February 24th, 2008

Today I was asked what I “do” at the festival, so I thought I’d share a day in the life of…dun dun dun… Alison Migneault, Festival Director (read that with a booming film trailer voice).

My day started fairly normal. I spent about an hour arranging print traffic, which means ensuring the prints for our films get here on time for the festival and figuring out where they will go after we’re done with them. I edited a bunch of bios for our visiting industry guest. I paid for Roger Spottiswoode’s airfare to the festival (yah, Roger Spottiswoode is coming to the festival – I have the official invoice) then worked with our graphic designer at The Kingston Whig-Standard to finalize a few ads, our sponsor recognition boards and other signage for the event. I arranged for more tickets to be printed on Monday. I finalized the details for our NFB animation workshop trip tomorrow. I did some banking and a radio interview on 98.9 The Drive. I began writing two press releases that will go out on Monday. I talked to Siobhan, the Festival Coordinator at least 10 times throughout the day – there was a lot of back and forth finalizing details for one of our receptions but we got it figured out in the end. I’m editing slide show trivia questions right now – I needed a break: is it sad that my version of a break from festival work is blogging about festival work?

So a day in the life of a festival director is a lot of coordination, a lot of decisions, a lot of editing, a lot of phone calls and a lot of emails – I sent 83 today alone. Now, that may sound boring and not far from the work of an admin assistant, but trust me overseeing this event is an invigorating, exciting, thrilling and sometimes hilarious experience.
-Alison

February 18th, 2008

The other day my cell phone was running out of battery power, this resulted in ear piercing beeps. One of my friends noted ‘your soul is dying”, I thought that was a peculiar but suiting statement. It’s very rare that you meet someone who doesn’t have a cell phone attached to them these days, basically most people rely on cell phones to organize both their social and professional lives. However, with the impressive technological advancements of cell phones, they are no longer just text messaging machines, but literal tools for artistic creation. Companies such as Telus are offering a wide range of cell phones that can now be used to capture film, allowing for many aspiring filmmakers to use more unconventional ways of documenting narratives. The workshop on cell phone film making at this year’s festival taught by director Mateo Guez (Late Fragments) is most certainly going to produce some interesting material and I’m looking forward to see what the participants develop over the course of four days!

- Katryna

February 6th, 2008

I am a surfer when it comes to television. It lets me discover things that I wouldn’t have caught just from the title listing on the cable tv listing channel. It’s like exploring new worlds; venturing into territories unknown. Every once in a while, something that catches my attention and makes me linger and I am rewarded with a gem.

Recently, I caught something on the tube about Canadian cinema, specifically Bruce McDonald and his films. His film Roadkill, (1989) was a low budget film but it was a breath of fresh air, an alternative to the highly polished, big budget films of the US. The film was raw, edgy and alternative and people loved it. It won best Canadian feature at the 1989 Toronto Festival of Festivals. It also spawned two other films that were equally successful: Highway 61 and Hard Core Logo.

This is the reason I love Canadian film festivals. I love exploring and discovering things on my own. There are many wonderful gems to be discovered in Canadian film. Come to the KCFF and see for yourself!
- Darlene

February 5th, 2008
Well here I am, blogging, which I thought I had given up. I’ll try to make this interesting, shouldn’t be too hard. I’m Rachel and I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest staff member working on the festival this year and it’s been work so far, but nothing to complain about. As the festival draws closer I’ve been becoming more familiar with the Kingston businesses and I’ve had to restrain myself from window shopping while I’m working!

This is my first experience working with the festival so I’m in great anticipation of the actual festival and seeing everything and everyone in action. I’m really hoping that Ellen Page makes it to the festival, as unlikely as it is. I saw Juno last weekend and it was fantastic. Ellen Page’s performance was quirky and touching at the same time; the whole movie was ridiculously cute. I’m happy that more Canadian actors are getting such good roles. I’m excited to see Ellen’s next film The Tracey Fragments at the festival; I had actually read sides for this film and wanted badly to audition but my agent at the time didn’t put me up for it. If anyone, I’m glad Ellen Page got the role.
-Rachel

January 27th, 2008
“It sounds cheesy (maybe all the best moments are, upon reflection) but my most memorable festival moment occurred two years ago at the 2006 Kingston Canadian Film Festival. I was serving as the Communications Assistant that year and had been running around Empire Capitol 7 like a headless chicken for nearly two hours preparing. Finally everything was ready and the lights were being lowered on our opening film. In the projection room above the theatre we started the tape which contained our 2006 trailer and waited for it to begin to play. My most memorable moment is the one in which the familiar music of our trailer began to play (I’d been making copies of it all week and thought I was sick to death of it). But up on the big screen it signalled the beginning of the festival, the fact that I hadn’t messed up the projection and the moment that I realized I was never going to shake my love of film.
-Siobhan

January 15th, 2008
I managed to catch a bit of the Golden Globe Awards® err Press Conference on Sunday. It was disappointing to see one of Hollywood’s premiere events relegated to a glorified Access Hollywood episode. It was also a shame that Canadian Ellen Page wasn’t able to further build on this freight-train like momentum JUNO has had over the last few months with a Golden Globe® win. Canada did have reason to celebrate however as Sarah Polley’s AWAY FROM HER took home a very deserved Best Actress Award for Julie Christie - although, I really think it should be Gordon Pinsent garnering award recognition for the film (Apparently Pinsent has also made a fan out of Daniel Day Lewis). Of course, I should just be happy with the fact that a Canadian film is being celebrated on as big as stage as the Golden Globes®. Congratulations to Julie Christie and Sarah Polley!
-Andrew

January 15th, 2008 
Hi! I'm Siobhan, Festival Coordinator for this year's festival. I myself stumbled into volunteering with the festival through a friend and am I ever glad that I did! Having never paid much attention to Canadian cinema, I was shocked! Canada has an eclectic, talented and ever expanding group of filmmakers who each year surprise and delight with their offerings. Three years later I am still involved with the festival and excited to see what is in store for us at this year’s event. It is already shaping up to be a fantastic year for the KCFF and as the person who has the inside track on the guest list all I can say is…stay tuned!
-Siobhan

January 11th, 2008
Welcome to the 2008 Kingston Canadian Film Festival Website! This site represents the culmination of hours of work by many dedicated individuals. In particular, I would like to thank Paul Whittingham at Smallworld Media Group and Noah St. Amand at Tookish Digital Communication for all of their hard work in making this our best site yet! This is my 5th year working at the festival and it’s the passion of my fellow staff members, enthusiasm of KCFF audiences, generosity of our sponsors and outgoing demeanour of all the festival’s guests that brings me back each year. Nothing beats the excitement of a well run film festival, and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival – as we have been told numerous times by our guests – is quickly becoming one of the premiere events in Canadian cinema. Enjoy the festival and support Canadian cinema!
- Andrew

January 11th, 2008
HI! I’m Stephanie and I’ve been with the festival since 2005. This festival is the highlight of my year each year! It’s so exciting to see amazing Canadian talent gathered together to be appreciated and celebrated. This year I’m looking forward to seeing Shake Hands with the Devil and The Tracey Fragments, but I’ll be doing my best to see as many films as possible.
- Stephanie

January 11th, 2008
After living in Kingston for the past four years I can most certainly say that the winters here are anything but a walk in the park. But while most students usually mark the second semester with a sense of cold dread, I am always excited to see what the Kingston winter will bring because it means that we are that much closer the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, the one time of the year that this city is full of cinematic buzz! I have been volunteering with the festival for the past three years and can truly say that the energy the festival gives off is one of the main reasons why I decided to study film. The festival attracts a wide variety of people to the screenings and really proves that Canadian cinema is alive, healthy and full of incredible talent.
- Katryna