Toronto – The Global Visions Film Festival is a festival that has been running for 27 years in the city of Edmonton. It is strange that the festival has gone on for so long, since I lived in Edmonton for 17 years and did not even hear about this. I was probably too busy playing street hockey, going to Boston Pizza and watching 2 for 1 movies in giant theatre complexes to notice cultural events like this. However, like a fine wine, my tastes have gotten better with age and I now recognize the power of the documentary. So if you are in Edmonton, you should probably go.
So what is it you ask? well, here is an excerpt from the festival’s main page:
“The Global Visions Film Festival (GVFF) is an annual, one of a kind, Edmonton based festival which celebrates the work of passionate, accomplished documentarians from Canada and around the world.”
So yea, if you are in Edmonton, check out the GVFF this weekend.
Here are some films that look interesting:
The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006, Ruby Yang)
November 7th, 9:00 PM – Paramount Theatres
It’s about something Chinese, so I automatically like it. It’s about an orphan with the HIV, the relatives that try to raise him and the problems that comes with it. I wonder if Ruby Yang is related to Chromewave’s Frank Yang, probably not, since there is about 200 million Yangs out there. This movie is paired with I for India, which sounds pretty interesting itself. China and India together, just like the Panic Manual.
The English Surgeon(2007,Geoffrey Smith)
November 8th, 7:00 PM, Paramount Theatre
This film was all the rage at Hot Docs this year, so I imagine a packed house to see this documentary about an English neurosurgeon who goes to Ukraine and does all kinds of crazy shit. Sounds like an episode of House…but it was a winner at Hot Docs and a few other festivals.
Football Undercover (2008, Ayat Najafi & David Assmann)
November 8th, 7:00 PM, Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre
A sports documentary about an Iranian female soccer team, and probably the only sports film that Dennis Quaid isn’t in these days. I am sure there were a lot of obstacles for this soccer team to put on a friendly, seeing how Iran isn’t the most forward thinking country on Earth. It is probably inspirational, and features soccer. Who wouldn’t want to watch that?
Schedules for film festival can be found here
Here is a song, to accompany this post
