Skip to content

Youth film festival in Okotoks going online

The Okotoks Film Festival Society is proceeding with its fourth annual Zooom Film Festival this month.
Katie Fournell
Katie Fournell will host the Zooom Film Festival, which will go online Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. (Wheel File Photo)

The show must go on for budding filmmakers in Okotoks eager for a public viewing of their creations.

The Okotoks Film Festival Society is proceeding with its fourth annual Zooom Film Festival to showcase the creations of high school students in a competition that encourages youth ages 11 to 18 to make films that are judged by industry professionals and featured on the big screen before a live audience.

Festival director Katie Fournell said this year’s event will livestream on Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. due to Alberta Health regulations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m very excited to show these films,” said Fournell. “I’m always amazed at the creativity of the youth. When you leave them to their own devices they come up with some really amazing stuff.”

Fournell said the festival typically receives upwards of 20 submissions, but the numbers dropped to five this year after schools closed in March and staff were unable to encourage and assist young filmmakers with students learning from home.

“Five kids took up the challenge on their own and we’re really excited about what they’ve done,” she said. “This going to be a cool festival. I’m very excited about how this year is going to look.”

While the competition requires all filmmakers be youth, actors and crew members can be any age. All submissions must have been shot in 2020.

With just five films submitted this year, Fournell said organizers have come up with ways to bulk up the festival by adding Okotoks musicians Eric Gallant and Connor Smith of the band Tokes, Dominik Ivanek of the band Abbot and a Calgary magician.

“We want it to be a good length so we decided to bring some more youth into the foray as well,” she said.

Fournell said much of the festival will be pre-recorded with each film receiving title cards and a description.

Unable to bring large groups of people together in the Okotoks Cinemas festival in light of the current situation, Fournell said organizers wanted to ensure the young filmmakers still had the screening experience.

“It’s so important to a filmmakers’ career to screen at a festival for the first time,” she said. “While we’re not giving them the big screen experience, we want the kids to feel their films are being valued. It’s the first time their films are being seen by the public.”

Saturday’s festival will close with an awards ceremony with prizes for first, second and third place winners and audience choice.

In lieu of a live red carpet gala, festival volunteers will give out gift bags to participants.

“It’s becoming more and more well-known all the time that everybody who gets nominated for an Oscar gets a gift bag,” said Fournell. “We’re asking businesses to contribute to the bags so… they can still have some goodies and feel like a rock star.”

Filmmakers will also receive one-on-one feedback from industry professionals Scott Lepp, a film director in Okotoks, Anna Cooley, an independent filmmaker in Calgary who works with youth organizations, and Kristen Muncy, who works in SAIT’s media program.

These same professionals hosted free workshops for the participants over the summer focusing on pre-production, production and post-production.

To view the Zooom Film Festival visit watch.okotoksfilmfestival.ca

Tammy Rollie, OkotoksToday.ca

For updated information, follow our COVID-19 special section for the latest local and national news on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as resources, FAQs and more.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks