Riley Brandt

The Calgary International Film Festival says the Uptown proposed ‘a price tag we couldn’t afford.’

As it pares down spending and scrambles for cash to stay afloat, the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is dealing with the loss of its marketing company and a major downtown theatre that has pulled out of the festival for the first time in the event’s 10-year history.

The Uptown Stage and Screen says sticking with the festival no longer makes economic sense. “While the festival packed the house with massive advertising budgets and glossy programs, very little of that trickled down to the venue,” co-owner Blake O’Brien said in an e-mail. (He declined to be interviewed but e-mailed a lengthy statement to Fast Forward Weekly.)

According to O’Brien, the theatre would have received 35 cents from each ticket bought for a festival show at the Uptown. “Our participation at wildly uneconomic rents is tantamount to cash sponsorship…. We decided it was no longer worth it.”

The departure is the latest in a series of blows to the debt-ridden festival. With this year’s event just weeks away, CIFF has been struggling to pay off suppliers from past festivals. Anticipated government money fell through, and several sponsors have pulled funding. Festival organizers are trying to attract new financial support while hoping to recoup ticket revenue owed from last year’s event after RepeatSeat Ltd., a local ticketing company, spent the festival’s box office cash to pay off its own debt.

“What you’re going to see this year is certainly a leaner, meaner version of the festival — but one that we’re confident has been fiscally responsible,” says executive director Jacqueline Dupuis. “Obviously we remain committed to resolving any outstanding receivables. I think a successful 2009 program is the best and only way to accomplish that.”

Dupuis says the festival offered the Uptown the same rental fee it paid during the past two years and that while other city theatres have accepted that fee, the Uptown rejected it and proposed “a price tag we couldn’t afford.” Instead, the festival has booked more screens at the Eau Claire Market Cineplex Odeon and the Globe Cinema.

CIFF has planned only two galas for this year (it had three last year and another year it had six) and has cut back its marketing and advertising budget, as a local media company hired by CIFF to handle marketing and sponsorships resigned last month in a messy parting involving more unpaid bills. Dupuis and Commotion Media, which is run by two local filmmakers, say they had different opinions on how the festival should be run. “We had no choice but to remove ourselves,” said Commotion’s Devon Bolton in an e-mail. (Commotion also declined to be interviewed for this story, but e-mailed a statement.)

The festival has hired three marketing companies in as many years. It still owes money to the company it hired last year and Commotion is owed almost $6,000 — a sum Bolton and his sister Kirsten Bolton say they’ve tried several times in vain to collect. Dupuis says “there needs to be some signoff on some things before we release their final paycheque,” but the Boltons contend the festival hasn’t sent them a copy of the document that needs signing. “All we have been seeking is closure,” wrote Kirsten Bolton in her statement.

Amidst these partings, the festival has also scaled back the number of overall films as well as its new Mavericks film program, which is being launched this year. The competition will bring 10 films from emerging filmmakers to Calgary, with a $25,000 prize. “We hope to bring something to Calgarians that they can identify with,” says Dupuis. “But if Calgarians don’t buy in, then yeah — will the festival survive? Absolutely, but it just could look like something a little bit different than it looks like now.”

CIFF spent $75,000 on an international marketing campaign to promote Mavericks at film festivals in cities like Cannes, Berlin and Rotterdam — money that came from a grant intended for that purpose, Dupuis says. But the festival has decided against bringing in an “honorary maverick,” a celebrity filmmaker to head the competition’s jury, this year because of the cash crunch. Dupuis won’t say how much the festival was looking at spending for the position. “I really just feel uncomfortable opening that up for discussion.”

Dupuis also won’t reveal the festival’s current debt. “I’d rather not put those numbers out to the public” — but CIFF’s 2008 annual report pegs it at around $115,000. “From the beginning of this year until now it’s certainly gone down,” Dupuis says.

While CIFF is taking heat from some companies, others are backing the struggling festival. “Look, these are not easy economic times,” says Joe Novak, CEO of longtime CIFF supporter Joe Media Group. The festival owes Novak's company about $1,000, but he’s not worried about it. “They’ve made the effort to say, ‘Guys, we know,’ and they’ve communicated with us quite effectively…. The festival is so important to this city on a whole number of levels. We do everything we can to help support the people there.”

Calgary filmmaker Gary Burns says he used to be hard on CIFF, but has seen improvements over the years, particularly in programming. “They’re doing a good job. It’s a good thing to have and they’re bringing films to town that wouldn’t come here normally.”