Reese Witherspoon in Wild kicks of the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival tonight (Sept. 25).

VIFF 2014 opening gala

The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off tonight with an opening gala screening of Wild. Based on the bestselling memoir by Cheryl Strayed, it’s a story about a woman (Strayed) hiking the 1,800-kilometre Pacific Coast Trail. The movie stars Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Gaby Hoffmann.

Unfortunately, tickets for tonight’s screening are sold-out. But tickets will be available at the door for the 3 p.m. screening of Wild at the Centre on Saturday, September 27.

Notably, Wild was directed by Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) from a script by novelist Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity). Reviewers have been calling it “inspiring” and have singled out Witherspoon’s performance as her best since Walk the Line. In other words, Wild has “box-office bonanza” written all over it in the same way as the Julia Roberts adaptation of Eat Pray Love.

The Centre is one of seven participating theatres in this year’s VIFF, including the Cinematheque, Cineplex Odeon International Village (aka Tinseltown), the Rio Theatre, SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancity Theatre and Vancouver Playhouse.

Trailer – Wild

This year’s closing gala film, meanwhile, is Whiplash. Another American effort, this one stars J.K. Simmons as a drum instructor tutoring an ambitious jazz drummer (Miles Teller). If screens Friday Oct. 10.

For more info on these and other films, along with showtimes and ticket info, visit viff.org.