The 24th Vancouver International Film Festival ended on a depressing note, and not just because Friday night's closing gala featured L'Enfant, this year's Palme d'or winner directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
"This is the last time a film will ever be seen here," said festival director Alan Franey, announcing that the city's historic Vogue Theatre has been sold and will be turned into a restaurant.
"I wish there was something the festival could do," he added, coaxing potential benefactors in the audience to step up and help save the art-deco landmark, which dates back to 1941.
On a brighter note, festival organizers said this year's edition was the most successful ever. The recipients of this year's awards included: Sean Garrity's Lucid (CITY-TV's Western Canadian feature film award); Jamie Travis's Patterns (Bravo!Fact award for young Western Canadian director of a short film); Carly Pope, who stars in Larry Kent's Hamster Cage (Women in Film and Video Vancouver Artistic Merit Award); Italian screenwriter Stefano Rullie's A Particular Silence (National Film Board award for best documentary feature); Radu Mihaileanu's Live and Become (People's Choice Award for most popular international film); and Julia Kwan's Eve & the Fire Horse (Federal Express Award for most popular Canadian feature film).
Last week, Chinese director Liu Jiayin's Ox Hide beat out seven other first and second features from the Asian Pacific region to win this year's Dragons & Tigers award. The experimental film, comprised of just 23 fixed-angle shots of the director and her parents at their home, was lauded by the jury for its "insight and humour."
Alexandra Gill