On the Big Screen

2015 seems to be a good year for anniversaries. At the beginning of the month, the Fringe Festival celebrated its 25^th, and this week the Atlantic Film Fest will kick off by celebrating its 35^th year in a row.

The Atlantic Film Festival is a chance for independent filmmakers in the area to showcase their work to a large, passionate audience, and fits in perfectly with Halifax’s independent, eccentric vibe of arts and music. While not as large as the Toronto International Film Festival  or Montreal’s Fantasia, this festivals still has much of the grandeur one expects from those, with workshops and galas scattered through the week and sponsors ranging from the CBC to Cineplex.

In light of the recent turbulence of the filmmaking community in Nova Scotia (with provincial cuts and the #saveNSfilm campaign), the film festival this year will be especially interesting to watch, as it is a gathering point for the Atlantic filmmaking community.

This year the lineup seems to be focusing on dramas, suspense, and short films. Many of the films have only one showing, so be sure to get tickets ahead of time by going to the website, atlanticfilm.com
, which also has a full schedule of films and events.