In Memoriam: Wayne Lee, VIFF Volunteer Extraordinare

The following post is of a personal nature to me, however the reason this site exists is to cover the exciting happenings in my life in and around Victoria. Film festivals, especially, are one of my favorite things as it brings everything that I love about cinema together.

And when you get to one of these festivals, the people make it the most memorable. And when it comes to my annual smörgåsbord of cinema known as the Vancouver International Film Festival, you get to meet the many, crazy volunteers who are there, every single year, without fail. Without them, the festival is nothing.

The passing of longtime VIFF volunteer and fellow festivalgoer Wayne Yun Chung Lee, who died on December 15th at the age of 54, is a enormous loss to the film festival community in Vancouver. He was well liked amongst his peers and was a pure film-a-holic as there ever was.

Wayne was one of the very first people I met when I first started covering VIFF in 2003. In fact, in one of my very first line-ups outside the Granville 7 cinema, I was having a conversation about foreign films with a friend when Wayne broke into the conversation with his own opinion on the matter. And that's what he always did, time and again; he never held back what he thought and was at the festival, each and every day, doing what he loved and discussing film when he could.

I didn't keep in touch with Wayne the rest of the year, but I'm sure he was constantly at the cinema every week seeing as many movies as possible. Because when you're people like us, that's what you do.

Wayne was an interesting character. To me, the timeless image of Wayne is of a man standing outside the Granville 7, all alone, in his dark jacket, red toque, pocket protector and making notes. He was always writing stuff down, but I never knew exactly what. Perhaps he was taking notes of the film he had just seen or working on his schedule, but Wayne was always there.

I was honored to know you, Wayne, and I miss you already.

Jason
The Victoria Cinemaphile

LEE Wayne Yun Chung A Celebration of Life for Wayne Yun Chung Lee of Vancouver (b. January 16, 1953, d. December 15, 2007) will be held on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 3:30 PM at Glenhaven Memorial Chapel, 1835 E. Hastings, reception following. In lieu of flowers, donations in Wayne's memory may be made to the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society, 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7 or to the Canadian Cancer Society, BC & Yukon Division, Attention: Donor Services, 565 West 10th Ave., Vancouver, BC V5Z 4J4.