2016 is already shaping up to be an amazing year for genre film festivals in Vancouver! Right now I’m fresh off the jury at the Vancouver Badass Film Fest – and The Thing I Learned at the Vancouver Badass Film Fest is this: that the best of the Canadian genre shorts (and their filmmakers) maintained a local, cultural, cinematic, and even comedic sophistication that appealed highly to the energetic audience. I sincerely hope, and do believe (as evidence is present) that this is merely the beginning of a new front of Canadian genre filmmaking. Funnily, also, some of the best of the International shorts were also populated by front-of-the-line Canadian talents. And so, right off the heels of the exciting Vancouver Badass Film Fest (which was held at the Vancity Theatre), Women in Film & Television in Vancouver are hosting an entire block dedicated to female auteurs in the industry who have a special affinity for genre storytelling. This March, in the midst of WIFT’s five-day film festival (dubbed VIWIFF, also being held at the Vancity Theatre, March 8 – 13) there in an entire block dedicated to these women in genre film smack in the middle of Friday the 11^th, from 4pm to 6pm, where VIWIFF will be screening genre shorts from local filmmakers Karen Lam (Chiral), Karen Nielsen (Grace), Michelle Muldoon (Chaos Management), Victoria Angell (Summoned), Jennifer Campbell (Bruised); their fellow Canadian filmmaker Kat Threlkeld (Seiren; from Toronto) and International filmmakers Beatriz M. Calleja (Pequeno; from Spain) and Emilija Gasic (The Cursed Days; from Serbia).

Shivers Film Society is proud to be involved in the community support not only of these fantastic genre films and their respective filmmakers, but also with WIFT, whom we will also be partnering with to bring a genre short film programme to The Norm Theatre this April with the National Canadian Film Day organization.

Keep an eye out here as Shivers Film Society’s short film programmers post more blog-writings about these exciting shorts and filmmakers in the days leading up to the WIFT film fest!

March 8 – 13, 2016, at the Vancity Theatre.

Genre Short Films: March 11, 4pm – 6pm, co-presented with Shivers Film Society.

Stay tuned for more news!