Lights, camera, action! 2023 Gimli International Film Festival kicks off

The Gimli International Film Festival is kicking off Wednesday with a number of new screenings to keep Manitoba film buffs reaching for more popcorn.

The 23rd annual film festival, which runs July 26 to 30, will present more than 90 films in multiple venues in the Interlake town.

Erin Buelow's first feature-length film Arutinae is making its festival debut in Gimli on the weekend.

"It feels great. I'm really happy because the movie is set very close to Gimli, so it feels like it has a really strong geographic connection to Gimli and the festival," he said in an Tuesday interview with CBC News.

Beulow's film follows a young songwriter as she seeks out her musical idol in the sleepy lakeside village of Matlock, Man., only to become involved in a secret society whose members are able to travel to a parallel universe called Arutinae in their sleep, thanks to an odd ritual of drinking polluted lake water.

His family cabin on Lake Winnipeg, and the changes Buelow has seen on the lake, helped him come up with the idea for this film.

"I've been going there since I was a kid and there's a lot of talk about the changes that the lake is going through because of pollution," Buelow said. 

Festival executive director Alan Wong says there's always a lot of buzz around the film screenings on the beach in Gimli, and that's no different this year.

"The programming in general has been really strong this year and people seem genuinely excited about it — not only for all the features and short films, but some special events we've got going on," he said in an interview on CBC Manitoba's Up to Speed on Monday.

One of those special events is a first for the film festival. GIFF is collaborating with six other festivals to put on the Best of Manitoba Film Festivals on Thursday at 3 p.m.

Each participating festival recommended a short film, which will be screened at the free event at the Gimli Theatre.

LISTEN | The Best of Manitoba Film Festivals

"It's a labour of love and the purpose of it all is to try to spread the art and showcase talent that isn't normally seen through the mainstream platforms," said Wong.

Among the six shorts that will be screened at the event is Stephanie Sy's first film behind the camera — Knots.

Sy, a Winnipegger, wrote, directed and produced the film, which focuses on Gracie, a Filipino daycare worker, who meets the younger version of herself and finds common ground.

The film has already been screened at a number of film festivals across North America, and the Gimli festival marks the end of its circuit.

"The only goal at this point, and has always been ... that I just want as many people as possible to see the film. So I'm really happy that it's a part of this festival in particular because it's an incredible film festival and also that it's in Manitoba," Sy said in an interview on Tuesday.

They wrote the script during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to process family trauma and calls it a love letter to their siblings.

"I imagine that this main character, the protagonist in the short film, is who I might have been if I didn't have them to go through it all with," they said.

Besides the Best of Manitoba Film Festivals, Wong says he's also looking forward to the Young Filmmaker's Program that features student-made films from around the province.

The film festival will also include a mini retrospective on iconic Canadian filmmaker and Winnipegger Guy Maddin, who is a screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer and film editor of both features and short films.

Maddin is well-known for films such as The Saddest Music in the World and My Winnipeg. His first feature film, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, delved into the town's Icelandic culture and mythology.

"He's a man of a million stories, so it'll be pretty interesting and entertaining hearing him talk about his career," Wong said.