Post-VIFF Flick Picks: Get Animated, Bloodshots, Cowboys in Paradise

With the Vancouver International Film Festival over, are you trying to figure out what to do with your cinephilic self? (Wow, that sounds dirty for some odd reason.)

There's plenty to do, cinematically speaking.

In fact, VIFF isn't quite over, as there are still selections at the VIFF Repeats series, playing popular titles from the festival for the rest of this week.

There are also upcoming or current release dates of titles that were shown at VIFF, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child and Waiting for "Superman".

And there are plenty of film festivals heading our way, including the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, the Amnesty International Film Festival, and the European Union Film Festival. Here's a roundup of fests to keep you going until Christmas.

It's also time for VSFF cubed.

VSFF actually stands for three very different film festivals: the Vancouver Singapore Film Festival, the Vancouver Short Film Festival (October 28 and 29), and the Vancouver Serbian Film Festival (November 9 to 12).


Watch the trailer for Cowboys in Paradise.

The Vancouver Singapore Film Festival, which ran on September 17 and 18, is holding a special encore screening of the controversial documentary Cowboys in Paradise. The film, which opened the festival, examines the hidden world of kuta cowboys, or gigolos who entertain female tourists in Bali, Indonesia. If you liked Eat Pray Love, this film shows a different side to Bali (the director received hate mail and threats after making the film).

Check it out on Saturday (October 23) at 1:30 p.m. at the Pacific Cinémathí¨que (1131 Howe Street).

Meanwhile, a different VSFF—the Vancouver Short Film Festival—is teaming up with the NFB to present a day of new releases on International Animation Day (October 28), which is also the kick off of the VSFF and the fourth edition of the Get Animated! animation festival, which runs until November 1.

And all the Get Animated! screenings (which take place at Vancity Theatre [1181 Seymour Street] and Emily Carr University of Art and Design [1399 Johnston Street]) are free. There'll also be master classes with the self-taught digital filmmaker and animator Matthew Talbot-Kelly (whose latest film, "The Trembling Veil of Bones", will be shown at the festival). Other highlights include Janet Perlman's Oscar nominated "The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin" and the puppet-animated "Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life" (featuring the voices of Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker).

If you're more interested in gore galore, the Bloodshots Horror Challenge is fast approaching. The seventh annual 48-hour filmmaking competition kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday (October 22) at the ANZA Club (3 West 8th Avenue), and competitors will complete their films on Sunday (October 24).

Unfortunately, registration is now full, but on-line voting runs from October 25 to October 29, and there'll be a screening of the films on Wednesday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the ANZA Club (tickets are $5).

This year's jury includes Melissa James (director of the local music scene documentary No Fun City) and Mark Lewis (director of the sci-fi horror The Thaw), and producer and former Bloodshots winner Marilyn Thomas ("Jack"). The grand prize winner (who will receive $1,000) will be chosen by director Neil Marshall (Centurion, The Descent).

Anyhow, there's plenty to still get out to see in theatres. And if none of these interest you, there are always the programs at the Pacific Cinémathí¨que and Vancity Theatre to keep you occupied.

Comments

1 Comments

Su-An Ng

Oct 19, 2010 at 11:53pm

Thanks for mentioning Get Animated, Craig! Vancouver peeps, you can RSVP here: http://bit.ly/c9awrd