Film Fest Heaven

On Thursday evening, the Vancouver International Film Festival kicked off its 23rd incarnation with some 230 feature and mid-length films and 118 shorts from every corner of the globe. The VIFF is a monster, it eats press. Run for your life!! But it's only the most high profile film festival in Vancouver.

In the coming months there are a number of smaller festivals that make even wider and wilder programming choices. The 6th version of CineMuerte haunts the city from October 27-31 at the Pacific Cinematheque. Although it's a smaller version this year, it still packs a wallop. The same can be said of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) that runs November 5-8th at Tinseltown Cinemas. There are plenty of other events including the Seventh Annual Antimatter Underground Film Festival just wrapping up in Victoria (September 17 to 25) and The 9th annual Sea to Sky Film Festival in Squamish taking place this Friday September 24th. Add to this list The 4th Annual Whistler Film Festival December 2nd to 5th, 2004 and you have a very festive season!

But when even the most obscure corners of filmdom are pillaged and rifled by big festivals and even bigger distributors, what chance do smaller festivals have in screening unknown gems? When the VIFF is programming 95 films in its Dragons and Tiger: The Cinemas of East Asia section, how can the VAFF compete?

Godzilla fest

Peter Leung, Marketing Director of the VAFF says "I look at VIFF's schedule this year and realize that their approach to programming Asian content is quite different than ours. Our tendency is to focus on North American based Asian filmmakers. Their stories and points of view tend to be enriched and coloured by the cultural mix and struggles that they encounter within their families and communities. Living in North America adds an extra dimension to the meaning of being Asian. And for many of us that are first or second generation Canadians, the larger festivals and cinema in general are not telling these stories.

"The exotic, far off lands are still the major attraction, I suppose. Ironically, VAFF had passed on a beautifully shot South Asian film called Hari Om, but it's found a spot on VIFF's program."

The VAFF's line up includes a screening of Silmido, the box office champion in Korea with over 10 million admissions and a celebration of Godzilla's 50th anniversary with screenings of Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2000) and Son Of Godzilla (1967).

Silmido may pick up a U.S. distributor like its fellow Asian blockbuster Infernal Affairs (Miramax's latest aquisition) but often it's the smaller festivals that are the first to mine the darkest depths and brings forth diamonds which then go on to bigger things. J-Horror remakes and the greater interest in Asian cinema has resulted in increasing options for art house heavy weights such as Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang and cult favorites like Miike Takashi and Hideo Nakata. Miike Takashi's Gozu has already bagged a big distributor in the U.S. and his film Izo is screening at the VIFF this year. But other films like Hideyuki Kobayashi's Marronnier, about some very frightening dollies, might be just a little too out there to ever find acceptance in mainstream festivals.

'Most dangerous movie'

Marronnier was a big hit at the The Asian Film Festival in New York this year. A recent article in the New Yorker entitled Gross and Grosser by Michael Agger charted the sometimes rocky path of the festival. "The first year, 2000, was a modest success, but everything changed during year two, when (festival programmer) Grady Hendrix screened a Korean film called "The Isle" for members of the press. The movie contains what Hendrix calls "a moment of extreme fishhook penetration," and it was shortly after this part of the film that a critic emerged into the lobby, made a high-pitched gurgling noise, and passed out on the floor. Hendrix checked to see that the man was O.K. and then called the Post. The story was reprinted in other newspapers, and soon "The Isle" acquired a reputation as the most dangerous movie around…"

CineMuerte in Vancouver has also screened the Isle and this year will present another Korean film The Uninvited as its gala opening film. CineMuerte doesn't have to worry about competing with larger festivals to get the films it wants. Despite the increased interest in genre film, most mainstream festivals don't want their audience barfing in the aisle from the Isle. CineMuerte VI runs Oct. 27-31 at the Pacific Cinematheque.

The lineup is diverse and includes Lady Terminato, an Indonesian remake (and the term is used very loosely) of the James Cameron classic, which progammer Janisse describes as "a bad movie perfect storm."

Horrors!

The festival closes with Jim Van Bebber's The Manson Family, a film some 15 years in the bloody making. The Uninvited's Lee Soo-yeon (who won the Best Director Award at the Sitges Festival in Spain) is invited to be a guest of the festival this year. Among other  notable guests will be director Matt Cimber, whose claim to infamy includes directing the Pia Zadora classic Butterfly and being married to Jayne Mansfield. Along with star Millie Perkins he will present his 1976 classic The Witch Who Came from the Sea.

CineMuerte is not for the faint hearted nor the weak stomached. It's a festival where you can see films that perhaps you ought not to see. The Festival has always been a one woman show from the beginning. When founder/programmer Kier-La Janisse moved to Austin, Texas this past year, it was uncertain whether it would meet its own demise. Even Kier-La herself wasn't sure if it would continue. "The future of CineMuerte is always uncertain, because sponsors are scarce and it's not a government-funded event, so it's all based on its performance from year-to-year. Pretty much every year I say I'm never doing it again, but really it's the regulars who keep me going! I know some people really appreciate it and it's for them that I keep doing it."

'Sweet freak'

What draws this seemingly nice girl to the cinematic darkside? A quote from New Zealand International Film Festival programmer Anthony Timpson in Celluloid Horror (2003), the documentary about Janisse's struggles to bring CineMuerte to life sums it up thusly: "She's a sweet natured girl but she's also a total fucking freak."

"CineMuerte is special," says Janisse. "I have the same amount of guests per capita as any other festival, and the intimate setting (which I don't want to ever change) allows for the audience and the guests to interact a lot more than at other festivals. I have friends flying in from all over the place to hang out, and even Edwin Neal, the hitchhiker from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is coming up for nothing just to hang out! I gave him a job being a judge at the BLOODSHOT contest (the 48-hour horror filmmaking contest) so that his trip has a business purpose, but really, a lot of people will come to the fest just to meet him and he's not even there to present a film. So this year is bound to be totally CRAZY."

Whether you want to be passing out from fish hook penetration or merely swooning from the beauty of exotic landscapes and people, there is a film festival for you.

Dorothy Woodend reviews films for The Tyee. Meet her at the Word on the Street Festival at the Vancouver Main Public Library this Sunday at noon at the Magazine/News stage on Homer St.