First Nationsictoria Film Festival

First Nations Films at Victoria Film Festival this year

By William Doyle-Marshall

The Victoria Film festival begins Friday in British Columbia. The nine day event is celebrating its 21^st anniversary.

 Almost everywhere you turn in this town there are people who have moved here from various parts of Canada. Some come from North York, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Scarborough as well as Saskatoon, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, who knows where else. Kathy Kay, festival director believes it is safe to consider the event part of the city’s tourism programme especially as it is happens in the off season. “The fact that we can bring in 11 to 12 percent attendees who come from out of town who stay in hotels and go to restaurants and shop along with go to all the movies, I think it has been very positive,” Ms. Kay explained.

  Why you cannot afford to miss the festival when you land in Victoria: The Director says “it is just a great opportunity to see films that you wouldn’t normally get to see and t think it’s fun to be part of the community when they are coming out for an event like this. There is just more camaraderie and just feeling being part of something and I think for all those reasons you want to go to the Victoria Film Festival.”  

   “Filmmaking in Canada: An Indigenous Perspective” is the theme of a panel discussion scheduled for Saturday February 7^th from 4:00pm, at the Cenote • 768 Yates Street. As part of the festival programming in association with its Indigenous Program, Aarrow Productions. The discussion precedes the screening of My Legacy. The “Filmmaking in Canada: An Indigenous Perspective” Award-winning actor, director and curator Michelle Latimer will moderate the panel discussion. The esteemed panel will include Lorne Cardinal, Roseanne Supernault, Sarah Hager and Helen Haig-Brown.

   This year the Festival celebrates “Indigenous New Wave” cinema with its first-ever Indigenous program focusing on Indigenous films. Michelle Latimer, a Métis/Algonquin award-   winning filmmaker, actor, and curator, selected this year’s line-up. Celebrating what has been described as the “Indigenous New Wave” in cinema, the program features landmark films from some of Canada’s most prolific and accomplished Indigenous artists, as well as emerging talent from around the world.

   Exploring the troubling history of Canada’s treaties with First Nations peoples, prolific filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin’s latest documentary, Trick or Treaty?, screening February 8^th.  It uncovers disturbing revelations about the legitimacy of the treaty process and eloquently articulates how past injustices threaten to fracture our nation today.

   Special guests set to attend the Festival in support of their work include Sydney Freeland, with the critically lauded drama Drunktown’s Finest on February 10^th. The film which won the Jury Award at LA’s Outfest, explores the lives of three young Navajo people who struggle to leave behind life on the reserve and form their own identities. Helen Haig-Brown, one of five feature female directors- is also scheduled to attend the Festival, with her intimate documentary My Legacy which explores the intergenerational effects of Canada’s residential school system. It screens February 7^th. Considered cinematic, poetic, and insightful, My Legacy tells a powerful tale of personal and political forgiveness centering on Haig-Brown’s own story.

  At the: Parkside Theatre, 810 Humboldt Street, Friday, February 6^th, beginning at

1:00PM “The Changing State of Media” will be discussed by Harold Gronenthal Executive Vice-President of Programming and Operations - AMC/Sundance Channel Global at AMC Networks Inc. This 60 minute session is considered the Victoria Film Festival’s annual review of what’s new, forecasted and unpredictable. Those attending can expect to gain insights into how the changes impact the kinds of projects they create and at the same time understand new opportunities.

   At 2:30PM also on Friday Net Neutrality will be discussed by another panel as part of the festival’s Springboard programme. Moderated by Pat Ferns, panelists include: Steve Anderson (Open Media); John Festinger (Vancouver lawyer) and Harold Gronenthal (AMC)

  The panelists will discuss such issues as the competing visions of net neutrality in the EU, Canada and the US; whether the internet should be seen as a vital public utility or a commercial service; how critical services should be prioritized; and what new challenges are presented by the growth of the Internet. In addition the speakers are expected to look at the expanding role content plays in the future of the net, particularly as internet viewing/streaming begins to challenge more traditional viewing methods for audience and advertising.

  Granny Power by Magnus Isaacsson of Quebec will have its world premiere February 15. This is a documentary about a unique activist movement – the Raging Grannies – that started 25 years ago in Victoria as a satirical protest group. It has since grown into an international movement. This is one of numerous full length films that will receive premiere and world premieres during the week. Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is presenting a collection of films including Monsooon, Brahmin Bulls and Fandry. In addition there will be shorts covering a variety of subjects. For more information about the Victoria Film Festival’s Opening Gala film and party, go to: https://boxoffice.victoriafilmfestival.com/film.php?id=1009&noIframe=1