Twenty years ago, Vancouver didn't exist on any map of the film world. Today, Vancouver is at the heart of two film worlds. The city's American-based film industry is powerful enough to inspire loathing and threats from Hollywood, and its Canadian-based film scene is among the most acclaimed, provocative independent filmmaking communities anywhere. Vancouver Province movie critic David Spaner's Dreaming in the Rain is the story of West Coast Canada's emergence as a movie capital, from its early days as a Hollywood studio backlot, to its emergence as a place for movies of the week and television series like The X-Files, to its being home for local filmmakers like Mina Shum, Lynne Stopkewich, Bruce Sweeney, and countless others, who remain resolutely independent.

Along with tracing the art and commerce of Vancouver filmmaking, he brings to life the flamboyant film personalities who left their marks. There are Errol Flynn and his young companion Beverly Aadland, who spent the movie swashbuckler's last days partying in the Vancouver night life of the 1950s. There is also Robert Altman, who pioneered the Vancouver film industry, making films in the city long before becoming a legendary director. And there are local heroes such as The Matrix's Carrie Anne Moss, who grew up in Vancouver, and Kissed star Molly Parker and director Lynne Stopkewich, vital players in the groundbreaking Vancouver indie scene. And many more.

Dreaming in the Rain features David's own interviews with, among others, Robert Altman, Molly Parker, John Travolta, Lynne Stopkewich, Beverly Aadland, Stephen J. Cannell, John Frankenheimer, Carrie Anne Moss, Helen Shaver, Mina Shum, Sylvester Stallone, Nicholas Campbell, Ken Olin, Bruce Sweeney, Parker Posey, Chris Haddock, Sandra Oh, Barbara Parkins, Willem Dafoe, Nick Mancuso, Chris Carter, Sandy Wilson, Ian Tracey, Selma Blair, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carole Laure, Ellie Harvie, Norman Jewison, Barbara Williams, Babz Chula, Bif Naked, and Anne Wheeler.

Includes more than 40 black and white photographs.