THE END

The 19th Annual Kamloops Film Festival was an astounding success. With 15 films over 10 days at the Paramount theatre, and 10 events at various venues downtown, KFF 2015 saw record setting numbers on many levels. The 19 person KFF Committee hosted more than 15 special guests and brought in peek attendance at over 4,200 (Over 20 PER CENT increase from last year.) There is no doubt that Kamloops audiences want to see excellent independent films from Canada and beyond, and we are thrilled to make it happen. The KFF Committee is extremely proud of this year’s festival; highlights include the very successful return of DarkFest with What We Do in the Shadows (see below for more information), a well received absorption of the Kamloops Independent Short Short Film Competition, and an increased number of engagement events. Plus, this year saw the establishment of online ticket sales and Full Festival Passes, which were both demanded by our patrons.

As we look toward our 20th anniversary festival in 2016, we are encouraged to make the KFF bigger, better, and more fun. We will continue to respond to the needs and wants of our core demographic as we entice new viewers to our Festival from Kamloops and beyond. We have a lot of exciting ideas and plans brewing; so don’t miss out in 2016!

In closing, we would like to thank all of the volunteers, sponsors, supporters, partners, and especially attendees who made 2015 the best KFF yet! We hope to see you all next year!

CAUSE

Each year, we pick a film and donate the proceeds to a local charity organization based on connections to the subject matter. The 2015 Film for a Cause was the beautiful and moving Turkish film Winter Sleep on Saturday, March 14, at 3 p.m. The film revolves around Aydin, a former theatre actor, who runs a small hotel and is looking to write a book on Turkish theatre. The proceeds from this film were donated to Western Canada Theatre as they move into their 40th season.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

At every screening during the 19th annual Kamloops Film Festival, patrons were encouraged to vote on how they felt about the film they just watched through small ratings cards handed out by volunteers.

The votes were then collected and averaged to establish a score out of 10 for each film. The film with the highest score wins the the KFF Audience Favourite Award, and this year that honour goes to What We Do in the Shadows with a score of 9.22. The battle was close with ten films averaging over eight points and five films scoring over nine, including Shana: The Wolf’s Music which came in second by only .03 of a point. See below for more details.

As well, we would like to announce the KFF Most Popular Film Award winner, which is the film with the most attendance, and this year was undisputedly Still Alice, which soldout over a week before the screening.

1 What We Do in the Shadows 9.22
2 Shana: The Wolf’s Music 9.19
3 Still Alice 9.18
4 The Backward Class 9.12
5 Citizenfour 9.07
6 Mountain Men 8.83
7 When the Ocean Met the Sky 8.57
8 Rosewater 8.56
9 Mommy 8.18
10 Leviathan 8.15
11 Big News from Grand Rock 7.65
12 Two Days, One Night 7.57
13 Winter Sleep 7.54
14 Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem 7.22
15 Maps to the Stars 5.95

News from © iNFOnews, 2015