Vancouver Film Festival: 20 Films To Watch

The 27th Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off today, and we couldn't be more excited. Or overwhelmed. With over 300 films from 60 countries, it can be a daunting task to narrow down which VIFF screenings to take in. If you're unsure which ones to skip and which ones you don't want to miss, here's a start: 20 audience favourites, award winners and ones to watch for the 2008 fest. Keep checking Vancouver.com for reviews, recommendations and VIFF buzz, as the festival continues to October 10.

Tickets for all screenings (excluding gala screenings) are $10.00(Matinee, Seniors $8.00). Tickets can be purchased in advance, or 30 minutes prior to screening. For a full programme and ticket buying info, visit viff.org.

Adoration – Canadian auteur Atom Agoyan's latest film, which won the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes 2008, follows a troubled teen who starts a vicious on-line rumour, stirring up a mess of opinions, violence and deception.

Monday, October 6, 9:30pm, Granville 7; Tuesday, October 7, 10:00am, Granville 7

Be Like Others - A film about Iranian sexual politics, set in a sex change clinic in Tehran and the abuse gay men face; by Tanaz Eshaghian (Berlin prize winner).

Thursday, September 25, 9:45pm, Granville 7; Monday, September 29, 1:30pm, Pacific Cinémathéque; Saturday, October 4, 4:00pm, Granville 7

Three Monkeys – a desolate, black film about a driver who takes the fall for his evil boss; Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won Best Director at Cannes.

Sunday, September 28, 4:00pm, Ridge Theatre; Monday, September 29, 10:30am, Granville 7; Tuesday, September 30, 9:30pm, Granville 7

The Desert Within – a visually stunning film about a father consumed with guilt who builds a desert church to make amends with God; this film by Rodrigo Plá garnered tons of awards at the Guadalajaran Mexican Film Festival.

Saturday, September 27, 6:40pm, Granville 7; Monday, September 29, 11:30am, Granville 7; Monday, October 6, 11:00am, Granville 7

Sita Sings the Blues – A witty and beautiful animated film by Nina Paley (USA) that combines the famous Hindu epic The Ramayana with the tale of her own marital woe.

Sunday, October 5, 12:00pm, Granville 7; Wednesday, October 8, 6:20pm, Granville 7 ; Thursday, October 9, 2:30pm, Granville 7

Blind Loves - A Slovakian film that brings together four blind people in a part animated, part documentary quest for love; winner of the CICAE Award from the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight.

Thursday, September 25, 7:30pm, Vancity Theatre; Sunday, September 28, 9:30pm, Ridge Theatre; Saturday, October 4, 1:30pm, Granville 7

I've Loved You So Long - Philippe Claudel's moving drama that first premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman reunited with her long lost sister after her release from prison.

Monday, September 29, 1:00pm, Granville 7; Tuesday, September 30, 7:00pm, Granville 7; Sunday, October 5, 1:00pm, Ridge Theatre

A Christmas Tale – One of the highlights from France, a humorous, melancholy film starring Catherine Deneuve that revolves around dysfunctional members of a bourgeois family who return home for the holidays.

Wednesday, Oct 1, 3:30pm, Granville 7; Friday, Oct 3, 9:30pm, Granville 7

The English Surgeon – Geoffrey Smith follows UK neurosurgeon Henry Marsh in Kiev, Ukraine, in this intimate portrait of a humanitarian.

Saturday, September 27, 7:30pm, Granville 7; Thursday, October 2, 10:30am, Granville 7

The Necessities of Life – a Canadian film about an Inuit hunter named Tivii in the early 1950's, and his trip to a Quebec sanitorium for tuberculosis; won the most popular Canadian film at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Thursday, October 2nd 6:20pm, Granville 7; Saturday, October 4, 10:30am, Granville 7 Theatre 2

Waltz with Bashir – this animated film by Ari Folman received lots of attention at Cannes, and tells the tragic story of war and the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees.

Sunday, September 28, 10:00am, Granville 7; Thursday, October 2, 9:30pm, Granville 7

Night and Day - Hong Sang-soo's latest film about a scared painter who flees Korea to live in a hostel in Paris and meets a young Korean love interest who brings chaos into his inadequate life; from Dragons and Tigers, the Cinema of East Asia section of VIFF

Thursday, October 9, 8:45pm, ; Friday, October 10, 4:30pm, Pacific Cinémathéque

Achilles and the Tortoise – Also from Dragons and Tigers, the Cinema of East Asia, Kitano Takeshi's moving comedy about a Japanese boy trying to become an artist, featuring Kitano's own paintings.

Saturday, September 27, 6:20pm, Granville 7; Tuesday, September 30, 4:00pm, Granville 7; Monday, October 6, 7:15pm, Granville 7

Hunger – This story about IRA member and hunger-striker Bobby Sands won the Camera d'Or at Cannes.

Monday, October 6, 9:15pm, Granville 7; Tuesday, October 7, 11:00am, Granville 7

Tulpan – From Russia/Kazakhstan/Germany/Switzerland/Poland, this dramatic documentary about traditional nomadic sheepherders got standing ovations at Cannes.

Thursday, September 25th 1:00pm, Granville 7; Thursday, October 2, 6:40pm, Granville 7

A Sense of Wonder – From VIFF's "Ark" section of nature-themed films, Kaiulani Lee re-stages her one-woman play about the last year of Rachel Carson's (The Sea Around Us, Silent Spring) life – her battle with cancer and her legacy as one of the pioneers of the environmentalist movement.

Tuesday, September 30, 7:15 pm, Granville 7; Thursday, October 2, 4:30pm, Granville 7

A Portrait of Diego: The Revolutionary Gaze – Also from Mexico, cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa and still photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo made this short film about their friendship with the renowned painter Diego Rivera and his life's work.

Sunday, October 5, 2:00pm, Granville 7; Thursday, October 9, 9:30pm, Ridge Theatre

Mothers & Daughters – This poignant, funny film hails from BC, and focuses on the strong bond and complicated relationships between three mother and daughter pairs.

Sunday, September 28, 7:00pm, Ridge Theatre; Sunday, October 5, 11:30am, Granville 7

Celia the Queen – This documentary showcases the life and performances of Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz – the “Queen of Salsa,” with tributes from Quincy Jones, Wyclef Jean, David Byrne, Gloria Estefan and Johnny Pacheco.

Friday, September 26, 1:30pm, Granville 7 Friday, October 3, 7:15pm, Granville 7; Tuesday, October 7, 8:15pm, Granville 7

Let the Right One In – Director Tomas Alfredson reinvents the vampire movie with this darkly sweet film from Sweden about a young boy who befriends the girl vampire next door.

Sunday, October 5, 9:30pm, Granville 7; Monday, October 6, 9:30pm, Granville 7; Wednesday, October 8, 1:00pm, Granville 7

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Granville 7 Cinemas located at 855 Granville St. (map)

Pacific Cinémathéque is at 1131 Howe St. (map)

The Ridge Theatre is at 3131 Arbutus St.(map)

VanCity Theatre is at the Vancouver International Film Centre is at 1181 Seymour St. (map)