Buffs, aficionados and movie fans of all stripes are biding their time today on the eve of the Edmonton International Film Festival.
This year, the celebration of the silver screen hits its silver anniversary. For 25 years, local audiences have been treated to hundreds of full-length features and short films from countries all over the world and right in our own backyard.
“We’re super excited!” exclaimed festival producer Kerrie Long, praising the lineup. “We’ve got a fantastic opening night film, a fantastic closing night film and everything in between is just as awesome.”
Opening night on Friday is the main event since it is often accompanied by a star attraction. When Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald’s new work, Cloudburst, arrives on Friday for its Western Canadian premiere, it will be accompanied by one of its two lead actresses: Brenda Fricker.
“Opening night is always a challenge for our programming team, as the film selected must set the tone for the week to come. I can’t think of a better opening night kickoff than this.”
Festival programmer Guy Lavallee added that the film was an easy choice.
“After sitting through literally hundreds of feature films throughout the course of the year, sometimes I’m lucky enough to receive a gift from the movie gods like this,” he stated, calling Cloudburst “funny, raunchy, and incredibly moving,” “one heck of a crowd-pleaser,” and “a new Canadian movie classic.”
Before even that happens, there is a special pre-opening night film screening of Cameron Crowe’s first work in more than five years. Long decided to arrange for the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty to be screened, partially because it had only been shown at the Toronto Film Festival a few weeks ago, but also because of serendipity.
“We put it the evening before our festival kicks off simply because the band is in Alberta during that time with the hopes that, I don’t know maybe, the band will be here. That’s the beauty of the festival — you never know who’s going to show up or what’s going to happen.”
This year, there are 55 feature films and 110 short films being shown.
The 25th annual Edmonton International Film Festival runs at various locations in downtown Edmonton and Old Strathcona from Friday, Sept. 23, to Saturday, Oct. 1.
To see the full schedule of films or to buy tickets, call 780-423-0844 or visit www.edmontonfilmfest.com.
