The Hamilton Film Festival (HFF) is participating in National Canadian Film Day 150 (NCFD 150) on Wednesday April 19th. Presented by Reel Canada, National Canadian Film Day 150 is a massive one-day, coast-to-coast-to-coast celebration of Canadian cinema in honour of our nation’s sesquicentennial. NCFD is the world’s largest film festival with over 1,700 events happening across the country. “When we heard this was happening, I knew we had to pick locally made films. Reel Canada provided an amazing list of 150 films to choose from but I had to stay true to our own festival’s mandate of earning the Hamilton in the title,” said Nathan Fleet, Executive Director of the 12th Annual Hamilton Film Festival.
A champion of Canadian films, since officially forming as the Hamilton Film Festival in 2004, HFF has already screened a total of 540 hundred Canadian Films! The April 19th event takes place at the historic Staircase Theatre, the birthplace of HFF and a venue that has an almost a 20-year history of screening Canadian independent films. The NCFD 150 event will showcase back-to-back indie features that were filmed in Hamilton by Canadian filmmakers.
At 7pm, Lucky 7 will screen to celebrate its recent Canadian distribution deal with Factory Film Studio, a deal that was facilitated during the 2015 Hamilton Film Expo. A local favourite, it has screened four times at past Hamilton Film Festival events and sold out every time.
Lucky 7 (2011), is a feature length modern noir-drama that tells the story of Patrick Farley returning to Hamilton after a 9-year hiatus to pay off an old mob debt. The neo-noir tone of the film is captured perfectly with plenty of local sights, some that are long gone, and others that remain as Hamilton landmarks. It is packed with Hamilton talent including singer-songwriter Ginger St. James and Ex-Ticat Derrek Peels. The film was written and directed by Dundas resident Stephen Hayes, who is the host of the show SOUNDTRACK on CFMU. The Q&A will be moderated by Lucky7 composer Nathan Fleet.
At 9:30pm, Bed of the Dead will have its Hamilton Theatrical premiere! Produced by Guelph-based Black Fawn Films for Breakthrough Entertainment, this movie was made at Hamilton’s Digital Canaries Film Studio and features plenty of local talent in front and behind the camera. Members of Black Fawn have been active participants in the Hamilton Film Festival scene for years. The screening’s post-film Q&A will be moderated by Aaron Allen of Hamilton’s Fright Night Theatre Film Festival. Bed of the Dead (2016) is a horror feature film about four twentysomethings who find themselves stuck on a haunted antique bed where leaving means suffering a gruesome death.
D
irected and co-written by Jeff Maher, who recently moved into the city. NCFD provides each venue with swag so there will be plenty of things to give away! Cast and crew will be in attendance for both screenings, making this a great place to also network with other filmmakers.
During the day, a filmmaker meet-up will take place at the Factory Media Centre at 228 James St. N from 11am – 3pm. Attendees can also try out some filmmaking equipment on site. Admission is free.
Both movies will screen Wednesday April 19th at the Staircase Theatre, 27 Dundurn St. N, Hamilton, Ontario. Tickets are $10 each. A limited number of double-passes are also available for $15. Visit hamiltonfilmfestival.com for tickets and info or email info@hamiltonfilmfestival.com for details.
The 12th Annual Hamilton Film Festival will run Nov 4 – 12th, 2017 and will screen close to 150 films over the 9-day event. The festival attracts cinema lovers, producers, distributors and filmmakers from around the world. The Canadian Film Market runs alongside this event to facilitate movie acquisitions, pitch sessions and industry development. The theme for this year’s film festival is music, which will be featured via docs, films, soundtracks, panels, workshops and live performances.
