That's a Wrap!

Well, another film festival has wrapped up and what a 10-days it's been!  I'll be using the word "thanks" quite a bit in this post but I do mean it.

We would like to thank our sponsors - without them, there wouldn't be a festival for us to go to, to volunteer at, to blog about, etc...

A big shout out to American Express for helping to deliver the first ever Mavericks award on Saturday night. We'd also like to thank Volkswagen for helping to drive us around town, Cineplex and Citytv for their support.

We'd also like to thank Canwest, Movie Central & HBO Canada, Fast Forward, Fashion Central who gave us sweet digs for the delegate lounge and the box office this year and the Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation for their support.

We had many sponsors in the media as well including Avenue Magazine, CBC, CJSW 90.9FM, Beatroute, Fashion Magazine, the Calgary Herald, CKUA Radio and Gay Calgary Magazine.

We'd like to thank the following sponsors in no particular order, Skyy Vodka, Bullfrog Power, Stella Artois, Joe Media Group, Segue Systems, Christie, Ikea, UPS, UVS, Starbucks Coffee, Hyatt Regency, Corkscrew Media, Sundog, Flagworks, Barley Mill Eau Claire, Pulp, Inc. Three Point Nine Marketing, Tubby Dog, Boulevard Travel, Indigo Books, The Fairmont Palliser, Mealon, Thrifty, Pyramid Productions, Cine Audio Visual, Diva Hair Salon and Christie Lites.

Scott Hall, LLP and Nuvo Hotel and Suites helped to bring you the Headliners and Cineplex, The Globe Cinema and The Plaza Theatre displayed the films. Big thanks to Alberta Film, the National Film Board, AMPIA, Calgary Economic Development and Telefilm Canada. Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Calgary Foundation, Calgary Arts Development, Alberta Lottery Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Tourism Calgary and the Rosza Foundation. One last shout out to The Broken Plate, The Wicked Wedge, Agropur, The Palomino, Mango Shiva, Wok Box and Thai Tai.

That being said, we'd also like to thank one more person.

You.

In all seriousness, thank you for attending the festival. The festival has grown a lot in 10 years and we couldn't do it without the public so here's to 10 more!  I've been volunteering for the last four years in various capacities and I have to say this has been my favourite year so far!

I'd like to thank Juan and Kathleen along with all the staff for giving me a chance to blog about the festival.  It is a highly sought after position and I didn't take it lightly.  I took a break from my blog to do this and it was well worth it!

Hope to see you all next year...

Chaston B.

Review of the Weekend

First off, a big hand goes out to Eau Claire Market for helping to put on a great event last night - the Closing Night gala. Of course, last night's screenings took place just upstairs in the Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market Cinemas. The hospitality staff of the Hyatt Regency served amazing food and drinks and did a great job to keep everyone happy. A shout out to all the volunteers that worked the gala and to those who stayed late to pack all of this away. I grabbed a few shots of the party right before everything started.

And here's the room with a few more people all of whom were conversing and have great conversations over a few Stella's...

The Stella case up top was full at the beginning of the night and was promptly empty at the end of the night. There's the new "Stella Artoia Legere", the lighter version - I botched up the pronunciation of it so many times. Skyy Vodka and their sister brands were also available, Skyy is another sponsor of ours and we are glad to have them.

Going back a little bit, Friday night, Stella Artois held it's Unseen Party. It was a lot of fun from what I heard and if you saw any of these placards or banners, that's what they were for.

Congrats to all the award winners including our Best of Alberta winner and the winner of the Mavericks Award, Chris Chong Chan Fui who received a $25,000 grand prize furnished by American Express. He was given one of those big checks but sadly I didn't have a good view of it. Citytv will have some highlights for you on Monday's BT and Your City programs.

The parties may be over but there's still a full-day of festival to be had. See something you missed or catch something new because there's still another 8 hours of festival left!

Just a little behind the scenes...

You might not think about it but a lot of work goes into making sure there's a picture up on the screen. UVS is providing projection services in selected venues, namely through the use of digital projectors and in turn, those projectors are being provided by Christie. The films that you see arrive in many different formats including 35mm, 16mm and in some cases through digital means including digital video tape.

We get those prints and tapes shipped out to us during the course of the festival. Our transport team is kept very busy throughout the festival both receiving and sending out films. Big thanks to UPS and to each of our venues, The Plaza, The Globe Cinema and Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market for putting up with us this week and allowing us to deliver 10 days worth of great films.

The Mavericks program is starting up tomorrow (Wednesday) and along with American Express, we'd also like to acknowledge and thank some of the other sponsors of The Mavericks Program. Nuvo Hotel Suites, The Calgary Foundation, Alberta Film, Calgary Economic Development, Alberta Lottery Fund, Tourism Calgary, Calgary Arts Development, the City of Calgary and Avenue Magazine.

Avenue Magazine has also partnered with American Express to produce a Dining Guide - more on that in this post. Avenue Magazine can be picked up at many locations across the city or during the course of the festival, at any of our venues and downtown at our box office located at 207 - 8th Avenue S.W. All we ask is that you don't take the big poster boards. They do look great though on almost anywhere.