VIFF Announces Controversial Line-up
for 2004
Series will showcase documentaries on Bush and
Iraq
August 18, 2004 — The Vancouver International Film Festival
today announced that a special series on activist documentaries
will be forefront within Nonfiction Features of 2004, the Festival’s
annual wide-ranging selection of many of the year’s best documentary
films. The section called “Changing
the World” encompasses award-winning films
on topics as diverse as the war in Iraq, genetic engineering, terrorism,
globalization and the environment.
“The Vancouver International Film Festival has long been
renowned for its focus on political and social documentaries, and
with the incredible success of The Corporation and Fahrenheit 9/11,
we’re glad to see that the world is changing for documentaries
among mainstream film viewers as well,” said Festival Director
Alan Franey. “Last year’s VIFF presented almost 100
documentary films to audiences numbering in the tens of thousands,
and we’re eager to build on that tradition highlighting the
medium’s newly strengthened potential for activism and change.”
“The films in the Changing
the World focus are stellar examples of how documentary
filmmakers are pushing the established boundaries, both depicting
controversial subject matter that slips through the cracks of the
mainstream media, and, in a related stance, inciting the spirit
of informed protest in viewers. Whether rounded and reasonable,
or as polemical as Fahrenheit 9/11, the nonfiction films we have
selected this year handle controversial subject matter with the
utmost aesthetic and moral sensitivity. A film festival allows viewers
to engage in active debate with visiting filmmakers and with each
other and, best of all, to see patterns emerge between the issues
raised in one group of films and with another from the other side
of the world.”
At the forefront of these films, the VIFF is proud to present two
international premieres. French director William Karel’s thoughtful
and damning THE WORLD ACCORDING
TO BUSH is more rigorous and objective—and
far less demagogical—than Fahrenheit 9/11. Karel’s authoritative
look at George Bush and his administration features a wealth of
original interviews with everyone from Norman Mailer and Hans Blix
to Colin Powell and Richard Perle. THE
WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSH will screen as a Special
Presentation with director William Karel in attendance.
From ground zero in Iraq comes another, entirely different perspective
on the war. The pseudonymous Salam Pax came to worldwide attention
as the Baghdad Blogger, an intelligent voice of reason and hope
reporting first from the heart of Saddam’s dictatorship and
then in the aftermath of the war. Now a filmmaker (and columnist
with The Guardian), in BAGHDAD
BLOGGER/SALAM PAX—VIDEO REPORTS FROM IRAQ
he takes his camera to the streets of Baghdad, uncovering the everyday
and the extraordinary in that traumatized city. Salam Pax will also
be a guest of the VIFF. [Note:
Due to visa difficulties, Mr. Pax may not be able to attend the
2004 VIFF. Please check our VIFF Guests list posted on the Films
Main Page for up-to-date information about all our VIFF Guests.]
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
has almost daily produced new horrors and atrocities packaged into
iconic clips and news sound bites. The result is we become fatigued
with the reports of Israeli “retaliation” and Palestinian
“martyrs.” However, we are pleased to present films
that appeal to the humanity of both sides of the ongoing conflict
and awaken us anew to the interconnectedness of the modern world.
In THE WALL, veteran
documentary filmmaker Simone Bitton, an Arab Jew at home on both
sides of Jerusalem and fluent in Arabic and Hebrew, offers an eye-opening
look at the physical (and psychological) barrier being built to
divide the Palestinian territories from Israel.
Emmanuel Hamon’s SELVES
AND OTHERS: A PORTRAIT OF EDWARD SAID is an intimate
discussion with the Palestinian-American intellectual who died in
September 2003. Said challenges us to see lines of conflict as lines
of co-existence in the intertwining history of Arab and Jew; something
award winning Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir succeeds in doing in
CHECKPOINT, which
presents both the Israeli soldiers and Palestinians as victims.
A list of the other films announced today follows. The full line-up
of Nonfiction Features will be announced at the Media Conference
on September 1. The 23rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival
expects to have over 500 screenings of more than 300 films from
over 50 countries. Beginning September 4, comprehensive information
and schedules will be available at www.viff.org and the Starbucks
Hotline at 604-683-FILM (3456). Tickets also go on sale September
4 through the VISA Charge-by-Phone line at 604-685-8297 and on the
web.
“CHANGING THE WORLD”
AN ALGERIAN DREAM
(France/Algeria)
Jean-Pierre Lledo profiles the fascinating Henri Alleg, publisher
of Algeria’s one truly independent newspaper during French
colonial rule. As the now quite elderly man relates his imprisonment
and torture at the hands of the colonialist powers in the 1950s,
Algerian history is brought vividly to life.
THE BOY WHO PLAYS ON THE BUDDHAS
OF BAMIYAN (UK)
Focusing on a refugee family temporarily living in the caves of
the beautiful Afghani valley that had housed world famous 1,600-year-old
Buddhist art—until the Taliban destroyed it three years ago—Phil
Grabsky’s documentary is tremendously insightful and memorable
because of its fine, human scale.
CHANNELS OF RAGE
(Israel)
For three years Anat Halachmi followed the shifting relationship
between the Zionist rapper Subliminal and his protégé
the Arab nationalist TN; the result is a multi-layered and revealing
investigation of Israeli and Palestinian youth cultures that won
Best Documentary at the 2003 Jerusalem Film Festival.
DIFFERENT DRUMMERS: DARING TO
MAKE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST (USA)
Boston College professor and filmmaker John Michalczyk portrays
several Israeli peacemakers who provoke others to join their forces
for peace and justice, while decrying Israel’s human rights
abuses.
FAIRUZ: WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO
MUCH (Netherlands)
Before the war in Lebanon, Beirut was one of the world’s most
cosmopolitan cities and the undisputed queen of music there—and
elsewhere in the Middle East—was legendary singer Fairuz.
Jack Janssen’s documentary is a beautiful, then-and-now love
letter to that place and that person. Poetic, elegiac and completely
heartfelt.
FALA TU—LIVING RAP IN RIO
(Brazil)
Winner of the audience award for best documentary at the Rio de
Janeiro Film Festival last year, Guilherme Coelho’s powerful
first feature, shot over nine months, follows the lives of three
unknown rappers dreaming of escaping the favela slums of Rio and
making it big.
FINAL SOLUTION
(India)
Rakesh Sharma’s rigorous and distressing documentary examines
the perilous situation in India’s wealthiest province, Gujarat,
in the aftermath of the burning of 58 Hindus on the Sabarmati Express
train at Godhra, India, on February 27, 2002. That violence led
to more than 2,000 Muslim deaths and the displacement of 200,000
people... Where is India headed now?
GACACA, LIVING TOGETHER IN RWANDA
(France)
In this important film about reconciliation, Anne Aghion investigates
the Gacaca tribunals that hear the cases of Rwandans in prison for
their roles in the 1994 genocide.
GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY
HEARST (USA)
Superbly researched and constructed, Robert Stone’s gripping
documentary is an unprecedented account of America’s most
notorious and flamboyant domestic terrorist group, the Symbionese
Liberation Army, and their infamous 1974 kidnapping of newspaper
heiress Patty Hearst.
LET’S GET FRANK
(USA)
In this smart and funny peak at US culture wars, Bart Everly spends
two years following openly gay Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
during the Clinton impeachment hearings, offering new insights on
the human (and all-too-human) dimension of life among the world's
most powerful people.
LIFE RUNNING OUT OF CONTROL
(Germany)
Startling in its revelations about the power of biotechnology and
the dangers of the corporate control of the sciences, Bertram Verhaag
and Gabriele Krober’s film take us on a colourful global journey
into the genetic manipulation of plants, animals and humans. Includes
interviews with Indian ecologist Vandana Shiva and Saskatchewan
farmer Percy Schmeiser.
MONDOVINO (USA/France)
Sometime-sommelier Jonathan Nossiter’s globetrotting look
at the globalization of the wine industry features a compelling
cast of characters: expert wine critic Robert Parker, assorted Burgundy
vintiers, the Mondavis, and all of their dogs. An entertaining,
incisive and never less than fascinating look at the terrors facing
terroir.
MONUMENTAL—DAVID BROWER’S
FIGHT FOR WILD AMERICA (USA)
Environmental activist and head of the Sierra Club in the 50s and
60s, David Brower was a larger-than-life force for conservation
in America. Using footage of unspoiled wilderness shot by Brower
himself (accompanied by some great rock tunes by a dozen different
bands) interspersed with insightful interviews, Kelly Duane has
fashioned a monument to the late maverick.
THE OTHER SIDE OF AIDS
(USA)
Award winner Robin Scovill talks with scientists, doctors, activists
and people diagnosed with HIV, including some living “meds
free” since the mid-80s, in this riveting and accomplished
investigation of the controversial debate over the causes of AIDS.
SANDCASTLES: BUDDHISM AND GLOBAL
FINANCE (Netherlands)
Alexander Oey’s insightful effort to bridge the gap between
the drama of global finance and the human suffering it causes.
SLAVES OF THE SWORD
(USA)
In a series of incisive biographies on three generals who have shaped
the history and present of Israel, David Jenkins interweaves rare
archival footage, newsreels, television clips and even campaign
ads in documentaries on Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon.
The series offers rare insights into Israeli political culture and
pertinent analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while featuring
interviews with both friends and foes of the generals.
UNTIL WHEN…
(Palestine/USA)
With attention to the experiences of all generations, but particularly
that of today’s youth, Dahna Abourahme has directed a documentary
that insightfully and poetically articulates the frustrations, fears
and hopes of Palestinian refugees living in Dhiesheh, a camp near
Bethlehem.
WALL STREET (Switzerland)
Parachuting us onto the trading floors of Wall Street, Andreas Hoessli
offers a revealing and candid look at the people and culture that
make up the biggest market place in the world.
The 23rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival runs from
September 23 to October 8. More than 150,000 patrons are expected
to attend 500 screenings of over 300 films from 50 countries at
10 Vancouver screens: Cineplex Odeon Granville Cinemas (7 screens);
the VISA Screening Room at the Vogue Theatre; The Ridge; and the
Pacific Cinémathèque.
All box offices open September 4 for VISA cardholders. VISA and
cash sales from September 11. The fastest way to buy advance tickets
is at www.viff.org, 24 hours a day, or through the VISA Charge-by-Phone
line at 604-685-8297, open noon to 7pm. There are two advance ticket
outlets, the Pacific Centre Kiosk (Granville and Georgia) and City
Square Mall (Cambie and 12th, mezzanine level). For festival information,
call the Starbucks Hotline at 604-683-FILM (3456) starting September
2, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., or see the website.
The full line-up will be announced at a press conference on September
1, 10:30 am at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Georgia.
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