Running from September 22-25, VIDFEST 2007 kicks off the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), drawing global leaders from the digital media industry, including animation, games, web 2.0, mobile and interactive content and featuring Vancouver’s best and brightest digital media talent.

VIDFEST takes place at the Vancouver International Film Centre at 1181 Seymour Street.


Saturday, September 22

Pitch n’ Play Event, 12-4pm
Indy gamers will be pitching new video game ideas to the pros, playing games on the big screen and bidding for rare video gaming finds at a World of Warcraft-style gaming auction.

Festival Opening Gala and Pop Vox Awards Ceremony, 8pm-12am

Party with the Digerati. The Pop Vox Awards is the people’s choice awards for VIDFEST, recognizing all major sectors of the digital media industry and celebrating its creativity, talent, and achievements. Winners of Telefilm’s Great Canadian Video Game Competition will also be announced.


Sunday, September 23

Sanctuary Screening, 6pm – 10pm

This locally produced, big budget, online sci-fi series will be publicly screened for the first time. Series creator Damian Kindler will introduce this special event.


Monday, September 24

Creative Exchange, 8am- 5pm

Interviewees and keynote speakers include:

· Opening Keynote: Ori Brafman, author of The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations discusses the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and Skype, and examines commonalities between eBay and General Electric and the abolitionist and women’s rights movements.

· l’Antéchrist de la Silicon Valley Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, argues that the internet is dumbing down our culture. His new book has sparked some hot debate.

· Douglas Gayeton, creator of the creator of the award winning documentary series, Molotov’s Dispatches in Search of the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey will be speaking at VIDFEST’s MyFace YourSpace session. This documentary was shot entirely within Second Life and follows avatar Molotov Alva as he goes searching for the creator of this online world. The series has just been picked up by HBO.

· Closing Keynote: Mark Verheiden, co-executive producer and writer of Battlestar Galactica partners with Paul Chadwick, creator of the comic book Concrete and designer of the online game Matrix, to deliver the closing keynote address: Reminiscing about the Future.

Tuesday, September 25

International Partnering Forum, 9am- 5pm

Interviewees and keynote speakers:

· John Walker, producer of the Disney•Pixar film The Incredibles and associate producer of Warner Bros. Studios’ The Iron Giant, delivers a keynote address on creating good partnerships with filmmakers at the international partnering forum, an invite-only event to introduce and facilitate business matchmaking between international digital media companies.

John Walker will be available for interviews following his keynote speech at 9:30am.