(Karolynn Mattern Photography)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

having fun again

Central Alberta Film Festival succeeds despite pandemic

Oct 18, 2020 | 12:31 PM

People laughed and had fun at this week’s annual Central Alberta Film Festival.

Communications Director Tanya Mullakady described a feeling of joy in the air as things got started.

Attendees who’ve had their emotions suppressed for several months by the pandemic, she says, were finally able to let loose and enjoy a heartwarming, funny or dramatic film.

“When we started, I could feel in the room people didn’t know what to expect. They’ve taken singing out of churches and all these things, and that’s had an effect on people. It was palpable,” Mullakady said on Saturday ahead of the event’s awards ceremony. “People have needed something joyous to come back for them in the midst of all the rules put on us. So while everybody seemed very sombre at first, I knew we were still going to have fun, and that there’d be smiles behind masks. Everybody eventually did remember, ‘Oh wait, we can have fun.'”

This year’s extravaganza, which ran Oct. 14-17, was moved from Carnival Cinemas to Festival Hall in order to adhere to public health guidelines. Organizers partnered with Canadian Mental Health Association, with about 20 per cent of ticket proceeds benefitting the agency’s programming.

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There were 22 selected films, all made by Canadian filmmakers. Guardians of the Grasslands, a 12-minute short documentary about the “alarming rate” of disappearance of the country’s native grasslands, was created by filmmakers Sarah Wray and Ben Wilson from Bashaw.

(Karolynn Mattern Photography)

‘Guardians’ won the Central Alberta Film Festival award on Saturday night for Best Short Documentary.

Other award winners included:

Best Feature Narrative: John, 316

Best Short Narrative: Finch

Best Feature Documentary: Safe Haven

Best Actress: Courtney Wilson, Finch

Best Actor: Martin Ouellette, Rabbit and the Snare

Audience Choice Award: Calling All Captains, directed by Justin Kueber (Runners up: Her Last Project and John, 316)

“Even with fictional films, as people were leaving, we’d ask them what they thought,” Mullakady says. “These films can really get conversations started around different topics, and that allows people to have a voice and share without being nervous that their opinion is wrong.”

As for how the filmmaking industry is bouncing back from the lull caused by COVID-19, Mullakady says next year will be more telling.

“The films we’re showing now were in the process of being made prior to the pandemic. In the last couple months, there has been a little more filmmaking going on, and there’s one being made here in Red Deer right now called The Diner,” she shares. “There are precautions in place, so we have smaller crews, and that does, like most things, have a little bit of an economic hit.”

More about this year’s Central Alberta Fim Festival selections is at cafilmfestival.ca/2020films.