This year’s Atlantic Film Festival will have a flick for every connoisseur, from international comedies to music-centred features.
“We kind of pride ourselves on the fact that there’s probably something in our program for everyone,” festival director Lia Rinaldo said yesterday. “Basically every age range and interest is represented in our program.”
Government cuts to arts funding forced the program managers to chop this year’s festival lineup to 235 films from 254, Rinaldo said, adding audiences shouldn’t notice the difference.
“There’s a few less films, not by much,” she said. “The program overall is more streamlined, more focused.”
Rinaldo said she had a tough time picking her favourites.
“We screened over 1,500 titles to pick the 235 that are in, so it’s always so hard to name one or two that will really stand out.”
But two features from Newfoundland directors, Crackie by Sherry White and Grown Up Movie Star by Adriana Maggs, came to her mind.
“They’re strong voices coming out of Newfoundland with really solid dramas.”
Bright Star, a “poetic and beautiful” film by Jane Campion playing at the Oxford Theatre on Sept. 18, was another she was excited for the festival to present.
“It’s based on the romance between British Poet John Keats and his muse/next door neighbour/lover Fanny Brawne,” she said. “The film is very lush and beautiful.”
Rinaldo said she and the other festival organizers are all excited for American Emmett Malloy’s new music documentary, The White Stripes Under The Great Northern Lights.
The documentary will join other music-focused programs and features on the festival’s billing.
Rinaldo said the festival’s historical closeness to music is indicative of the Atlantic Canadian culture.
“It came out of a love of music,” she said. “It’s just been a kind of natural evolution I guess.”
