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| Nick Stahl in 388 Arletta Ave. Courtesy of eOne Films. |
The Ottawa International Film
Festival unveiled the programme for the third annual edition of the festival. OIFF
has doubled its offering of features this year, moving from the five films of
2011 to ten films in 2012. There are plenty of shorts and a few mid-length
features, too, and this year’s fest includes a few American titles in addition
to local productions, so it really feels like the festival is expanding as it
heads into its third year. Screenings begin on Thursday, August 16 with Thirteen Downs, which is produced by
OIFF Founder and Executive Director Nina Bains. Thursday also offers some
echoes of last year’s festival hit A Violent State with the gritty local crime film Undercurrent. The weekend includes a few films are visiting Ottawa
after touring other festivals, such as the recent Hot Docs selection Charles Bradley: Soul of America and 388 Arletta Ave., which I saw at TIFF
last year and recommend. It’s a creepy techno-thriller! (Review here.) Saturday
night ends with the Special Presentation event of the Ottawa-shot apocalyptic
thriller The Day, starring Dominic
Monaghan, Shawn Ashmore, Shannyn Sossaman, which has its Ottawa Premiere after
playing in the Midnight Madness programme at TIFF last fall.
Full line-up for the Ottawa
International Film Festival:
All films are Canadian unless
listed otherwise (click titles for links to Festival Pages)
Thursday, August 16:
-7:00 pm: Thirteen Downs (Dir. Karim Ayari)
screens with Encore (Dir. Jonathan Kischel; short)
-9:00 pm: Undercurrent (Dir. Martin Forcier)
screens with One Drink (short)
Friday, August 17:
-8:00 pm: Charles Bradley: Soul of America
(Poull Brien, USA; documentary)
-9:30 pm: Marilyn (Dir. Christopher Petry)
Saturday, August 18:
-12:00 pm: Shorts Package: Home Coming, Melodie, Good Vibes, Opposable
-12:00 pm: ShortsPackage: Ghurabaa, Speak of the Devils, Ripples, One Drink
-12:45 pm: Digiin 60 (various shorts)
-12:45 pm: Free China: The Courage to Believe
(Dir. Michael Perlman, USA; documentary)
-1:55 pm: If I Should Fall (Dir. Brendon
Culliton; documentary)
-2:00 pm: Do it Harder (Dir. Brad McGregor, Canada/Czech Republic; documentary)
-3:30 pm: Do You Really Want to Know? (John Zaritsky; documentary)
-3:30 pm: This is Hannibal (Dir. Maximilian
Moskal, Laura Monette) and A Practical
Guide to Ruthlessness – Barcelona (Dir. Chris Chitaroni)
-4:30: 388 Arletta Avenue (Dir. Randall Cole) [Festival page not
available]
-5:00 pm: I’m Fine, Thanks (Dir. Grant Peelle,
USA; documentary)
-8:00 pm: The Day (Douglas Aarniokoski, USA)
-includes Q&A with producer
Rob Mezies (Zed Filmworks) and after party
The selection looks pretty good
overall, with Thursday and Friday probably getting my attention. Thirteen Downs, Undercurrent, and Marilyn will
probably hard to see elsewhere, so they should be on your list. The shorts,
too, if one wants to see what’s emerging in terms of film production in the Capital
Region. It’s always nice to enjoy these local films. I mean, if we don’t
support them, who will? Hope to see you all at the festival August 16-18!
Please see www.oiff.ca for information on films, events, and
tickets.
