“Year-round VIFF” (the Vancouver International Film Festival) is bringing us three must-see films in June, about our city…and, in fact, the region.
In their words:
Local history comes back to life in these films from 1960s and ’80s. This is Vancouver before the tower blocks, when our town was still figuring out what it was going to become.
Vancouver Impressions (The Early 60s)
SAT JUN 2 – 2:15 PM
BUY TICKETS | Clip: City Song (Sinner Man)
Early 1960s Vancouver was a very different place compared with the vibrant multicultural city we know today. This archival programme of films produced by CBUT (CBC Vancouver) between 1961 and 65 treats the viewer to scenes of a predominantly low-rise provincial city, mostly white and European; a place familiar, yet alien to contemporary eyes. Films include Immigrant Impresions (1965), City Song (1961), and three short pieces from the Day in the Life series. Guest intro: Christine Hagemoen
The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical
SAT JUN 2 – 4:15 PM • TUE JUN 5 – 6:30PM
BUY TICKETS | Official Website
Should development provide affordable housing for citizens or luxury condos for the super rich? That was the key question in the Vancouver mayoral campaign of 1986, a campaign that pitched veteran socialist firebrand Harry Rankin against a young rightwinger named Gordon Campbell. We know how it turned out, but this warts-and-all portrait of Rankin (culled from a never-finished documentary from the time) offers plenty of food for thought about politics then and now.
The Bridge
SUN JUN 17 – 3:30PM, 5:15PM • WED JUN 20 – 5:45PM
BUY TICKETS | Trailer
June 17th is the 60th anniversary of the collapse of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing. The tragedy claimed the lives of 18 workers who plunged 100 ft into the waters below, and a 19th, a diver who died later during the search for the bodies. George Orr’s film is built around rediscovered, never-before-seen 16mm colour footage shot by young draftsman Peter Hall as he chronicled the construction, and includes interviews with Hall and remaining survivors.
World Premiere Special guests in attendance
