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Also worth noting is VIFF’s strong support of homegrown talent. For almost four decades it has put the spotlight on Canadian films, and this year is no different, as VIFF has 41 Canadian features to share with fans. Ten B.C. features will make up the Sea to Sky program, and in the shorts program 51 entries are Canadian, with 20 from B.C.

Headlining the B.C. bounty at the B.C. Spotlight Gala on Oct. 5 is first-time filmmaker Anthony Shim’s dark family drama, Daughter. The Vancouver native’s film is a look at how tragedy can send one person’s reality out the window. The film stars Vancouver favourite John Cassini.

“It is incredible. Super exciting. I started in Vancouver. I grew up here, this is my hometown,” said Shim, who has been attending VIFF since he was in high school.

“It’s my first film and for it to premiere in the city I grew up in really is a dream come true.”

While the movie programs were at centre stage during the event, Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry was also on hand to announce that the federal Canadian Cultural Spaces Fund, would allocate just over $1.4 million for an infrastructure update for the Vancouver Film Centre, specifically the atrium area. The money will go toward building a micro-cinema and a virtual reality lounge among other upgrades.

“I am always pleased to be at VIFF,” Fry said. “VIFF is a Canadian symbol. It is unabashedly Canada proud.

“Infrastructure — and in particular cultural infrastructure — is a foundation of Canada’s community building … that showcases us and our talent and who we are,” said Fry.

“It really gets us to know each other across this vast country in a way that helps us to understand all the differences we have …”

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