EIFF picks 24/One winner, Chillerama makes a comeback
A hilarious short film about two roommates trying to survive a day without internet has won the EIFF 2011 24/One competition. Fourth Wall Productions, comprised of six NAIT Radio TV Arts students received the most votes from the audience at Empire City Centre 9 and a $500 prize. The short will be posted on Fourth […]
EIFF screens tribute to late filmmaker Barr
Kenneth Barr’s friends will tell you that if anyone embodied the spirit of indie filmmaking it was the Vancouver director. When he passed away this past summer at age 37, western Canada lost someone in the mold of Roger Corman and Tobe Hooper, a proponent of action films who used shoe string budgets to entertain. […]
Edmonton Arts Council creates $10,000 film prize
More good news for local filmmakers: The Edmonton Arts Council is kicking in $10,000 a year to support the local film industry, it was announced Wednesday, on the heels of the $5 million City of Edmonton Filmed Entertainment Fund that City Council approved weeks ago. The 10 large isn’t a grant of funds to be […]
EIFF: A Generation of Whine
Entries are being now taken to come up with a name for the new generation that recently came of age and hates Generation X as much as Generation X hates the Baby Boomers. They’re here … and even that reference is out of date (Poltergeist, 1982). Any ideas? Generation Y is lame, Next Generation is […]
EIFF REVIEW: Fightville captures humanity behind mixed martial arts
There’s a moment early on in the documentary Fightville that elegantly summarises a key theme: that success demands discipline, while life demands honesty. Young Albert Stainback is explaining his motivation for wanting to be a pro fighter. It’s about his difficult life, his father’s murder, the abuse his mother suffered. He’s a smart, perceptive young […]
EIFF REVIEW: The Swell Season and the not-so-swell season after that
The Swell Season is a story about the frailty of relationships, of trying to balance the expectations of others against one’s own needs. It’s set against the backdrop and influence of fame, with an Oscar-winning songwriting duo at its heart, but it could well be about just about any couple you might know. Ultimately, that’s […]
EIFF ENCORE: Bob and the Monster turnaround
Bob Forrest is one brilliant guy. He’s funny, compassionate, talented, magnetic. Unfortunately, he credits all of it to the comfort he feels when he’s drunk or high. It’s not an uncommon story. But surviving it when you also happen to be a minor-league rock star with a big budget and lots of time on your […]
EIFF STAR WATCH: Pearl Jam, Omi Vaidya, Brenda Fricker, Joshua Leonard – and you!
It wasn’t a coincidence – it was a conspiracy! The fact that Pearl Jam had a day off on the same night that EIFF screened the new Pearl Jam documentary, Twenty, was “not an accident,” confirms EIFF programmer Guy Lavallee. “It was very specifically targeted to play between the Calgary and Edmonton shows. But they […]
Pearl Jam Week declared in Edmonton – on screen and stage
The new Pearl Jam documentary Twenty is opening the Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) on Thursday – which just happens to be a day off for the band before they play Rexall Place on Friday. Coincidence? Probably. Will members of Pearl Jam actually show up at the screening? Probably not. Sources close to the band […]
