VIFF 2008 Update: Construction Conundrum Averted

Posted by Duran
Filed in Film, News
October 3, 2008

I received this surprising email yesterday from Ellie O'Day, VIFF Media Director, showing just how construction is wreaking absolute havoc in this city.

11:26 AM, Thursday, October 2
The management of Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is doing everything in its power to avert a serious disruption of our event by construction work just now beginning outside the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas at 855 Granville Street. The noise generated from this work could well mean the cancellation of many of the 200 screenings remaining at this venue. We received assurances from street engineers that consideration would be made of the fact that the Film Festival attracts 100,000 attendees to this block between September 25 and October 10. That consideration appears to be inconvenient now. We have received sympathetic counsel from everyone we spoken to at City Hall and at B.C. Hydro, but nothing has so far averted this extremely serious blow to the Festival. Since no explanation has been forthcoming as it why this work absolutely needed to coincide with our brief event, it is time to warn our public. Hopefully a more public airing of our concern will encourage reasonable action to be taken in time.

We will immediately alert you as soon as a decision has been taken to cancel screenings in the 4 screens most badly affected by the jack hammering and street excavation: theatres 3, 4, 5 & 6. Meanwhile, we apologize to the thousands of festival-goers who have already assembled each day in front of the theatre and found it difficult to make themselves understood against the noise of asphalt sawing.

Luckily, it was shortly followed up by this email.

2:24 PM, Thursday, October 2
Thanks to all the media and friends of the Vancouver International Film Festival who helped raise the alarm at the deafening construction going on in front of the Empire Granville 7. Our director, Alan Franey, finally visited the site this morning, spoke to the supervisor who said it was a Hydro project and Alan connected him with a Hydro boss, who had the construction shut down until after the end of the Festival on October 10th.

Just another day at the festival...

(Apologies if you feel this post was a little pointless, but I thought it was an interesting example of how "progress" in this city can potentially ruin what we already have going for us. This city is a war zone with all these damn holes in the ground...)

Image courtesy of carsonting from the BR Flickr Pool.