Catch up on your 2017 Oscar noms in two easy screenings!

Vancouver animator Robert Valley’s Pear Cider and Cigarettes screens as part of VIFF’s Oscar Shorts programme.

Feeling behind in your 2016 movie-viewing? Does the list of nominees for this year’s Best Picture read like a list of films you saw mentioned on posters on the way to Paul Blart Mall Cop 3?

Worry not; the Vancouver International Film Centre has an easy way to catch up on 2017’s nominees. In fact, you can see 10 nominated films in just two screenings.

Of course, there’s a catch – the films are nominated in the two short film categories, live action and animation. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have bragging rights come Oscars night, when you’re sitting around with your “Arrival was so much better than La La Land”-type friends and you casually drop, “Oh yeah, but have you seen Timo von Gunten’s La Femme et la TGV? It’s truly sublime.”

The screenings run Feb. 10 to March 4 for the Live Action programme, and Feb. 10 to Feb. 27 for Animation. For locals, the biggest news is in the latter category – it includes Pear Cider and Cigarettes, a film by Vancouverite Robert Valley.

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Catch up on your 2017 Oscar noms in two easy screenings!

‘Cat stuck in a vase’ and other cinematic classics at Just for Cats Festival 2016

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Just some of the cat action at this year’s fest.

“You love them. You mock them. But one thing you can’t do is stop watching them. Yes, we’re talking about Internet cat videos. Which either represent the pinnacle of human creative achievement, or a sign that the apocalypse is nigh. Or both.” —Los Angeles Times

Since 2012, the Walker Arts Center has been compiling its Internet Cat Video reel. While not on the scale of the Manhattan Project, it is an 80-minute compilation of cat hilarity in videos ranging from six-second Vine videos to short films and everything in between.

For the second year in a row, Vancity Theatre, in conjunction with the BC SPCA, is bringing the Just for Cats Festival to Vancouver on June 26.

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‘Cat stuck in a vase’ and other cinematic classics at Just for Cats Festival 2016