In the 1990s, the Chinatown business community, through the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association, began to search for an effective vehicle to fund and implement projects to revitalize the area.
The Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), the annual Film & Television Forum and the year-round programming of the Vancity Theatre at the Vancouver International Film Centre.