Scene from The Whale and The Raven. | Photos courtesy of National Film Board of Canada

From Sept. 26–Oct. 11, the Vancouver International Film Festival will showcase over 320 films on screens all around town. The festival will also host 400 film industry professionals who will come and speak at events happening alongside the screenings. This makes VIFF the largest Canadian film event in the world. Festival goers will also be able to enjoy Canadian productions and co-productions distributed by the National Film Board of Canada. Two such pictures are the nature documentary The Whale and The Raven directed by Mirjam Leuze, that will premiere on Oct. 4 at the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Goldcorp and the animated short The Physics of Sorrow, directed by Theodore Ushev, premiering October 1st as part of the Permanent Records program at the International Village theatre.

The Whale and The Raven a follows whale researchers Hermann Meuter and Janie Wray, who established the Cetacea Lab on the beautiful and remote Gil Island in Northern BC. The film showcases the unique marine environment that exists in this part of the world and the struggle that Wray and Meuter are facing to keep this secluded and peaceful island from becoming just another passageway for oil tankers and freight carriers. The film touches on the spiritual connection between the inhabitants of the island and the whales. However, Leuze doesn’t shy away from the fact, that even the people who desperately want to keep the Kitimat fjord system of Gil Island free from being clogged with large tankers are still dependant on oil and natural gas. The honest look at the dependence on gas and the desire to help preserve nature is something that was very important to the director, Leuze.

Producer Henrik Meyer says “Mirjam wanted to show exactly that. That is why there is shots of people filling up their diesel. At the same time Mirjam is not coming over here (VIFF) for the premiere or publicity, because she doesn’t want to fly. If it is not absolutely crucial, she doesn’t want to fly.”

Meyer goes on to say that he hopes the audience sees how we can all do just a little better when it comes to taking care of the planet.

“Let’s make an effort. We are used to all this luxury, but we don’t have the right to destroy the planet for our conveniences”. Meyer says.

The Physics of Sorrow, that just won an honourable mention for best Canadian short film at the Toronto International Film Festival, is an animated short by the Oscar nominated artist, Ushev. The short film was inspired by the book The Physics of Sorrow written by Georgi Gospodinov. Ushev used a hot wax painting technique known as encaustic-painting to tell a very personal story about first loves, bubble-gum wrappers, military service and circuses.

Scene from The Physics of Sorrow. | Photos courtesy of National Film Board of Canada

“I got the idea for the film, a film as a time capsule, and I thought, the first-ever time capsules were the Egyptians tombs. And they had those beautiful, realistic portraits on the cover of their sarcophagus. Made of melted beeswax with pigments, they stayed absolutely intact for 20 centuries,” Ushev says.

Even though the painting technique was ancient, adapting it for filming was brand new.

Ushev explains, “The problem was that no one had ever tried to make these images move before. So, I had to learn not only to paint an image, or a portrait, but also invent a way to make it to move. And after three months of errors and experiments, I just got it. And that was an exciting moment, to see how the animation can be done, moved, by melting and manipulating an image through temperature change. It was pure alchemy!”

Ushev explains “Gospodinov writes the same way as I paint. I just found it to be the perfect match for this film. A film-labyrinth. Everything melts before you reach the point where you can get out. You try to find your path through the story, then I shut the gate and push you in another direction.”

Amazing technical achievements aside, Ushev hopes that it is the story itself that will stick with audiences.

“I only hope for one thing: that they [the audience] are moved by the experience. That they forget about the technique and only remember emotions and their feelings. To go back to their childhood for a moment, to feel the smell of their rooms and playgrounds when they were kids… with the toys and objects that we all abandoned, immigrating out of our childhood.”

Festival goers will have more than one chance to see either of these films. For more information. Go to: