As home to the Capilano University film school, as well as several acclaimed film studios and filmmakers, Vancouver’s North Shore is brimming with local talent that are worthy of being in the spotlight. This spring, cinephiles across the community are invited to join in on a celebration of remarkable local film projects that are making waves across Canada and around the globe.
Presented by the North Shore News, the first annual Coast Mountain Film Festival will showcase screenings of over 20 films, from Mar. 29 to Apr. 18. The films will collectively share a connection to the North Shore by featuring local talents and local stories. Throughout the festival screenings, taking place at venues in West Vancouver and North Vancouver, local filmmakers will have the opportunity to showcase their work to their hometown audience, filled with cast, crew, family, friends and film lovers alike.
While many of these films have been presented at prestigious festivals around the world, the Coast Mountain Film Festival offers filmmakers a chance to celebrate their work with the community in which it was made.
With screenings at Kay Meek Arts Centre in West Vancouver and Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver, the film selections for the first-ever Coast Mountain Film Festival includes a mix of short films and feature films, all of which highlight the vibrant and diverse filmmaking talent of the North Shore and Sea to Sky communities.
Split into five screening categories, the locally made movies will span across a range of themes that include Environmental, Dark Comedies, Dramatic Shorts, and North Shore Profiles as well as the Canadian premiere of Krow’s TRANSformation.
On Mar. 29, West Vancouver's Kay Meek Theatre will present four films that explore the beauty of B.C.’s natural environment, its resilience, and the changes the community must make to protect it. The evening’s feature film selection is Our Food Table (featuring Dr. David Suzuki), which will be preceded by screenings of Marc Lebel's River of the Mind, Bob Turner's My Adventures with the Wild of Home, Farhan Hmedaly's HA NII TOKXW: Our Food Table, and Chandra Simon Ritvo's Great Bear Rainforest.
On Mar. 30, North Vancouver's Centennial Theatre will showcase a total of 11 short films that were shot against the backdrop of the North Shore and explore the nuances of human connection. During the afternoon screening at 3:30 p.m., Dark Comedies will present six short films that reveal the dark humour of six North Shore based filmmakers as they explore scenarios that include complicated romances, teleportation, an elementary school play, and a murder mystery. Later that evening at 7:30 p.m., Centennial Theatre will screen five short films as part of Dramatic Shorts, featuring films that delve into the relationship dynamics among parents, siblings, friends, and lovers.
The North Shore Profiles showcase, taking place on Mar. 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Kay Meek Theatre, will present five short films and one feature film that showcase some of the North Shore's most fascinating residents. The short film subjects range from a North Vancouver-based LEGO artist, a West Vancouver landscape artist, a pro kiteboarder, and a pizza maker. The feature film, Trish Neufeld's Dancing with Mom, closes the night with a story that takes audiences on a mother-daughter journey spanning from North Vancouver to Thailand.
The Coast Mountain Film Festival will also feature the Canadian film festival premiere of North Shore resident Gina Hole Lazarowich’s Krow’s TRANSformation at Kay Meek Theatre on Apr. 18. Released in Mar. 2023, the film follows the transition of male model Krow Kian from his final shoot as a female model to his runway debut as a trans man at Paris Fashion Week.
Krow’s TRANSformation will be preceded by an opening film presentation of Mary-Jo Dionne & Jeff Macpherson's Never Broken, a work based on Dionne’s TEDx talk that aims to debunk the myth that single-parent-led families are inherently dysfunctional.
Visit www.coastmountainfilmfest.com for the full film festival line-up and to reserve your film screening tickets now.
The North Shore News would like to give a special thanks to the Coast Mountain Film Festival’s generous screening sponsors Vancouver's North Shore Tourism, Mitsubishi Motors, and British Pacific Properties.
