By Eleanor Stacey
More than 18 months ago, a conversation began at the Civic Theatre about the people who live in the Nelson area and work in film, TV and other screen-based media. It started with chats about storytelling, an acknowledgement that a lot of people need to travel elsewhere to work, and a look at the options available to make a living by creating content locally. We also talked about past efforts in the area to bring film, TV and video professionals together and build collective opportunities or resources, as well as reasons these efforts may not have continued.
With that history and some new ideas under our belt, we started to hold monthly Screen-Based Industry (SBI) meet-ups for people who work in this industry in the Nelson area. There were three primary interests that we heard over and over again: a desire to nurture local industry relationships, more professional development opportunities, and the dream of a local film festival.
At the Civic, we accepted the challenge. Enter Kinesis: A Celebration of Kootenay Film. Beginning first with a free 30th anniversary screening of Roxanne on Friday, September 22, Kinesis brings more than twenty films by local film makers to the Civic Theatre’s big screen over the course of four days.
These films range from full-length features, to awe-inspiring adventure sport films, to brilliant shorts. There is something for everyone - from documentaries to comedies to stop-animation, and much in between. (And we can almost guarantee you will know someone on screen!)
If this wasn’t enough, there is more: in celebration of the our local breweries, we will debut the Fermenting Awesome Microbrew Film Competition at Kinesis, bringing an array of brand new ads and shorts featuring participating Kootenay/Columbia regional breweries, with the support of Nelson Brewing Company, Torchlight Brewing Co. and Backroads Brewing Company in this inaugural year.
The films are worth coming for, all on their own. If you happen work in film or have an interest in learning more about our local screen-based industry, our daytime professional development sessions, topical dine-arounds in local restaurants, and day-long Open Space meeting about the future of local film (Monday) are not to be missed.
Beyond these individual experiences, when you come to Kinesis, you will be stoking the fire for the future. We intentionally did not call Kinesis a film festival this year — it is in fact a revue, and some of the content this year is a nod to our region as a place with a strong history in film already. Kinesis lays the ground for an annual film festival — something we would very much like to see come to fruition in coming seasons.
We hope to see you at Kinesis. Passes and individual tickets are now on sale at civictheatre.ca.
Eleanor Stacey is the Executive Director of The Civic Theatre.
