Roll out the red carpet. These are five flicks we can’t wait to see at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Patang
Go fly a kite. Better yet, go fly millions of them. This richly woven tale of six lives set against the backdrop of India’s largest kite festival will have its Canadian premiere at VIFF.

In Darkness
Based on true events, this Canadian-Polish co-production tells the story of a Polish sewer worker who risks his life to help Jewish families escape from the Nazis by keeping them hidden in a sewer system during the Second World War. Oscar buzz has already begun; this is Poland’s submission for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar.

Las Acacias
Road trip! This quiet Argentinian film follows a truck driver as he travels from Paraguay to Buenos Aires with a woman and her baby. It earned the Caméra d'Or at Cannes.

One Lucky Elephant
Bring your tissues. This moving documentary follows a circus producer as he tries to find a home for a beloved ten-thousand-pound performer who’s retired from the ring.

You’ve been Trumped
Jonsi’s beautiful soundtrack will make up for spending 95 minutes looking at Donald Trump’s hair in this documentary about the Donald’s plan to develop a golf course in one of Scotland’s most beautiful and ecologically sensitive areas. —Kelsey Dundon

VIFF runs September 29 until October 14, www.viff.org

With 95 films, this year’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival is the biggest ever. We’ve picked three to see.

Louder Than a Bomb
How poetic. This story of four Chicago teens competing in the world’s largest high school poetry slam is equally heartbreaking and uplifting.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
A 3D documentary? Yep. Journey with Werner Herzog to what is believed to be the world’s earliest example of art – the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave of Southern France.

The National Parks Project
A true film lovers’ film. Or, rather, films. This collection of 13 shorts sees 13 filmmakers document the sweeping landscapes of Canada’s national parks. —KD

Book a week off work, buy those cashmere sweats you’ve been eyeing and settle in for another stellar season of cinema at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Herewith, the feature flicks we’ll be queuing for based on our celluloid soft-spots:

Up-and-coming Canuck: Heartbeats
A twist on the classic love triangle, the sophomore effort from Montreal’s Xavier Dolan received a standing ovation and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes this year.

Arty doc: Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Director Tamra Davis unearths her personal footage and interviews of Basquiat kept under lock and key until now to trace the young artist’s swift rise and sudden death. We previewed the film earlier this year and walked away moved and inspired.

British romp: Tamara Drewe
This modern comedy of errors had us at “loosely based on Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd.” Add in a leather-clad Dominic Cooper and being charmed is a sure thing.

French flirtation: Certified Copy
Take a ten dollar trip to Italy with this film starring Juliette Binoche as an antique shop owner in Tuscany who strikes up relations with an English author. Also a Cannes winner, Binoche took home the Best Actress prize.

Period piece: Anton Chekhov’s The Duel
With glowing reviews from the likes of the New York Times and the New Yorker, this film adaptation of the 1891 novella is apt to be anything but bland and boring with critics attributing adjectives like rich, deft and evocative to it.

The film festival runs September 30 to October 15, 2010. Purchase tickets and view schedules at www.viff.org

The Vancouver International Film Festival opens tomorrow with a whopping 360 films screening in a mere 16 days. But don’t fret film buffs, we scoured the program and got the scoop from insiders to bring you the shortlist. Herewith, five flicks that’ll butter your popcorn.

An Education
This Sundance Audience Award winner, from the director of Italian for Beginners and writer Nick Hornby, takes us to swinging London, where an Oxford-bound young woman steers off-course when she falls for an older conman (played by Peter Sarsgaard).

The September Issue
An unprecedented look into the world of Anna Wintour and the pages of Vogue, as the editrix and her staffers put together their biggest issue of the year.


Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Both heart wrenching and hopeful, the Dickensian tale set in Harlem has been racking up accolades on the festival circuit. Look for a surprising performance by Mariah Carey as a welfare counselor to main character Clareece “Precious” Jones.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Partially shot in Vancouver and riddled with stars including Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Heath Ledger—in his final performance—this mad fantasy from the mind of Terry Gilliam promises to be a wild trip.

My Year Without Sex
Wife and mother Natalie survives a near-fatal illness only to discover her recovery includes doctor-prescribed abstention. Divided into named chapters like Foreplay, Climax, and Going Down, the Australian film deals with sex and death in a decidedly untaxing way.

The film festival runs October 1-16, 2009. Order tickets and view schedules at www.viff.org