WELCOME FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
People get ready for an electrifying event!!! "Community Cinema from Distant Lands" is our overriding theme for this year's festival. Our international selection of films reflects the beautiful diversity and richness that we find in Regent Park, our community. As someone who has been going to film festivals since I was a child, for me the most meaningful part of the experience is meeting filmmakers from far away countries. The personal exchanges are always profound, educational and inspiring, with close ever-lasting friendships being formed in a matter of days.
Regent Park Film Festival has worked very hard to sponsor filmmakers from around the world to attend our festival: Mathare, the largest slums of Kenya, a war zone in Afghanistan, Burundi and the First Nations village of Bella Coola, in Northern British Colombia are all represented. I hope you will join us in welcoming these talented emerging filmmakers and take the time to discover their stories and share yours with them.
I am also very proud to announce that we have created our very first festival trailer, produced by Jason J. Brown, featuring an all-star cast of Focus youth members. We are so honoured to have Caroline Brunt attend our festival this year. Caroline is the unflinching street nurse who both initiated and was featured in Bevel Up, Nettie Wild's latest film. She will present the groundbreaking educational DVD package to our audiences. Our panel discussion this year will address the timely topic of "Relocation and the Olympics," gathering residents, international filmmakers and educators. To help us celebrate the closing of this year's 2008 Festival in style, critically acclaimed Dub poet Lillian Allen will perform at our Closing Night Ceremony.
Regent Park residents play a key and vital role in this festival, with our programming being primarily determined by their input and involvement. This year was additionally momentous in that we launched our monthly new community screenings Film Club at the Toronto Public Library-Parliament Branch, uniting Regent Park and neighbouring community residents with local filmmakers to discuss the important issues of the day as raised in the films presented.
This grassroots festival is truly a community joint production, bringing together the hard work and dedication of our sponsors, staff, board, and volunteers, all of whom give so extraordinarily of their resources, time, and talent. I am proud to say that over the years, our festival has become an integral part of the arts and cultural scene of Regent Park. Against the backdrop of the ongoing redevelopment project, we remain determined to uphold and expand the quality of our already excellent programming, to successfully forge ahead amidst the challenges of our impending future (but temporary) relocation.
A big and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has worked around the clock these past few months to get the 6th Annual Regent Park Film Festival on its way.
A Very Happy Festival to us all!
Karin Hazé
Festival Director
Regent Park Film Festival has worked very hard to sponsor filmmakers from around the world to attend our festival: Mathare, the largest slums of Kenya, a war zone in Afghanistan, Burundi and the First Nations village of Bella Coola, in Northern British Colombia are all represented. I hope you will join us in welcoming these talented emerging filmmakers and take the time to discover their stories and share yours with them.
I am also very proud to announce that we have created our very first festival trailer, produced by Jason J. Brown, featuring an all-star cast of Focus youth members. We are so honoured to have Caroline Brunt attend our festival this year. Caroline is the unflinching street nurse who both initiated and was featured in Bevel Up, Nettie Wild's latest film. She will present the groundbreaking educational DVD package to our audiences. Our panel discussion this year will address the timely topic of "Relocation and the Olympics," gathering residents, international filmmakers and educators. To help us celebrate the closing of this year's 2008 Festival in style, critically acclaimed Dub poet Lillian Allen will perform at our Closing Night Ceremony.
Regent Park residents play a key and vital role in this festival, with our programming being primarily determined by their input and involvement. This year was additionally momentous in that we launched our monthly new community screenings Film Club at the Toronto Public Library-Parliament Branch, uniting Regent Park and neighbouring community residents with local filmmakers to discuss the important issues of the day as raised in the films presented.
This grassroots festival is truly a community joint production, bringing together the hard work and dedication of our sponsors, staff, board, and volunteers, all of whom give so extraordinarily of their resources, time, and talent. I am proud to say that over the years, our festival has become an integral part of the arts and cultural scene of Regent Park. Against the backdrop of the ongoing redevelopment project, we remain determined to uphold and expand the quality of our already excellent programming, to successfully forge ahead amidst the challenges of our impending future (but temporary) relocation.
A big and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has worked around the clock these past few months to get the 6th Annual Regent Park Film Festival on its way.
A Very Happy Festival to us all!
Karin Hazé
Festival Director
