Every week, Establishing Shots offers some further enlightenment on the films that will be screening in-cinema at the VIFF Centre and online through VIFF Connect.
Every January, VIFF ushers in the new year with the Vancouver Italian Film Festival. Our most recent edition proved particularly stellar, with archival screenings of Once Upon a Time in the West and several giallo thrillers complementing the Vancouver premieres of Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor and Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden.
The latter now returns to the Vancity Theatre for its theatrical run, allowing another opportunity to marvel at Marcello’s richly cinematic adaptation of the Jack London novel. Writing on the film in the wake of its Venice premiere last year, Cinema Scope‘s Jordan Cronk noted, “Distinctly big, dramatic, and affecting, it confirms Marcello’s burgeoning talents and marks the belated arrival of a singular artist to the international art-house stage.” (The interview with Marcello that follows is well worth the read.)
Those readers who purchased a Gold subscription for the recently wrapped VIFF will be able to enjoy even more of Martin Eden‘s Luca Marinelli, as we’re screening an encore presentation of They Call Me Jeeg on our VIFF Connect streaming platform. In this inspired reworking of the typical superhero origin story, Marinelli plays a megalomaniacal would-be crime lord. (Those of you who didn’t “go for Gold” during the festival be able to subscribe to VIFF Connect starting in December.)
Having proven itself an audience favourite at the 39th edition of VIFF, Norris Wong’s My Prince Edward wastes little time finding its way to the Vancity Theatre. Sean Gilman, who writes extensively on East Asian cinema for MUBI Notebook, assessed the film at the New York Asian Film Festival for In Review and praised Stephy Tang’s central performance and Wong’s subtle direction.
Ben Wheatley’s relationship with VIFF dates back to the festival welcoming his first feature, Down Terrace, to our 2010 edition. A few years later, the director would pay a memorable visit to the VIFF Centre to discuss High Rise and deliver a masterclass. Given this history, we couldn’t be more excited to host the exclusive Vancouver theatrical engagement of Rebecca, his adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s gothic novel.
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