The 21st annual Barrie Film Festival kicks off its 10-day run tonight at the Uptown Theatre with an opening night party afterwards.
The opening night film is a Canadian one as This Mountain Life starts at 7 p.m. and the after party at Drors Studio starts at 9 p.m.
From Friday night until Oct. 21, the Uptown Theatre will be showing over 40 films from all walks of life and parts of the world.
Film festival administrator Jane Klementti has been a volunteer for a number of years before joining as an employee in 2015.
The festival is something Klementti holds dear to not just herself, but also to the community.
“I think the festival is important for a number of reasons,” she said. “Because we are a part of the Toronto International Film Festival circuit, we have an opportunity to bring independent films in from not just Canada but all over the world.
"These are films we wouldn’t normally get to see at the local mainstream theatres, so we focus on independent film for the most part and it adds an opportunity to get a sense of the world and of fantastic and critically acclaimed films that one wouldn’t normally see," Klementti added.
The festival celebrated two decades last year and as they head into the 21st, Klementti says there's a large group that has followed what the festival does not just over the 10 days a year, but also what they do throughout the year.
“We definitely get play to our regular audience because we show films monthly outside of this 10-day festival,” said Klementti. “We do two films a month and we do special presentations throughout the year, plus we also have another festival in February that is all documentaries and real story based that we find effective in that it talks about so many topics and genres.”
With big box-office movies hitting theatres every week, the local film festival is a chance to see a movie of real substance and meaning.
Klementti knows the films that are hand-picked by the festival committee need to have folks wanting to dive in to all that the film brought to the screen and to themselves.
“When people leave the theatre, we want them questioning the film they just saw,” said Klementti. “It is usually heavy thinking with regards to the topic you just watched and can sometimes have you relating it to your own life, so we hope it stirs conversation.
"We have a program committee and we carefully select the films we show each month so in the end we really want people to be engaged in what we’re showing and what we are trying to accomplish," she added.
Getting people engaged in the festival has become even more fun as a downtown Barrie contest allows folks to walk down Dunlop Street and check out film-inspired windows.
Tracey Baker, who owns ZuZu Boutique at 25 Dunlop St. E., is known for being a vocal promoter of downtown. Baker went around to other downtown businesses and started a fun contest that would celebrate the city’s 21st annual film festival.
“I have had my shop down here for three years and every fall I decorate my window to celebrate the film festival as I am a sponsor and supporter and I also just like to show my support,” said Baker. “This year, I thought it would be fun if we could expand it into the community and get more businesses embracing the festival and recognizing it."
In the end, there were 10 businesses that decorated their window for the contest. Judging was done on Wednesday and prizes were awarded on Thursday.
The Olive Oil Company and the Camphill Store won first and second respectively while the Summer House store did so well they received an honourable mention.
The Barrie Film Festival starts tonight at 7 p.m. with This Mountain Life and ends Oct. 21 with Nothing Like A Dame.
For a complete list of films, events and ticket information for the festival, head to www.barriefilmfestival.ca.
