Vancouver South African Film Festival

The Vancouver South African Film Festival is a non-profit event showcasing films about the history and culture of South Africa at the end of March.

Vancouver South African Film Festival

The Vancouver South African Film Festival celebrated its 10th year in 2020 with a revised virtual festival. The VSAFF features documentaries and films about life in South Africa and the history and politics that have affected the country.

In 2020 the festival was going to take place at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts located in the SFU Woodwards building at 149 West Hastings Street in Gastown. It is a non-profit event run by volunteers and it raises money for the charity Education without Borders which supports poor, disadvantaged and at-risk children. Instead of cancelling the entire event because of COVID-19, organizers managed to host a virtual event.

2020 Film Festival Prices

Before the festival switched to an online format, regular films at the South African Film Festival were going to cost between about $16 and $22 per movie. An opening night gala was also scheduled, which would have cost about $58 plus the accompanying opening night film. Festival passes that would have allowed guests to see all shows during the weekend were also available.

There were two price options for full festival passes in 2020 with one including the gala and another for just the festival. A pass for the festival including the gala cost about $153. A pass for just the festival without the gala would have cost about $116. These passes were going to provide access to all the films for the entire weekend.

2020 Festival Schedule

Below were the original dates, events, films and prices for the South African Film Festival in 2020. (Note: times, locations and other details were subject to change. Prices were inclusive of taxes and online fees.)

Friday, March 27, 2020

Opening Night Gala Party – at Spaces Gastown at 151 West Hastings Street.
SKIN (Opening Night Movie) – at SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts ($26.84)

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Sides of A Horn + Rooibos Restitution – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 11:30 am (16.34)
Pili – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 1:30 pm ($16.34)
Life is Wonderful – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 4:00 pm ($16.34)
Picture Perfect Heist + Back of the Moon – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 7:00 pm ($21.59)

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Soft Vengeance – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 11:00 am ($16.34)
Soft Landings + iZulu Lami – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 1:30 pm ($16.34)
Good Hope – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 4:00 pm ($16.34)
Asimbonganga + Flatland – shows at the Goldcorp Centre at 7:00 pm ($21.59)

AFRICAN BREESE IS A PROUD SPONSOR

African Breese is an online specialty food store with physical locations at 3654 West 4th Avenue in Vancouver as well as at 1054 Marine Drive in North Vancouver. Run by a South African-Canadian family, the locally-owned company is a sponsor of the film festival’s Opening Gala. It is also proud to support the Vancouver South African Film Festival by being a sponsor of this article.

Education without Borders

Education without Borders is a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that provides access to educational resources for disadvantaged children and youth in both Canada and South Africa. Founded in 1971, the charity has assisted with building a school in South Africa and implemented many after-school educational programs including ones about math, English, science and leadership.

In Canada, Education without Borders has partnered with other organizations to create the Indigenous Storybook Canada Project which works to translate books into local Indigenous languages.

To date, the Vancouver South African Film Festival has raised around $100,000 for Education without Borders.