This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Nickel Independent Film Festival. They kicked things off this morning with a lively press conference at NIFCO, The Newfoundland Independent Filmmaker’s Co-Operative.

If today’s turnout by the press and local film community is any indication, there are going to be a lot of packed houses at this year’s festival. Based on the preview we were given of this year’s films, they’re going to be happy packed houses, too.

Not to mention the fact that this year The Nickel returns to the newly renovated LSPU Hall – now with air conditioning!

One of the films previewed today was local filmmaker Justin Simms’ Weather People, featuring a hilarious Dave Sullivan, which looks phenomenally funny. In fact, this year’s festival features 20 locally made films out of a pool of 70, the other 50 coming from all over the world.

Charlie Tomlinson and Dave Sullivan in Weather People

Many of The Nickel’s board members have films in this year’s festival (don’t worry, the films are selected by a separate, impartial jury), which just goes to show how much this festival is by and in support of local filmmakers.

As was announced at the press conference, Signal will once again be The Nickel’s official blog, which we’re really excited about. We had a blast blogging The Nickel last year. It’s a wild and crazy five days and nights of films and fun that we’re looking forward to dishing the dirt on again this year.

Stay tuned for more details on this year’s Nickel in the coming days and weeks, including information on workshops, special screenings, the festival schedule and more.

The 10th Anniversary Nickel Independent Film Festival takes place from June 22-26, 2010.

The 9th anual Nickel Independent Film Festival capped things off Saturday with a big day and night of films followed by a boisterous party and awards show at The Gypsy. Patrons, producers, organizers and volunteers rubbed elbows and raised glasses to another successful festival gone by.

While we all look forward to what Nickel #10 will have in store for us next year, here’s a look back at Saturday and the final hours of Nickel #9.

The day got underway with a special children’s matinee, replete with balloon animals!

Saturday night’s final screening was followed by a quick dismantling of the festival gear, then off to the awards show and party at The Gypsy.

The awards went as follows:

Best Drama: Desert Trains

Best Animation: Elephants

Best Music Video: Throw Me To The Rats

Emerging NL Filmmaker: Christian Sparkes (Ten Days)

Audience Choice: Jordan Canning (Countdown)

Best Performance: Lead Actor in Land Gewinnen

Special Jury Award for The Spirit of Independent Filmmaking: Magritte Moment

Best NL Film: Heartless Disappearance Into Labrador Seas

Congratulations to all the award winners, and to everyone who screened at this year’s Nickel.

Special thanks goes to Jamie Lewis for continually providing us with an insiders look at the festival with his fantastic photography, and to the organizers of the Nickel for granting Signal an all access pass to all the screenings and events. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.

It’s Saturday, day five of The Nickel Independent Film Festival. Lots of screenings today and the closing ceremonies to look forward to tonight.

In the meantime, here’s a look back at the third night, where two screenings took place, including a special spooky late-night show.

Any filmmakers in attendance for their screening are given the opportunity to say a few words before we see their film. It’s a great way to contextualize the experience for both the producers and the patrons — it has the tendency to make you feel all warm and gooey, seeing people realize their goals before an eager and appreciate audience.

And it was another great crowd for another great night of screenings.

Here’s the two stars, director, director of photography and producer of the late-night horror show hit, Date with the Dead.

Thanks again to Jamie Lewis for the photos!

It’s going to be a busy day today. Here’s a list of all the screenings:

Saturday June 27,

1:00 PM Children’s Matinee

01 Ugly Girl

02 A Pickle

03 Rooms Animation Series

04 Hand Marks

05 The Audition

06 Viewfinders’ Series

07 Elephants

08 Detention

3:00 PM Arts Matinee

01 A Hidden Place for Fragile Things

02 Magritte Moment

03 Decalage

04 Sun in My Hands

7:30 PM

01 Our Wonderful Nature

02 Land Gewinnen (Gaining Ground)

03 The Optician

04 Spoiled

05 Solitude

06 Ten Days

07 Of Best Intentions

Night two of the Nickel Independent Film Festival was another big crowd pleaser and a huge success.

From their early evening show, featuring the highly acclaimed Countdown, by local lovelies Jordan Canning and Laura Churchill (pictured below), to the late-night Short and Giggly show, featuring an eclectic mix of strange and strangely compelling shorts, The Nickel has kept the bar high heading into their third night, tonight.

It was almost a full house again last night, with people lining up all the way to the elevator doors to get in — and another great mix ranging from patrons to producers.

The volunteers at this year’s festival have been doing a fantastic job. The festival would never happen without them, but they’re so much more than just the grease on the wheels — they manage to strike a perfect balance between professionalism and fun, making them as important an aspect of this year’s festival as any of the films projecting onto the screen.

And a big shout out has to go to Jamie Lewis, The Nickel’s official photographer extraordinaire, for all these fantastic shots. Would you like to see some more? Wish granted.

Finally, here’s the schedule for tonight’s two shows. See you there!

Thursday, June 25th, 7:30 PM

01 All This Way

02 Travel Anywhere

03 Bark

04 Desert Trains

05 Strays

06 Out of the Blue

07 Wisemen on the Rock

08 Mr. Brooklyn

10:00 PM Late Night Horror Show

01 Crystal

02 Pelley

03 X-Mess Detritus

04 Sapsucker

05 Date With The Dead

06 Treevenge

07 Deadspiel

08 Remote

Check out this trailer for Remote, part of tonight’s Late Night Horror Show at The Nickel Independent Film Festival.

Writer/director Marc Roussel, from Toronto, Ontario, tells me he’s very proud to have his award-winning film screening at The Nickel. Remote took best short screenplay at the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival.

Thanks for sending us your trailer, Marc, and congratulations on tonight’s screening at The Nickel!

In case you haven’t heard, Folly is The Nickel Independent Film Festival‘s official post-screening meeting place.

I just happen to be enjoying some delicious pre-screening grub at Folly as I write this on Signal, the official blog of The Nickel.

How much more official can you get?

And FYI, Folly are now open from noon to 6am. Hooray for Summer hours!

Courtesy of The Nickel Independent Film Festival, Andrew Zinnes, co-author of The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook, gave us part one of a two-part workshop today on filmmaking.

As much an overview of the mechanics as it is a motivational talk, the workshop delves into every aspect of filmmaking, from screenwriting to world premiere. Zinnes does a great job of relating personal stories, industry annecdotes and even films from last night’s screening to the topics he covers.

Zinnes’ belief, nay his certainty, is that if you give it your all, from your head and your heart, you will make your film.

That, and knowing how to ask people for money.

The Filmmaker’s Masterclass resumes tomorrow.

Kent Foran is a volunteer with The Nickel Independent Film Festival. Here’s his five cents worth (get it?) on last night’s show:

Held at the shiny new Inco Centre, with a capacity almost twice that of The Hall, opening night saw a full house comprised of all ages. It was professional but relaxed, with film-makers and other industry names mingling with the crowd.

The Nickel Independent Film Festival opened to a packed house at the INCO Innovation Centre last night.

Organizers Ruth Lawrence and Janelle Hickey, who have been incredibly busy with the preparations for everything happening this week, were forced to wing it on their welcome speech last night, giving everyone a great laugh and setting the tone for a fun night of films.

Some really strong films came out of the gate last night. Shame of the North Atlantic was a fun way to get the Nickel rolling, Interpretation had the crowd cheering, while Cut from the Same Cloth stood out as the audience favorite.

There are two screeenings tonight, the second being a late show titled Short & Giggly (shameless plug: my – by which I mean everyone who worked on it – music video is playing there tonight).

Here’s the lineup:

Wednesday, June 24th, 7:30 PM

01 Words! Words! Words!

02 Vulnerable Heart- She Plays

03 Rewind

04 The Morning Party

05 Questions

06 Countdown

07 Melting Lands

Late Night–Short & Giggly, 10:00 PM

01 I Always Fall in Love

02 The Legend of Ol’ Goldie

03 I Was the DJ

04 Sleep Lab

05 A Gentlemen’s Guide to Kidnapping a Lady

06 Throw Me to The Rats

07 Shuya Show

And here are some photos featuring filmmakers, organizers and audience members from last night’s opening, courtesy of The Nickel’s official photographer, Jamie Lewis (thanks!).

After watching hours worth of films scheduled to screen at next week’s Nickel Independent Film Festival, The Scope’s Adam Clarke and Michael Collins have presented us with a list of their faves.

Among that list are an encouraging number of local films, including 10 Days (Christian Sparkes), Change It: The Rooms Animation Series (Jason Sellars), Countdown (Jordan Canning), Date with the Dead (Justin Madol), and A Gentelman’s Guide to Kidnapping a Lady (Harbourside Studio).

You can see their entire list here.

Neil Butler in Jordan Canning's "Countdown"

[image courtesy of Jordan Canning]