Organizers of Powell River Film Festival are working hard to pull the 2015 event together. With only 50 festival passes available, film lovers will want to pick those up as soon as possible, so as not to miss one film during the five-day festival which runs February 18 through 22.
Around 20 films will be screened during the festival, said festival director Michelle Hignell. Organizers are currently working on selecting the lineup and have already chosen some of the larger features.
Hignell said the selection is quite eclectic and includes some feature dramas, lots of documentaries and shorter films from emerging filmmakers.
“There’s lots of variety and a little something for everyone,” Hignell said.
She explained a main factor in selecting films is whether the programming committee finds the film to be gripping. “It’s got to have a compelling story and there are so many ways of accomplishing that,” she said.
Hignell said the Saturday night, February 21, feature presentation has been set and will be the 2013 Spanish film, Living is Easy with Eyes Closed. She added that the film is being considered a contender for an Academy Award.
“We’ve got some really interesting documentaries too,” she added.
Hignell said she thought Red Army, the festival’s Thursday night feature, would be very popular with Powell River’s legion of hockey fans. It is a documentary about the Soviet Union’s national hockey team and its experience during the Cold War.
Rocks in My Pockets is a feature animation about one woman’s struggle with her mental health.
Friday night’s double bill will be really challenging, said Hignell, and people can choose whether they want to come to one or both. The first is the French documentary Cartoonists: Foot Soldiers of Democracy and the evening film is an Australian film, 52 Tuesdays.
The environmental film, Return of the River, will be shown Saturday as well as Alive Inside, a film about music reaching people with dementia and other brain damage.
“It’s really cool to see what happens when they put the headphones on people who are locked up and far away,” said Hignell, explaining that the part of the brain that music accesses in everyone is the last part to be affected with Alzheimers or dementia. “They come alive before your eyes and there’s science in there. It’s really well made.”
On Saturday, January 17, the organizers will be hosting a fundraiser for the festival with a 1980s’ Footloose party. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Hignell said they will be teaming up with Townsite Brewing to have a craft beer tasting. There will be door and costume prizes as well as a photo booth.
Festival passes can be purchased online at the festival’s website or at Breakwater Books and Coffee, 4726 Marine Avenue. More information about the festival’s lineup can be found online.
