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For Immediate Release: September 18, 2012
Media Department: 604.646.4770 media@viff.org
NONFICTION FEATURES AT VIFF 2012
VIFF NEWS
Thank you to CKNW as our Media Partner for VIFF’s Nonfiction Feature Series
Adventure
USA | Dir: Matt McCormick Related Links: Official Website Canadian PremiereSat. Sep 29, 6:00 pm, Granville #5
Sun. Sep 30, 3:20 pm, Granville #5
Wed. Oct 10, 3:30 pm, Granville #1 In 1958, four friends explored 5,200 kms of the Pacific Northwest and assembled a comprehensive scrapbook of photographs, notes and ephemera. Fifty years later, Matt McCormick uncovered their scrapbook in a thrift store, endeavoured to duplicate their journey and produced this poetic examination of how majestic landscapes and roadside attractions have transformed over time. |
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USA | Dir: Todd Warger, Brian Young Related Links: Official Website | Trailer International PremiereSat. Oct 6, 6:15 pm, Cinémathèque
Mon. Oct 8, 12:00 pm, Granville #4
Thu. Oct 11, 10:45 am, Cinémathèque In 1911, 14 amateur athletes risked life and limb to clamber up Mount Baker in America’s inaugural endurance race, spawn to today’s annual Ski to Sea race. Todd Warger and Brian Young’s delightful docudrama celebrates the brave souls who were lured by prize money but endured thanks to their sense of adventure and pioneer spirit. Highly recommended! |
Different Perspectives
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Mexico | Dir: Jose Álvarez Related Links: Trailer | Facebook Sun. Oct 7, 9:30 pm, Cinémathèque
Wed. Oct 10, 4:00 pm, Cinémathèque A gorgeous and captivating overview of the crafts and rituals of the Totonac people in Veracruz’s Zapotal Santa Cruz community. Among the year’s loveliest nonfiction entries… This tapestry of sights and sounds allows audiences to take notice of a proud, long-ignored tribal group whose cultural roots remain firmly intact.—Variety. Winner, FIPRESCI prize, Thessaloniki 2012. |
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USA/China | Dir: Porter Erisman Related Links: Trailer | Facebook | Official Website International PremiereClassification: G—No advisory Sat. Sep 29, 4:30 pm, Granville #6
Thu. Oct 11, 6:15 pm, Granville #4
Fri. Oct 12, 2:30 pm, Granville #4
Over one astonishing decade, "Crazy" Jack Ma transformed his home business into a 16,000-employee web empire capable of going toe-to-toe with eBay. Employed at Ma’s Alibaba.com from its inception, Porter Erisman offers an insider’s view on how an ambitious English teacher became China’s first Internet entrepreneur and a veritable rock star. This film has been classified so that those under 18 may attend.
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(Les invisibles)France | Dir: Sébastien Lifshitz North American PremiereFri. Oct 5, 8:00 pm, Granville #6
Sun. Oct 7, 9:15 pm, Granville #4
Fri. Oct 12, 11:45 am, Granville #4
The "invisible ones" in Sébastien Lifshitz’s (Wild Side) candid documentary are the gay men and women who came of age well before the days of sexual liberation. In conservative France, their voices were rarely heard, but Lifshitz does more than just give them a platform—incorporating archival footage, he weaves their fascinating, often poetic memories into a cinematic tapestry.
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USA/Germany/Iran | Dir: Till Schauder Related Links: Official Website | Trailer Canadian Premiere
Classification: PG—Coarse language; nudity
Fri. Oct 5, 12:20 pm, Granville #1
Sun. Oct 7, 8:45 pm, Granville #5
Tue. Oct 9, 11:00 am, Vancity Theatre As a mercenary, second-tier basketball player, itinerant American Kevin Sheppard has no qualms about joining Iran’s upstart Super League. However, he also hasn’t a clue about the culture clashes and political turmoil that await. As Till Schauder’s documentary unfolds, a Bad News Bears-style sports movie gets swept up in Iran’s Green Wave. This film has been classified so that those under 18 may attend. |
USA | Dir: Debbie Lum Related Links: Official Website | Trailer International PremiereSun. Oct 7, 1:30 pm, Cinémathèque
Mon. Oct 8, 6:15 pm, Granville #4 After catching a bout of "yellow fever," Steven is shocked when his Chinese mail-order bride arrives in America with more baggage than he’d expected. As his younger fiancée grows disenchanted with his squalid existence, documentarian Debbie Lum questions what her responsibilities are as both a filmmaker and unintended friend of the new couple. |
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USA | Dir: Bill Marin Related Links: Official Website International PremiereTue. Oct 2, 3:20 pm, Granville #5
Thu. Oct 4, 6:15 pm, Granville #5
Sat. Oct 6, 3:20 pm, Granville #5 Tailing a mutt and her pups as they scour Los Angeles streets for food and shelter, Bill Marin helms a wildlife documentary set in a concrete jungle. A sobering account of the ordeals of 30,000 abandoned canines, the documentary ultimately celebrates their survival instincts and fierce determination. |
Germany | Dir: Marten Persiel Related Links: Official Website | Director’s Website | Trailer Mon. Oct 1, 9:30 pm, Granville #2
Tue. Oct 2, 12:30 pm, Granville #2
Sat. Oct 6, 10:30 am, Granville #2 You don’t have to care one whit about skateboarding to be dazzled, astonished and supremely entertained by Marten Persiel’s remarkable chronicle of 1980s East German rebels whose love of the board and its accompanying lifestyle presaged the sweeping changes about to hit Eastern Bloc nations. A delight from beginning to end. Winner, Dialogue en Perspective prize, Berlin 2012. |
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Politics & Hot Button Issues
(Ambassadøren)Denmark | Dir: Mads Brügger Related Links: Trailer | Official Website Thu. Sep 27, 9:00 pm, Granville #1
Sun. Sep 30, 3:30 pm, Granville #1 A master of anarcho-provocation and a "documentary" subversive of the highest order, Mads Brügger (The Red Chapel) buys a diplomatic title and sets out to expose corruption at high levels in the Central African Republic. "Brügger goes undercover… in search of blood diamonds, with shockingly entertaining results."—Hollywood Reporter |
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USA/Brazil | Dir: Annie Eastman Related Links: Official Website | Trailer International PremiereFri. Sep 28, 10:45 am, Cinematheque
Mon. Oct 8, 9:15 pm, Granville 1
Tue. Oct 9, 3:30 pm, Granville 6 Annie Eastman’s compassionate documentary transports us inside Bahia’s palafitas—dilapidated shacks teetering on stilts over a bay teeming with trash—and distinguishes itself with its “fearless and engaging storytelling [and] its flights of humor and lyricism, which nevertheless don’t obscure the seething anger and desperation of Brazil’s most needy.”—Slant. Winner, Audience Award: Documentary, SXSW 2012. |
Canada | Dir: Nimisha Mukerji Related Links: Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Trailer World PremiereSat. Oct 6, 6:45 pm, Granville 2
Wed. Oct 10, 4:15 pm, Granville 7
Fri. Oct 12, 9:15 pm, Granville 2 Director Nimisha Mukerji’s (65_RedRoses, VIFF 09) documentary follows an activist fighting to save two young adults dying from Thalassemia, a rare blood disease. Suffering stunted growth and without access to medication, they remain trapped in the bodies of children. Chronicling one man’s battle, the film exposes modern India’s broken healthcare system.
Sponsored by: 
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USA/Uganda | Dir: Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall Related Links: Official Website | Trailer Thu. Sep 27, 9:30 pm, Granville #2
Mon. Oct 1, 3:00 pm, Granville #4
Fri. Oct 5, 5:00 pm, Granville #6 With Uganda’s parliament considering an appalling anti-homosexuality bill, David Kato—the country’s first openly gay man—and his fellow activists soldier on against seemingly insurmountable persecution. Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright have helmed "a must-see… Heart-wrenching and inspiring…"—LA Weekly. Winner, Best International Feature, Hot Docs 2012. |
USA | Dir: John Gianvito, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Travis Wilkerson, Soon-Mi Yoo Related Links: Official Website Thu. Sep 27, 12:30 pm, Granville #5
Mon. Oct 1, 8:45 pm, Granville #5 Inspired by 1967’s Far From Vietnam that united a variety of filmmakers “to knit together imagery of the war, interviews, intellectual styles, fictional incursions and documentary footage in a bid to counter… the intensive media coverage and propaganda manipulated by the American government,” John Gianvito (Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind) leads a diverse group in this timely and critical omnibus. |
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France | Dir: Tony Gatlif Canadian PremiereWed. Oct 10, 9:30 pm, Granville #2
Fri. Oct 12, 1:15 pm, Granville #2 Long a champion of the marginalized, Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom, Exiles) fashions a sumptuously visual and typically musical docudrama from 94-year-old French Resistance veteran Stephane Hessel’s surprise anti-capitalist best-seller Indignez-vous! Gatlif melds real protest scenes with the plight of an unwanted African immigrant in France in this impassioned cri de coeur. |
USA | Dir: Kirby Dick Related Links: Official Website | Trailer Fri. Sep 28, 9:15 pm, Granville #1
Sat. Sep 29, 11:45 am, Granville #1 This deeply unsettling investigation of sex crimes in the US military certifies that "Kirby Dick has become one of the indispensable muckrakers of American cinema, zeroing in on frequently painful stories about how power functions in the absence or failure of accountability… This is not a movie that can be ignored."—The New York Times. Winner, Audience Award: Documentary, Sundance 2012. |
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India | Dir: Anand Patwardhan Related Links: Official Website | Trailer Sat. Sep 29, 7:00 pm, Granville #6
Sun. Sep 30, 1:00 pm, Granville #6
Tue. Oct 2, 7:00 pm, Granville #6 After Mumbai police opened fire on unarmed Dalit protesters, leading Indian documentarian Anand Patwardhan was pushed beyond his limit. Over the next 14 years, he crafted this tour de force that not only condemns Hindu extremism and the millennia of oppression endured by the Dalit, but also showcases this underclass’ indomitable spirit through their music and poetry. Winner, Best Documentary, Hong Kong 2012. |
Greece | Dir: Nina Maria Paschalidou, Nikos Katsaounis Related Links: Official Website | Trailer Tue. Oct 2, 1:30 pm, Vancity Theatre
Mon. Oct 8, 7:00 pm, Vancity Theatre With a devastating economic and social crisis laying waste to Greece, documentarians Nikos Katsaounis and Nina Maria Paschalidou dispatched 14 photojournalists to uncover the stories overlooked by the traditional media. In this visually arresting mosaic, artists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens desperately try to make sense of the chaos gripping their country. |
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UK | Dir: Jean-Philippe Tremblay Related Links: Official Website Fri. Oct 5, 3:20 pm, Granville #5
Tue. Oct 9, 8:45 pm, Granville #5 With profits taking priority over the truth and the powerful being taken at their word rather than taken to task, the credibility of mainstream news sources has been left in a shambles. Interweaving damning case studies and charged interviews, director Jean-Philippe Tremblay paints a disturbing picture of America’s corporatized media. |
USA/ Mexico | Dir: Peter Bo Rappmund Related Links: Trailer | Official Website Canadian PremiereMon. Oct 1, 9:45 pm, Vancity Theatre
Thu. Oct 4, 12:00 pm, Granville #5 A refreshing antidote to the burgeoning genre of films that focus on illegal immigration and cross-border violence, Peter Bo Rappmund’s experimental portrait of the US-Mexico boundary surveys this wide swath of land’s physical qualities and metaphysical quandaries with an artist’s gaze. Special Mention, Filmmakers of the Present, Locarno 2012. |
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(Zavtra)Russia | Dir: Andrey Gryazev Related Links: Trailer North American PremiereThu. Sep 27, 9:15 pm, Granville #5
Sun. Sep 30, 12:40 pm, Granville #5
Wed. Oct 10, 9:15 pm, Granville #5 The avant-garde Russian art collective "War" has been a persistent thorn in Putin’s side, and Andrey Gryazev’s immersive documentary on these political provocateurs more than shows why. "An oddly stirring, gripping and thought-provoking piece of work about a group of artists… whose art-actions have exposed them to arrest and beatings, and attracted the support of fellow artists from Brian Eno to Banksy."—Screen |
France/Germany/Switzerland
| Dir: Mirjam von Arx Related Links: Trailer | Official Website Canadian PremiereThu. Oct 4, 6:00 pm, Granville #1
Sun. Oct 7, 12:15 pm, Granville #5
Fri. Oct 12, 3:15 pm, Granville #1 What teenage girl wouldn’t dream of attending a Purity Ball: a fairy-tale event that sees her don an immaculate dress, take her father’s arm and vow absolute celibacy—not even kissing—until marriage? In examining the virtues of abstinence, Mirjam von Arx supplies Evangelical Christians just enough rope with which to hang themselves… |
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Remembering WWII
(HaDira)Israel/Germany | Dir: Arnon Goldfinger Related Links: Trailer | Official Website Canadian PremiereThu. Sep 27, 3:45 pm, Granville #5
Sun. Sep 30, 6:45 pm, Granville #1
Tue. Oct 2, 3:15 pm, Granville #1 A Nazi newspaper, found in the Tel Aviv apartment of the director [Arnon Goldfinger’s] grandmother after her death at 98… promises plenty of surprises… about Goldfinger’s grandparents and their long-standing relationship with a high-ranking SS propaganda minister… [But] it’s the helmer’s relationship with his denial-cloaked mother, Hannah, that increasingly takes centerstage. Fascinating…—Variety |
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USA | Dir: Michele Midori Fillion Related Links: Official Website International PremiereMon. Oct 8, 6:00 pm, Granville 5
Wed. Oct 10, 2:30 pm, Granville 5 Journalists Martha Gellhorn, Ruth Cowan and Dickie Chappelle shattered the gender barrier by defying their disbelieving (male) sexist colleagues (including Gellhorn’s husband Ernest Hemingway) and covering WWII from the front lines. Michele Midori Fillion gives these pioneering legends their due. A perfect companion piece, James Spione’s Academy Award-nominated short Incident in New Baghdad—about the slaying of two Reuters journalists, along with a group of mostly unarmed men, on the streets of Baghdad by American attack helicopters—will also screen. |
USA/Japan | Dir: Linda Hoaglund Related Links: Trailer | Official Website North American PremiereFri. Sep 28, 6:15 pm, Granville #1
Mon. Oct 1, 12:20 pm, Granville #1
Fri. Oct 12, 9:30 pm, Granville #1 Utilizing photographer Ishiuchi Miyako’s images of objects and clothing "left behind" after the atomic bomb decimated Hiroshima, Linda Hoaglund—who shot part of the film at Ishiuchi’s exhibition at Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology—crafts a moving and evocative meditation on memory and loss. |
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VIFF’S NEW BOX OFFICE NOW OPEN
- ONLINE at viff.org
- BY PHONE Noon — 7 pm at 604–685–8297
- IN–PERSON Noon — 7 pm
Vancity Theatre
1181 Seymour Street (at Davie)
What’s New This Year
We’ve taken the leap into the 21st Century and are pleased to offer VIFF Audiences enhanced box office services.
PRINT AT HOME + SMART PHONE TICKET DELIVERY:
Advance Tickets can now be purchased up to one hour prior to showtime and conveniently delivered to your email for printing or to your smart phone mobile device. Please present your Print at Home ticket or Smart Phone Display at entry to the venue, where the barcode will be verified. VIFF membership must also be presented.
EXPANDED WILL CALL: Advance Ticket purchasers will enjoy the added flexibility of picking up WILL CALL tickets at any Venue Box Office during hours of festival operation.
EXPANDED FESTIVAL BOX OFFICES
During the Festival advance tickets will be available from any box office up until one hour before the showtime. After that, tickets are only available at the door of the venue, subject to availability. Note that even when those tickets are sold out, rush tickets are often available.
MASTERCARD & DEBIT CARD: VIFF now accepts Visa and MasterCard everywhere, and debit cards in person.
TICKET AVAILABILITY THIS YEAR
VIFF welcomes audiences to attend screenings and with low regular ticket prices, discount ticket packages and festival passes, VIFF is one of the most accessible International Film Festivals in North America. Seats are often still available at show time for the wide majority of films, but you’ll want to plan ahead to avoid disappointment.
In order to help you with your planning, watch for the GREEN-AMBER-RED system. You can tell how busy a screening is expected to be by checking the online ticketing site or the "Screening Today" signs in front of each Theatre.
 PLENTY = plenty seats available.
 GOING FAST = seats still available, but get there early.
 LIMITED = limited seats still available, but running out.
 RUSH ONLY = rush tickets only; advance tickets sold out.
Tickets + Passes, What’s The Best Deal For You
SINGLE TICKETS are best if you want to keep it simple or you just want to attend a few films. Simply search the film guide and select your films.
TICKET PACKS offer savings and may be the best if you want to attend at least 10 evening films and are able to decide on most of your titles ahead of time. The more you buy, the better the deal.
PASSES are best if you want maximum flexibility to see as many films as possible and don't mind taking your chances on available seats. There is ample room for passholders at the majority of screenings.
PLATINUM PASSES are ideal if you want the best of all worlds, including guaranteed seating in the reserved section up to 5 minutes before showtime
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sept. 19 - VIFF Official Program Catalogue On Sale
Sept. 26 - VIFF Film + TV Forum Starts
Sept. 27 - VIFF Opens. Yeah!
September 27 - October 12, 2012 | Film Info: 604.683.FILM (3456) | VIFF Office: 604.685.0260
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THE GREAT NORTHWEST
THE MOUNTAIN RUNNERS
CANÍCULA
CROCODILE IN THE YANGTZE
THE INVISIBLE ONES
THE IRAN JOB
SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE
STREET DOGS OF SOUTH CENTRAL
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA
THE AMBASSADOR
BAY OF ALL SAINTS
BLOOD RELATIVE
CALL ME KUCHU
FAR FROM AFGHANISTAN
INDIGNADOS
THE INVISIBLE WAR
JAI BHIM COMRADE
KRISIS
SHADOWS OF LIBERTY
TECTONICS
TOMORROW
VIRGIN TALES
THE FLAT
NO JOB FOR A WOMAN: THE WOMEN WHO FOUGHT TO REPORT WWII
THINGS LEFT BEHIND