DRIFF returning for fourth year
The Durham Region International Film Festival (DRIFF) is returning for its fourth year. The festival is moving to October to broaden its reach. (Photo supplied)
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
The Durham Region International Film Festival (DRIFF) is coming back to Oshawa this year for a fourth time.
With new ideas and films, festival organizers are looking to broaden the event’s audience this year, while also still being able to please the audience who have supported them previously.
This year the festival has been scaled back from a full week to only four days. According to Carla Sinclair, the marketing chair for the festival, it’s because they are “focusing on building our audience and making the highest quality film festival that we can.”
Sinclair feels that by reducing the number of days that DRIFF takes place, they can increase the reach of the festival to not only filmmakers and fans, but students and an international audience as well.
In order to reach more students, DRIFF has been moved from September to October, which allows students to get more comfortable with the student lifestyle and be able to attend the festival as well.
“It was really close to TIFF and the beginning of the school year,” says Sinclair. “By having it further into the fall, it allows us to include the students more.”
Sinclair is a local filmmaker herself, and she participated in DRIFF last year when she was involved with two films, including Armoured Time Machines, a short documentary about Persian Gulf War veterans.
The four-day schedule will consist of three days of movies, and then the last day will be a look behind the scenes as well as several workshops.
Sinclair singled out the event at Newcastle’s Docville Wild West Movie Set, where, in partnership with Durham College, patrons will be able to participate in the ‘movie-in-a-day’ project, where attendees will not only be able to be in a short film, but they’ll be able to see how the film is finished.
While the last day will be in Newcastle, the rest of the event will take place in Oshawa at the Regent Theatre, and Old Flame Brewery in Port Perry.
Interestingly enough, Canada was not the country with the highest number of submissions this year, finishing second behind Germany, with the U.S. in third.
All told, Sinclair says that there were 344 submissions from 51 countries.
On top the films, there will also be panels featuring those who worked behind the scenes
including actors, directors, writers, as well as producers.
A number of awards will be handed out to the festival’s standout pictures.
These include Best Animated Short, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Comedy Short, Best Short Film, Best Student Film, People’s Choice Award and Best Regional Film.
Sinclair is personally excited for a film called Clara, a science-fiction film about discovering other forms of life in the universe. Clara will be screened on Friday, Oct. 19 at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa.
“It looks awesome,” she says.
She encourages the community to come out to the event, as it runs from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20.
More information can be found at driff.ca.