Vaughan Film Festival to show blockbusters and short films for first time in emerging downtown

Thestar.com
Aug. 18, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

The Vaughan International Film Festival, previously a weeklong event, will now occupy all four weekends in September for people to enjoy a wide spectrum of movies.

To “create a little bit of an appetite,” the first weekend is going to show both popular commercial movies, such as “Jumanji” and “Jerry Maguire,” as well as its winning short films, said Antonio Ienco, the festival’s director of events.

Every year, VFF goes ahead with its spring launch, premiering movies of independent filmmakers, usually at Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre. However, this didn’t happen last year due to COVID-19.

“We're introducing each one of them (Blockbusters movies) with a series of short films from VFF’s best. So people will get a taste of what short films are all about,” Ienco explained.

The “idea is to connect with a more mainstream audience that has an interest in major blockbusters,” Ienco said.

“You'll come in and watch these features, but leading up to them, you'll be introduced with short films, and it might create a little bit of an appetite for guests who have never seen a short film before.”

Combining blockbusters with independent films could also help in shattering the misconception that the latter are low quality.

“There's a misconception that the quality of work is not there, but it couldn't be further from the truth,” he said.

The second weekend, VFF will be showcasing the best short films from the last eight years, and it will be broken up into three lineups: 14A, PG 13 and 18.

The remaining weekends will be showing only 10-minute movies submitted by students across the province as well as submissions of international movies VFF received from 2020, which weren’t shown due to the pandemic.

“We thought, why limit it to just one day? Why not create two days for student films,” he said.

For the weekend showing students' work, one day will be catering to the 2020-21 lineup, and the second day will be for the “best of the best student films.”

The last two days will be mainly for VFF’s international programming from 2020 that was pushed to the 2021 lineup.

“So we didn't open up submissions internationally for this year,” Ienco said.

All these movies will be shown at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre’s drive-in. VMC is the city’s emerging downtown core and it’s increasingly witnessing an emergence of an art scene.

Last month, ArtWalk murals were painted by internationally-acclaimed artists, using more than 300 gallons and 1,000 cans of paint to complete the 30,000-square-foot canvas.

Ienco, who called for more local as well as municipal support for VFF, also added how this year is different by incorporating an art exhibition drive.

“We have a local artist, Stefano Bove, who put out a call to action for local artists to submit their work. I think they've gotten over 35 pieces submitted, and are looking to select between the top 12 and 16 pieces in this space called Studios at Assembly Park,” Ienco said.

Moviegoers can check the art pieces during the intermission or even before the screening to see “these incredible work from local artists,” Ienco said.

As the art scene rises in Vaughan, Ienco also called for more municipal or local support to make a wider impact.

Some of VFF’s talented student filmmakers received internships at major places like Sony Pictures in Los Angeles, Ienco said.

“Telephone,” a 2018 movie by two Syrian filmmakers was well-received and gained more “clout” and saw “increased trajectory” across many other festivals after VFF, Ienco said.

During an Aug. 3 media conference, VFF also announced its Netflix Webinar Series and scholarships to students.