Vancouver International Film Festival has just announced a handful of the films slated to screen at this year’s event. They have specifically mentioned two programs, with the remaining films to be announced at a media conference in mid September.

The VIFF press release announces two specific programs of films that they will be featuring; American Independence and The New World. I’d think of North America when I hear the term “New World” but I suppose in cinema, Eastern Europe is on the frontier.

I’ve linked the following to the IMDB titles where I could find them; there are two that I have linked that appear they could be correct, but the movie names don’t translate or the director’s name is not found in the IMDB database.

American Independence

As burgeoning social unrest develops in the United States, a good number of feature films reflect troubled times in surprising ways. Without being explicitly political in nature, they do express the spirit of disenfranchisement from both their own government, and popular culture as a whole. American independent cinema, jettisoning the brash cinema of Tarantino, has turned to a cautious, “cool” and modest perspective on life south of the border. — VIFF press release Aug 25, 2005

• BITTERSWEET PLACE (Alexandra Brodsky, US) International Premiere


• CAVITE (Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, US) Canadian Premiere


• FORTY SHADES OF BLUE (Ira Sachs, US) Canadian Premiere


• KEANE (Lodge Kerrigan, US)


• I AM A SEX ADDICT (Caveh Zahedi, US) Canadian Premiere


• THE JOY OF LIFE (Jenni Olson, US) International Premiere


• MUTUAL APPRECIATION (Andrew Bujalski, US) International Premiere


• POLICE BEAT (Robinson Devor, US) International Premiere


• SOUND BARRIER (Amir Naderi, US) International Premiere


• THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (Noam Baumbach, US)


• SWIMMERS (Doug Sadler, US) Canadian Premiere


• WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN? (Travis Wilkerson, US) Canadian Premiere

The New World

a series of titles from Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, the Balkans, and Hungary, which indicate that this is one of the most vital filmmaking regions in the world today. Combining serious documentaries with cutting-edge dramas and crowd-pleasing comedies, The New World shows the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian empire to be a hotbed of up-and-coming cinematic talent, with films that cross borders and represent the new Europe, with all of its troubles, anxieties and newfound pleasures. — VIFF press release Aug 25, 2005

• BLACK BRUSH (Roland Vranik, Hungary) International Premiere


• THE CITY OF THE SUN (Martin Sulík, Czech Republic) English-Canadian Premiere.


• CRASH TEST DUMMIES (Jörg Kalt, Austria) Canadian Premiere


• DAYS AND HOURS (Pjer Zalica, Bosnia)


• THE DISTRICT! (Áron Gauder, Hungary)


• FATELESS (Lajos Koltai, Hungary)


• MY NIKIFOR (Krzysztof Krauze, Poland) English-Canadian Premiere.


• MIDWINTER NIGHT’S TALE (Goran Paskaljevic, Serbia/Montenegro)


• NEW WORLD (Paul Rosdy, Austria) North American Premiere


• THE PORCELAIN DOLL (Péter Gárdos, Hungary)


• SKRITEK (Thomas Vorel, Czech Republic) International Premiere


• SLEEPER (Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany) North American Premiere


• SORRY FOR KUNG FU (Ognjen Svilcic, Croatia) North American Premiere


• WORKINGMAN’S DEATH (Michael Glawogger, Austria) (I’m not certain of this IMDB link)


• WRONG SIDE UP (Petr Zelenak, Czech Republic) North American Premiere