The National Bank Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is pleased to announce the countdown to its much anticipated 20th Annual celebration of Asian diaspora and diversity in film, set for November 3rd to 6th, 2016 at the Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas in Vancouver 88 W. Pender St., in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district. For this year’s theme, “Homecoming,” we are proud to showcase our story of how we got from there, to here, in addition to providing a brief glimpse into the possible future and how we celebrate diversity in our society.
“We are extremely excited for this year’s 20th festival,” stated Grace Chin, Festival Director. “Fostering the Canadian arts and culture community is a key element of National Bank’s values, and providing ongoing support for the Vancouver Asian Film Festival is truly our honour,” said Richard Wang, Associate VP Commercial Banking (BC), National Bank. “We’re very proud to support Asian cinema and help independent filmmakers realize theirvisions.”
With the theme “Homecoming,” the VAFF 20 lineup invites us to explore different interpretations and accommodations of “home,” and what it symbolizes—particularly for diaspora. The festival’s 12 film programs include a local youth filmmaker showcase and 35 feature-length and short films of allgenres, with English dialogue and/or English subtitles, from the local and international Asian diaspora.
Highlights include four world premieres, including of the Canadian documentary feature “All Our Father’s Relations” profiling Musqueam Nation elders from the Grant family in BC, as they explore their mixed race Canadian Chinese and First Nations heritage and visit their father’s village in Guangdong, China for the first time; 2 North American premieres, and 10 Canadian premieres. An additional 6 films are Vancouver premieres.
The Best Canadian Short Award will be presented to one of seven nominated eligible short films by Canadian filmmakers. New this year, is the Best Canadian Feature Award sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada, to be presented to one of three nominated eligible feature films by Canadian filmmakers. We will be presenting various People’s Choice Awards, sponsored by National Bank, during the closing night screening and awards ceremony. The VAFF Industry AIM Summit provides a forum for discussion to provide actionable items for change to include diversity in movies, media and music.
The entire program schedule will be available online at www.vaff.org starting October 1. Tickets will be available online at vaff.org starting October 1, or at the VAFF table located in the lobby of the Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas.
