HAMILTON FILM FEST
The Hamilton Film Festival is entering its 13th year and, in honour of that, executive director Nathan Fleet has given it a fitting theme.
“Because it’s our 13th year, we’ve decided to own that number and introduce a darkness theme to this year’s events,” Fleet says. “That theme will be present in many documentaries, dramas, comedies and our genre selections.”
And, yes, that means there will be plenty of horror.
As a matter of fact, the opening feature of the festival is the Hamilton-made mockumentary “ANTRUM: The Deadliest Film Ever Made.” “ANTRUM” tells the tale of a supposedly cursed ’70s horror flick, which left a trail of carnage, burned-out cinemas and dead festival programmers wherever it was screened.
“Hopefully, this theatre will still be standing after we screen it,” laughs Fleet, standing in the lobby of The Staircase Theatre on Dundurn Street North, one of two main hubs for the festival, along with the Zoetic Theatre on Concession Street. Attend the “ANTRUM” screening, if you dare, Monday, Nov. 4, at the Staircase.
The festival gets underway Saturday, Nov. 3, 6:30 p.m., with a gala at the Zoetic and runs nine days through Sunday, Nov. 11, with a total of 150 film screenings — shorts, animated films, documentaries, bio-pix, full-length features and online web series.
Wait a minute. Didn’t the festival just end last week? You can be forgiven for thinking so, because the 10th instalment of the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s World Film Festival did indeed end last week.
The Hamilton Film Festival (HFF) is a whole different ball of celluloid.
HFF screens nothing but independently produced films, including the work of about 40 Hamilton filmmakers. Some are justly obscure, while others could become future cult classics.
The films come from all over the world, including: 94 from Canada, 16 from the U.K., nine from Iran, six from Germany, five from France, two from Ireland, and one each from Sweden, Kosovo, Sudan, Hungary, Belgium and Spain, plus Australia, Madagascar and the U.S.A.
“We’ve seen an increase in Iranian film submissions over the years and the work is just incredible,” says Fleet, noting there will be a special screening of Iranian shorts at The Zoetic during the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 4.
There’s more than just film screenings. The HFF gala will feature a dark-themed fashion show by the city’s top designers, a block of five short films, and a concert featuring a Hamilton Philharmonic string quartet and the Nathan Fleet Band (it specializes in metal so expect at least one Ozzy Osbourne cover).
An “Industry Day” also takes place Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel downtown, with panels and workshops throughout the day, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on networking, genre pitching, distribution, licensing and financing.
As well there are screenings from first-time filmmakers, student filmmakers and genre nights — drama, comedy, horror (already sold out), family, documentary and science fiction.
Prices for individual screenings and events run from free to $20 each, with full festival passes available for $150; plus, they can be purchased in advance through the festival website hamiltonfilmfestival.com.
Among the features showing are: • Little Italy, L.A. — A 64-minute satire by Hamilton filmmaker Adriano Valentini that takes place in an Italian barbershop in Los Angeles. Wednesday, Nov. 7, 9 p.m., Staircase Theatre, $10.
• True North Project — Commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, this 50minute documentary focuses on national identity and the idea of “home,” in a country where 20 per cent of the population is foreign-born. Wednesday, Nov. 7, 9:30 p.m., Elaine Mae Theatre at
The Staircase, $8.
• Flin Flon: A Hockey Town — An American-made documentary on a Manitoba mining town’s obsession with hockey. Thursday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. at the Staircase Theatre, $10. • Up to Snuff — A documentary by Mark Maxey on W.G. Snuffy Walden, an Emmy-winning musician and composer best known for writing the themes for TV shows such as “The West Wing,” “Wonder Years” and “Thirtysomething.” Friday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Elaine Mae Theatre at The Staircase, $8. • Surviving Bokator — A 90minute documentary by Hamilton native Mark Bochsler about reclaiming cultural identity and building bridges between generations in Cambodia. Sunday, Nov. 11, 1 p.m., The Zoetic, $10. • Above the Drowning Sea —A
90-minute documentary about the dramatic escape of European Jews from Nazi-controlled Europe to Shanghai on the eve of the Second World War. The screening will also include “Fred Remembers Dieppe 1942,” a 10-minute film by Gary Kaulback about Corporal Fred Englebrecht, of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, one of the last survivors from the raid on Dieppe. Sunday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m., Staircase Theatre, $10.