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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Navigating VIFF: Food can’t be a priority

Dan Webster

Above: We worked in a quick lunch at Gain Wah and still made our movie.

Navigating a film festival, as I have been for the past couple of days at the 34th Vancouver International Film Festival, is easier that you would think. At least it is at VIFF.

For one thing, most of the nine theaters that the festival uses are within walking distance of one another. And the other can be reached by mass transit (just take the SkyTrain). For another, tickets are easy to purchase, either online or by going to any of the festival ticket sites (access their locations here).

Of course, if you're picky about the movies you want to see, you may find yourself sometimes run-walking between theaters to get from one spot to the next before the curtain goes up. That happens at any festival. (I usually avoid that by picking a couple of closely located venues and just see what's playing at those sites.)

You might not have a lot of time to do sightseeing. We just happened to see that a special exhibit was showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and so we stopped in between movies. I’m not saying we gave the exhibit, "Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums," proper appraisal in the half hour we spent there. But we did cruise through the whole thing and found the experience well worth it.

The other thing you might have to do without is food. At least the kind of food that Vancouver is famous for. We started our day Thursday by taking in breakfast at a restaurant that was just down from Sutton Place, the festival headquarters. Bellagio offers a fairly cheap, but tasty breakfast, that had both of us eating eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast — plus coffee and tea — for just over $20 Canadian (a little over $15 U.S.).

Digression: Note that exchange rate. Visit Canada now!

On Friday, we made time during the day to check out a Chinese restaurant that my wife found online (and that boasted good recommendations). Gain Wah got us in fast, and despite getting our order initially wrong served us the daily special — giant prawns in black bean sauce, plus General Tso's Chicken (an inside joke), both of which we downed in about 10 minutes (plus a side of garlic broccoli). Price: $32.50 (less than $25 U.S.)

We made it back, even though we did have to stand in the rush line to get into our next movie. But we did make it.

The rest of the time? We ate popcorn, some mediocre noodles at the food court in the shopping mall where the Cineplex Odeon theaters sit. Oh, and some M&Ms.

But the movies? Ah, VIFF seems to be always worth the sacrifice.