Student film festival biggest ever

By Costa Maragos Posted: March 3, 2016 6:00 a.m.

U of R student Candy Fox was a multiple winner at the 2015 Living Skies Student Film Festival for her documentary Backroads. Photo courtesy of Diandra Nicolson

Film buffs are in for a big treat this week.

The Living Skies Student Film Festival, March 3 – 5, will showcase top-notch films, locally, across Canada and internationally. Festival screenings and workshops are free and open to all.

This year, 1,729 submissions were received– the highest number since the student run film festival started 28 years ago at the U of R.

“This year is truly special because we exposed our festival on a much larger scale and, as a result, got some of the best films we’ve ever received,” says Stephanie Proulx, one of six Festival Coordinators and a fourth year Film student with a minor in Psychology.

“This year was our first year collecting submissions online through filmfreeway.com. Film Freeway is a simple, fast, and a free way to submit films to thousands of film festivals around the world. By posting our festival on this website, student filmmakers were able to find us more easily. It was a very efficient way of getting our festival known across the globe.”

Student films have come streaming in from dozens of countries including China, Iran, India and the U.K.

Because of the number of quality films received, a third day of screenings has been added.

“It is important to showcase student films because it’s important to expose the upcoming emerging talent to the film community,” says Proulx. “Because the film community is so small in Saskatchewan, it’s important to encourage students to make films, and to continue doing so, after university. The emerging students will help shape this film community within the next few years, so it’s important to encourage these talents.”

Three days of screenings have been scheduled at the Shu-Box Theatre. The public is also invited to a presentation, March 5, by Daniel Redenbach who is a writer, director and a U of R alumni. He’s just wrapped up production of his debut feature Land of Rock & Gold. He will talk about the process of going from pre-production to production.

The Film Festival culminates on campus with an awards ceremony March 5, complete with a red carpet of course.

The public is encouraged to attend the screenings for a look at some of this generation’s emerging filmmakers in Saskatchewan.

“We hope the public goes away with the knowledge that there is a talented community of artists who are putting Saskatchewan stories on the screen. For the international films, it provides the opportunity for people from Saskatchewan to hear and see stories from all over the world that they would otherwise not be exposed to,” says Proulx.

The full festival schedule can be found here: www.livingskiesstudentfilmfest.com
To connect with festival organizers please go contact: Livingskiesstudentfilmfestival@gmail.com

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