Put the popcorn in the microwave and slip into something comfy — this year’s Nickel Independent Film Festival (NIFF) is coming to your living room this year.
The annual film festival, which offers a series of challenges and workshops for aspiring and established filmmakers "is all about cultivating and celebrating film culture in Newfoundland and Labrador," Devin Shear, director of programming and communications told The Telegram days before the festival.
The mandate for the past 20 years is simple.
"We try to give opportunities for local filmmakers to share their work and also bring in excellent and inspiring independent film from Canada and the rest of the world," Shears said.
This year’s festival is a departure from previous years — due to the Covid-19 pandemic, limits on gatherings of 50-plus people, and the need to social distance, the NIFF had to take a different approach.
"We realized pretty quickly once the pandemic began to shut everything down that a traditional approach wasn’t going to fly this year," Shears said
"We discussed a lot of ideas on how to keep the festival happening during all this and realized that ... an online platform would be kind of an ideal opportunity for us to reach beyond the overpass in a significant way."
The festival is still reaching out to the local filmmaking community, encouraging and inspiring the local industry by continuing their five-minute documentary challenge, and moving their popular film school in a day learning experience to a virtual format.
Thanks to funding from the Canadian Department of Heritage, ArtsNL, Canada Council for the Arts and the provincial government, as well as local organizations and businesses, moving the 2020 festival online makes it more accessible than ever.
"We were totally able to take the leap to make each virtual screening free. That funding really allows us to support artists with screening fees and drive the price for viewers down to zero. A magic combo," he said.
"One of the other benefits of a virtual festival is the fact that we have more time to play with. When figuring out the programming for our online edition, we realized that we could actually offer more films than we normally do. We also thought this would be a great chance to look back at The Nickel's 20-year past and include some great local films. It’s pretty exciting to be able to get as many eyes on these films as possible, there are so many great ones."
And there are many — more than 50 full-length films and shorts to choose from. It started Monday and runs through to July 31. The Nickel’s website will host a selection of films available for 24 hours.
"It’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s kind of like a mini Netflix with a completely different catalogue every day. People can reserve their free tickets in advance or just decide spontaneously what to watch on any given day," Shears explained.
He is particularly excited about local filmmaker Justin Oakey’s new film, "A Fire in the Cold Season."
"That film is going to have limited availability on the site so people should get on that one quickly," Shears noted.
"I also have a real love for taking in a program of short films — you get such a great variety and it’s a great conversation starter.”
And conversations will be had — the festival is hosting daily Q and As with filmmakers over Facebook Live, delving into the creative process, finding inspiration, and more.
Even though this year’s festival is unlike any of the previous 19 Nickel Film Festivals, Shears is confident that the Nickel is continuing its longstanding legacy of providing interesting, entertaining, informative and diverse content to its viewers.
"While nothing is quite like sitting in a dark room and watching a film on a big screen with a bunch of other people, we’re eager to share these films with more people," Shears said.
"People from St. John’s to Marystown to St. Anthony to Natuashish to Nain can all take in our festival this year at the same time, and that’s super exciting for us. And I agree, there is something special about staying in with your loved ones and watching a film with (a) drink on your couch and a nice meal. We think the fest would be a pretty good date night."
Visit www.nickelfestival.com for full schedule and programming details.
Nickel Film Festival director of programming and communications Devin Shears’ top picks
“Pick” — July 20: A really beautiful short film from Alicia K. Harris about a young girl navigating the racial microaggressions she experiences at her school on picture day.
“Uetutets Ente Nitsh Innuts (My People's Journey)” — July 21: This early film from Labrador’s Christine Poker is definitely something special people will want to check out. There are seriously no other filmmakers like Christine and I’m really excited we are able to share this film that hasn’t been seen in quite some time.
“Taking Root” — July 26: Local filmmaker Lauren Mills takes us into the rich world of foraging in this doc that proposes what a more sustainable and food secure NL might look like.
“Closet” — July 22: A tender film from Japan about a professional cuddler, this film should definitely be on people’s radar, it is so weird and lovely.
“CONEJO (Rabbit)” — July 25: Another great one for lovers of weirdness, this film is directed by professional dancer Carla Forte who draws on her expertise about the demanding rehearsal process and fuses it with her unique storytelling style to create an unforgettable dynamic between two characters immersed in the creative process.
“Nae Pasaran” — July 28: Doc lovers need to check this out, a very powerful documentary about Scottish factory workers standing against Pinochet in the 1970s.
