The 2023 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival is almost upon us! I’ve been wrestling with the schedule trying to fit in all of the films I’m hoping to see. Luckily for me, this year I have much more free time than last, so I hope to see many more films and write more reviews.

This year is a bit different for me, as on top of this being my 4th year with Media accreditation, this also marks my first year on the VIFF screening committee. I’ve been screening films for the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal for a few years, also and this basically means I watch A LOT of screeners throughout the year to help the festival programmers narrow down their selection.

Of the eighty or so publicly submitted screeners I watched, a whopping 5 were selected for screening at this edition of VIFF, so this year, instead of my usual fest preview of films I’m hoping to see, I’m going to post a few reviews of the selected films that I happened to love. Today I’ll start with a couple Canadian documentaries.

MR. DRESSUP: THE MAGIC OF MAKE-BELIEVE – ROBERT McCALLUM

I was quite surprised when this film showed up in my inbox. Produced by Amazon Canada, this doc feels like the type of film that shoots its way straight up to the VIFF Special Presentations section and is a bit of a no-brainer given the subject. Ernie Coombs A.K.A. Mr. Dressup was a national treasure and his 30-year run on Canadian children’s television was hugely influential on generations of Canadian kids.

As a child of the 90s, I grew up watching Mr. Dressup and even aged out of his content by the time he retired from the screen in 1996. It never ceased to amaze me that the man I grew up watching was the same guy entertaining my parents, decades earlier when they were kids in the late 60s.

The Magic of Make-Believe follows Coombs from his early years as a puppeteer who joined Fred Rogers when he moved to Canada to start a TV series for kids on the CBC. Rogers found quick success and moved back to the States to continue what he started and Ernie Coombs was left to start a spin-off series named after a character he had been playing on the Mr. Rogers show: Mr. Dressup. Powered by a tickle trunk full of costumes, a cast of friendly puppets, and his imagination, Mr. Dressup went on to capture the minds of Canadian children for three decades.

The documentary itself is a straightforward and easy-to-watch story about an artist who wanted nothing more than to positively influence the younger generations. We hear stories about his work ethic, his philosophy, and the way he prioritized teaching children above all else. Former collaborators, friends, and family comment on his legacy and his uncompromising approach to his work. Coombs had his fair share of hardships later in life and we see how the tragic loss of his wife affected him in his retirement years.

In the end, we are left with an affecting and heartfelt portrait of a man who gave his life to teaching children how to be more generous, more kind, and more loving. His legacy is cemented in the hearts of millions of Canadians and is sorely missed in today’s mode of children’s programming.

UNION STREET – JAMILA POMEROY

Union Street explores the history of Vancouver’s black community and the systemic erasure of a culture from the Strathcona neighbourhood in Vancouver’s East Side. Once a vibrant community of African Canadians, the neighbourhood was displaced upon the construction of the Georgia Viaduct right through the middle of the area. Union Street reveals a story of racism in Vancouver that is rarely talked about in the local history books.

I work in Strathcona and often see Union Street director Jamila Pomeroy, as she is a regular at my workplace. Her film is an informative documentary about the black experience in Vancouver, as well as a resounding celebration of black joy and black entrepreneurship. Union Street serves as a positive and educational piece about social justice that invites the audience to engage with and recognize the importance of black identity and cultural diversity in Vancouver.

The film is structured as a series of portraits of members of Vancouver’s black community. Entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and designers; the subjects are varied and offer unique insight on their experiences, but they share a similar hardship as African Canadians in a city that doesn’t support them.

This also serves as a personal documentary, as Jamila turns the camera onto her father, a Kenyan immigrant who tells his tale of coming to Canada as a young, black man. Not only is he incredibly charming, but his story of arriving in Canada and dedicating himself to helping other African immigrants find their place and integrate is exemplary of the kind of understanding that this film asks of us.

A graceful and illuminative film about the importance of cultural spaces and identity in Vancouver. A celebratory call to arms that asks us to consider the spaces we live in and the people who live there. Gorgeous from the opening shot. The golden, sun-bathed streets and the bright, smiling faces of our beautiful city.

“Today is the day to celebrate our differences.”