“Welcome to Canada!” The Twin Peaks pilot episode festival tour continues with a look at the Canadian premiere during the 1989 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). This event was held a few weeks after the debut at the Telluride Film Festival in September 1989. Unlike Telluride, David Lynch and Mark Frost’s masterpiece would kick off the Vancouver event, complete with an opening night gala.
HISTORY OF VIFF
With 90 films selected, the original Vancouver International Film Festival was held August 4-16, 1958 at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada.
In the early days, the films were part of a much larger schedule of events which included musical performances, children’s programming and more. Running for 11 years, the original iteration of the festival was discontinued after 1969.
In 1982, Leonard Schein and the nonprofit organization Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society resurrected the film festival. He also founded Festival Cinemas which operated the Fifth Avenue and Vancouver East Cinemas, the Park, Ridge, Starlight, and Varsity Theatres. More than 20,000 people attended that first festival held at the Ridge Theater, making it a tremendous success.
Working alongside Leonard was Alan Franey who was responsible for executive and programming functions of VIFF since 1982. From 1979 to 1985 he served as Manager of Vancouver’s 830-seat Ridge Theatre, which at that time the most successful single-screen repertory cinema in Canada. He was appointed Festival Director in 1988 and continued in that position until 2013.
During his tenure, Mr. Franey oversaw the creation, construction and operations of the festival’s state-of-the-art year-round exhibition facility, the Vancouver International Film Centre, which opened in 2005, and which began year-round exhibitions at its Vancity Theatre in 2006.
In an article published in The Province on September 10, 1989, Alan described his days as executive director leading up to the start of the festival. Reporter Kerry Moore published Alan’s timeline of events from September 7, which included a “call from our programmer at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado about a film called Roger and Me and about the new David Lynch film.” He said, “We leave spaces marked TBA in the program for late bookings.”
While it’s unclear who exactly the called Alan from Telluride, it’s clear that they must have decided to book the pilot episode (despite critical reactions from the crowd at the Colorado festival).
8TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL IN 1989
The eight annual VIFF was held from September 29 through October 15, 1989 in multiple venues throughout Vancouver including the Ridge, Vancouver East Cinema, Hollywood, Paradise and the Cinematheque.
By September 15, Alan made the official announcement that David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks would kick off the festival of more than 150 films from 40 countries.
According to an article in The Province on September 24, Twin Peaks would be celebrated at an opening gala on September 28 at the Vogue Theater. It was included in the “Cinema of Our Times” category for the festival.
Second-year programmer Darryl MacDonald said the overall film schedule represented “Vancouver’s mix of cultures.” The festival would feature 23 new Canadian films out of the 145 planned.
Province reporter Michael Walsh included a publicity shot of Josie Packard and Catherine Martell in his write up about the festival.
Here is the full color image of Joan Chen and Piper Laurie.
Franey offered his critic of Twin Peaks in the Edmonton Journal likening the show to a “cinematic version of Mary Hartman.”
“It’s got that kind of scrutinizing, humorous but very dark vision of things,” he continued. He would later say showing the pilot was a “wonderful opportunity” (as if the stars turned and a time presented itself).
The report continues: “Lynch-regular Kyle MacLachlan plays an FBI agent who investigates the murder of a high-school homecoming queen in a small Pacific Northwest town. The film also stars Piper Laurie, Joan Chen and Canadian actor Michael Ontkean (that’s right, Michael was born and raised in Vancouver!).
A synopsis of the film was also shared:
Twin Peaks: The latest offering from English director David Lynch, who brought audiences such films as The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet. Twin Peaks marks actor Kyle MacLachlan’s third appearance in a Lynch movie. This time out he plays an FBI agent sent to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to investigate the murder of the high school homecoming queen.
SEPTEMBER 28 – OPENING NIGHT GALA
An advertisement published in The Vancouver Sun on September 28 provided details about the opening night gala held at 7:30 p.m. in the 1,200-seat Vogue Theater. Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, and Mark Frost were scheduled to attend. It was billed as the “Canadian Premiere” of Lynch and Frost’s work.
The locally owned and operated Vogue theater, located at 918 Granville Street, is one of the last remaining theatres from Vancouver’s Theater Row. It was built in 1941 as a movie house and venue for the performing arts.
The only photograph I found from the opening gala event was published on September 17, 1992 in The Vancouver Sun. It shows Kyle in attendance with Lara Flynn-Boyle [sic] (who I am assuming may have been dating at the time – “body language”).
SEPTEMBER 29, 1989
The next day, The Province ran a front page review from Michael Walsh calling the Twin Peaks premiere a “three-star kick off.” The publicity shot used in the paper is from the scene where Cooper and Truman are reviewing Laura Palmer’s diary at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department.
Michael wrote: “TWIN PEAKS (U.S.A.. 1989) *** Pay attention. In just under 94 minutes, David Lynch and co-writer Mark Frost introduce more than 30 characters and set at least 10 subplots in motion. Their main plotline focuses on the murder investigation that ensues when the body of a teenaged girl is found. Aided by Twin Peaks Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean). FBI special agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) probes the secrets of a Northwest logging town. Don’t expect resolutions, though. Working in his own ultra-realistic, slyly satiric style, Lynch directed this feature as the pilot episode of a 1990 ABC-TV series. VIFF screening Sat.. 2 p.m. at the Ridge.
SEPTEMBER 30, 1989
The second screening of Twin Peaks was held on Saturday, September 30 at 2:00 p.m. This time, festival attendees would find the film at The Ridge Theater.
The 844-seat Ridge Theatre, located at 3131 Arbutus Street, opened on April 13, 1949 with Laurence Olivier in Henry V. Renovations in the 1980s reduced capacity to 480 seats.
Sadly, the theater closed on February 3, 2013 and was later demolished. A new building was constructed in the same spot and thankfully developers kept the “RIDGE” sign.
AUDIENCE REACTIONS
Unlike the Telluride screening, critics and audiences seemed to enjoy Lynch and Frost’s work.
Marke Andrews wrote a review for The Vancouver Sun on September 29 predicting that “TV will find room for Twin Peaks.” His last paragraph echoes what several other critics will come to write in the months leading up to the show’s television debut in April 1990.
“In the end, Twin Peaks isn’t the accomplished, self-contained movie that Blue Velvet was, but I for one would sit through commercials waiting for the next scene,” Andrews wrote.
A review in the Edmonton Journal on September 30 by The Canadian Press implied the television world was ready for David Lynch to make the leap to the small screen.
After the festival concluded, Vancouver Sun reporter Mark Andrews wrote about the successful event. In 1988, the Festival drew approximately 62,000 people. Mr. Franey was hopeful they would see 75,000 for the eighth annual event, a fete they would accomplish. While not every film sold out, attendance was strong in particular for the 23 Canadian films.
Andrews concludes his recap stating that “a few festival members questioned the decision to open the festival with a TV series pilot, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.”
ODDS AND ENDS
While researching this article, I came across two additional articles which I think are relevant.
There was a brief mention about Vancouver’s own Don Davis who was leaving for California on October 18. He would spend five weeks shooting the season one episodes as “Major Carlan [sic] Briggs, the commander of the air force base near the town of Twin Peaks.” I’m assuming the “Carlan” was a typo.
It’s unclear if he also attended the opening gala on September 28, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
SPOILER ALERT
One last footnote comes from The Desert Sun on May 23, 1990, weeks after the show’s debut on the ABC Television Network. Reporter Jamie Shoop Bray spoke with David Nicks who worked for the Vancouver Film Festival. He would later assist as a coordinator for the first Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 1990.
The most amazing thing is that Nicks predicted Laura Palmer’s killer on the day the season one finale (episode 1007) aired. Viewers wouldn’t find out until months later. He’s one smart cookie!
I have to admit, I’ve been a Peaks fan since 1990 when I saw the original broadcast as a college student, and I never knew the pilot was previewed at multiple film festivals the year before. I don’t even think the Peaks zine “Wrapped in Plastic” ever acknowledged this, which is surprising. I really enjoyed the looks at the Telluride and Vancouver fests — and the (different) responses the show received at each. Great sleuthing! Looking forward to any other pre-broadcast screenings you uncover…