Fresh coat of paint on the outside, so much more on the inside. Click to enlarge.

Geoff Panting serenaded film makers and lovers alike as they arrived for the opening night screening. Click to enlarge.

The Nickel’s tenth anniversary got off to a fabulous start tonight as filmmakers and film lovers filled the newly renovated LSPU Hall to capacity in celebration of the momentous occasion.

Festival organizer Jackie Hynes entertains the crowd as she heaps praise upon this year's volunteers. Click to enlarge.

Before the screenings began, Terry French, the minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation acknowledged the recent achievements in our province’s film and television industry, such as our first time at Sundance with director Adriana Maggs’ feature film Grown Up Movie Star, and a second season of Doyle.

A special lifetime festival pass was presented to Nickel founder Roger Maunder by the festival’s board of directors in acknowledgment of his tireless efforts to bolster and contribute to the local film community.

While Maunder received high praise, he took the time to acknowledge the work of others. And that's why we love him. Click to enlarge.

For ten years now the Nickel has served as a launching pad for many a great local film and filmmaker, and this year is no exception featuring twenty films made right here. Local filmmakers Jim Grace and David Gale of CNA Media Arts Centre, Kelly Davis, and Rob Blackie were all in attendance to introduce their films to kick off the night’s screening, a festival tradition I personally cherish.

At 39 weeks and three days, a very pregnant Kelly Davis surveys the audience for doctors. Click to enlarge (ha ha?).

Their three films set the local bar high and were in good company among comefromaway standouts such as the sublime The Man Inside and the hilarious Trolls.

It’s clear after ten years that not only has the local film community matured in it’s offerings, but the festival itself has come a long way, attracting a wide range of entertaining and deeply moving submissions.

There was a full house at the Masonic Temple this evening for the screening of Rhonda Buckley’s third documentary, The Real Matriarch. For the matriarchs in attendance and the audience as a whole, it was truly a family affair.

The Real Matriarch, much like the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, is a celebration of just how far women have come in the arts. Four women: Lois Brown, Edythe Goodridge, Barbara Doran and Sara Sexton share their lives in this film. All four earning their place by being culturally inspired and strong willed (not to mention talented storytellers and part-time comedians).

Following the film, Barbara Doran, Sara Sexton, and filmmaker Rhonda Buckley answered audience questions in a panel discussion.

The informal talk ranged from what the women thought of their appearance on film to how the times have changed for emerging artists. Sexton, the mother of adored CODCO comedian Tommy Sexton, commented “I hope something I said will help someone along the way to overcome obstacles; as I have had many in my life.” The Real Matriarch had the audience in both guffaws and tears, and left them no confusion as to why Buckley was inspired to make this film.

With great food (too fancy for descriptions), engaging conversation and a superb film, the evening couldn’t be anything but a success.

If you missed this screening of The Real Matriarch, I’m told it’s set to air on CBC. You can still catch Barbara Doran’s Playing the Machines and Lois Brown’s Sweet Pickle on Friday at the Majestic Theatre. Also, closing this year’s festival, Rhonda Buckley is back as producer of Crackie, playing at the Arts and Culture Center on Saturday, 8PM.

Visit The St. John’s International Film Festival online for more information and a complete list of featured films. Become part of the community and take in some of these wonderful events. It continues until Saturday, October 24^th.

The first of what will no doubt become a major annual event in St. John’s starts today at The Rockhouse at 2pm and goes right through to the wee hours.

Wallsaway is a music and arts festival featuring an long and lovely list of local talent and come-from-away goodness. Organizer Meghan McCabe explains:

Our headlining act is Toronto’s Oh No Forest Fires! Compared to “a sugar-coated buzz saw” and nominated in XM’s Verge Music Awards’ “Best Band of the Year” category, their live show is not to be missed.

Local musical performers include The Mountains and the Trees (recently back from a showcase at Toronto’s NXNE festival), Mercy, the Sexton, The Subtitles (named “the 2009 ECMA buzz band” on CBC Radio’s show, Drive), Soul man Chris Kirby, Singer-songwriter Ian Foster, Les Domestics, Matt Hornell and the Diamond Minds, The Sellouts, Japan Batteries, and The Mudflowers.

We’ll also have dances from Meghan McCabe, Tammy MacLeod, and The Neighbourhood Strays, comedy courtesy of Sherri Levesque, and a special film screening hosted by The St. John’s Women’s International Film Festival. There’ll be a collaborative community art project for attendees to enjoy, plus the afternoon is kid-friendly – we’ve literally got something for everyone!

And as if that wasn’t enough incentive to get down to the Rockhouse today, yours truly will be performing hosting duties til 7pm.

A mere $15 gets you in. See you there!

As you’re well aware, we are currently in the midst of a St. John’s Time — a collection of various festivals and events, which includes the George Street Festival, the Royal St. John’s Regatta, the Buskers Festival, and the Folk Festival, taking place over the course of 11 days.

What you’re no doubt wondering, however, is how me managed to procure these 11 days in the first place. Three days, you might understand. Four days, I’m sure you’d allow. But 11 days?

It’s common knowledge that we live a half an hour outside of the “normal” time zone slots the rest of the world’s regions fit into. Most assume this has something to do with our geographic location. Most, therefor, would be wrong.

The truth is, we’re forever saving up those half hours. Banking them, if you will. When it’s all said and done, a year of half hours accounts for over seven days.

Tack those seven days onto the four we’ve already granted permissible for a festival, and you’ve got yourself the 11 days in question.

More to the point, you’ve got yourself a St. John’s Time.

This was the scene earlier this afternoon as crews worked to prepare George Street for the hoards of revellers due to engulf this narrow roadway tonight, intoxicated by the sounds of Blue Rodeo and the undeniable novelty of drinking outside.

It might be Thursday, but, as far as many people in this city are concerned, the weekend starts now.

Kevin Breit, guitarist for Sisters Euclid, sometime collaborator of Norah Jones, Bill Frisell and many others, gave a workshop on improvisation at the Martini Bar this afternoon, and had the room gaping dumbly at his ridiculous chops for an hour and a half. There was lots of time for questions, and he gave sound advice on all things extemporaneous, from how to “assassinate” one’s inhibited self upon taking the stage, to all sorts of technical theory stuff. The best answers were the ones where he simply said “oh yeah, I can show you that,” before diving into yet another genre and turning it on its head. Nice guy, mean guitarist.

Sisters Euclid play tonight at 9:30 at the Martinti Bar, followed by the Brad Jefford Quartet, as part of the Wreckhouse International Jazz & Blues Festival.

[photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/penner/ / CC BY-SA 2.0]

The other day I mentioned on Twitter that I was interested in checking out some Wreckhouse International Jazz and Blues Festival. Very quickly I had a few friends message me and recommend checking out The Bad Plus. So I did.

First of all, allow me to preface by saying my jazz knowledge is limited to Richard Cheese, so don’t expect me to be incredibly technical.

The Bad Plus is a unique band, head to toe. Different sound, different style, and a curiously distinct sense of rocking out. They have no trouble jamming until their fingers bleed or capturing the audience’s attention with a stunned silence. When they hit a good rhythm they rock it suberbly and it is not a performance I will soon forget. But I have to say I walked away from this show with a mixed opinion.

I hate keeping my thumbs from the up or down position entirely, but believe me when I say when they were amazing when they hit a good song, like David King’s Anthem of the Ernest (off the “Suspicious Activity?” album), but mostly incoherent and confusing when they played pieces like Mint by Ethan Iverson (off the “Prog” album). I couldn’t wait for that song to finish. It was very difficult to understand.

Don’t read into Prog the wrong way though. Reid Anderson’s song Giant, also performed last night, was from that album and another one of their amazing tunes.

The problem with some of their music was that if they didn’t tell you song names you would assume they were a high school band class, each instrument trying to outperform the other rather than working together. Those few songs were an improvizational mess. This problem made much of their music confusing.

But I can’t hang them out to dry, they were redeemed with popular covers like the “electronic masters” Aphex Twin or Rush’s Tom Sawyer, except jazzified.

For the spectator who would get bored watching three stationary instruments for a full show there is the drummer, David King, whose drumrolling theatrics is enough to entertain for a show of its own.

As a band that came highly recommended, I’m disappointed. As a band I knew nothing about, I’m impressed. These guys tour the world so they are doing something right, I just can’t quite figure out what it is.

Photos by Phil Hann

The Iceberg Festival is underway in St. Anthony, on the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. Plenty to see and do from now until the closing ceremony next Sunday, with boat tours, hikes, musical performances and more scheduled throughout.

And as the festival’s name suggests, you’re apt to see an iceberg or two, too.

If you’re heading out that way, you probably know well enough to have your camera with you, but will you know what to do with it when you get there?

Snapping an iceberg’s not so simple as just point-and-clicking. Considering the size of these things, the distance you might be from them, and the fact that they’re a gleaming white object surrounded by a sky and ocean of blue, ice bergs can be a tricky subject.

Fortunately, local photographer Karen Chappell has given us seven great tips for photographing ice bergs on her photo-a-day blog, Bitstop.

Chappell’s first tip is to include something in the foreground, which she says will help give a sense of scale to your ancient, icy subjects. If you take a look at these two photos of hers (two of many iceberg photos you can find on her blog), you’ll see exactly what she means.

Now that you’re better prepared to capture the full glory of the icebergs at this year’s Iceberg Festival, you’ll be glad to know the festival has an online gallery where you can submit your photos for all to see.

If you decide to post some of your photos, be sure to let us know in the comments!

Huh, who knew?

There are a slew of festivals happening this Spring in Western Newfoundland and Southern Labrador.

While So-Lab may present a bit more of a financial challenge for we townie folk, Western Newfoundland is but a drive away. So if you’re looking for someplace to get away to this season, look into one or more of the festivals happening on the other side of the island between May 15th through to Spring’s last day, June 21st.

Some of the festival’s websites aren’t ready yet, but all four are contained within the nicely put together SpringFest website, so there’s still some information to be had, like who to get in touch with, in the meantime.

That’s a listing in the April 10th – 24th issue of Current Magazine, on news stands now, requesting submissions for a new local film festival.

The Phoenix Film Festival is the brainchild of Jason H. Pike, born out of the idea that local films should be given a better crack at screen time in this town — something that, despite there being two film festivals in St. John’s already, doesn’t always happen.

The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, on top of being very high caliber, requires that submissions have at least a female writer, director or producer attached.

The Nickel Independent Film Festival, in trying to keep their quality standards high, do not favour local films simply because they are a local festival.

You can’t really blame either for not wanting to show just anything made here, but that a new festival might is still a welcome idea. Good or bad, when a film screens in front of an audience it opens itself up to criticism, and in doing so gives its makers a chance to learn and grow.

So bring on the Phoenix Film Festival, I say! Rise from the ashes of unsung local films and soar, soar!

Still, I have to wonder, am I getting my hopes up for nothing? A quick glance at the PFF’s current efforts doesn’t inspire much confidence.

The ad, above, is one thing. No definite date, no mention of a venue, no URL for submission guidelines, just a guy’s name as it appears on Facebook for you to search for.

Not even a mention of the Facebook group set up for the PFF, which, incidentally, contains very little information. Nothing about how to submit, nothing about a date or venue, and one piece of undated news that states: The Festival was double booked working on a new date now for for the inconvenience (sic).

On the group’s wall there are requests from locals for more information about dates and submissions alongside posts from non-locals obviously confusing this for the other Phoenix Film Festival, which takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, and is kind of a big deal.

The closest thing to a submission guideline for the PFF can be found in the Facebook group’s description.

… we do expect films to be as professionally done as possible…we do not want to turn films away…that is the total opposite of our goal, but we obviously would have to make a judgment based on said requirement.

Good to know.

Finally, the group lists a URL for the PFF’s website. Not surprisingly, it’s just more of the same: no info, bad grammar, poor execution.

As much as I’d love to see this festival fly, the evidence so far seems to indicate that the Phoenix’s wings will never flap so much as flop, never soar so much as sour, never — ok, enough with the bad poultry puns. You get the idea.

Still, it’s a nice idea, this festival. Even if the PFF does turn out to be the real-world equivalent of vapourware, perhaps it will inspire others to pick up the torch and light the way to a new local festival for local films.

It wouldn’t even have to be a festival per se. Local filmmakers could simply band together, even in small groups, and host public screenings of their films at pubs, clubs, restaurants, or even their own homes.

Perhaps more of this sort of thing is, after all, the real phoenix; perhaps this is what will rise out of the ashes of a film festival that never was.