Hey, you know our weekly screening spotlight? Well, we’ve expanded it to include film festivals, because this city has so many of those that we figured the passionate programmers deserved their say as well. So here’s a chance to learn a little more about that cinematic event you’ve been meaning to check out.
THE FESTIVAL
Bloody Mary Film Festival, November 8 and 9 at the Carlton Cinema (20 Carlton). bloodymaryfilmfest.com
THE PROGRAMMERS
Laura Di Girolamo, freelance writer and film journalist Krista Dzialoszynski, cinephile and filmmaker Nadine Brito, screenwriter Melissa O’Neil, event producer and maker of Heritage Minutes at Historica Canada.
WHAT’S SHOWING?
“Our mission statement is to broaden the community of female-identifying genre filmmakers and build support and awareness for women making genre films,” Di Girolamo says. “Women filmmakers face a host of problems every day, and getting their films seen by an audience shouldn’t be one of them.”
The festival includes two feature films, Sharon Lewis’s Brown Girl Begins (November 8, 7 pm) and Audrey Cummings’s Darken (November 9, 7 pm), and nightly shorts programs at 9 pm.
“We chose Darken and Brown Girl Begins as this year’s feature slots because both of them are really great science-fiction dystopian films by female filmmakers,” says Di Girolamo, “and therefore they show women who are courageous and strong in the face of a dangerous world that works against them, which is obviously something I think a lot of women can relate to right now.”
And in its third year, Bloody Mary is becoming more proactive about future programming. “Over the past three years our goal has increasingly become finding ways to support our directors and help them take their careers to the next level,” says Dzialoszynski. “This year we have partnered with production companies Ultra 8 Pictures and Zed.film to present the Creators Coven Genre Film Generator. We are giving our past and present filmmakers an opportunity to come forward with a feature film project the selected filmmaker will receive a year’s worth of script development and mentorship from our partners and other industry professionals. We know that our audience – and we ourselves – want to see more genre films directed by women, so why not come up with a way to try and help get more films made?”
WHAT’S THE VIBE?
“We really want to foster an atmosphere of community and inclusion, where everyone is welcome and all voices can be heard,” says Brito. “Q&As with the filmmakers are held whenever possible, and have always been a hit with the audience. We’ve found that our audience has been a good mix between genre-film lovers and individuals who want to support women making more films. We hope that the festival will continue to grow so that we can provide more films to see and more opportunities for both our audience and filmmakers to enjoy their experience.”
ANY RECOMMENDATIONS?
O’Neil wants to direct your attention to Toronto filmmaker Morgana McKenzie’s new short Wild.
“Morgana has had a film at our festival for three years in a row,” she says, “and we’re honoured to witness the growth of a very talented and prolific filmmaker. I’m also excited for our audience to see Sofia Bohdanowicz’s The View From Here, a hilarious fantasy short playing in our Friday shorts program. This existential romp is sure to be different from what our audience has come to expect, and I can’t wait to watch them watch it.” Both shorts screen in the November 9 program.
