Ottawa Film Festival Overdue: Director

OTTAWA CITIZEN

By Tony Lofaro, August 7, 2010

The Ottawa International Film Festival kicks off August 19^th, bringing together the best feature films, short films and music videos from Ottawa filmmakers as well as works from Canadian and international moviemakers.

Although Ottawa is already well-regarded for its established animation festival,
this is the first time a film festival of this scope is attempting to set up roots here.

And the executive director of the festival thinks Ottawa is long overdue for an event
of this calibre.

“It shocks me that this being the nation’s capital that there wasn’t a film festival like this,” said Nina Bains, who came to Ottawa from Toronto several years ago and works as a production secretary on local feature film productions.

“There didn’t seem to be that platform in Ottawa for filmmakers to come out and show
their works. We would always find our films going to festivals in Montreal, Toronto and even Kingston,” she said.

The international festival comes out of the boxcART film competition of locally-produced short films that Bains organized for several years.

She said the new festival will have “independent, sub-culture movies” showcasing the works of rising directors, producers and actors.

It’s being run on a modest budget and with the help of friends and through various fundraising efforts, with Lieutenant’s Pump on Elgin Street signed on as a title sponsor.

The four-day festival begins August 19^th with an opening party at Foundation restaurant, followed by a music video challenge screening at Lieutenant’s Pump on August 20^th and showings of the other films August 21^st – 22^nd at the Mayfair Theatre. It includes a roster of about 30 films, including five feature films, short films, music videos, as well as entries from Canada’s Top Ten Short Films of 2009 from the Toronto International Film Festival.

The features and short films come from Canada, England, Spain, Sweden, India and Colombia.

One of the films she’s excited about is Nuit Blanche, a short black-and-white film by Ottawa filmmakers Arev Manoukian and Stephanie Swedlove. It’s the story of a fleeting moment between two strangers who meet and their encounter is told in slow-motion. It was the Grand Prize winner last year at the LG Film Festival in Toronto.

The other short film she likes is Spoon by Ottawa filmmakers Karim Ayari and Amanda Asselin. The program notes say the film is an “unusual love story that can be described as endearingly awkward.”

A feature film titled Crossing Nirvana by Marie Lemay and Martin Forcier is “a tale of lost loved ones, revenge and a deep relection on mortality with a surprising twist of fate.”

Ticket prices are $10 per session or $25 for a weekend festival pass. For more information, visit www.oiff.ca.

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