The North Bay Film Festival is offering a “world class film festival” for the North Bay Community this weekend.
That is how Ian Laplante, one of the coordinators, and member of the official selections committee describes the Third Annual North Bay Film Festival held at the North Bay Capitol Centre.
“North Bay Film has been around for 27 years, but this is the third time we’ve done this type of film festival. So, Canadian, international and local films,” said Laplante.
The festival began Friday with Made in Northern Ontario day.
“All the films were sponsored by Canadore College, and they were all by northern Ontario filmmakers. That was a huge success. There were four films by northern Ontario filmmakers. Two of the films were by filmmakers that are based in North Bay, and the other two are filmmakers from elsewhere in the north. All the filmmakers were northern Ontario, and most of the crew and a lot of the cast as well.”
The festival offers an eclectic mix of films, some of them industry winners. The categories included feature film, Canadian shorts showcase, and student showcase.
“We had a period piece, we had sci-fi, and we had a couple of films that were just looking at a slice of life in northern Ontario. So, it was really interesting. A total mix of very different films” said Laplante.
The three-day festival recognizes the best of the best. This year a total of 12 feature-length films were submitted, as well as eight short films, and the Canadore College showcase of short films.
“We have two different juries. One of the juries looks at all of the feature-length films, and the other jury looks at all the short films. The jury that is looking at feature-length films, we often coordinate with the Toronto International Film Festival. They help us book the movies we want. And those films are the mix of international, Canadian, and a couple of American films,” explained Laplante.
“Then we have a jury that just looks at short film submissions. So, some of the short films are from students, some are from all over the world. People just submit through our website and what we do is pair the short films with feature-length films. Short films are anywhere from around two minutes, with the longest one around 14 minutes.”
Organizers are hoping for an average of 150 to 200 people at each screening.
“This has been a good year because of our partnership with Canadore College. We managed to get a lot of Canadore students out, and that is always fantastic to have more students come to the downtown core and participate in this type of festival.”
After a day and a half of film viewing, local resident Julie-Ann Smrke described the festival as both entertaining and informative.
She enjoyed the question and answer sessions.
“The biggest thing is seeing just how many awesome ideas these young people have, and how it gives me, a senior citizen, food for thought. It is amazing. It truly is,” said Smrke.
The festival continues all day Sunday with four films. The first screening starts at 11:00 a.m. The final show starts at 7:30 p.m. Individual tickets for non-members can be purchased for $10.00 per film.
