VIFF and TIFF stats
The VIFF 2010 Fact Sheet issued on September 8 contains a blatant contradiction. The first line says there are 359 films; the second line says there are 230 feature-length films and 150 films under 60 minutes. So is the total number of films 359, or 380?
I emailed the press office about this last week, but they neither responded to me nor revised the Fact Sheet posted on their web site.
My count of films in the printed guide is 372, broken down as follows:
In terms of the total number of films, I guess that at 372, VIFF has more than any other film festival in North America. Most people would find it surprising that VIFF has more films than TIFF (which has 339).
As far as Canadian films, the 2010 TIFF fact sheet claims 74 Canadian films including 30 features, while the 2010 VIFF fact sheet claims 87 Canadian films including 36 features. However, paging through the VIFF program guide, I counted only 32 Canadian features, defined as having a length greater than 60 minutes. But I did count four Canadian films with lengths from 47 to 60 minutes, so I guess that’s where VIFF came up with its number 36. Still, it’s a bit shoddy considering that the fact sheet expressly defines a feature as “over 60 minutes long”.
Regardless, VIFF exceeds TIFF both in number of Canadian features and Canadian shorts, for 2010 at least, which must make VIFF the festival exhibiting the most Canadian films, anywhere in the world. It’s odd then that the program guide declines to make this claim expressly; the text on page 99 reads: Might this be the largest and best-attended annual program of Canadian cinema in the world? It certainly is popular! Along with our annual Film & Television Forum, this series makes the VIFF the most important event in the region for industry development and exhibition.
I emailed the press office about this last week, but they neither responded to me nor revised the Fact Sheet posted on their web site.
My count of films in the printed guide is 372, broken down as follows:
- 228 features (more than 60 minutes)
- 29 mid-length (20 to 60 minutes inclusive)
- 115 shorts (less than 20 minutes)
In terms of the total number of films, I guess that at 372, VIFF has more than any other film festival in North America. Most people would find it surprising that VIFF has more films than TIFF (which has 339).
As far as Canadian films, the 2010 TIFF fact sheet claims 74 Canadian films including 30 features, while the 2010 VIFF fact sheet claims 87 Canadian films including 36 features. However, paging through the VIFF program guide, I counted only 32 Canadian features, defined as having a length greater than 60 minutes. But I did count four Canadian films with lengths from 47 to 60 minutes, so I guess that’s where VIFF came up with its number 36. Still, it’s a bit shoddy considering that the fact sheet expressly defines a feature as “over 60 minutes long”.
Regardless, VIFF exceeds TIFF both in number of Canadian features and Canadian shorts, for 2010 at least, which must make VIFF the festival exhibiting the most Canadian films, anywhere in the world. It’s odd then that the program guide declines to make this claim expressly; the text on page 99 reads: Might this be the largest and best-attended annual program of Canadian cinema in the world? It certainly is popular! Along with our annual Film & Television Forum, this series makes the VIFF the most important event in the region for industry development and exhibition.