PARRSBORO FILM FESTIVAL
The 2nd
annual Parrsboro Film Festival will held on weekend of October 12 to 14.
The ambitious festival-that-could will screen
full-length features and short films with an Atlantic Canada connection,
showcasing the vast creativity of regional screenwriters, directors, producers,
designers and actors as stories are explored and narratives are brought to life
on the screen.
John Walker’s film Passage, an innovative, powerful, and revealing examination
of the search by John Rae to discover the Northwest Passage, will be the
opening feature at 7:30 on Friday evening, followed at 10 pm by The Man of a Thousand Songs
directed by William MacGillivray, sharing the personal story and the rich
lyrics and melodies of iconic Newfoundland songwriter and singer, Ron Hynes.
As a unique
festival offering, a silent movie
will be presented prior to the Friday night opening feature, with original live
musical accompaniment provided by bandmaster Rob Bentley and the Parrsboro
Citizens’ Band.
A number of short and short-short films created by
both professional and aspiring filmmakers, among them Room Service, fresh
from the Atlantic Film Festival, will be screened on Saturday afternoon
beginning at 1:30 pm. Festival patrons will select an audience favourite from
each of these two categories; there will be two juried selections, as well. The
winners will be announced, and the winning films re-screened, on Sunday
afternoon.
Cloudburst,
the Movie, the internationally-acclaimed
film festival sensation written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald, will be
featured at 8 pm on Saturday evening – a heart-wrenching and humorous film
featuring stunning performances by Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Fricker, and Nova
Scotian actor Ryan Doucette in a lead role.
The Corridor, a chilling horror drama from the screenplay written by Josh MacDonald and directed by Evan Kelly, featuring Stephen Chambers, James Gilbert, David Patrick Flemming and Matthew Amyotte, will be the late-night Saturday feature at 10 pm. Both Cloudburst and The Corridor were filmed on location in Nova Scotia.
New to the
2012 Festival will be information sessions and post-film discussions with
industry professionals. Saturday evening will again feature, for pass holders,
a festival dinner at the popular Bare
Bones Bistro, Main Street – one seating only, at 5:30 pm.
Sunday’s
events will include an 11 am session entitled Script to Screen with Bruce Graham and William Tracartin, and the
screening of two special short films: Sum
of its pArts and Wabanaki.
The festival will conclude with a 2:45 pm screening of Trigger, a gritty, modern film written by Daniel MacIvor and
directed by Bruce MacDonald, starring Molly Parker and Tracy Wright in her last
film appearance.
All film
screenings will take place at the restored Band Hall on King Street in Parrsboro, complete with large screen
and plush theatre seats, hot popcorn, and freshly brewed coffee.
