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A winner for local Cranbrook movie goers and youth
What’s being talked about, of course, is the Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary Club’s Sunrise Rockies Film Festival and Film Series, both in their 24th year of bringing quality films to local movie lovers, who haven’t always been able to enjoy a broad selection of movies outside the mainstream of the usual commercial fare.
The biggest winners of course are the youth of Cranbrook who receive the bulk of the revenues raised through various Rotary youth programs such as the Youth Exchange Program, Youth Ambassador Program, and RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Award.
Veteran Sunrise Rotary Club member Bill Gibbon says back in 1998, just after the club was formed, “we were looking for a fundraiser” and a film festival seemed just the right project for the club and the community. “What we did was add to the local cultural scene so people could enjoy alternate films and now it has become an expected event and everyone seems to enjoy it.”
At first the club worked with a national distributor that only showed Canadian films, says club film committee co-chair Darryl Bishop. “They were the ones who brought in portable 35 mm projectors and a projectionist enabling us to show films at the Key City Theatre.” This arrangement using an ancient projector that once belonged to the Chinese People’s Army proved later to be cost prohibitive. So, after another four or five years, the club made a new arrangement with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and never looked back, says Bishop, who chairs the committee with Janice Sommerfeld.
With TIFF, access was made to a much broader film selection including foreign films as well as far more modern technology that see’s digitalized films shipped to Cranbrook in DCP (Digital Camera Packages) instead of the heavy, clunky, metal reels of the past. The DCPs also offer superior picture and sound quality and are easier to handle, says Bishop. “Things have certainly changed in 20 years,” he said.
Another major breakthrough occurred when the Key City Theatre acquired DCP technology about five years ago enabling the festival to leave Landmark Cinemas and move into the larger venue where they have been ever since. In recent years, wine and cheese parties have preceded the festivals as was the case for the last festival held in the fall for the first time attracting more than 900 patrons.
Films continue to be shown monthly with the next ones screened being “Mickey and the Bear” Jan. 30 (pictured above), a coming of age flick and “Garza,” an inspirational documentary scheduled for Feb. 13.
“We have 370 patrons on our mailing list and audiences are strong, but there’s always room for more,” said Bishop, adding in its 22 years of existence the Rockies Film Festivals and monthly film series have screened 255 films in Cranbrook. These are films that likely would never have been seen in the Key City. And 2020 will be no different with more films to be scheduled all year and possibly two film festivals during the year instead of one as in the past.
Local cinephiles love it, but the real winners are Cranbrook youth who benefit from all the motivational programming Rotary provides from the revenues it raises through the films.
Mickey and the Bear trailer…
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