The Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF), the largest queer arts event in Western Canada, is back on and celebrating its 30th anniversary this year! More than just film, the festival hosts performances, workshops, panel discussions, parties and more, facilitating a unique community space for 11 days each August. This past Friday night the York theatre was packed with people eagerly anticipating the festival favourite The Coast is Queer.
This made-in-Vancouver short film program has been showcasing alluring animation, provoking dramas, wonderfully peculiar experimental films, and uplifting documentaries since 2000. This year, 11 diverse films ranging between 1 and 14 minutes long were shown to a captivated audience. As a first time VQFF goer I wasn’t sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised by how different each film was from the next. There were serious, dramatic, satirical, sweet and downright hilarious films, which shown back to back gives you a bit of emotional whiplash, but the overall effect left the audience giddy as we funneled out of the theatre to vote for our favourites. To top it off the directors of each film were in the audience as well which gave the local program a personal touch!
By Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic
ILiveInEastVan.com 