In partnership with SPARK FX, the leading grassroots visual effects conference in North America, the Vancity Theatre is pleased to present half a dozen groundbreaking effects movies, new and old.

Our programme takes its cue from Canada’s own Robert Lepage, best known for his virtuoso theatrical effects, as highlighted in the behind-the-stage documentary Wagner’s Dream. We’re also showing the Vancouver premiere of Mars & Avril, a spellbinding sci-fi romance set in a futuristic Montreal, which Lepage produced and appears in (pictured), and cinema’s first take on the legend of Siegfried that inspired Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Die Nibelungen, a five-hour, two-part epic made by the director of Metropolis, Frtiz Lang, in a new digital restoration.

We’re presenting back to back shows of John Carpenter’s fx classic The Thing (1982) and its recent 2011 prequel, which features CGI fx from Vancouver company Image Engine, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001 and a special late night screening of The Exorcist on its 40th anniversary. In a lighter vein, we have two deliriously inventive French fantasy comedies by modern masters Jean Pierre Jeunet (Micmacs) and Luc Besson (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec). For conference information see sparkfx.ca