FESTWATCH

JENNIFER VAN EVRA

WHAT THEY SAID"I like to think of this not as a rerun, but as the premiere of a new, very long-running feature program." - Nancy Gallini, dean of arts at the University of British Columbia, making a surprise announcement that the university's Film Production Program - which stopped accepting new students in 2006 and was expected to get axed - will be reinstated. Gallini delivered the news at a VIFF party for UBC alumni with films in this year's festival, and got a rousing cheer from the crowd, which included Vancouver filmmakers Bruce Sweeney (American Venus) and Larry Kent (Hastings Street). Among the features of the beefed-up program will be a filmmaker in residence, an internship program, an expanded faculty and improved facilities.