Victoria Film Festival’s opening bash
Creative collaborators Don McKellar and Bob Martin, former Canadian ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor and Elena Semikina, the statuesque actress, former Miss Universe Canada and movie producer (Our Man in Tehran) weren’t the only familiar faces turning heads Friday night at the opening bash celebrating Victoria Film Festival’s 20th anniversary in a Johnson street building with a retro makeover.
Pop culture icon Andy Warhol, represented by a lookalike snapping Polaroids; the faces of Breakfast at Tiffany’s co stars Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard adorning colourful paper masks worn by guests; and flickering black and white images of American heiress turned Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick also drew double takes.
MC Adam Sawatsky of CTV and festival director Kathy Kay led enthusiastic guests in a Happy Birthday singalong at the Odeon before British comedian Steve Coogan lit up the screen as Alan Partridge in the film of the same name. Coogan’s cockeyed brand of [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] Brit wit elicited gales of laughter, followed by mostly rave reviews at the three tiered bash with a 1960s New York theme.
READ MORE Coverage of the Victoria Film Festival
"No wonder she [Hepburn] was so thin. You can’t eat with these gloves on," quipped CBC’s Jo Ann Roberts, clutching a vintage cigarette holder and wearing pearls, an elegant evening dress and long gloves as part of her Holly Golightly outfit.
Roberts fit right in among piles of pale green gift wrapped boxes, an egg***** blue Tiffany’s cake draped with candy pearls, and diamond jewelry from Idars on the floor devoted to the Capote classic.
Elegantly clad Swing Dance Association of Victoria members got in on the action, dancing up a storm to Sinatra tunes and other period classics on a makeshift dance floor.
"We’re living props," said Naomi Lee, 31.
After passing a runway outside 722 Johnson St. where smoke billowed and models wearing sequined and lam miniskirts and knee high elevator boots got flashbulbs popping the gala’s 400 guests entered a replica of Central Park teeming with hippies.
Guests got groovy, donning costumes and having their photos taken. There was even a cake resembling a record player with a Beatles hit on the turntable.
Local band Paradise Street set the mood, singing tunes from [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] hits [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] by the Doors to Neil Young’s Harvest Moon.
Head turners on the Andy Warhol factory floor included walls of tinfoil; a band featuring drummer Pedro Arbour and foil clad, guitar strumming mannequins; flickering images of Lou Reed’s original screen tests; Campbell Soup cans and a freaky large white rabbit handing out [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] shots of fake "acid" (liqueur) in pill vials.
"I just spoke to the dude from Argo!" exclaimed one lively reveller after speaking with Taylor, who orchestrated the real life escape of American hostages from Iran in 1980.
Drew Taylor, who directed Our Man in Tehran with Larry Weinstein, noted there are both similarities and differences between filmmaking and professional baseball, his earlier career.
"The biggest difference is probably the parties. They’re a little more dignified in filmmaking, although I haven’t been to Hollywood yet," [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] smiled Taylor, who was a minor league pitcher for Toronto blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies.
"In baseball, it’s a team of people but every position does something different than the other. Without each other you’d [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] fail, and it’s the same in filmmaking."
Director Mohammad Ghorbankarimi, here for today’s Canadian premire of The Desert Fish, his poetic, visually stunning fable set in the Iranian countryside about a youngster’s search for his mother, was dumbfounded.
[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]