Opening Gala

The Vancouver International Film Festival is pleased to announce our 2007 Opening Gala, ATONEMENT . Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel arrives with stately grandeur on the big screen, keeping that same sense of dreamy otherworldliness and unsettling nervous energy. It's a boldly unconventional period melodrama and a stunning showcase for director Joe Wright who, after his crash-zoom take on Pride & Prejudice , draws another memorable performance out of Keira Knightley. The film will be screened three times at the Festival. The invitational Opening Gala screening is September 27, 7:00pm at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas. The Opening Gala is sponsored by Rogers. (An Odeon Films release in Canada.)

Closing Gala

Our Closing Gala on October 12 is PRICELESS ( Hors de prix ), to be preceded by the festival's Awards Ceremony. Gad Elmaleh (last seen in parking cars in The Valet ) stars with Audrey Tautou ( Amélie ) in this clever comedy of morals from writer/director Pierre Salvadori. Underneath the glorious sun of the Cote d'Azur, a scheming seductress is taken for a romantic ride by a lowly hotel worker.   The Closing Gala is sponsored by Jackson-Triggs Vintners. (A Christal Films Distribution release in Canada.)

Opening of Canadian Images

The Canadian Images Opening film is another literary adaptation, THE STONE ANGEL. The irascible and fiercely proud Hagar Shipley (Ellen Burstyn in an outstanding performance) escapes from home when her son and daughter-in-law tell her she must move into nursing care. Kari Skogland has done an excellent job of conveying the wit, sexual frankness and elegantly shifting time structures of Margaret Laurence's classic novel. It first screens September 28 at 7:00pm at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas. The Canadian Images Opener is graciously sponsored by the British Columbia Producers' Branch of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association. (An Odeon Films release in Canada.)

Special Presentations

Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Cristian Mungiu's 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS is a masterly story about illegal abortion in the waning days of the Soviet Bloc, demonstrating once again that Romania is in the midst of a cinematic renaissance. Sponsored by Happy Bats Cinema. (A Mongrel Media release in Canada.)

When two brothers rob their parents' jewelry store, they set off a chain reaction of tragedy and betrayal in BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. Director Sidney Lumet and an all-star cast that includes Albert Finney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marisa Tomei bring this heist-gone-horribly-wrong story to thrilling life. Sponsored by Metro Vancouver. (A THINKFilm release in Canada.)

Winner of the best screenplay award at Cannes, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN is a superbly cast drama that limns the emotional arcs of six people – four Turks and two Germans – as they crisscross through love and tragedy. Sponsored by Mavi Jeans. (A Mongrel Media release in Canada.)

Director Carlos Saura (Flamenco, Tango ) returns with FADOS , his tribute to the beloved Portuguese music known as fado . From its African and Brazilian roots to the newest interpreters of the form, fado continues to evolve, while maintaining its connection to the spirit of "saudade." Featuring performers Mariza, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Lila Downs and Lura. Sponsored by OnEXT Media Corporation. (A K-Films Amérique release in Canada.)

HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is a captivating look at American cinema through the lens of the Chinese American experience. Award-winning director Arthur Dong will be our guest at the October 10 th screening of his latest documentary, which features Ang Lee, Wayne Wang, Joan Chen, David Henry Hwang and many others commenting on the memorable contributions made by Chinese Americans. Sponsored by Aberdeen Centre.

Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain ) returns to 1940s Shanghai to bring to sprawling life a story of love, spies and red-hot intrigue in LUST, CAUTION. The incandescent Tony Leung meets his match in the figure of Tang Wei as a young woman assigned the tasks of seduction and murder. Winner of the Golden Lion at the recent Venice Film Festival. Tang Wei will be in attendance. Sponsored by the Sing Tao Daily. (An Odeon Films release in Canada.)

The discovery of 100 precious manuscripts nailed (Christ-like) to a library floor is only the beginning in Ermanno Olmi's (The Tree of the Wooden Clogs ) final narrative feature, ONE HUNDRED NAILS. One part religious thriller to two parts philosophical inquiry, Olmi's intense drama charts the spiritual awakening of one man with grace and intelligence. Sponsored by Instituto Italiano di Cultura in Vancouver.

The Ayatollah Khomeini meets punk rock in this spirited adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's celebrated graphic novel, PERSEPOLIS. When Iran's Islamic Revolution hits home, nine-year-old Marjane remains determined to discover all that life has to offer. Splendidly voiced by an all-star cast including Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Sean Penn and Iggy Pop. (A Mongrel Media release in Canada.)

Special Presentations in other sections 

Two films in the Canadian Images series are also being honoured with Special Presentation s. Writer and director Bruce Sweeney returns with AMERICAN VENUS, a gripping psychological study of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship that provokes at least one existential crisis. Rebecca De Mornay stars as a gun-obsessed American woman coming to terms with her daughter's coming of age in Vancouver. Sponsored by the Georgia Straight. (A TVA Films release in Canada.)

Jeremy Podeswa ( The Five Senses ) brings us the beauty and passion of the international best-selling novel FUGITIVE PIECES by Anne Michaels in this powerful, poetic and emotionally charged drama about love, loss and redemption. Podeswa will be our guest at the 7:00 screening on September 29th. Sponsored by Shaw TV's Urban Rush . (A Maximum Film Distribution release in Canada.)

In the Dragons and Tigers series, DEAD TIME is a Special Presentation . Whispered words on a tape recording—from a woman who dies in a traffic accident soon after she speaks them—are the key to a supernatural mystery in Joko Anwar's immoderately absorbing thriller. This is that rarest of genre movies, a ghost story with a political subtext. Dead Time is seriously entertaining. Anwar will be a Festival Guest at the October 4 screening at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas at 6:45pm.

Also in Dragons and Tigers is the Special Presentation of THE SUN ALSO RISES. China's greatest actor-director Jiang Wen is back. His new film is a picaresque, operatic tale of love and madness in 1970s China. Vibrantly colourful, this is classic star-power cinema: a magical-realist tale told with symphonic brio and red-hot passion. Sponsored by Ming Pao Daily News and Brad Birarda.

The Special Presentation in the Climate for Change series is Laura Dunn's THE UNFORESEEN. Produced by Terence Malick and Robert Redford, Laura Dunn's enthralling and poetic documentary tells of the rapid mutation of the American Dream over the latter half of the 20th century. When large-scale development in Austin, Texas threatens its fragile limestone aquifer and glorious swimming holes, the locals fight back. Director Laura Dunn will be in attendance. The Climate for Change series is sponsored by Kyoto Planet.

In the Cinema of our Time series DANS LA VILLE DE SYLVIA is also a Special Presentation . A young foreigner spends his afternoons in an outdoor cafe, sketching the women he sees... while looking for Sylvia, who he met years before in the same city. One afternoon he thinks he sees her... José Luis Guerin's exceedingly graceful work captures a youthful sense of a world filled with an almost limitless sensuality. Accompanied by the world premiere of Guerin's companion work, Unas Fotos en la Ciudad del Sylvia . Guerin will be in attendance.

The Vancouver International Film Festival's aim is to encourage understanding of other nations through the art of cinema and to foster the art of cinema . More than 150,000 patrons are expected to attend 550 screenings of more than 300 films from 75 countries, making it one of the largest and most successful film festivals in North America. Comprehensive information and schedules are available at www.viff.org and the Starbucks Hotline at (604) 683-FILM (3456). Tickets are on sale through the VISA Charge-by-Phone line at 604-685-8297 and on the web at www.viff.org .