Oakville Festivals of Film & Art (OFFA) has announced the lineup of their upcoming 8th annual Oakville Film Festival running June 23-29, 2021. Organizers say this year's event will be "the largest festival we've ever had."
There's a record-setting 100+ titles this year, with 18 feature films (more than double the total from the 2020 festival) and 87 shorts. Like 2020, all events and screenings will be digital-only to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. The full list of titles this year is lower in this story.
Co-hosting ticketed digital events this year be shared by longtime OFFA host Alita Rose (in her fifth year with the festival) along with Oakville News arts reporter (and author of this story) Tyler Collins, host of digital and drive-in events with OFFA both last year and in winter 2021.
Rose and Collins hosted a launch event earlier this week with co-founder and executive director Wendy Donnan and artistic director Judah Hernandez. (A full video was live streamed on Facebook.)
While OFFA hoped to offer some in-person or drive-in screenings this year, "It's just not possible under the current rules," said Donnan. She also says it's too late to logistically organize in-person events on such short notice: even if the rules changed before the festival opens in a month, it would be too late to make the necessary arrangements.
In total, there are nineteen ticketed events over the seven days of the festival this year. Of those:
- 14 are a feature film paired with between one and four short films
- Two events are two feature documentaries paired with two shorts
- The last three events are short film showcases that package between 12-15 shorts each
The festival also features a new promotional video for this year's new designs:
Full list of titles at the 2021 festival
Most films this year, unless indicated on the list below, will be available to stream internationally and can be both purchased and watched within seven days of the scheduled premiere time listed.
All start times listed below are local time, EST. Every event has a Q&A with the filmmakers, with most of the talks being live after the premiere and some featuring actors from the films as well.
Here is a schedule of all events, dates and times of every feature film (and number of accompanying shorts) at the festival this year:
WEDNESDAY JUNE 23RD
- 5 p.m. - Local Short Film Showcase, with 14 shorts
- 8 p.m. - Marlene, history drama, dir. Wendy-Hill Trout, plus 3 shorts (Canada only)
THURSDAY JUNE 24TH
- 5 p.m. - First We Eat, documentary, dir. and starring Suzanne Crocker, plus 2 shorts
- 8 p.m. - Lorelei, romance drama, dir. Sabrina Doyle, plus 3 shorts
FRIDAY JUNE 25TH
- 5 p.m. - Two documentary features; Coral Ghosts, dir. Andrew Nisker, and Bread in the Bones, dir. Darrell Varga, plus one short
- 8 p.m. - Nine Days, fantasy drama, written and dir. Edson Oda, starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong and Tony Hale, plus 2 shorts (Canada only, available for only 24 hours)
SATURDAY JUNE 26TH
- 10 a.m. - Québexit, ensemble comedy, written and dir. Joshua Demers, plus 4 shorts
- 1 p.m. - Woman in Car, drama, dir. Vanya Rose, plus 2 shorts
- 4 p.m. - Alice, romantic comedy drama, dir. Josephine Mackerras, plus 2 shorts (Canada only)
- 7 p.m. - French Exit, romance comedy, dir. Azazel Jacobs, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, plus 3 shorts (Canada only)
- 10 p.m. - Meander, horror thriller, dir. Mathieu Turi, plus 2 shorts (Canada only, available for only 72 hours)
SUNDAY JUNE 27TH - Multiculturalism Day
- 10 a.m. - Gosia @ Tomek, romance documentary, dir. Christine Jezior, plus 4 shorts
- 1 p.m. - Bangla Surf Girls, documentary, dir. Elizabeth D. Costa, plus 2 shorts (Canada only)
- 4 p.m. - A Girl from Mogadishu, history drama, dir. Mary McGuckian, starring Aja Naomi King and Barkhad Abdi, plus 2 shorts
- 7 p.m. - Two features; drama The Names of the Flowers, dir. Bahman Tavoosi, and documentary Her Stories, dir. Abd Al-Kader Habak
MONDAY JUNE 28TH
- 5 p.m. - Short Films in Qurantine Showcase, with 16 shorts
- 8 p.m. - Between Waves, science fiction, dir. Virginia Abramovich, plus 3 shorts, including a short from 2020 OFFA award winner Andy Alvarez
TUESDAY JUNE 29TH
- 5 p.m. - Animated Short Film Showcase, with 23 shorts, including 13 from Sheridan College
- 8 p.m. - American Desert, crime drama, written and dir. Adrian Bartol, plus 2 shorts
Tickets are on sale now
Single tickets for any of the events listed above is $12.99 CDN plus tax and purchasing one ticket is for everyone (two, three or more people) at your household who will be watching.
There are also four special passes being sold for the festival:
- Pick Five Pass for $50 CDN plus tax, giving you access to five screenings and Q&AS of your choice
- Pick Ten Pass for $90 CDN plus tax, giving you access to ten screenings and Q&AS of your choice
- All-Access Pass for $135 CDN plus tax, for unlimited access to all virtual festival screenings and Q&AS for 2021
In addition to those, a Multiculturalism Day Pass will be available for purchase to see all titles and events releasing on Sunday June 27, 2021's Multiculturalism Day. (Buying this pass lets you see all the events between June 27 and July 2, 2021.) All passes can be purchased here.
More information and ticket sales are both available online directly from the Oakville Film Festival and OFFA website.