VICTORIA INDEPENDENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL
Film Festival Wraps with Record Numbers

The 11th annual Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival wrapped this year’s fete with unprecedented success.
The interest from filmmakers around the world exceeded previous years with1086 entries coming through the doors. This increased profile allowed for further expansion of programming and enabled the Festival to bring many more talented filmmakers to the attention of local audiences and the media. The Festival saw a total of 14,741 patrons this year and a sales increase of 16 percent over 2004. Festival Director Kathy Kay was elated by the news of these numbers at the end of the festival. “Best attendance, best feedback, best staff, best volunteers! I think the Festival has found it's groove and my hope is that we can continue to remain vital and relevant to Victorian's for a long time to come.”

The festival screened 176 films this year, 46 of which were feature length and 50% being Canadian, and there were 19 sold-out screenings. The five most popular films were the National Film Board’s Being Caribou, directed by Vancouver’s Leanne Allison and Diana Wilson, crowd pleaser Saint Ralph written and directed by Michael McGowan, the highly acclaimed NFB documentary What Remains of Us, the Oscar-nominated documentary Born Into Brothels, and the incredibly inspiring German documentary Rhythm Is It!

This year also saw the launch of the Trigger Points Pacific Co-production Conference, which brought together top industry players – producers, commissioning editors, and broadcasters – from the Pacific Rim to find co-production and co-venture partnerships. The one-on-one meetings were very successful and many of the attending producers were surprised by what Victoria was able to create.

Victoria-based veteran producer Andrew Koster of Rainshadow Media Ltd. was one of the first producers to sign up for this new initiative of the Festival. “Trigger Points was the beginning of what will surely be the pre-eminent co-producing conference focusing on the Pacific Rim. The qualifications of the buyers were top-notch and they made themselves incredibly accessible, unlike some other markets I’ve attended.”

Supported by Western Economic Diversification and Trade Routes Canada, and co-hosted by Pat Ferns of Ferns Productions and Sheena Macdonald of Rhombus Media, Trigger Points Pacific is intended to allow for unique access within a small and dynamic setting – truly nurturing co-production opportunities at a time when Canadian producers need to be as creative as possible in their financing of new projects.

Consultants at Trigger Points Pacific included the following:
George Anthony – CBC (Canada), Mitchell Block – Direct Cinema Ltd. (USA), Diane Boehme – CHUM Television (Canada), Margie Bryant – Serendipity Productions (Australia), Tania Chambers – ScreenWest (Australia), John Fulton – TVA Films (Canada), Harold Gronenthal – Rainbow Media Enterprises (USA), Chris Haws (USA), Khim Loh – Moving Visuals Co. (Singapore), Gary Marcuse – CBC Newsworld (Canada), Tiffany Naiman – First Look Media (USA), Kris Slava – TRIO Network (USA) and Nick Witkowski, WV Entertainment (UK).

The success of the inaugural year will ensure Trigger Points Pacific 2006 will be a reality.