WIFF wraps with record attendance, plan to expand
With the “exciting ” 2018 Windsor International Film Festival breaking previous attendance records by about 10 per cent, organizers are looking to expand from seven to 10 days for the festival’s 15th anniversary in 2019.
“We’re thrilled,” executive producer and chief programmer Vincent Georgie said as the final day was wrapping up Sunday. Ticket sales should total about 24,000, up from the all-time high the previous year of 22,000. Those film lovers created a daily buzz through the downtown, where 143 films from 21 countries were screened at the Capitol Theatre, the Chrysler Theatre and the University of Windsor’s new School of Creative Arts. Georgie remarked that there was a “terrific increase” in daytime audiences, as people took vacations and rearranged their schedules to attend multiple movies.
One man had just reported to Georgie he’d seen 46 films. “It’s been an exciting festival, it’s been fun, it reminds us very much how it builds community,” Georgie said, marvelling at how the festival is so social.
When the festival started in 2005, attendance was less than 1,000. In 2008 when Georgie arrived, it was 2,500, so attendance has increased almost tenfold in 10 years.
At the start of this year, WIFF received a major financial boost when city council approved $250,000 for capital improvements — to buy equipment like projectors and sound systems instead of renting, and to upgrade technology like the ticket sales system. At the time, Mayor Drew Dilkens said he wanted the money to take the festival to the next level. Georgie said it was mission accomplished. “That was felt immediately,” Georgie said of the council investment, explaining that it helped boost attendance as well as the quality — better projectors and sound. “There’s no question on anyone’s mind that was the single biggest variable in boosting the festival yet again up, there’s just no question.”
He said in addition to new equipment being purchased, new sponsors came on board and there was a general sense in the community that WIFF was “an unmissable event, that this is a Windsor crown jewel.” And because the money came at the start of the year, organizers had lots of time to plan improvements.
WIFF has been the second biggest volunteer-run film festival (in terms of attendance) in the country, behind Collingwood’s. Georgie said when official rankings for 2018 are released in the summer, “we’re very confident we’ll be in a good position” to be No. 1. Among the most popular films were The Russian Five (chronicling the five Russian stars who defected to the U.S. to play for the Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s), The Wife (whose star Glenn Close is receiving a lot of Oscar buzz), The Children Act starring Emma Thompson, and Free Solo, a documentary detailing Alex Honnold’s solo unsecured climb of a 3,000-foot vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park. The People’s Choice award for the attendees’ favourite film was to be announced around midnight. Georgie said what makes WIFF such a special event is the many people taking chances on movies. “A festival should be like a buffet,” he said. People step out of their comfort zones and watch films from different countries and genres. “And often they come out of it and say ‘I loved it, I was surprised by that,’” he said.
He said after Sunday, volunteers will take some rest and then start planning for 2019. Their next board meeting is Nov. 14. “You talk about the city’s support taking us to another level, we’re now going to a 10-day festival,” from Nov. 1-10, he said, remarking how volunteers and audiences were “ready to keep going” after the festival’s final day on Sunday. “It’s a nice vibe,” he said, remarking how people chat to strangers about what they did and didn’t like. “That’s what you can’t replicate in a regular theatre, that’s what you can’t replicate in your home,” he said. “We’re very proud of it.”