Thumbs' up for Burnaby woman's reel job

It’s thumbs up for this Burnaby woman’s reel job
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Oct. 2, 2002

Diane Burgess has one of those jobs that most people can only dream about.
Yes, watching in excess of 650 movies per year sounds easy, but being the head programmer of Canadian Images for the Vancouver International Film Festival requires a lot of long hours and some very tough choices.
"I love watching all the films," says Burgess, a Burnaby resident and faculty member at Simon Fraser University. "I get to see trends, what's emerging in the industry, and I really love that. And it really helps with my academic work, too."
And Burgess has reason to be especially proud of the 21st annual festival, which runs until Oct. 11 at select theatres in Vancouver. This year, Burgess' third as a programmer, will feature the greatest number of Canadian films ever presented at any festival - a total of 104 Canadian films of all varieties, including 34 features-length pieces, 64 shorts flicks and 40 films produced in British Columbia.
"Last year we had a lot of films from Quebec. This year we have a lot of documentaries and shorts," she said. "Given the size of our country, it's quite impressive, the number of films we produce."
The hardest part is deciding which films will not be shown, she said.
"It's tough," Burgess said. "I find there are always certain films that rise above the rest, and there's always some that simply aren't up to snuff.
"But there is a whole lot of middle ground. So you have to look at how the whole thing fits together and try to bring some balance to it," she said. "Actually, the program just sort of emerges for you after you choose the features."
This year's festival will highlight several B.C.-made films that are expected to go on to greater acclaim. Among them is the beautiful Flower and Garnet, Keith Behrman's first full-length feature, filmed in Ashcroft and starring Callum Keith Rennie. "I've watched his (Berhman's) shorts at previous festivals, and he has incredible promise," Burgess said.
Another local feature in the running for the $12,000 screenwriters' award is The Burial Society, which is having its world premiere at VIFF. The story is about a secret that sends an unassuming accountant, who may be either the victim of a terrible misunderstanding or a brilliant master criminal, into hiding in a small-town's Jewish community.
One of Burgess' favourite chores is choosing which short films will be shown together. For instance, Kiss Off is a series of short films that takes a lighthearted look at the macabre. Included are the colourful Evelyn, the Cutest Evil Dead Girl and SFU alumni Bart Simpson's ambitious and well-written A Vampires' Guide to Sweden.
Putting together the actual schedule of films - when and where they will be shown - is one of her more difficult juggling acts.
"There are moments when I haven't seen my friends for weeks and it's 1 a.m. in the morning, and I'm just staring at this huge scheduling board," she says. "But you just have to remember this is seasonal work. You dive into this world intensely and it feels like it's larger than life all the time. In fact, it's only about three months a year."
And once the festival is underway, Burgess gets to enjoy the best part of her job - playing host to the producers, screenwriters, directors, actors and others who travel from across the country and around the world to take part in the festival.
Burgess has shaken hands with such luminaries as producer Atom Egoyan to singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan. "There are moments when you become a little star struck," she admitted.