Big screen experience

The North of Superior Film Festival has found its stride at its new home but there’s always room to improve, says the festival’s president.

Film buffs headed towards the Silvercity Famous Players Theatre for the final day of the North of Superior Film Festival on Sunday. There was a steady flow of movie patrons as they moved from one film to the next.

North of Superior Film Association President Marty Mascarin said this year, the attendance has gone up by about 10 per cent. He said last year’s low attendance was an anomaly because they were new tenants at Famous Players and had adopted a new format that spread the movies shown to two Sundays.

Although the format allowed the festival to avoid March break and keep a higher attendance.
But the Spring Home and Garden Show made the situation a bit more complicated. Cars packed both the Famous Players and CLE parking lots and caused a bit of a gridlock.

Mascarin said he`ll look at that and any other issues that came up at this year’s film festival as a learning experience.

"It was just a convergence of circumstances," Mascarin said. "We feel badly that there’s a bit of a gridlock. For us, scheduling is sort of difficult. We were unaware of the garden show when we were planning. We were more concerned about avoiding March break. Because it is two consecutive weekends, it’s more complicated to space ourselves out."

Despite the parking lot issue, Mascarin said this year’s film festival was a great success.
What brings audiences in to the theatres is the cinematic experience since despite some of the movies being played are on DVD or available online, he said. The fourth highest attendance for the festival was at the Cumberland theatre during its final year and most of the movies were on DVD, he said.

"It truly boils down to having that opportunity to see a film on the big screen," he said. "People still crave that big screen experience. The other thing about a festival is that it allows for that synergy and allows us to show films that aren’t necessarily attracting huge audiences but it gives them an opportunity to see something novel on the big screen."