Bloody Knuckles are also “fantastic.”
Non-fiction documentaries: For the hipster who cares about social justice, environmental, and personal issues . . . or at least pretends to
Cinephiles can catch docs such as South Africa’s Khalo Matabane’s personal, Nelson Mandela, The Myth and Me, which delves into the director’s conflicted feelings towards the iconic and celebrated figure. Another, Gabe Polsky’s Red Army, looks at the relationship between the USSR’s hockey team and their national identity.
Woloschuk also noted a particular trend of non-fiction films which happens to have its own independent section called Arts & Letters — a component devoted to narrative and documentary filmmaking which centres on music. A Glen Campbell documentary, Glen Campbell: I’ll be Mine, explores the filmmakers Alzheimer’s diagnosis and attempts to reduce the impact of the disease with music.
Another noted film is The Possibilities are Endless: Edwin Collins, the frontman for Orange Juice and a solo artist, had two massive strokes and must learn to play music again.
Short Films: For the hipster who can’t go 10 minutes without adding a new selfie to their Instagram. Don’t worry there’s a little break between these!
Woloschuk said, “I think one of the great things about the short films is that you get to see people operate [. . .] within budgetary constrictions that doesn’t necessarily impact the story they want to tell. I think you can see people who really get to realize their vision and tell that 10-minute story without needing to be beholden to other forces like funding agencies.”
Additionally, he proclaimed that the “two films by UBC students, one called Light, one called Hard Card are fantastic short films.” He continued, “When you see that many films from one talent pool, it’s kind of remarkable the quality of the work and how strong it is overall.”
Canadian films and directors: For the patriotic Canadian hipster who thinks that negotiating their independence is way cooler than fighting for it.
“We have a good number of Canadian films who have really established themselves and now have American casts,” Woloschuk stated. Among them is Jean Marc-Vallee’s Wild (starring Reese Witherspoon on a soul searching journey in the wild) and David Cronenberg’s latest, Maps to the Stars.
Perhaps the most intriguing among the Canadian filmmakers featured at VIFF is the young and prolific Xavier Dolan. His new film Mommy experiments with an oddball 1:1 aspect ratio.
Established auteurs: For the hipster who dismisses “pretentious” films by saying “you just don’t get it.”
“Mike Leigh has a new film this year [Mr. Turner] that certainly stands out,” Woloschuk said before explaining that the Cannes Palme D’or winner, Winter’s Sleep, will also be in the line-up. However, the one that is bound to raise the most eyebrows is the influential French new-wave director Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D. Yes, you read that correctly: Godard in the 3D. It sounds bonkers.
Some hipsters, like some films, defy categorization. Some of the unclassifiable films are Damien Cazelle’s Sundance Jury Prize winning, Whiplash, which follows a jazz drummer as he’s pushed to the limit by his teacher, and Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, which took home Best Director from Cannes.
One could talk about the diverse selection at this year’s VIFF forever, but there is a universal element which is bound to affect more than just the hipsters. Woloschuk described this when he said, “People look for different things in cinema, the late night screenings kind of feed into this. You can watch a scary movie at home but when you watch it with several hundred other people, it’s a very different experience. We’re just trying to find different ways of making the festival experience be an experience for people, and that kind of goes beyond watching a film.”
