A Nerd’s & Safety Guide to the 2022 Victoria Film Festival

All anyone can do is stay informed to what the policies are should they want to attend a film festivals in-person.

Victoria Film FestivalFilm festivals are continuing to be half in-person and half online as the world enters into year three of the pandemic. Sundance cancelled their physical edition and will be fully digital. It’s tough to say if smaller events in cities like Victoria, British Columbia will follow suit. As long as there’s no huge spike in hospitalizations, all anyone can do is stay informed to what the policies are should they want to attend in-person.

People going to a Victoria Film Festival screening must present their vaccination card and id. The check-in process should be even more machine-operated/contactless. When patrons are not eating or drinking, a mask must be always on. Additionally, there’s no advanced booking of seats for distancing between groups. This organisation isn’t likely to have enough volunteer power to enforce by doing high temperature checks, so everyone has to do their part to keep others safe. 

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The Hunt is on for Schemes in Antiques

Ultimately, Schemes in Antiques is about broken relationships rather than a hunt for treasure.

Schemes In Antiques movie review (2021) | Roger EbertWell GO USA
Now Playing in Theatres
(Please check local listings)

Xu Yuan (Tao Guo) may well lose his head in Schemes in Antiques (古董局中局). This Chinese action-adventure flick examines the trade in artefacts, and I’m sure it’s even much worse should other nations get involved. In fact, this movie looks at the role the Japanese had when the head of Wu Zetian Mingtang (immortalised as a Buddha statue) is revealed to be a fake, and the real one must be found. 

The story picks up and moves like Tomb Raider (2018) without the blockbuster stunts and huge set design. It works because the budget is spent on getting deeply into the detail about what distinguishes a fake artefact from the real. There’s even some light humour added so that we’re getting a blend of shenanigans from the people who ally with Xu in his hunt for a lost head.

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The Mystery of The Ghost Town Killer. An Interview with Podcast Creators…

Ghost Town Killer begins with a sweet nod to the yesteryears–scanning the radio, looking for something to listen to. We hear a few words from different broadcasts before settling on style which brings to mind Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Jeremy_and_Marcy_0163_webAvailable on RedCircle
New episode every Tuesday

Some independent filmmakers had a tough time during the pandemic to stay creative, and others have adapted. For Jeremy Lutter and Marcy Waughtal of Lower Mainland based Broken Mirror Films in Vancouver, British Columbia, this duo adapted by venturing into producing audio dramas and crafted a piece of “Canadian Noir” with Ghost Town Killer, now available to listen to.

The two aren’t out to reproduce an old time radio show like Dragnet. Instead, they have a modern day tale which sees a young heroine, Lilith Black, digging for the truth and having problems in what to accept as the impossible (especially when this show features ghosts). Their primary focus is on making their tale as realistic as possible. Lutter describes this protagonist to have Fox Mulder’s (X-Files) drive in wanting to believe and Lisbeth Salanda’s (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) tenacity when dealing with people–despite being rough around the edges. 

Black has to explore places that no sane woman should. She’s looking for her sister’s killer. In Fort Macbeth, a town in B.C. lost to time, Lucy Fu’s been wrongfully accused of a different murder. There’s a serial killer on the loose and as Lilith gets her feet wet in all these various cases, she discovers the facts don’t always point to the truth. She’s dealing with prejudice and rivalries with the people she meets. Another figure she’ll encounter is mayor Tiffany Harp with a sordid past. Life isn’t easy in this township, and the influences the writing team drew upon are varied. They’re not making a show like theCW’s Riverdale either.

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The Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory Lives In the World of the Yurei

The Beasts of Burden: Occupied TerritoryDark Horse Comics
Spoiler Alert

The Beasts of Burden are back! Emrys, the old English sheepdog with a nose for smelling out the supernatural, is in Japan and this work looks like a solo adventure. Technically, it’s happened already, and he’s recounting the events in flashback.

After many mini-series and one-shots, the wait for another tale to materialize was not long. Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer share writing duties. Anyone who isn’t familiar with this canine team of paranormal investigators, three hardcovers editions–Neighbourhood Watch, Wise Dogs & Eldritch Men, and Animal Rites (Amazon Links)–collects their past adventures. No background reading is required to pick up in this latest story, titled Occupied Territory.

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All-in Madonna & Secrets Behind the Set, an Interview

All-in Madonna is a character study, a drama, and de Lara said these locations, including where it was filmed is a significant element in establishing the tone of the film. Lim wanted to show off a diversity of what the city of Victoria represents. Film analysts can interpret this subtle layer of meaning in this movie as however they wish.

Victoria Film Festival

Streaming Online
at the Victoria Film Festival.

Get your pass here to view beginning Feb 5th, 2021.
Facebook Watch Party on Feb 6th, 6:30 PST

Note: Available to residents in British Columbia

All-in Madonna marks Arnold Lim‘s (pictured left) directorial debut in making a feature length work. After its virtual (world) premiere at the Whistler Film Festival and limited online availability last year, its next screening is at the Victoria Film Festival!

This filmmaker’s visual style evolved from how he likes to communicate, which is through the camera. He made a career out of it. In Victoria, BC he’s very well known because of not only his role at Black Press Media as a photo-journalist, but also as a talent whose heart is big. He is the official photographer to various local charities. At the Victoria Film Festival, he’s involved with programming (handling the Asian film content), act as juror and be a member of the board.

Lim revealed, “Different films from different countries look, feel and smell tonally different because of a combination of the different actors and locations and cultures that exist in combination with the perspective of filmmakers whose voices tell the story.”

As part of the CineVic Society of Independent Filmmakers team, this photographer soon became a filmmaker after doing a story about them, about the Reel to Reel program. He joined, learned the craft and wanted to make movies. After making the short film version of All-in Madonna–about Maddie going to public school for the first time and hearing rumours that her dad is a thug–he and Susie Winters, the screenwriter, knew it needed to be feature length!

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The “SCOOP” Isn’t Just With UFOs When Sophie Cooper is Involved…

The Everglades holds more than one mystery and with Richard Ashley Hamilton’s graphic novel series, SCOOP, the plan is to see who can find how it all connects!

Scoop, Vol. 1Insight Editions

Book One is now available and Book Two is scheduled for release Feb 23, 2021 (Available to preorder on Amazon USA)

Sophie Cooper is the next Nancy Drew! Or should that be Lois Lane? Whichever comparison is best, her adventures in SCOOP puts her into dangers that no average television reporter or news journalist would dare face! She hasn’t even earned her wings yet; as an intern, nobody considered that sending her to the archive room to do mundane tasks would lead her to encounters with the paranormal.

This graphic novel series by Richard A. Hamilton also includes aliens and other weirdness. There’s no definitive genre it fits under, as this writer is best known for his fantasy works for DreamWorks/Dark Horse Comics. He authored many supporting novellas for the How to Train Your Dragon and Trollhunters world. I was hooked years ago, as his prose is easy to follow.

This talent also loves his UFO lore, and it shows in this original work. He takes readers to the Florida Everglades and delves into the mysteries hidden there. She is a lot more motivated than anyone else at WMIA 7, a Miami television news station. She will pursue leads to which others won’t, and a lot of the cases she’s on points to a firm connected to all the strangeness going on in Miami.

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