Inside Vancouver

Cinematheque’s Best of the Decade kicks off today

by Shawn Conner in Entertainment, Events on January 8, 2020

Haven’t seen Toni Erdmann yet? Check out the 2016 German-Austrian comedy as part of Cinematheque’s Best of the Decade film series.

Can you name your 10 favourite films from the last decade? Cinematheque programmers Jim Sinclair and Shaun Inouye have picked theirs, and the theatre is screening them from now until Feb. 17.

Among the selections, perhaps the biggest surprise is David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return, an 18-hour epic that aired in 2017 in hour-long episodes on Showtime. Other titles you might recognize, or perhaps have never heard of—and that’s exactly what lists like these (and the Cinematheque’s programming) is for.

See the selections below (click on titles to view trailers). And no, Avengers: Endgame did not make the cut.

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Cinematheque’s Best of the Decade kicks off today

See ‘an exorbitant amount of computer-generated cats’ this Saturday at Vancity Theatre!

by Shawn Conner in Entertainment on February 8, 2019

Sandrine Pinna plays an imperial consort in Legend of the Demon Cat.

Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymoure St.) is screening the blockbuster The Legend of the Demon Cat this Saturday, Feb. 9.

A “cavalcade of lush decor, extravagant coloring, and a delightfully exorbitant amount of computer-generated cats” (mubi.com), the film is a 2017 Chinese-Japanese co-production. Find out more below.

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See ‘an exorbitant amount of computer-generated cats’ this Saturday at Vancity Theatre!

Female sexuality, a men’s synchronized swim team, and a New York photographer’s Quebec: highlights of this year’s Rendez-vous French Film Festival

by Shawn Conner in Events on January 31, 2019

Le grand bain, one of the most popular films in France last year, screens as part of this year’s Rendez-vous French Film Festival.

Beginning on Feb. 1, the Rendez-vous French Film Festival will screen over 50 films. The festival, dedicated to bringing the best of Quebec and Francophone culture to B.C., is now in its 25th year.

This year’s line-up includes the movie selected as the Canadian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, the winner of this year’s Best Canadian Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the winner of the Best Canadian Film Award at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma.

The first batch of films screens at Jules-Verne Auditorium (5445 Baillie St,) from Feb.1-3; the second screens at SFU Woodward’s (149 W. Hastings St.) Feb.5-10. The festival also features visiting directors, actors, producers and academics. See below for some highlights.

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Female sexuality, a men’s synchronized swim team, and a New York photographer’s Quebec: highlights of this year’s Rendez-vous French Film Festival

Cinematheque presents the premiere of acclaimed new Argentine film about European colonialism

by Shawn Conner in Entertainment on May 29, 2018

A scene from Zama, the latest film from Argentine provocateur Lucrecia Martel. The acclaimed 2017 movie screens at The Cinematheque as part of a career retrospective.

The Cinematheque is presenting the Vancouver premiere of the first film in nearly a decade from the Argentine auteur behind the acclaimed 2008 thriller The Headless Woman.

Zama is the acclaimed latest film from Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel. To coincide with its Vancouver premiere of the 2017 movie, The Cinematheque presents I Feel You: The Films of Lucrecia Martel. The mid-career retrospective features four films from what cinematheque.ca calls “the Argentine auteur’s fiercely-original, highly-sensorial body of work.”

Screenings run June 1-10 at the downtown rep theatre, with opening night featuring a screening of Zama. UBC Film Studies lecturer Dr. Christine Evans will introduce the film. Find out more about the films below.

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Cinematheque presents the premiere of acclaimed new Argentine film about European colonialism

Exorcisms, love at first sight and Italy’s answer to Breaking Bad at this year’s Italian Film Festival

by Shawn Conner in Events on December 21, 2017

Matilda de Angelis is featured in the 2016 movie Veloce come il vento (Italian Race), which screens at this year’s Italian Film Festival.

A couple Fellinis, three Tavianis, a Rossellini and a Bertolucci. It must be time for the Italian Film Festival.

Each year, the festival screens old, restored and new films by Italian filmmakers. This year’s runs Jan. 5-11 and features classics, documentaries and examples of new Italian cinema. Screenings take place at Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour St.). Here are some highlights.

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Exorcisms, love at first sight and Italy’s answer to Breaking Bad at this year’s Italian Film Festival

UFO death cult thriller, Mexican wrestlers, restaurant mayhem in VIFF’s Altered States series

by Shawn Conner in Events on September 12, 2017

Friendly Beast is the debut feature from Brazilian filmmaker Gabriela Amaral Almeida.

Amidst all the kitchen-sink foreign dramas, big-name Hollywood blockbusters and poignant, thought-provoking documentaries, the Vancouver International Film Festival also makes room for mind-bending, compelling and sometimes just weird genre (and genre-bending) movies.

This year, the VIFF (Sept. 28-Oct. 13) is once again presenting its Altered States film series. The series features 10 movies that don’t fit in with the regular, more mainstream (read: less gory/perverse/violent) fare. This year’s 10 Altered States run the gamut from UFO death cult thriller (The Endless) to surreal relationship drama (Animals) to weird domestic nightmares (Housewife, Bitch).

Here are five Altered States films that look particularly intriguing. (Note: click on film titles to watch trailers.)

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UFO death cult thriller, Mexican wrestlers, restaurant mayhem in VIFF’s Altered States series

Five reasons to check out Seven Beauties: The Films of Lina Wertmuller

by Shawn Conner in Events on September 7, 2017

A still from Seven Beauties (1975). It earned Italian director Lina Wertmüller an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Throughout September, Cinematheque is presenting a retrospective of work by Italian director Lina Wertmüller. All told, the series includes seven features and a documentary.

Here are five reasons to check out the program, which runs Sept. 8-25, and is presented in collaboration with with Vancouver’s Italian Cultural Centre.

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Five reasons to check out Seven Beauties: The Films of Lina Wertmuller