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23rd annual Rockies Film Festival running Nov. 21-23
The Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary Club’s 23rd annual Rockies Film Festival this year features six films at Key City Theatre from Nov. 21 to 23.
The festival opens Friday, Nov. 21 with ‘Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind,’ followed by ‘Sometimes, Always, Never.’
On Saturday, Nov. 22, enjoy Brittany Runs a Marathon followed by Maiden.
And on Sunday, Nov. 23, Parasite screens at 1 p.m., with a break and a Wine and Cheese Reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Key City Theatre. The final film of the festival is the appropriately titled ‘The Farewell.’
See more on the films and schedule below.
Tickets for the 23rd annual Rockies Film Festival are now on sale.
November 21
6:30 p.m. – GORDON LIGHTFOOT – IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is an exploration of the career, music and influence of legendary Canadian musical icon, Gordon Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the film takes audiences from high school auditoriums in straight-laced, small town Ontario in the 1950s to the coffee houses of Yorkville and Greenwich Village in the ‘60s, through Lightfoot’s turbulent, substance-fuelled arena shows of the ‘70s, and finally to the artist in present day.
Following Lightfoot’s evolution from Christian choirboy to troubled troubadour to international star and beloved Canadian icon, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is an intimate and emotional examination of the artist’s profound relationship to his music and his Canadian roots. Filled with rich archival footage (the clip of a young Alex Trebek interviewing the singer is especially fun) and testimonials from an impressive array of friends and admirers — Rush, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, Lenny Waronker — the film follows a fairly typical rock doc path. Marching through his career, it occasionally pauses to take a deeper dive into some aspect of his life or artistry.
November 21
8:30 pm – SOMETIMES, ALWAYS, NEVER
There’s a beguiling Englishness to this elegant, offbeat comedy-drama, terrifically written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and directed by feature debutant Carl Hunter. It has a wonderful syncopation in its writerly rhythm and narrative surprises. The film positively twinkles with insouciance, and is performed with aplomb, particularly by Bill Nighy, who brings a droll sprightliness and deadpan wit to the lead part, but shows how these mannerisms mask emotional pain. Sam Riley is excellent as the character’s long-suffering son.
Alan (Nighy) is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son Peter and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family.
November 22
6:30 p.m. – BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON
A hard-partying woman receives a startling wake-up call when a visit to the doctor reveals how unhealthy she is. Motivated to lose weight, she soon takes up running to help her prepare for her ultimate goal of competing in the New York City Marathon.
Brittany (Jillian Bell) runs in one of the biggest running events in the country. But there’s a surprising amount of nuance in Brittany’s story. The movie unpacks the emotional baggage of how society treats you differently when your dress size is in the double digits, how the scars of bad relationships past (if you’ve had relationships at all) can pool up insecurity and how endless self-loathing can curdle into an attitude that hurts others. Far from being just a simple comedy about fitness and weight loss, Brittany’s journey includes the healing and forgiveness it takes to really meet those goals.
November 22
8:30 pm – MAIDEN
Maiden is the inspirational story of how Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook in charter boats, became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World in 1989. Tracy’s inspirational dream was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought an all-women crew would never make it, the chauvinistic yachting press took bets on her failure, and potential sponsors rejected her, fearing they would die at sea and generate bad publicity. But Tracy refused to give up: she remortgaged her home and bought a second hand boat, putting everything on the line to ensure the team made it to the start line. Although blessed with tremendous self-belief Tracy was also beset by crippling doubts and was only able to make it through with the support of her remarkable crew. With their help she went on to shock the sport world and prove that women are very much the equal of men.
The 58-foot yacht for which the movie is named was originally launched in 1979. It was sold after the race and had several different owners. Refitted in 2017, Maiden is currently sailing around the world – again crewed by an all-female crew, raising awareness and money for girls’ education.
November 23
1 p.m. – PARASITE (subtitled)
Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist, to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. The Kims provide “indispensable” luxury services while the Parks obliviously bankroll their entire household. When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims’ newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks.
November 23
7:30 p.m. – THE FAREWELL (subtitled)
Rotten Tomatoes critics give this movie a 99% rating
Anyone paying attention to the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year knows The Farewell is one of the can’t-miss films of the summer movie season.
Lulu Wang’s latest directorial offering earned some of the best reviews in Park City and was named the festival’s best picture and best director in IndieWire’s critics’ poll. The family comedy-drama is a dramatic breakthrough for Awkwafina, who previously gained attention on the big screen with supporting roles in Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians.
The Farewell stars Awkwafina as Billi, a Chinese-American woman who travels to China to attend a family wedding. The only issue is that the wedding is a sham, designed as an excuse to bring Billi’s entire family together under one roof so that everyone can spend time with their terminally ill matriarch, Nai-Nai. No one is allowed to tell Nai-Nai abut the lie, which sends Billi on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and family bonding. The supporting cast includes Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Chen Han, and Zhao Shuzhen.
Thank you to our festival sponsors: BDO, Lotic Environmental, Bedroom Furniture Galleries, East Kootenay Community Credit Union, e-KNOW and Breeze.
e-KNOW
