Local fans of the silver screen will once again get the opportunity to see absorbing films from both Canada and around the world as the South Western International Film Festival celebrates its eighth year with a baker’s dozen of movies, playing at the Imperial Theater Nov. 3- 6.
Featuring everything from surreal, psychedelic documentaries to South Korean romantic thrillers and almost everything in between, SWIFF’s lineup is designed to bring the world to Sarnia-Lambton audiences, giving them different stories from perspectives they have likely never seen before, said SWIFF’s founder and executive director Ravi Srinivasan.
“We’re always trying to bring an even mix of international and Canadian stories that gives our audiences a window to our world,” he said.
“This year we have films like Riceboy Sleeps, which represents the Korean immigrant experience here in Canada, Saint Omer, which is a Senegalese-French story, we’re screening Joyland from Pakistan, which is an amazing film and Decision to Leave from South Korea. These films are not only a window into other people’s experiences around the world, but they are also entertaining, quality films as well.”
Srinivasan added: “We always try to bring some of the most exciting, award-contenders such as Triangle of Sadness, our closing night film directed by Ruben Ostlund and starring Woody Harrelson, and we have a really amazing documentary called All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – it’s about the renowned photographer Nan Goldin, who traces her own struggle with opioid addiction and her plight to try and take down the Sackler family, one of the main producers of fentanyl and other opioids.
“Obviously there are struggles in our own community with this issue, so this is an incredible documentary and I think people will leave pretty breathless afterwards.”
The festival begins Nov. 3 with an out-of-this-world documentary as well as a short film shot in Lambton County.
“Our opening night film is sort of our feature attraction. Moonage Daydream is the quintessential look at the life and career of legend and icon David Bowie,” Srinivasan said. “The film is licensed by his estate so it’s got great music and some of the greatest never-before-seen footage of all time … it’s a very visually stimulating, psychedelic film, very much in the spirit of Bowie himself. It’s really fun and it had its world premiere in Toronto.
“Before that we’re having a great local story – we had the good fortune to commission a short film thanks to a grant from the Southwestern Ontario Tourism Commission,” he continued. “It’s a whole new aspect for film festivals – we were able to do a call out and got a promising and fantastic submission from Carly Balestreri, a young emerging filmmaker from Toronto She came up with a crew here this summer, got a bunch of local talent and made a film called Petrolia, which is about a young, single mother trying to overcome adversity set in Petrolia. It’s going to have its world premiere before Moonage Daydream.”
Balestreri and the crew of Petrolia will be on hand to take part in a question and answer session following the film, before the David Bowie documentary goes on.”
Other notable films that will be screened during this year’s SWIFF include an interesting look at the Canadian immigrant experience with the film Riceboy Sleeps, and a thoroughly entertaining, endearingly lighthearted look at the life of a movie-obsessed teen living in southern Ontario, I Like Movies.
“Riceboy Sleeps is by Canadian-Korean director Anthony Shim and it’s about his own experience growing up in Vancouver in the late nineties,” Srinivasan said. “It really looks at what it’s like for young immigrant families to acclimatize to being in a new home, a new place. I think it’s going to resonate with a lot of newcomers who are in Sarnia. When I grew up here I was in one of the only brown families in Sarnia-Lambton, and now it’s so great to see the diversity that’s growing in the community. Riceboy Sleeps takes us back to an earlier time when there were fewer families in Canada going through that experience.”
“A lot of films we bring to SWIFF are serious in nature, but we are bringing in a great film on Friday night called I Like Movies, directed by Chandler Levack,” he continued. “It’s a hilarious movie about a movie-obsessed kid growing up in southwestern Ontario and his dream to become a filmmaker. It’s got a Richard Linklater kind of vibe, a real heartwarming story which won awards at the Calgary and Whistler film festivals, just a feel-good movie for people who want to have a good time.”
As always, SWIFF is about much more than feature length movies.
Once again this year, music will feature prominently as six bands – including Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes, Detroit’s Shadow Show and Sarnia’s own A Loud Thing are set to perform at the cigaze program, which takes place on Nov. 4 and 5 at Collide on 148 Front St.N.
Also, as in years past, three free film workshops are being held to encourage aspiring local talent to consider a career in the film industry. SWIFF with the support of industry professionals will host a directing and acting workshop; a documentary filmmaking workshop; and a workshop about how to find work in the film industry. Registration and more information about the seminars can be found on SWIFF’s website at www.swiff.ca.
And a delicious mix of Canadian and International shorts will be screened at the theater on the Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5.
Looking back, Srinivasan – who grew up in Lambton County and now works for the Toronto International Film Festival – said that he never would have dreamed that the festival would still be going strong eight years in. But he is very proud of the fact that the people of Sarnia-Lambton have seemingly embraced the festival through good times and bad.
“I honestly didn’t think we’d be here eight years later. When I started this up in 2015, I thought it would be a three-year thing. But the support locally, provincially has been great – we even survived two pandemic festivals, which was amazing,” he said. “We’re excited to keep going, engaging people in Sarnia-Lambton with quality films from around the world.
“We have a really great core audience who, before we even announce the films, they buy passes,” Srinivasan added. “But I still run into people in town who haven’t heard of SWIFF, so there’s work to do to get the word out. What’s most important is to have people see themselves reflected in the films we screen, that’s probably one of the most important aspect of the festival…and to give our audiences that ‘window to the world’.”
For all information about SWIFF, the films or where to purchase tickets and passes, visit www.swiff.ca.