About 40 films will be shown on the screens at the Tivoli Theatre and the Venue, and an art installation will be on display at Kootenay Virtual Reality when the 7th Siding Festival of Film runs Friday through Sunday.
Ranging from features to documentaries to animation, some short and some full-length, the presentations are part of the first festival put together by the Kootenay Film Society.
“We have deep pockets of talent here,” said secretary Kerry McArthur. “And film has the most extraordinary ability to diffuse into all these pockets of talent.”
The festival opens with a presentation by the valley’s own Richard Reeves, a world-renowned animator who will offer a 90-minute retrospective of his own work, made utilizing the technique of scratching film.
“He’s going to run those at the Tivoli, and will speak to them,” said McArthur.
Reeves’ influence will also be seen throughout the festival; last month, he led animation workshops in Creston, and pieces created in those will be featured.
The festival also marks the return of Crestonite Sarah Kapoor’s film Bad Mother, which was previously shown at the Tivoli in 2016. Also returning to the Tivoli is Carefree, the first film ever shown there, for the theatre’s 81st-anniversary celebration.
Documentaries are also on the schedule and include Out of the Interior, which examines small-town theatres, and Seven Days with the Chief, which follows a week with Lower Kootenay Band Chief Jason Louie.
One of the more unique entries will be Jason Deatherage and his band providing an improvised musical score to a samurai film.
On the music side, audiences will enjoy a trailer featuring Nelson-based band White Queen for The Orchard, an upcoming film written and directed by McArthur, as well as Worth, a music video by Hayden and Jayli Wolf shot at Yaqan Nukiy School.
McArthur was pleased to see such a wide range of films entered in this inaugural festival.
“We put out our feelers, and we got this influx of amazingly talented people,” she said.
To learn more about the lineup or purchase tickets, visit kootenayfilmsociety.com.
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