The 2006 Vancouver Film Festival Team Blog

Nurit's guidelines to a successful film festival...

Since you've probably heard enough from my clap-trap and would rather plan movies or hear from someone else, I am posting an email I received recently from pal (and VIFF veteran) Nurit Barkan-Ascher outlining a list of do's and dont's for a successful filmgoing experience come festival time. Without further ado,

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GUIDELINES TO A SUCCESSFUL FILM FESTIVAL

by Nurit Barkan-Ascher

The 25th VIFF is just around the corner and we can almost feel the hype and the blessed, strangely welcomed stress.

How wonderful is it going to be? Log onto www.viff.org and read the official promises. How to make it a successful experience? Read on.

1. If you are a die-hard film fan, book some time off work.
2. Spend a few days (at least a weekend) reading the official programme guide. The ‘teaser’ program guide comes out earlier and is a nice preview. While it is free it is incomplete and has no dates so it is challenging to make up your schedule. The official hard copy guide costs money (though it is available on line), and it tells you everything you want to know about the upcoming films which according to the program are all extraordinary, unique, fantastic or simply the best ever.
3. To get a dose of reality or at least something less “promo” tasting, check out review websites. By the time they arrive here, many of the VIFF films have already been shown in Cannes, Seattle, Berlin, Sundance, Edinburgh, Jerusalem, Venice, Locarno, and (just in the nick of time) Montreal and Toronto. So there are reviews available. This is particularly crucial in regard to the Dragons & Tigers and the Canadian Images offerings for which the VIFF program’s descriptions are often quite mysterious and unrevealing.
4. Order your Pass or Tickets on line. It is easy and fast and you don’t have to line up at the box office and run into other (very) nervous ticket seekers. However, if you have the right attitude, crowd watching can be loads of fun. The line-ups are also a great place to begin a grass-roots dialogue about films.
5. Get your domicile in order. Do that extra shopping - you are unlikely to have time to get to the store for toilet paper during the festival. Don’t forget to buy high-liners (in at least 3 different colours) for marking your schedule in your guide.
6. If you share your life with someone who is not a festival addict have a nice final dinner the night prior to the festival opening. Remember that you will not see much of your partner or kids during the festival, and it is highly probable that they will not want to hear your amazing film reflections/analysis on a daily basis.
7. Make sure you have: Comfortable shoes (so you can sprint from venue to venue), and a (very) large backpack. Beside your program guide, your backpack should contain some healthy food (and don’t wrap it in crinkly wrap or your ‘friends’ will get nasty), a sweater, a raincoat, a notebook, a pen, a book (to read between films), a teeny flashlight (to find your seat in the dark) and a deodorant. The pack is also essential for seat saving and above all for the special look of a film aficionado.
8. There are over 300 films and only 15 days. How do you fit it all in? - first thing to do is to avoid those films that are going to open soon in regular theatres. You can tell by the distributor or the print name (Celluloid Dreams, Mongrel Media, Odeon, Gemini Film and Seville are some of the biggies). The NY Times on the web has a list of the films that will open in NY in the coming months. These will surely cross the border soon enough.
9. A film festival is a place to discover films. Choose at least some obscure films that sound interesting. In particular select documentaries on subjects you don’t know much about (but perhaps should), or those you haven’t already arrived at a concrete opinion about. Don’t waste your time on documentaries that only state your already made up opinion. Be open minded and come with an open heart.
10. Some of the best discussions about films are between people waiting in line. Join in. Vancouverites actually allow their otherwise hidden friendliness to come out during the festival and there is a lot of intimate contact between the people in the line. Get to know the person who is giving you advice; he or she may like the type of films you hate! I like films by Ozon and Haneke and Arcand, but if you dragged me to a Kiarostami or an Egoyan film… hmmm. Last year I liked Cache and Wild Side. I hated Accused and Paper Moon Affair, so would you follow my advice?
11. Expect a lot of discussion in the line about Anglo Canadian films and the write-ups of Tony Rayns.
12. Expect great division of opinion about whether a rape scene was merely exploitative or had artistic merit.
13. Expect great division of opinion regarding the Middle East, less so regarding Bush.
14. Expect some people to find metaphors in any film.
15. Expect to hear that the film you thought was a masterpiece is the worst film ever made.
16. Remember that a film festival is not the Ironman competition. How many films you see isn’t the issue. Yes, people tend to show off, but everyone has a personal comfort level (between 2-5 a day). People who see more on a daily basis often cannot recall what they’ve seen. They become crabby and are not having fun – that is, partaking in all the other essentials such as friendship, food, sleep, sex, and intellectual digestion.

THAT IS IT. Now it all begins. You finally got into the theatre.

DON’T FORGET:

Turn off your cell phone and that watch that chirps in the dark. Do not talk and do not touch that cellophane. Relax and Enjoy.

posted by Jason Whyte @ 12:55 AM