Jun. 02, 2010 - Issue #763: Nextfest
Prevue
Turning up the celluloid
Nextfest's Filmfest expands
/ Supplied
To that end, Schuurman has expanded the fest from one night to three, spreading them out across Nextfest's 10 days in the hopes of not only creating a slightly bigger celebration, but giving each event a bit more focus and attention.
"Part of [the reason] was just that last year the film night was three hours, which can be a long time in the Roxy in the summmer," Schuurman admits over the phone, just before heading off to tech to make sure the film projectors are running smoothly. "But also this gives us a chance to do some different things with the films."
To that end, the two Saturday programs, No Vampires (June 5) and No Werewolves (June 12), are fairly standard omnibuses of diverse works, ranging from the return of crowd-pleasers Highwire Films with "The Stank" to the dance-collaboration film "Five." From the sci-fi action of "Escape from Death Planet" to the community action of the Youth Animation Project, an offshoot of Calgary's Quickdraw Animation co-op, which aims to teach animation methods to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity. Things get a little bit crazier on Monday, June 7, however, with Yes Zombies! a full-on zombie film extravaganza that, besides a screening of three different zombie films, will include such treats as zombie costumes roaming down a zombie red carpet.
"Zombies in Edmonton are just the hugest—it's a sure-fire hit, and there's so many zombie communities and events and stuff," explains Schuurman. "I explained it to Steve Pirot, and he loved it, and it's become a night of its own: we're opening up the theatre on Monday, which is normally dark, and it's just going to be this event of zombie mayhem."
But while Schuurman has high hopes for everyone having a good time, he's also hoping that, like all Nextfest events, Filmfest will expose Edmonton audiences to the interesting and vital work being done by the city's young artists, and prove that we don't need to look much beyond our backyard to have a good time.
"The film industry in Edmonton and Alberta is thin as it is, and limiting it to emerging artists makes it a shallower pond, but at the same time, there's some really impressive stuff going on out there," he says. "I wanted to show a good variety of the more experienced up-and-coming filmmakers and the people who are just breaking in. I kind of want to show the full gamut of what's going on with film, while keeping it entertaining." V
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