Tag: Boys vs. Girls

A WIFF 2019 Recap

Posted on by MattyT

The Windsor International Film Festival has seen substantial growth since its first screening 15 years ago. It is not just the number 15 being celebrated though, it is the fact that the festival has been named “Canada’s No. 1 Film Festival” on TIFF’s Film Circuit. Congratulations to WIFF on all the success.

WIFF presented 165 features and documentary films during 277 screenings; 21 of those films were local programming, which is exciting for Windsor’s film industry. The stats are impressive: there are 132 Oscar nominations among this year’s 165 films, shipping in from 29 other countries, 83 films from world leading film festivals, 46 alone from TIFF. 

The festival has grown quickly over its 15 years. It added a huge extension with the monthly WIFF365 series, allowing WIFF subscribers to experience even more film screenings throughout the year. This year, for example, the festival has expanded again by extending its run to ten days, and also by adding WIFF Alley, and WIFF Village.

#WIFF Alley

Speaking of festival growth, it was announced last week that WIFF sold over 42, 000 tickets to the 2019 festival, a record in ticket sales for the festival; and a real indicator that there is a market for cinema here in Windsor.

Making a big contribution at this year’s WIFF were local filmmakers Gemma Eva and Calum Hotchkiss, who worked together on the short film’s “Rough Love” and “The Rabbit and the Snare”. Both films screened during “WIFF Local Shorts”, and were received with a round of applause. They also worked on Boys Vs. Girls, where Gemma was an Associate Producer and Calum was the Key Grip. 

The Chrysler Theatre

“WIFF Local Shorts” was a highlight of the festival for me. Presented at the cinematic Chrysler Theatre, this evening had a touch of magic and the feel of a big premiere. There was an energy in the theatre as we watched a roll of locally produced shorts together. Enthusiasm for the movies was pulsing in the many cheers from a vibrant crowd. I wish there had been a Q&A afterwards, or other glimpse of the filmmakers.

Gemma Eva had a successful festival with the screening of “Rough Love”, this year’s Best Screenplay winner at the University of Windsor Film Festival, which Gemma has won three years in a row. She also won Best Director. Gemma Eva has been steadily writing and directing movies in Windsor for over five years: “The Last Night” (2015), “Damned for All Time” (2016), “Again” (2016), A Late Night Adventure with Holly and Zoe” (2017), “Heidi Wilson is Okay” (2018), and “Full Meta Racket” (2018). 

“Rough Love” will precede The Birder on Friday January 24, see Events calendar for details.

The local screenings did not stop with the shorts though, there were 11 feature films that were local as well. Boys vs. Girls was shot out at Kiwanis Sunshine Point Camp and another highlight of the festival for me. I attended Kiwanis camp as a child, and to see the pool, and the cabins freshly painted, was a vivid reminder of a wonderful experience of my youth and why I’m so passionate about seeing Windsor in the movies. This event featured a brief Q&A with Theodore Bezaire and Mike Stasko afterward, where they let slip they have more projects on the go, the Windsor movie-making magic continues …

The Quick and Dirty by Jordan Krug and Nicholas Shields is another film with shooting locations in Essex County. The indie drama Last Call was co-written and directed by Windsor’s Gavin Michael Booth. There is also Prey, a documentary directed by Windsor’s Matt Gallagher which was a winner at Hot Docs Documentary Festival earlier this year. Prey was also voted as this year’s LiUNA! People’s Choice Award winner at WIFF, congratulations to Matt Gallagher and the team that created the documentary about sexual abuse. 

Now that the festival is over, you may find yourself experiencing WIFF withdrawals, and yearning for next year; but remember, WIFF365 will be happening every month until WIFF2020.

What was your favourite movie from WIFF? Please leave your comments below, thank you.

The Windsor Film Society

Posted on by MattyT

The Windsor Film Society is something that every film buff in Windsor will want to know about. Outside of Silvercity and Devonshire’s small Classic Films Series, Windsorite’s do not really have a lot of options for seeing older movies. WIFF, and the newly devised WIFF365 which seeks to show movies at least once a month at the Capitol, tend to screen foreign and independent content, not necessarily old and classic. What about the movie buffs that want to see old classic movies on the big screen? 

The Windsor Film Society has just the ticket for such a Windsorite. Theodore Bezaire and Mike Stasko, two popular local filmmakers themselves, formed the Society out of their own passion for movies. Theodore remembers fondly the independent theatres of Toronto – The Bloor Cinema, or The Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles Ave, and would like to create a similar experience here. “I just love watching movies, outside of my house, on a big screen.” Says Bezaire. “Right now, it’s a hobby between just Mike and I, we’re the two guys running it in the hopes that we can build it up, and bring in those audiences every month.”

It is not just about nostalgia for a by-gone era in cinema though, it’s about trying to create a community discussion about film in hopes that it will grow over time. “We do a lot of stuff with the University, because they do have a film program, so we market a bit towards them, these students are interested in films and seeing films in that environment.” The WFS is presenting linked films as a series. The current theme is “Women in the Director’s Chair”. Their last screening featured Sarah Polley’s, Stories We Tell and hosted a discussion with local filmmaker Kim Nelson afterward. They hope to have something similar for the next one. 

“I’d like to get that conversation going more in Windsor,” says Bezaire. If you would like to be part of that discussion, the next screening by the Windsor Film Society is The Babadook, on Feb 26 at the Green Bean Cafe. Be sure to check it out. 

The other part of that love of movies and desire for conversation about them is that Bezaire is also a filmmaker. In 2013, he directed the feature length film, The Birder. In 2006, Bezaire directed Things to Do, which he co-wrote with Stasko. He recollects, “my first feature we did shortly out of film school. It did really well for us, it played at Slamdance, the independent little brother of Sundance. It got a positive review in Variety. It opened a lot of doors for us here in Canada. It got a deal with Mongrel Media, a Canadian distributer for films, and we were in every Blockbuster across Canada.” 

The success of Things to Do, led to The Birder. “With that one, we wanted to step it up with our cast, do something a bit bigger. We brought in Tom Cavanagh, Fred Willard, and Academy Award nominee Graham Greene.” -again, shot in Windsor; and again – more projects in various stages of development ensued. For instance, The Control, “we’re working on distribution on that one now, and most recently, Boys vs. Girls, written and directed by Mike.”– and yet again, these were also shot in Windsor, “we’re trying to shoot more features down here…one of Mike Stasko’s goals as a professor is to give his students opportunities so they can gain some professional experience on a set.”

If you’re like me, you’ve already heard rumblings such as these about the movies in Windsor; but don’t get so excited and start thinking that Hollywood productions are on their way into town – they are not. According to Nick Shields in a recent CBC article, we don’t really have the infrastructure here yet to support them. Bezaire is optimistic that it can be done though: “We’ve had amazing experiences shootings our films here in Windsor. It works for us as local filmmakers, but it may be difficult to bring bigger films to the area…There’s definitely challenges, but maybe we can overcome those challenges.”

As for the infrastructure, Bezaire says, “We definitely need work in that area, but it is getting better. That’s part of what Mike’s trying to do with the University students, so it’s not the first time they’re walking onto a feature set, they understand the process, they understand the workflow, and are not as green as they would be otherwise.”

Giving students experience at making movies is a positive thing for their artistic growth. From that experience they will be better equipped to direct their own first features after leaving school. If there’s two things Essex County is doing really well, it’s growing things and making movies. With the cultivating of youth through these experiences, as well as others that are available, it’s imaginative to wonder what the future film industry may look like one day in Windsor.  

If you have thoughts that you’d like to share, you can always feel free to leave a comment below and start some conversation about movies here in Windsor.