VICTORIA The Victoria Film Festival’s free summer movie screenings will return next month with a pandemic-related changes. The Free-B Film Festival will screen six films on a large inflatable screen in Royal Athletic Park at 1014 Caledonia Ave. Attendance will be limited to 500 seats per show and attendees will be physically distanced on the park bleachers in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. Seats will be taken up on a first-come, first-served basis. Fesitval director Kathy Kay says the outdoor festival typically attracts between 800 to 1,000 movie-goers per night, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early to ensure they get a seat.
Select movie theatres on Vancouver Island will open their doors this week as the second-stage of the provincial restart attempts to breathe new life into the local entertainment industry.
The feature-length film is set in a small town and tells the story of two sisters who live with a single father. The older sister decides to attend school against her father’s wishes and discovers stories of her father’s past that he was trying to keep hidden from his daughters. All-In Madonna had its world premiere at the Whistler Film Festival in December, and I had high hopes of travelling to Whistler to see the film on the big screen and to support my friend. I bought tickets, but, as I was about to book a hotel room, the travel restrictions came into effect.
And as a former film programmer, let me tell you. This is good!
The Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier may be at the vanguard of new programming. It went the avatar route this year, offering attendees a variety of virtual spaces where they could meet, network and socialize. Admittedly it looked a little like a Minecraft version of the festival, with digitally created bars, receptions areas and screening rooms.
The digital avatars themselves were especially hard to take seriously stubby little bodies and a video chat window where people’s faces were supposed to be, all scuttling about attempting to wheel and deal. But in spite of the weirdness, the reaction to the online experience seemed generally positive.
When planning for the 2021 edition got underway in April, there were no assurances there would even be a festival 10 months down the road. “No one really knew how it was going to go, so we made the decision in November to go just online,” Binkowska said. “To do it online and in-person, it would have been like running two festivals.” The virtual “doors” to the festival’s 27th edition will open at 12 p.m. on Friday. There are no scheduled times for screenings; ticket holders can watch the films at their leisure from their homes via computer or TV with the Elevent app (instructions are in the FAQ section of victoriafilmfestival.com.)