VIFF news RAV line construction threatens screenings at Granville 7

Ellie O'Day, spokesperson for the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) announced today that some screenings at the festival are under serious threat, due to intrusive noise from the construction of RAV line on Granville Street downtown

"The the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is doing everything in its power to avert a serious disruption of our event by
construction work just now beginning outside the Empire Granville 7

Cinemas at 855 Granville Street," said O'Day in a release sent out Thursday morning. "The noise generated from this work could well mean the cancellation of many of the 200 screenings remaining at this venue. We received assurances from street engineers that consideration would be made of the fact that the Film Festival attracts 100,000 attendees to this block between September 25 and October 10. That consideration appears to be inconvenient now."

While VIFF organizers state they have attempted to negotiate a pause in construction noise during the three-week festival, so far they have been unsuccessful.

"We have received sympathetic counsel from everyone we spoken to at City Hall and at B.C. Hydro, but nothing has so far averted this extremely serious blow to the Festival," said O'Day "We will immediately alert you as soon as a decision has been taken to cancel screenings in the 4 screens most badly affected by the jack hammering and street excavation: theatres 3, 4, 5 and 6."

For more information on affected screenings visit viff.org

Update:  The following release was received from VIFF Thursday afternoon. "Thanks to all the media and friends of the Vancouver International Film Festival who helped raise the alarm at the deafening construction going on in front of the Empire Granville 7. Our director, Alan Franey, finally visited the site this morning, spoke to the supervisor who said it was a Hydro project and Alan connected him with a Hydro boss, who had the construction shut down until after the end of the Festival on October 10th."