VIFF Centre unveils a $2.8 million reno, complete with new studio screen
A 41-seat mini-cinema joins a sleek new concession and added curb appeal.
The new VIFF Centre atrium/lobby.
JUST IN TIME for the opening of the 39th Vancouver International Film Festival, the organization is unveiling a shiny new $2.8 million renovation to its central hub.
Gone are the dark wood panelling and tucked-away concession that featured in the curving atrium when the facility first opened in 2005.
Enter cool white floors and grey accents, a wood-slat feature along the rounded second story, and a prominent new food-and-beverage counter that looks more like a mod bar (mixed drinks included).
A multiscreen video wall beckons passersby on the street. Upstairs, a new Education Suite with another screen awaits, as does a New Media Lab aimed at virtual-reality and augmented-reality creations.
And, tucked away on the main floor off the atrium is the biggest surprise of all: a new 41-seat theatre off the lobby—one whose walls slide away and seats fold up to become a multiuse black-box venue.
The atrium as it used to look.
“We are youthfully excited about what we can do in this space,” enthuses a masked Kyle Fostner, interim executive director of the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society, giving a tour of the space. “Now we have the ability to have two different films at once. We can screen a niche film and not have to worry about selling out the big theatre. And community groups can’t always afford the bigger screen.”
That the organization and its architects should pull off a renovation of this scale, almost on schedule (though admittedly down to the wire) is no mean feat during a pandemic.
For an idea of the logistical hurdles, Fostner relates a story about the red, cushy seats in the new Studio Theatre. They were ordered through a factory in the U.K. in February, before it was shut down due to COVID. When it reopened weeks later, it had difficulty with its own supply chain. And then shipping became a problem: the seats were supposed to be shipped by boat through the Panama Canal, but due to pandemic delays, VIFF decided to send them to Montreal and bring them out by train.
The renovation had grown as it became clear there was a way to make a second cinema work in the limited lobby space.
The VIFF Centre’s new Studio Theatre is a cozy space to screen niche films and host other community programming.
“Initially it was just a refresh, because it was tired and old and dated. But as we got into this…we realized there was wasted space that could be used for programming,” says Michelle Biggar, principal architect at mcfarlane biggar architects + designers inc., adding the intracies of a projection booth along with slide-away walls, screens, and seating took some logistical work. “The theatre is so small and it’s very tall, so getting the ceiling in and the large screen took a bit of massaging to make it work. It is like a mini cinema now. It’s really cozy, with the ability to close the seats away for other things.”
The elements combine to give the venue much more curb appeal, and the chance for cinephiles to linger. “They want it to be more of hub where people really meet,” Biggar explains of the lobby and concession area, the latter now moved up to the front by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Until the pandemic subsides, the Studio Theatre will not be taking bookings for screenings; only the 175-seat original theatre is outfitted for careful bubble viewing for those who wish for a big-screen experience during the fest.
“This is our community and we have no interest in not opening in a safe way,” Fostner stresses.
For now, the vast majority of patrons will be experiencing VIFF 2020 from their living-room couch; the organization pivoted to launch its own streaming platform to accommodate the 100-plus events taking place—a roster bigger than the Toronto International Film Festival’s. The streaming, which started today at noon and continues to October 7, is geo-blocked to B.C. and costs $60 for an all-access pass (versus one over $400 in a regular, nonpandemic year).
Kyle Fostner stands by the new concession, moved to the front window of the VIFF centre.
“We’re very fortunate to be an organization that can deliver our mandate right now,” Fostner says. “We’re really fortunate to move forward with this but the online experience will be very different from the film experience. The definite silver lining there is that provincial reach, the closed captioning, and the ability to reach different audiences. It’s also appealing to people like myself with a young child….And we’ve had a positive response from the arts world, [people] who are out of work but want to experience culture—because we intentionally priced this with that in mind.”
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