CELEBRATION OF FILM
It’s EIFF time again
This year’s posters read: Edmonton International Feels Festival — and they’re delightfully on point. For why do we love film?
Besides the music and cinematography, the ongoing magic of science and art rolling around in the hay, summoning empathy is at the core. You don’t cry when that dog gets shot onscreen for nothing.
With 44 features and 119 short films, the Edmonton International Film Festival is set to take us away to newly-revealed worlds with its reliable mix of drama, documentary, animation and unpredictable subject matter.
Accessible yet thought-provoking, EIFF runs Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 6 at Landmark Cinemas 9 City Centre and includes a foodie fundraiser event for the Chef Gail Fund at 4 p.m. Friday put on by RGE RD.
Festival publicist Paul Mennier rolls out the festival’s mandate.
“It’s about film in all its forms, from everywhere in the world. It’s about opening eyes to that great method of telling stories: cinema.
“We’re a big festival for shorts,” he adds. “And that’s where you’ll see a lot of made-in-Alberta work, in our Studio A programs. There’s something for everybody.
“It’s not just a foreign film event; it’s not just Canadiana. It’s all of that and more.”
He also notes they ’re here to nurture a community.
“What EIFF prides itself on is making the filmmakers feel important and welcome. It’s about heart, and the blood, sweat and tears they ’ve put into these films.”
Numerous directors and cast are on their way to Edmonton, including for the festival’s opening movie at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, The Grizzlies — a drama about sport bringing kids together in the Canadian North.
“It’s a true story from about 15 years ago,” Mennier says. “This young guy Russ Sheppard from southern Canada goes up to an Inuit community (Kugluktuk) and is astonished by the high suicide rate. He introduces the kids to lacrosse, and it worked — suicide went to zero for a while.”
The director, Miranda de Pencier, will be at the screening.
The EIFF rep adds, “If you’re at all interested in the art of filmmaking, there’s no better place to meet and greet filmmakers, from writers, directors and actors. They ’ll be floating around here for the entire 10 days, very accessible.”
Both the opener and closer are about overcoming challenges through sport and action — set on opposite sides of the planet.
“The closing night documentary The Push (6:30 p.m., Oct. 6) is a
pretty inspirational film,” Mennier says. “It’s about a nanotechnology researcher from California who’s also a wild sports enthusiast. He has a crippling injury that changes his life. But he’s determined to heal, and engages in this trek with some other disabled people across Antarctica. The cinematography is amazing.
“So yeah, two films from either end of planet. I’m not sure that was actually by design,” he says with a laugh. “But it shows off our international side.”
Meanwhile, a comedy about hell directed by Christopher Donaldson was made in Edmonton.
“Necessary Evil,” Mennier notes, “is deliciously funny. That’s all local folks — Randy Brososky and Mark Meer are in it, and it’s a fun look at hell as an office of cubicles. Lucifer decides he wants to get out of the game, so there’s a pencil pusher from downstairs and he’s brought up and made CEO. Dark, but lighthearted at the same time.”
Necessary Evil runs at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Meanwhile, “Clara is directed by an EIFF alumnus, Akash Sherman — he had a cute little film in the Studio A shorts program. Fastforward six years, he’s in Toronto and become a pretty accomplished filmmaker.
“Clara is kind of an astronomy feature about a guy trying to find life in space. It’s beautifully shot, well acted.”
The filmmaker will be here for the 6:30 p.m. Friday screening.
Mennier also mentions Edmonton expat Carl Besai’s feature drama, Kreuzberg, which plays 6 p.m. Sunday.
“It’s shot in Germany. It’s about a town that’s always welcomed immigrants. But now there’s tension with some Syrian refugees, and some old East German sensibility kicks in. It’s certainly a piece for the times.
“I like the human struggle with tolerance and understanding with different cultures. How some deal with it in a rational way, and how sometimes the ugly side of humanity erupts.”
Another local film is by Shreela Chakrabartty, Lake Shore Drive, a collaboration with Kash Gauni playing at 4 p.m. Sunday. “This film came out of my first-time experience fostering a dog that Kash brought home,” Chakrabartty says. “He came up with this story based on a person he knew of, a 40-plus man with young kids who went to prison for fraud. The company and CEO came out clean legally while he served his term.”
She notes: “My approach to moviemaking is to entertain while raising serious topics without being issue-driven.”
One of the easiest ins to EIFF is the Lunchbox Shorts program, running next week Monday through Friday, 12:10–12:55 p.m.
“Almost every day last year was packed,” says Mennier. “What a great thing for the office crowd to get out of the cubicle. You get a sandwich and 50 minutes of films for $15 — you really can’t beat that deal.”
He notes of the festival director, “Kerrie Long does just a brilliant job curating that series — it’s different every day.
“Lunchbox is one of those elements that just kind of opens the door, and opens eyes to the beauty of short film. Brevity is the soul of wit, right?”
Have a look at the full schedule online at edmontonfilmfest.com (where you can also buy tickets), and we’ll see you under rolling avalanches of popcorn!