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VIFF announces 2015 Canadian Images film lineup

Canadian Images Series features 17 films including six world premieres for the Sept. 24-Oct. 9 fest.

Frank and the Wondercat. Image courtesy VIFF
A creative documentary focuses on 80-year-old American Frank Furko's celebrity, which derives from a deeply-felt friendship with Pudgie Wudgie, his 20-pound performing house cat. Image courtesy of VIFF

The Vancouver International Film Festival has just announced 17 more films for its acclaimed Canadian Images series. These films join the 11 previously announced BC Spotlight features in one of the world’s largest annual showcases of new Canadian cinema.

This series will feature prominently at VIFF’s 34th edition, which runs Sept. 24-Oct. 9, 2015.

The new feature films confirmed include the world premieres of Chelsea McMullan’s Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John, Alexander Carson’s O, Brazen Age, Ryan McKenna’s The Heart of Madame Sabali, Tony Massil and Pablo Alvarez-Mesa’s Frank and the Wondercat, Alex Williams’ The Pass System and Hélène Choquette’s A Dog’s Life. Also playing VIFF will be the English-Canadian premieres of François Péloquin’s The Sound of Trees and Sonia Boileau’s Le Dep.

In addition to impressive debuts such as Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant, the series will also feature the latest work from Canadian maverick Guy Maddin (The Forbidden Room, codirected by Evan Johnson), as well as award-winning directors Sean Garrity (Borealis) and Alan Zweig (Hurt). Zweig’s profile of fallen Canadian icon Steve Fonyo is certain to generate considerable interest in Vancouver.

As part of its commitment to Canadian filmmakers, VIFF also offers two cash awards to celebrate outstanding achievements in narrative feature filmmaking: $10,000 for Best Canadian Film and $2,000 for Emerging Canadian Director. Both awards are sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada.

VIFF will announce its Canadian Images Special Presentations and the Canadian Images Short Films at a later date. The full VIFF program will be unveiled Sept. 3.

The following is the full list of Canadian Images feature films added to the VIFF lineup:

The Amina Profile (Sophie Deraspe)

Sophie Deraspe's investigative documentary is the latest reminder to be skeptical of everyone you encounter online. Deraspe tells the cautionary tale of the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus Internet hoax. (A blog that purported to be a boots-on-the-ground look at life as an out lesbian in fractious Syria turned out to be something else entirely.)

"What begins as an account of an online affair gradually morphs into a commentary on identity in the Information Age. [A] slippery, deftly woven narrative…"—Variety

Borealis (Sean Garrity)

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