SWFF bringing free family fun and an Indie Film Day for first weekend of festival

Co-Founders (from left to right) Leslie Marsh, Craig Sangster and Bruce MacInnis are excited to share their growth with the community through a free Friday night Screening and a new Canadian Indie Film Day.

The Stratford Winter Film Festival (SWFF) has expanded into two weekends this year thanks in part to sponsorship from TD Bank and support from the community. This first weekend, Jan. 30 and 31, will prove to be something for everyone beginning the Friday night with the free screening of Time Bandits at 7 p.m. in the Stratford City Hall auditorium.

This 1981 classic family film stars John Cleese, Shelley Duval and Sean Connery and is about a boy that accidentally joins a group of time travellers who jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.

“It’s from some of the creators of Monty Python so it’s good silly fun,” said SWFF co-founder Bruce MacInnis.

This is a free event as an effort to bring the community together and introduce themselves to those that may not have heard about the winter film festival or may not have been able to bring the whole family out to the annual festival.

“We understand buying tickets for a family of four to a festival can add up so this is just something to give back to the community and will allow whole families to come out and see what we are about and meet us,” MacInnis said.

“Us” would be the trio of founders, MacInnis, Craig Sangster and Leslie Marsh. Together, in addition to this prelude weekend, they are presenting the third annual Stratford Winter Film Festival beginning Feb. 6.

The target audience for Time Bandits is families of all ages from four and up. “It’s family friendly but it has humour that is suitable for the adults as well. It has broad appeal. There won’t be people who don’t know the film even though it’s been around a long time, it has a lot of fans and is almost cult like,” said MacInnis.

“It hasn’t been overplayed. Time Bandits is fresh enough in some of the parents and it has adult interest so they can get through it. It’s a good film on its own terms with broad appeal. It’s exciting, it’s adventure, it’s time travel,” added Marsh.

On Saturday, Jan. 31, there will be the first ever SWFF Canadian Indie Day featuring 13 independent films to be screened at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. that were submitted from across Canada. The films vary in length from the shortest coming in at three minutes to the longest at 45 minutes.

For continuity, the theme for the Independent Film Day is the same as the SWFF main event: Friends, Foes and Strangers. This aided in the selections made from the films submitted. Other criteria considered were that they wanted Canadian films. Additionally, they judge each film based on story, the flow of the film, visual presentation and the sound.

“There was a multi-step process so we did a submission process through an online forum then we vetted the films for local range. We tried to ensure everything was homegrown from Canada so there were a few international submissions that unfortunately we weren’t able to accept. From there, the films are viewed and we narrowed it down to a selection of 13,” said Robert Crowley Smith, technical director for the Indie Film Day.

Be on the lookout for a local film called Death at a Picnic by producer/director Josh Cooper and filmed in Stratford. From the first year of SWFF, the founders have been asked by independent filmmakers whether they could have their film screened at the annual festival.

“So we figured it was kind of a thing to do, to devote some time to independent films. This is part of our growth, thanks in part to our partnership with TD, and certainly the community. This is us trying to grow as a festival and become more conventional in terms of what people expect a film festival to be,” said MacInnis.

Audience takeaway should be simple enjoyment.

“We hope they enjoy every film from a different angle. Hopefully they take away something from each film that they get to see and they just enjoy the evening enough to come back next year,” concluded Crowley Smith.

For more information or to buy tickets to the Indie Film Day, visit stratfordwinterfilmfestival.ca