| The arrival of May in Calgary signifies the start of the herland Film and Video Festival. Now in its 17th year, the festival launches on Thursday, May 3 at the Auburn Saloon with a gala screening of Nadia’s Journey – a documentary that examines the status of women in the Kabylie region of Algeria – followed by a performance from local gal Danielle French. The festival then moves to The Plaza theatre in Kensington from May 4 to 10 with programming that includes shorts and features that explore youth, aboriginal, eco-feminism, gender and queer themes. herland’s mantra is films by women, for everyone. This inclusive and accessible approach is also present in their admission, which is a pay-what-you-can sliding scale. For more information, you can visit www.herlandfestival.com.
The Broken Reels series at Broken City continues with free screenings every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. May’s theme of music films seems to focus on some fantastic songwriters including Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, Gillian Welch and Neil Young. These features are accompanied by a few indie films, so it is quite the evening of well-rounded cinema.
The 2nd Annual Super 8 Challenge, organized by James Reckseidler and Mike Peterson, hits Dickens Pub on May 17 at 8:30 p.m. Peterson describes the Challenge, which has criteria that address theme, character and technique, "as something to get different filmmakers working together and competing in a friendly way. It brings together different arts in an indie, underground environment." Featuring approximately 12 films by 14 filmmakers, both organizers have put their own films in the mix, but Peterson insists this doesn’t give him an edge. "In fact," he says, "I didn’t do a very good job this year, so I might get chastised." Apparently booing and cheering is encouraged, so go and support some local filmmakers including Joe Kelly, Keely Bruce and Sandi Somers by watching and yelling on May 17. The evening will also feature music from Ghostkeeper. For more information, please e-mail freshdog@gmail.com. |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.