First Durham festival coming in September

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Come September, residents of Durham will get the full gambit of lights, camera and action at the inaugural Durham Regional Film Festival.

Running from Sept. 25 to 27, the Durham Region Film Commission will host a conglomeration of events at the Regent Theatre and the Docville Wild West movie set in Clarington.

The event will not only feature numerous film screening packages, complete with a short film, a feature film and a question-and-answer session with the artist, but will also give residents a first hand look at interactive activities surrounding the film industry.

Specifics are still in the works, according to Eileen Kennedy, economic development officer and film office liason. However, working with the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employess (IATSI) she says she hopes the interactive elements will be plentiful.

“I love the idea of putting something out there, that people can come and learn about and do something different than their everyday life,” she says.

“The whole idea is not only film screenings, but to have that experiential opportunity to see what it’s like to be a part of the film-making crew,” she adds.

The festival is slated to kick-off on Sept. 25 with film screenings at the Regent.

The next day, festivities will shift to the Docville set for a pair of screenings and hands-on activities.

The finalists from a student film competition will also be screened that day.

Kennedy says the festival takes advantage of the amount of movie industry knowledge that exists in Durham Region.

“There’s a lot of filmmakers, producers, directors, people that work in the film industry that live and breathe in Durham Region,” she says.

Durham Region has also become a hub of movie production in recent years. In 2014, the region attracted $22 million in productions, $2 million more than in 2012.

“The announcement of this inaugural film festival gives us an opportunity to shine the spotlight on Durham Region as we continue to build partnerships to bring more productions to Durham,” said Regional Chair Roger Anderson in a press release.

For Kennedy, plans are already in the works to expand the festival for 2016, aiming to have the opportunity for filmmakers to submit their work as well as networking opportunities for those in the industry.

However, for this year, she says they will focus on doing the basics very well.

“So, this year, with the film festival we’re going to do 10 things well. We’re going to have this experiential kind of event where you not only get to see films, it’s on-screen, but it’s also off-screen and what happens behind the scenes,” she says.

For more information on the festival, visit www.investdurham.ca