27 September - 12 October 2012
Both in terms of admissions and number of films screened, VIFF is among the five largest film festivals in North America, showing films from 80 countries on 10 screens. The international line-up includes the pick of the world’s top film fests and many undiscovered gems.
Berkeley Video and Film Festival 2011 Bestows Pioneer in Television Awards -- Berkeley, CA, September 15, 2011 --A newly designated award this year at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival is the Grand Festival Pioneer in Television Award, for distinguished service in the medium of TV. This year Andrew Stern, professor Emeritus, and founder of the UC Berkeley School of Broadcast Journalism, is receiving one of the Pioneer in Television awards and BVFF is screening his 1964 classic broadcast video, Brunswick, Quiet Conflict. Marc N.Weiss, Barbara Kopple, Laurence Storch, and Ed Sharpe will receive the Pioneer in Television Award for their early work in reel to reel video, capturing the Miami Republican Convention in 1972; with a whimsical short document of Allen Ginsberg, providing an extemporaneous song poem, Bagels, Borscht, and Brotherhood, aptly restored and preserved by engineer and broadcast journalist Ed Sharpe of Glendale, Arizona. Chip Lord, one of the founders of ANT FARM a radical media consortium from the S.F. bay area in the 1960's and 1970's famous for their Cadillac Ranch in Texas and the S. F. Media Burn, receives a Pioneer in Television Award, for his dedication and production of avante garde media, in the last half of the 20th century. BVFF will be screening his short homage to Jean Luc Godard, Un Ville de I'Avenir. http://www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/BVFF%202011%20Selections.html
VIFF always has a great line-up and is one of the many autumn fests to look forward to. Vancouver is a great city to attend the film festival which is mostly concentrated within a few blocks in downtown Vancouver's Granville entertainment district between the Davie Village, Yaletown and Robson Square. Opening Weekend through the fest's first week features a strong selection of Asian-Pacific film features, shorts and documentaries that are part of VIFF's Dragons and Tigers series. Awards for Dragons and Tigers nominees are announced mid-fest before it closes. Also, check out many great Canadian films, documentaries, and other films from world cinema. This great film fest just needs a tight tweak: a schedule grid is greatly needed once tickets go on sale.