about | Mission and Scope of Programming

The mission of the Vancouver International Film Festival is "to encourage understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world, and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada."

The Vancouver International Film Centre will allow this mandate to be fulfilled on a year-round basis. The Vancouver International Film Centre and its 175-seat Vancity Theatre have been built to provide the public with a demonstration-class facility for the appreciation of cinema and related art forms. We look forward to a world in which the boundaries continue to be bridged between the different arts, and between the moving image and the public realm.

Our aim is to compliment the cultural landscape of Vancouver, and to hopefully enhance the quality of life for lovers of cinema in our rapidly growing downtown core. Up until now, no venue has combined a state-of-the-art movie theatre with a large lobby suitable for public receptions and educational functions, while remaining economically viable for a wide range of cinema. We have built for the future, but we will remain guided by the needs and expectations of the 40,000 members of the Vancouver International Film Festival Society.

Many programming directions are possible with this fabulous new space. Here's an outline of some of the things we hope to accomplish over our first few years:

1. Regular screenings of outstanding international & Canadian films. 2. Innovative educational programs:
a. Vocational development for high-school students interested in a career in film, television, new media and electronic gaming.
b. High-level technical workshops for industry professionals, broadening the function of the VIFF's present Trade Forum.
c. Environmental education film series.
d. Cultural studies programs.
e. Foreign language studies programs, and conversely, working with Vancouver's thriving E.S.L. institutions to facilitate "real-life English learning experience".

3. Support for the local film community and the B.C. film & television industry:
a. In partnership with British Columbia Film, the Film Centre will allow industry training programs to have a regular home and to be broadened in scope, hopefully involving a wide range of partnerships by our second year of operation.
b. Vancouver-based filmmakers and event producers will be able to rent our 620-square-foot Production Space as a short-term production office or digital editing suite.
c. Filmmakers & organizations will be able to rent the Vancity Theatre and/or the "Media Arts Gallery" in the lobby for screenings, networking events, cast-and-crew receptions, etc.
d. The programming staff of the VIFC will enhance the discourse around filmmaking in British Columbia though programs in which filmmakers can engage in meaningful post-screening discussion of their film.

4. Support for the arts and the community in general:
The Vancouver International Film Centre will rent its facilities at preferential rates (see www.vifc.org) to non-profit organizations for their events, as well as encouraging joint programming initiatives utilizing the Vancity Theatre and the Pacific Cinematheque in tandem.

The Vancity Theatre will serve as a "demonstration centre" for cutting edge film, video and new media technology.

The Vancity Theatre is equipped to expand initiatives beyond Vancouver and to remote communities through the technology of "distance education," providing potential for further developing relationships with universities and public broadcasters.

The programming staff of the Vancouver International Film Centre will originate occasional touring programs accompanied by supporting publications.

The Vancity Theatre will present series of films inspired by current events and facilitate public discussion with filmmakers and guest speakers in attendance.

The Vancity Theatre will present series of films related to the other arts. It will also present hybrid work between the arts: multi-media, new media and live performance pieces that have not until now enjoyed appropriate venues. We will invite internationally acclaimed artists to curate film programs. We will present the best films on art, on music, on dance. We will present the film and video work of significant fine artists, musicians, poets, etc.

The programming staff of the Vancity Theatre will create programs for disenfranchised cinema lovers, especially when they perceive a need not being fulfilled locally. Already a large component of the festival's membership are new immigrants; ethnic communities who cannot otherwise see films in their native language on the big screen; retired people who should be better provided for with stimulating matinee programming, etc. We are to keen to provide year-round programming for these people and sow the seeds of formal and informal "study groups" (the movie equivalent of book clubs) for those who want to be able to talk together - in a welcoming public environment - about the film they have just seen.

In part because typical residential living space in our urban centre is shrinking in size, the Vancouver International Film Centre's large lobby and atrium can become an important social facility in and of itself. Our aim is to provide a comfortable space for the enjoyment of reading, refreshments (coffee, beer & wine), conversation, healthy snacks, music, art, friendship, and moving images displayed on our screen in the media-arts gallery. We will enjoy these added opportunities by virtue of being a not-for-profit society under B.C. law. While this means operating "for members only," we will continue to welcome new members and to make it as easy as possible to join.

Our Bottom Line:

We keep hearing about bad times at the box-office for speciality films and the movies in general. But there are lots of excellent, innovative & relevant films out there. The L.A. Weekly ran an article this week ("Foreign Affairs" by David Ehrenstein, Sept. 2 - 8, 2005) explaining why "'straight-to-video' once meant 'not good enough to be shown in theatres', (while) now it means 'too good to be shown in theatres.'" It is undeniably true that in today's globalized popular culture "the foreign is displaced by the familiar". Yet we know from the experience of the VIFF that there's a large audience hungry for good films and new ideas, and for seeing these films in a real theatre with other people.

If the costs and "bottom line" have become too high for the sustainable traditional theatrical exhibition of most good films, the world needs more non-theatrical micro-cinemas! The Vancity Theatre will aim to stimulate interest in this model of film exhibition in other towns and cities. It will hopefully provide a pioneering example of how to diversify access to quality programming while creating sustainable communities.