Flickerings

'Flickering Blue' makes its last stand at Flickerings in Illinois on July 3rd, and screens in the same program as my other short film, 'On a Sunday.' Two different films, two different directors, one writer. (The writer being me, in case you're not paying attention.)

Flickerings sounds like an interesting festival, having emerged from Cornerstone, which is less a music festival than a Christian pop-culture juggernaut. Or so it seems. I've never actually gone. Here's what Flickering's has to say for itself:

'Cornerstone made its reputation as an edgy celebration of the arts within a faith context. What that means for Flickerings is this: we're interested in honest grappling with the human condition, in narrative form or otherwise. We're interested less in answers than good questions: the same "flickerings" of reality and insight that appear in artworks of all traditions, stabs of recognition that surprise, awaken, inspire, provoke, and move us first of all as human beings. Our goal is to bring together makers and appreciators of film to challenge and learn from one another and grow.'

Sounds reasonable enough.

Friday Night

Though this is a bit late in coming, the Winnipeg International Film Festival finally posted its program. Our short film, 'On a Sunday,' screens this Friday night, June 10th, at 7:00 pm at the Ramada Theater, (formerly the Garrick) 330 Garry St. Your $4.99 admission entitles you to stay for the feature, Pearl Diver, which sounds like an interesting film. Official Pearl Diver synopsis, (from the WIFF website): 'The twenty-year old murder of their mother continues to haunt two sisters, when an accident on the Mennonite farm brings past and present, and the sisters' opposing worldviews, into conflict.'

Though I haven't seen it, 'Pearl Diver' sounds like a very fitting film to follow 'On a Sunday.' And it's encouraging to see that the WIFF programmers are screening shorts before features, a practice that has disappeared in recent decades, but which many programmers and filmmakers are working to resurrect. Wouldn't it be nice to be rewarded for your timely arrival at the theatre with a short-but-sweet film instead of being bombarded by the same barrage of inane commercials that plague us every other moment of our waking lives?