That’s a wrap for 2025 Stratford Film Festival
- Lisa Chester
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
The Stratford Film Festival (SFF) held its first ever four-day festival Nov. 6-9, with thirteen screenings that had been whittled down from submissions of over 500 films. Opening night was sold out with a welcoming reception and the screening of the award-winning documentary Beethoven Nine: Ode to Humanity directed by Canadian Larry Weinstein. The feature took home the Best Documentary award.
The SFF Award is a special edition print of the painting called Attentive Eyes by Stratford artist Tom Campbell. The prints were created specially for the festival and the original painting hangs in the Bruce Hotel. There were ten awards handed out at the end of the festival.
The Audience Favourite, Behind the Castle Walls: The Origin Story of the Hilarious House of Frightenstein attracted the most first-time attendees of all the screenings, with fans anxious to meet and be photographed with co-producer Mitch Markowitz – who along with filmmakers Tammy Heisel and Morgan Baker were on hand for a Q-and-A. The session was moderated by journalist Claire Bickley who helped charm the audience with Markowitz and his stories. Many came to the Saturday morning screening appropriately dressed in pyjamas eating the complementary sugary cereals reminiscent of youth.
People came from near and far to attend the festival with most screenings virtually or completely sold out. Kimberley MacKenzie had attended just about every screening by the time she and her group took a pause before the closing night screening and reception.
“We boarded the dogs and we’re treating it like a vacation. We always wanted to go to TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) but TIFF came to us here at the Stratford Film Festival and it’s been amazing. Picking a favourite film is like picking a favourite child. I think The Blue Trail (directed by Gabriel Mascaro, Best International Feature award winner) was wonderful because the cinematography was spectacular. The Canadian shorts were great because it made you so proud to be Canadian,” she said.
The coming-of-age film This Too Shall Pass, directed by Rob Grant, took home the Best Canadian Feature and was another favourite of Mackenzie. “The soundtrack on that was amazing. I think my favourite is always the last one that we saw,” she laughed. “We just saw Space Cowboy (directed by Marah Strauch and Bryce Leavitt) and that one blew us away. Four Mothers, (Best Feature award winner directed by Darren Thornton) was so good. I think this venue has just got to keep getting bigger and bigger. I love city hall and everything, but it’s at capacity and especially after this year, (festival director Megan Smith-Harris) is going to need to grow.”
The world debut of the Canadian short film How We Live On by first time Stratford filmmaker Heidi Sander was a loving tribute to the memory of her mother Margarete Sander. The film was shot locally and features the song “The Same Way” by local singer/songwriter Dayna Manning.
Based on her award-winning poem, the project started as an accompanying video to commemorate winning the international poetry award from the 2021 International Prime Number Magazine Award for Poetry. Director Kris Von Kleist told Sander that this project was more of a film, and that’s how the two started their journey together.
“From that point, we worked on the script together and did location shooting at the apple orchard on a Stratford farm. It all came together so beautifully, the actresses, it was such an organic experience. We pulled it together in two months and we shot it in two days. It’s a tribute to my mom, but it’s interesting. People don’t want to talk about grief. It’s a film that helps people to navigate their grief,” said Sander.
Having the first screening of the film here in Stratford was amazing for Sander. “It was just so lovely to have that warm reception to the film and to have so many people say such lovely things about it. It was quite moving to know that something I created as a cathartic journey for myself is speaking to other people,” she said.
There was so much conversation before and after each film, strangers in an audience united in the love of cinema and discovery of something that they might not otherwise seek out if not for the bold and creative programming at SFF.
Mother-son duo Josh and Cambria Ravenhill spent family time over the four days of the festival together. Josh, who works in the film industry, travelled in from Toronto for the occasion.
“For a first-time festival this has been really great,” said Cambria. “… It’s been well organized, well coordinated, wonderful volunteers and very welcoming people.”
Josh’s favourite film was This Too Shall Pass as an ‘80s inspired film. Cambria liked A Nice Indian Boy directed by Roshan Sethi, which won Best Comedy Feature. They both agree that the programming was outstanding.
“We’ve been chatting to all these people sitting around us, or behind us, people I have not met before in Stratford, so it’s been fun. It really is a community event. Having been here, I am thinking I will get an annual pass and pay attention to when the monthly events happen,” said Cambria.
Other awards announced include: Best Animated Short – Dogwood, Best of Fest Short – We Need To Talk, Best Canadian Short – The Understudy, Best Emerging Filmmakers – Angelique Molina and Abraham Troen for their film which closed out the festival, Just Sing, Best Feature Film – Four Mothers.
SFF is a non-profit organization that relies on donations to program the world class films that they have brought to Stratford for the past year. To make a donation, or to find more information about the festival, visit stratfordfilmfestival.com.