The programme for the first Vancouver Irish Film Festival (VIRFF) has been announced. The festival takes place over three nights, December 7th to 9th, in the heart of British Columbia’s biggest city.
Vancouver has a long history of welcoming people from across the island of Ireland – indeed, the Irish Ambassador to Canada, Jim Kelly, recently estimated that there are as many as 15,000 Irish-born people living in the city, with many more arriving each year under the International Canada Experience (IEC) visa. Vancouverites now have the chance to experience Irish culture in all its forms on the big screen as part of this event.
Float Like a Butterfly – Photo by Martin Maguire© Samson Films and Port Pictures
Kicking off on Friday 7th December in Vancity Theatre, Seymour St, VIRFF will showcase the best that Irish cinema has to offer. Highlights include Carmel Winter’s Float Like a Butterfly, which won the Discovery Prize awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) at the Toronto International Film Festival; Stephen Burke’s Maze, which details the biggest prison break-out in British or Irish history; and Darren Thornton’s A Date for Mad Mary, which took home Best Film at the prestigious Irish Film and Television Awards.
In addition, there will be classic Irish movies, including children’s favourite War of the Buttons, and Good Vibrations, the story of Terri Hooley, founder of the Belfast record shop of the same name.
Tickets go on NOW Through the Vancity Theatre website.
Sponsors for the festival include Aer Lingus, Screen Ireland, Donnellan’s Irish Pub and Tourism Ireland. VIRFF is also sponsored by the Consulate General of Ireland, based in Vancouver.
Follow the festival via its website – virff.org – and though Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. #VIRFF, #Irishfilm, #Irishabroad
Download the full brochure, including a small message from Scannain, here.