This year’s Barrie Film Festival is off to an excellent start but the excitement isn’t over yet!
Uptown Theater (previously Imperial Cinemas) was home to the Barrie Film Festival for many years. In fact, according to festival director Claudine Benoit, the theater showed more than 1,000 feature films over the years.
“Uptown was our home for such a long time. It’s been a big part of our history.” Claudine shares.
But she also knows that a change in venue won’t stop the festival's success. “It’s going to be a wonderful experience at the other venues,” Claudine explains. She goes on, “It’s about enjoying the films collectively. It’s that collective experience that we enjoy so much. It’s wonderful to be able to, not only experience the film together, but be able to talk about the movies … a lot of the films we show inspire a lot of conversation.”
What To Expect From This Year's Event
This year’s venues will include Georgian Theater, Liberty North and Galaxy Cinemas in the South End of Barrie. The festival will feature 20 screenings, including 14 different films and the Short Film Showcase.
“If you really just want to see a film that’s going to make you smile, I would suggest Blind Ambition, which is a lovely documentary from Australia about 4 Zimbabwean men that escape to South Africa and form the first Zimbabwean wine tasting team to compete in France. It’s just a lovely story.”
Claudine continues, “Any of the films with guests are always an interesting experience.”
Just this weekend, director Jason Loftus attended the showing of The Eternal Spring. The film is a documentary about the Falun Gong hack in China. It is also Canada’s entry into the Oscars for foreign feature film this year.
The festival also hosted the Director’s Brunch this past Sunday. Claudia tell us, “[The Director’s Brunch] is a wonderful event that we’ve brought back. We used to have it years ago. It is a really intimate setting where we watch clips of the director's work.” This year’s featured director was Steve McEown. He has created a lot of wonderful local documentaries, which made for a great event on October 16.
If you missed these events, don’t fret. There’s still one more special guest event.
“We are also having a guest come for Revival 69 and I think that will be a really interesting conversation with Ron Chapman. Apparently, he is an encyclopedia of music so we’re very pleased to have him come on October 20 for that,” Claudine explains.
And of course, you can still enjoy screenings of many of the festival’s feature films.
About The Films
The 2022 Barrie Film Festival includes 14 feature films.
Buffy Sainte-Marie – Carry It On
Buffy Sainte-Marie – Carry It On is a documentary about the life and career of Indigenous singer-songwriter Buffy-Sainte Marie. Suppressed by two government administrations, she used her fame to speak out about issues affecting Native Americans.
Eternal Spring
Eternal Springs retraces the events of March 2002 when Falun Gong, a band spiritual group, hacked a state TV signal to counter government narratives. The film combines present day footage with 3D animation inspired by the work of Daxiong, a Falun Gong practitioner and comic book illustrator (Justice League, Star Wars).
The Swearing Jar
The Swearing Jar tells two love stories, while exploring marriage, parenting, loss and moving on. The story is seen through the eyes of Carey, played by Adelaide Clemens(The Great Gatsby).
Stay The Night
Grace feels like an outcast in a world where romance is ruled by dating apps and casual hookups. Things change after a failed one-night stand with a professional athlete that is on the outs turns into a connection neither expected.
Ice-Breaker: The ‘72 Summit Series
A sports documentary about the 8 legendary games of 1972 that pitted Canada against the Soviet Union. The film includes never before seen footage, archival interviews, and commentary from recent hockey legends.
Ali And Ava
A couple bond over the shared affection of a young child named Sofia. They begin to build a deep connection only to have their growing passions overshadowed by their past relationships and experiences.
The Good House
Based on a novel of the same name by Ann Leary, this comedy drama follows Frank (Kevin Kline) and Hildy (Sigourney Weaver) as they rekindle a high-school flame. But when Hildy becomes entwined in reckless behaviour she must face the person she has been avoiding for years – herself.
Revival69: The Concert That Rocked The World
A documentary about the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival, a one-day music festival. Against all odds, the event came together when a struggling promoter put his life on the line to reach his goals.
PODCAST: Director Ron Chapman talks about Revival 69 the movie & the event (and more local news)
Blind Ambition
This documentary follows four friends who escape starvation and tyranny in their homeland of Zimbabwe. Full of optimism, the group works to become South Africa’s top sommeliers and forms Zimbabwe’s first national wine tasting team.
Let There Be Drums!
Justin Kreutzmann, son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, sits down with the world’s greatest drummers. His goal is to gain a greater understanding of his father and the instrument that defined his life.
My Old School
Jono McLeod returns to his old school to examine the strange but true story of former classmate, Brandon Lee. Using a combination of cartoon recreations and live footage, you will learn about the 17-year old boy who turned out to be a 30 year old former student.
Framing Agnes
Agnes, a young trans woman, entered a study about sex disorders in 1958. Her story was believed to be exceptional until case files of other patients were discovered. The documentary looks into the stories of these previously unknown people who helped redefine gender.
Geographies Of Solitude
Naturalist and environmentalist Zoe Lucas takes you through a journey of Sable Island where they’ve lived for more than 40 years. The island is a rich ecosystem that Zoe works hard to protect.
I Like Movies
To save for post secondary school, a teen gets his dream job at the local video stored. Here, he develops a complicated relationship with his manager and begins alienating the people in his life. Following a series of painful realizations, the teen discovers who he really is and it may not be someone he likes.
as well as 14 more screenings of 10 amazing films.
2022 Barrie Film Festival Screening And Event Schedule
Here’s the schedule of screenings and events for the 2022 Barrie Film Festival:
Oct 14-19 – GEORGIAN THEATRE, GEORGIAN COLLEGE
Fri, Oct 14
7:00 PM – Buffy Sainte Marie – Carry It On
8:30 PM – Opening Reception with Logan Staats – at THE LAST CLASS BAR & GRILL
Sat, Oct 15
7:00 PM – Short Film Showcase/Awards
Sun, Oct 16
3:30 PM – Eternal Spring – with Special Guest Director Jason Loftus
7:00 PM – The Swearing Jar
Mon, Oct 17
7:00 PM – Stay the Night
Tues, Oct 18
7:00 PM – Ice-breaker: The ’72 Summit Series
Wed, Oct 19
6:30 PM – Ali and Ava
Oct 20-23 – GALAXY CINEMAS BARRIE (south end)
Thurs, Oct 20
4:00 PM – The Good House
7:00 PM – Revival69: The Concert That Rocked the World – with Special Guest Director Ron Chapman
Fri, Oct 21
4:00 PM – Blind Ambition
6:15 PM – Ali & Ava
8:30 PM – Let There Be Drums!
Sat, Oct 22
1:00 PM – My Old School
3:30 PM – Let There Be Drums!
6:00 PM – The Good House
8:40 PM – Framing Agnes
Sun, Oct 23
1:00 PM – Geographies of Solitude
4:00 PM – I Like Movies
7:00 PM – Blind Ambition
To get tickets to any of the upcoming screenings, head to the Barrie Film Festival website.
