STARS COME OUT FOR FILM FEST
Event kicks off with red carpet gala
Filmmakers, activists, actors, musicians, politicians and even a few wrestlers rubbed shoulders at the opening gala red carpet Wednesday evening to help celebrate the 18th birthday of the Calgary International Film Festival at the Jack Singer Concert Hall, kicking off 12 days of cinema with an appropriate dose of glitz and glamour.
“It’s part of the film festival experience,” said Calgary International Film Festival executive director Steve Schroeder. “Not every film in the festival can have a red carpet with all these flash bulbs going off and dozens of people from the film here. People love to start a film festival with a bit of the glamour side, a bit of the celebration side and bit of the party side.”
Star power came not only from local celebs, including former pro-wrestling champ Bret Hart, reality TV star and entrepreneur Brett W. Wilson, Wonder Woman star Eugene Brave Rock, Dark Matter’s Melissa O’Neil, stars of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience, actress and activist Michelle Thrush and Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Erica Wiebe, but also from more than a dozen Indigenous musicians from across Canada who are featured in the festival’s opening gala film, When They Awake. The festival will feature more than 200 films from 40 countries.
Directed by P.J. Marcellino and Hermon Farahi, When They Awake is both celebratory and thought-provoking, raising serious issues about colonization and Canada’s treatment of Indigenous populations while also featuring an exhilarating and eclectic array of sounds representing a “renaissance” of Indigenous music.
“It’s an honour that the Calgary International Film Festival chose this film in particular, because of the themes and the topical matter that it covers — because of the fact it covers Indigenous issues, because of the fact it celebrates Indigenous people,” Farahi said. “I think that’s a testament to the renewed consciousness amongst North Americans.”
A number of the artists featured in the film — including Logan Staats, DJ Shubb, JB The First Lady and Iskwe — were scheduled to perform at the after-party Wednesday night.
“The premise of the film is this resurgence of Indigenous music; not that it’s ever gone anywhere, but it’s claiming a new space in a bit of a new way,” said Iskwe, an Irish and Cree/Dene singer-songwriter who mixes traditional music with trip-hop and R&B. “To be here with a bunch of my peers and friends and family and folks who are part of the community, it’s really awesome.”
The opening gala celebrated community in more ways than one. It was also a celebration of the local film industry, with dozens of filmmakers representing the festival’s healthy contingent of homegrown films walking the red carpet.
Eugene Brave Rock, no stranger to glitzy red carpets this year as one of the stars of the Hollywood blockbuster Wonder Woman, said it was good to be home.
“This is pretty much where it all began,” said Brave Rock, who got his start as an actor and stuntman in locally shot projects such as Klondike, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Hell on Wheels. “I’m honoured to be here and very thankful to represent Alberta and Calgary.”
The Calgary International Film Festival runs until Oct. 1 at various venues. Visit calgaryfilm.com.