Film reels ready to roll in Okotoks

Movie watchers in Okotoks can sit back and relax this weekend with a line-up of more than 50 movies screened in their local cinema. The Okotoks Film Festival Society has selected a combination of feature films, shorts, animation, twisted tales and documentaries from around the world to screen in the Okotoks Cinemas for its second annual Okotoks International Film Festival June 8-10. Society president Katie Fournell said this year brings higher-calibre movies than last year, ranging from phone interviews with American criminal Charles Manson in California State Prison edited by an Okotoks man to an award-winning feature film shot in Okotoks and Millarville last spring. “It seems like last year there was lots of people who were hobbyist filmmakers and this year we have people who are really serious about making a career,” said Fournell. “We are finding more professional work.” In addition to two of the three feature films having an Okotoks connection, Fournell said they received a number of short films that involved Okotoks people including the twisted reel The Little Things and the short films No Exit, Never Been to War, Methodic, Exchange and Okatok. The society received 873 submissions for this year’s festival, up from last year’s 751. Fifty-one films were selected in what Fournell called a challenging decision. “We actually had to do some picking and choosing,” she said. “It was heartbreaking.” The festival kicks off with a 90-minute case study of the critically-acclaimed feature film Ice Blue June 8 at 4 p.m., which was filmed in Okotoks and Millarville in the spring of 2017. The film, produced by Okotokian Scott Lepp who’s worked on Heartland, tells the story of the mysterious return of a teen’s mother who abandoned the family 10 years ago. “We will go over how we made the film, got the financing, went through the production and how we’ve been marketing it,” Lepp said of himself and director Sandi Somers. “It’s valuable information for any emerging filmmakers who want to take a leap into feature films. Hopefully somebody an take that information and go out and do their own.” Lepp, who is on the society’s board of directors, said he’s excited to bring the film to the Okotoks International Film Festival. Ice Blue premiered at the Calgary Film Festival in September and screened in Los Angeles multiple times and seven Landmark cinemas across Canada. “Because it’s such a young festival I felt it was necessary to bring something that would help sell some tickets and really help boost the reputation of the festival which is a really great thing for the arts and entertainment community in Okotoks,” Lepp said. “It’s always great to screen in your hometown. We would have came anyways but to be able to pair it with the film festival is absolutely ideal.” Ice Blue was nominated for seven Alberta Film and Television and won Best Music. “We were up against Heartland and Fargo and really big productions,” he said. “Even to come away with one is quite something because the competition was fierce.” Lepp expects the movie to be released digitally either late this year or in early 2019. Returning with another film is Okotoks stop motion filmmaker Shawna Koski, who won last year’s 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge. “I really wanted to be involved again,” she said. “I’m going to keep putting them in.” Koski submitted a four-minute film based on the legend of the Okotoks erratic called Okatok. “My grandma is Blackfoot so she narrated it and I subtitled it,” she said, adding she likes being a part of the festival. “The thing I like about it is it’s really nice to get local and international filmmakers together.” Fournell expects history to be made this weekend with the first live audience of The Alberta Filmmakers Podcast where Scott Westby and Matt Watterworth will interview festival filmmakers and talk about film in Alberta on June 10. “That is the first time this specific podcast is doing a live recording,” she said. The screening of films created by 11 local teams in the 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge in Okotoks earlier this spring will close the event on June 10. In the challenge, the Okotoks Film Festival Society presented the teams each with a line of dialogue, prop and genre before they were given two days to create a film. An awards presentation will follow the screening of the films. To celebrate the Okotoks International Film Festival’s weekend, a closing party will be held at the Lineham House Galleries Sunday at 9 p.m. More details about the weekend’s events and tickets are available for purchase online at www.okotoksfilmfestival.ca.