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Thank You

Our final event on March 26th was absolutely fantastic - and our virtual event brought our program to folks watching all over Canada! Thank you notes are being written, I'm throwing pins at everyone, and my heart is full from the support and enthusiasm this and every other year of the festival has gifted to me.

Thank you to our filmmakers, our musical guests Raincity, our hosts Jamie Taylor and Sarah Faye Bernstein, and our Moderator Bryce Logan. Thank you to the wonderful staff at the VIFF Centre!

Thank you to our volunteers; Zia Marashi, Alexandra Caulfield, Durae Roberts, Brianne Doucette, Yvonne Doucette, Carolina Bergonzoni, videography team Min Lee+ Noah Marchand, photographer Emma K Younge, and Andy Wong from BIPOC Credits for nabbing great social media for us all day. Thank you as well to our judging panel; Durae Roberts, Mike Hjorth, Rebecca Matzov, Harmen Van Andel, Celina de Leon, Sydney Gordon, Alyssa Kostello, Natalie Moon, and Carolyn Yonge.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Hey, it's our last call for merch! Take a browse while you still can! Limited totes, stickers, and pins are up for the taking!

As a truly homemade festival, as grassroots as it gets, it's been all about the support. The willingness for people to donate their time and resources to help get this festival off of the ground. Sometimes it seems like drops in an ocean, but every year I've put on the festival - it comes together. And it comes together because people keep making great projects, and people want to see them (and I am personally very determined to let people know how they can watch them)! It's been a pleasure to take such an eclectic mix of projects and say to people 'you absolutely need to watch these!' with genuine gusto. I've always been proud of this festival's programming, and year 8 is certainly a cherry on top of this insane festival sundae.

It's been quite a ride running this festival, and I thank all of our past filmmakers, supporters, friends, and audience members for partaking in our little variety show of a film fest. I have learned so much, met so many great people, and every year have gained so much respect and inspiration from all of the wonderful projects that come across my desk. It's no small feat to make a movie, tell a story, and put it out there - and to see folks across Canada doing it in so many ways! It's been such a privilege to be able to host 151 (!!) short films in our programming since 2014.

You can take a friendly browse through this year's paper program here. And don't forget! We will be passively updating our Canadian film resources page so keep an eye out! Even though our festival is ending, our support for local cinema is not. Look out for events in your community; show up, and support!

I wont say it's a goodbye forever, as life's got a funny way about it, but it's goodbye for now.

 

Thank you so so much,

Laurel K Brown

Cinema Spectacular founder + director

 

 

Our fest at a glance

Cinema Spectacular 2023 is almost here! We've got one heck of a day planned. Click the quick links below for more details, and check out our schedule for the day to know what to expect!

TICKETS
FAQ
PROGRAM

MARCH 26th SCHEDULE

10:00 - Doors open - enjoy the music of Raincity, the VIFF concession, raffle prizes + more

11:00 - Program 1 begins

Magic Trick - Chris Lennox-Aasen
"Time is a Car" by Partner - Lesley Marshall
BOSSBABE - Teresa Alfeld
Picture Yourself - Tracey Lavigne
Wish You Were Here - Shiun Okada, Yuko Masaki
MARTY - Mike McKinlay
After the Rain - David K. Greene, Nate Kelly, Parker Thompson
Forgotten - Mawrgan Shaw
Halves and Doubles - Adam Mbowe
Romantics - Jamie Lam
Worst Day Ever - Karl Franzen Kimmel, Nils Kimmel
Santa's Homophobic - Michelle Tran

12:30 - Intermission - enjoy more Raincity!

13:00 - Q+A for Program 1

13:30 - Program 2 begins

Torch Narrows - Simon Garez
Under the Full Moon - Lynn Dana Wilton
Damned Supper - Ariel Hansen
Milkshakes - Rob Hunt
Marry - Fiona Cully
Wok Hei - Joel Salaysay
Cameo - Daniel Jeffery
The Dragon Awakens - Paul Johnson
Peanut Butter - Maxime Divier

14:45 - Q+A for Program 2

Please join us post-screening for celebratory snacks, drinks, and more opportunities to chat local cinema at The Morrissey pub - 1227 Granville St, Vancouver BC

2023_poster@0.5x

2023 Programming announcement

Folks, it’s here! Feast your eyes upon our positively electric 2023 Cinema Spectacular lineup. You’ll see some new friends and familiar faces listed here! In the coming weeks we’ll be plastering these filmmakers all over our social platforms with our #filmmakerfeature posts as well as announcing lots of ticketing and screening details! We’re so excited for this absolute barnburner of a program!

We’re a grassroots festival where word-of-mouth goes a long ways! Help us spread the word on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook; we’re chill, we promise. This is also where our up-to-the-minute news drops!

We’ve got news!

The time has come! We’ve been quiet for long enough. We’ve got some big news! 

Our submissions season has reopened – if you have submitted already, your film is still in the running! Submission fees will remain at $8 for the whole season, no matter what you submit! Final deadline is December 31, 2022.

Submit via Filmfreeway

This is because our 8th festival year has been pushed forward to 2023 – and will be our last festival for the foreseeable future. It is a bittersweet development for us, as the festival has been an absolute project of passion and community for our small team. We’ve met so many great filmmakers and film enthusiasts, learned so much, and gained a tremendous amount of appreciation for all of the different kinds of storytelling coming from every corner of this country. We’re going to miss it a lot!

But before we say goodbye, our final year is going to be a bright, shining star! We’re going to be throwing a gigantic celebration – for our filmmakers, our audience, our supporters – to celebrate all the blood, sweat, and tears that is poured into making independent cinema in Canada. There’s going to be movies, music, panels, lovely faces – it’s going to be a wonderful gathering of creativity and support!

Since the beginning, we’ve been a festival run by filmmakers for filmmakers – we know what it takes to get movies made! Our goal has always been to get more eyes on independent projects. We’ll be throwing a hybrid in-person and virtual event for 2023, to be enjoyed no matter where you are in Canada – coast to coast to coast.

Interested in sponsoring or helping out? Get in touch! This festival runs on wonderful volunteers and generous contributions from local businesses, and this year we’ll be pulling out all of the stops.

I am tremendously thankful for the support we have received since the inception of this festival in 2014. I have loved putting on this event and seeing it grow in weird and wonderful ways. It has always been an immensely important and personal project to me, and has been a vessel to express my love of the craft and those who make it happen. Thank you for sharing your films, sharing your stories, and we will continue to carry the spirit of love local cinema forward in any way we can.

If you have any questions or comments, please send them our way!

Laurel K Brown
hello@cinemaspectacular.com
Founder – Director
Cinema Spectacular

2021 Announcement

To our wonderful community of filmmakers, filmgoers, and supporters,

Like many festivals, Cinema Spectacular is experiencing some prescribed 2020 upheaval. After talking with filmmakers and members of our community, we have made the difficult decision to postpone our seventh festival until spring of 2021.

We had originally been anticipating our 2020 event to be taking place May 30th & 31st.While there’s a hole in our hearts where this year’s fest would have nestled in quite nicely, we are happy to be putting the health and safety of our communities first. But - here’s the good news!

If you have submitted projects, are they still in the running? Absolutely. Still need time to get a project to us? We have extended our final deadline until January 4th, 2021 with our regular deadline fees running throughout. With this unprecedented submissions season that has rolled forward into another year, we will be preparing for an expanded program in 2021 to showcase more local cinema love! Keep eyes out for discount codes (and we’re always available by email if you need a waiver) on our social spaces! We have also extended our maximum submission length to 20 minutes.

If you do find yourself with extra time this summer and fall and would like to lend a hand to what will, undoubtedly be our most monumental festival to date, we would love the help! We are looking for more members to add to our screening committee, as well as casual help with outreach and research. We’re open to suggestions as to what else we can be doing, too!

In the interim, we’ve got tons of plans to pass the time! Here we have an exciting opportunity to make changes, improve, and set a stronger foundation for future festival goings-on. It’s exciting! And we’ll certainly be using this time wisely; making new connections, taking on cool new projects, and continuing to promote our wonderful alumni! We’re committed to supporting the Canadian film scene through thick and thin - and we very much look forward to enjoying the silver screen with you again soon.

Stay patient, kind, and supportive,

 

Laurel & the Cinema Spectacular team

hello@cinemaspectacular.com

Cinema Spectacular 2020 and COVID-19

In a difficult, but necessary decision, Cinema Spectacular 2020 will be suspended until further notice. We will be revisiting our options for an event later this year, and will be working with VIVO,VIFF, and our supporters to make our festival happen when it is safe, responsible, and appropriate for the public again. Much of our funding and help comes from our community, and as this overwhelmingly unpredictable situation continues, that support should go elsewhere. 

This doesn’t mean we’ve stopped working. We’ve got some plans to bring some CanCon to your timelines with some fun plans for features, blogs, and more. We will certainly be using this time to build a better foundation for a brighter and more supportive festival to keep on loving local cinema when the time comes. We will also be sharing cool projects, good vibes, and resources to help our community as we find them.

In news that we still have control over: Our late deadline has been thrown out! This means regular deadline fees are in effect for the rest of our extended season! Our new final deadline is set for June 30th. There will be tons of discount opportunities going out over our social channels - and if you need a fee waiver, just send us an email!

A reminder that we no longer have a rule about a film’s completion date. You can submit any films from any time! For those of you stuck at home, we’d love to see those backburner projects; shorts that never got out into the world, films that are experiencing completion in isolation, and bottle-episode bright ideas!

If you do find yourself with some extra time and would like to lend a hand to our 2020 festival, we could certainly use it! We’re still bringing on members to our screening committee, our outreach teams, and are open to suggestions as to what else we can be doing. Get in touch!

Stay patient, kind, and support each other in these uncertain times.

We look forward to high fiving, hugging, and making movies with you all again soon,

Laurel & the Cinema Spectacular team

2020 Dates Announced!

That's right folks - it's 2020 and we're expanding! Cinema Spectacular 2020 is booked for May 30th and 31st! Obviously we're shaking it up in a big way for our seventh festival year. Here's some new things:

  • You heard right, we've gone to two days! We've still got our old faithful Sunday at the Vancity Theatre, where we'll see our legendary local cinema program and after party, but we'll be at VIVO Media Arts Center on Saturday, May 30th to have a day of talks from local artists, panels, and networking!
  • The Vancity Theatre is undergoing some *very* cool updates this year, but this means during our Sunday screening, we wont have access to the atrium. Many of the things we usually host in the atrium (live music, sponsor tables, photo booths) will be relocated to our wicked space at VIVO!
  • A bigger event this year means we'll need more support! Get in touch to become a sponsor or come volunteer with us!
2020 Early Banner

Our submissions are still open for Cinema Spectacular 2020! Our event is expanding this year, as well as moving to a later date than usual - and we are EXCITED! We've got waiver codes all over the web at the moment (always watch our social spaces for special deals), but our regular deadlines are in effect! That means $5 for trailers and $10 for all other projects - and with Filmfreeway's proper Canadian dollar implementation, submissions are now even more wallet-friendly!

We are so excited to see what you've been working on this year, Canada! Send your shorts, animations, music videos, upcoming project trailers to us on Filmfreeway.

Tons of event details are coming soon!

It’s the spooky season 🎃

It's autumn, the leaves are falling, the pumpkins are OUT, and we've got a spooky waiver code for you that will take a beastly 66.6% off your submission fee over on Filmfreeway!

Just use the code SPOOKTACULAR7 when you submit your projects and reap the rewards until MIDNIGHT, October 31st.

Have a safe and happy Halloween - we've got some big stuff in the works so make sure to keep up with us on our social spaces!

Facebook - Instagram - Twitter

Spooky Blood Logo - Submissions Open - BANNER WIDE
Halloween Discount - Banner 01