Login / RegisterMidnight’s Children to open the 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival
Midnight’s Children will open this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival on September 27. Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of the Booker Prize winning Salman Rushdie novel, with script and narration supplied by Rushdie himself, already has a nice buzz developing around it with a world premiere at TIFF lined up for the end of this week.
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At a media conference earlier today, festival director Alan Franey revealed the other gala presentations scheduled for VIFF’s 31st edition.
The Canadian Images program begins on September 28 with Mike (Trailer Park Boys) Clattenburg’s Moving Day; Director Lou Yi’s Mystery comes to the Dragons & Tigers Awards Gala, on October 4; and the “amazing, challenging” Leos Carax film Holy Motors closes out the festival on October 12.
Franey said of Holy Motors: “In some ways it’s a perfect closer because it’s a bit like going to a film festival. It’s divided into chapters and you move with some surprise and astonishment from one complete genre to another; sci-fi, drama, comedy, et cetera.” Holy Motors was described in The Guardian, meanwhile, as “barking mad, weightless and euphoric…” In other words, a must-see.
Franey also noted that a number of films have made their way from Cannes, including the Palm D’Or-winning Amour from Michael Haneke, Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love, and the highly anticipated Marion Cotillard vehicle, Rust and Bone.
There are 380 films coming to VIFF 2012, while the festival is riding high on its most successful year ever. Franey revealed that there were over 150,000 admissions in 2011, giving VIFF its largest ever attendance. Franey said he plans to build on that success.
“We don’t want our audience to be just aging baby-boomers who live nearby and already know about the riches of international cinema,” he said. “We want young people, we want ethnic diversity, we want to include the whole city…”
Franey also spoke of the artistic good health of film, even (or perhaps because of) industry-wide economic turbulence. “There’s lots of opportunities out there,” he said, “but we live in challenging, exciting, and interesting times. While broader economic forces are undoubtedly taking a toll on the arts, creativity is triumphing all over the world… lo and behold, the quality and quantity of world cinema is amazing. Filmmakers are finding ways…”
VIFF runs from September 27 – October 12. The full catalogue hits the street (and the web) on September 15.
Watch the trailer for Leos Carax’s Holy Motors
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