Windsor International Film Fest celebrates 15 years of movie magic
The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) is set to take place at the Capitol Theatre from Nov. 1 to 10.
2019 marks the 15th year anniversary of the festival with many of the films over the years racking up major awards and nominations.
To date, WIFF has accumulated 128 Oscar nominations, with 28 winning awards, 81 Golden Globes nominations, including 18 winners, as well as 65 Cannes Festival, and 11 Palme d’Or Festival awards.
Many local filmmakers and producers will be featured in this year’s festival, ultimately highlighting the talent that Windsor-Essex boasts within the film industry.
After a recently setting an attendance record for a Windsor-born director’s film debut, Gavin Michael Booth’s Last Call swept all top awards at the Chatham-Kent International Film Festival, earning Best Director, Best Feature, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Score.
One of the festival’s feature films, Prey was directed by Windsor-born Matt Gallagher. The documentary focuses on the journey behind a sexual abuse survivor’s court battles against the Catholic Church.
As the documentary progressed, “more and more cases of abuse and the church’s effort to cover them up became public, forcing the Vatican to address the issue directly,” said Gallagher about the momentum. “This documentary has been heartbreaking, rewarding and essential work.”
Prey will play at WIFF Nov. 6 at 7:45 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 3:45 p.m.
This year also presents a film entitled Boys v. Girls, which was written and directed by Windsorite Michael Stasko, as well as being produced and co-edited by St. Clair College’s own Theodore Bezaire.
“As a filmmaker one of my goals is to showcase our region and having a world class film festival put a spotlight on local films is really exciting,” said Bezaire.
Boys vs. Girls will be available to view at WIFF Nov. 2 at 5:45 p.m.
WIFF is gaining prominence as a leading international film festival now considered the largest volunteer-run film festival in Canada, and seeks to continue the trend for years to come.
Bryan Dutot, this year’s Capitol Theatre Venue manager is excited about the festival’s potential.
“Being, the 15th year of WIFF, it used be a 7 day festival, this year it has expanded out to be a 10-day festival, a lot more bigger names, bigger movies, a lot more movie screenings coming, they’re doing everything they possibly can to make this the biggest and best WIFF that they’ve ever possibly had.”
To attend any of the festival’s films this year, visit https://windsorfilmfestival.com/ to purchase tickets, or make your way down to the box office located just outside the Capitol theatre in downtown Windsor.
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