HIFF Newsletter • June 23, 2021
The 15th annual Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival kicks off TOMORROW (Thursday, June 24) with our entire film lineup available to stream online starting at noon until midnight June 27!
Once you start a film, you'll have 24 hours to watch it. Individual tickets for each film are available for $10 ($5 for Associate, Full and Lifetime AFCOOP members), or you can see everything with a $30 pass!
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
HIFF 15TH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE
Shorts Program • FREE!
Available to viewers across Canada June 24–27
Every year, HIFF presents a selection of Atlantic Canada’s most bold and exciting new short films in our Atlantic Auteurs program. As we celebrate our 15th anniversary this year, we’re taking a look back at some of the most moving and innovative works from Atlantic Auteurs’ history in this FREE retrospective screening. Join us in revisiting the classics, discovering new favourites, and revelling in the stunning range of talent our region has to offer.
Featuring:
Stray • Ashley McKenzie
Negative Nature • Dawn George
Bohemian Town • Helen Hill
Black Cop • Cory Bowles
Higgy Wants In • Winston DeGiobbi
I Am Coming to Paris to Kill You • Seth Smith
Cabinet of Wonders • James MacSwain
Leaves • Jacquelyn Mills
Billy’s Behemoth Blast • Josh Owen
Deep End • Bretten Hannam
Alia • Raghed Charabaty
Mancanti • Kennlin Barlow
Fish • Heather Young
Reserve your free ticket for the 15th Anniversary Retrospective here.
KAREL DOING RETROSPECTIVE
Shorts Program
Available to viewers across Canada June 24–27
HIFF and the Handmade Film Collective are pleased to present a retrospective of the films of Karel Doing. The philosophy of universal connectedness, and cooperation between humans and the natural world, are present in much of Doing's work. This is visible from the very organic and mesmerizing Wilderness Series to the more foreboding world of the Mulch Spider's Dream. Even in the found-footage film Liquidator we are reminded that just as film from the early 20th century decays and disappears, the people whose likenesses are preserved in the emulsion are gone as well. Nature is never far away, even in the urban landscapes seen in Reve Rive. From the kinetic to the serene, this collection of Doing's work is an entrancing experience.
Following the screening, Herb Theriault of the Handmade Film Collective sits down with Karel Doing for a Q+A.
Click here to get your tickets for the Karel Doing Retrospective.
PLANTS ON FILM
Shorts Program
Available to viewers across Canada June 24–27
The Plants on Film Commissioning project is a collaboration between the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative and the Handmade Film Collective. Over the course of the past four months, filmmakers were asked to create new 16mm films responding to the theme of plants and utilizing one or more handmade filmmaking techniques such as eco-processing, phytogramming, drawing or tinting.
Featuring:
Basalt Dreams • Herb Theriault
The Vow of Silent Bob; Will He Speak? • Todd Fraser
Kill Your Darlings • Devon Pennick Reilly and Bria Stark
Nothing like a fresh tomato • Rena Thomas
Needles • Dawn George
Axiom • Kate Ward
Stick around after the films for a Q+A with the participating filmmakers hosted by HIFF's Henry Colin.
Click here to get your ticket for Plants on Film.
About the Handmade Film Collective:
The Handmade Film Collective is a group of practicing, enthusiastic, analogue, handmade filmmakers (Dawn George, Rena Thomas, and Herb Theriault) who have come together to showcase experimental analogue handmade films and support other filmmakers working in this specialized genre.
HIFF EVENTS
FREE!
Thursday, June 24 • 8 PM
REGISTER FOR THE GATHER LINK
Pull out your most breathable linens, wide-brimmed hats, and espadrilles to kick off summer in style at HIFF's opening night (virtual) garden party on June 24, 8–10 p.m.! Join us on Gather as we saunter around the lush pixels and think fondly of festivals past while gazing across the digital river. See old friends, meet new ones, enjoy our surprise-filled scavenger hunt, and toss back a gimlet* or two!
*BYOGimlet
FREE!
Saturday, June 26 • 1 PM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
In the past five years, Nova Scotia filmmakers have made waves across the country and internationally with limited resources and boundless innovation. In honour of HIFF’s 15th anniversary we’ll speak to some of the artists behind those films—and whose shorts are part of the festival’s retrospective—about the challenges and victories they’ve experienced. Solomon Nagler will lead the discussion with guests Cory Bowles (Black Cop), Seth A. Smith (The Crescent), Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf), Bretten Hannam (North Mountain) and Heather Young (Murmur).
FREE!
Saturday, June 26 • 3 PM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
Directors Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez took a 16mm camera across America for three years, visiting more than 60 pieces of the Berlin Wall that were salvaged and shipped overseas to become public monuments, personal collectibles, and corporate lobby decoration. The film that resulted is The American Sector, “a revelatory experience...a concise and elegantly crafted road trip” (The Hollywood Reporter). Stephens and Velez will discuss the film’s making and take questions from the audience.
FREE!
Sunday, June 27 • 11 AM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
Funding a film in Nova Scotia is a unique challenge, no matter your experience level. Representatives from key organizations—Lori McCurdy (Telefilm Canada), Rohan Fernando (The National Film Board), and Mickey Quase (Communities, Culture and Heritage’s Screenwriters Development Fund)—will discuss their respective programs and funds, how local artists can access them, and what's changed since COVID.
FREE!
Sunday, June 27 • 1 PM
REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK
The journey of a short film is curious and unpredictable. The reasons for making them also run the gamut—for a director to learn how to manage a set; to relay an artistic vision that does not need a feature-length runtime; to work toward making a feature; as one tenet of a larger artistic practice. And then where do they go once they’ve travelled the festival circuit? Filmmakers will be on hand to discuss why they make short films and how those fit into their larger goals. Moderated by Stephanie Joline, participants include Sophy Romvari (Still Processing), Vincent Toi (Aniskha), and Kevin Hartford (Breakout).
ATLANTIC AUTEURS CLOSE-UP
Where are you from?
Nigeria.
How did you get your start as a filmmaker?
Made a short on my cellphone.
What was the inspiration for the film you're presenting at HIFF?
Opening up a discussion on race.
What's the dream feature you’d pair with your short for a screening and why?
Get Out. Same themes.
What’s your favourite memory of making this film?
Getting the soundbite from the previous premier of the province towards the ending of the film.
What’s your go-to theatre snack (or intricate theatre snack combo)?
Hot dogs.
Where are you from?
I'm 'from away,' as they say here on the Island.
How did you get your start as a filmmaker?
Almost by accident really. I picked up a Super 8 camera, drifted around the north end of Halifax and got hooked.
What was the inspiration for the film you’re presenting at HIFF?
The first serious film I ever made was a feature documentary (the only feature I've ever made) called Stalking Love. I was in my early 20s, freshly heartbroken, and searching for answers. I travelled North America asking everyone and anyone for their insights on the elusive topic of love. I feel like I've been trying to remake that film ever since. The first cut is the deepest, I suppose. With Love In Quarantine the NFB let me explore the same theme from the perspective of COVID isolation. An attempt to draw us together as we are kept apart.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
I could answer differently depending on what day of the week you ask me this, but today, because it came up in conversation earlier, I would say a seminal moment in my relationship with film was watching Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire for the first time. The scene in the library where the camera (the angels) drifts from human to human and we are able to tune in to each person's innermost thoughts. The profound portrayal of separate togetherness, or different sameness, or lonely connection, expressed through the language of cinema. If I were ever able to capture that in such a way, I'd be a happy filmmaker. I'll keep trying.
These films will screen along with seven others made by established and up-and-coming filmmakers from across the region in HIFF's Atlantic Auteurs shorts program, available online June 24–27. Learn more about the full program here.