Crime thriller Plan C will have its Canadian premiere on the festival's opening night.Supplied
Last year, Toronto’s scrappy and resourceful Canadian Film Fest found itself handed an unlikely trump card when it came to stealing attention away from the city’s other big film festival.
Just as the CFF launched its 19th edition, trade tensions between Canada and the United States heated up to unprecedented levels, putting a spotlight on the organization’s built-in commitment to homegrown culture.
For the CFF’s 20th edition, which runs until March 29, organizers decided to highlight that “elbows up” spirit in bright red and white, working with the advertising firm Ogilvy Canada to create an emotional “Eyeballs Up” marketing campaign.
But patriotic sentiments or not, can the CFF keep the momentum going for not only this landmark edition, but the potentially perilous years forward?
Ahead of the CFF’s opening night, which includes the Canadian premiere of the crime thriller Plan C, festival director and head programmer Ashleigh Rains and founder and executive director Bern Euler spoke with The Globe about why audiences should be paying attention to culture grown, and spotlit, in their own backyard.
The last time we spoke, the CFF was trying to capitalize on a real “elbows up” moment for Canadian culture. And now we’re at the 20th year. Bern, how has the festival evolved over the past two decades?
Bern Euler: Even back then, there were hardly any Canadian movies on Canadian screens. But one of the biggest changes, which bodes well for the future, is that when I started this, the stigma against Canadian films was so strong. Right away, people would go, “I’m not into Canadian movies.” As a gut reaction. Now, younger filmmakers, that doesn’t really enter into their minds. They just want to see an interesting movie. This new demographic of filmmakers that we have, it’s exciting. It’s baby steps, but it’s something.
When you initially envisioned the CFF, did you have any aim for the trajectory of the festival’s growth?
Euler: When I first had the idea, it was actually in my condo, the first place I ever bought for myself. And I bought it because there was a mini-theatre inside that I could use anytime I wanted as part of my condo fees. So I threw “Bern’s BYOB Short Film Festival.” I actually got one sponsor interested, and then I told that guy my actual idea for a real festival. I wasn’t a very forward-thinking person at the time, and I wish I had plotted it out more strategically. Especially if I had known how hard it was to fund this thing. But I just assumed that every show would be a sell-out because I wanted to see Canadian movies, and I thought everyone else would, too.
It Comes in Waves will have its Toronto premiere at the festival, which is marking its 20th year.Supplied
Ashleigh, since you’ve been with the organization, what’s been your view of the growth?
Ashleigh Rains: This is my 10th year, so it’s a good anniversary for me, too. But to Bern’s point, it was very DIY, scrounging together whatever resources we had put together, putting screenings on at the Royal, doing our industry sessions at the Monarch Tavern. Slowly, we were able to expand the team and grow our partnerships in the industry. As well as with sponsors. This is our largest festival this year, to the point that we’ve maxed out our resources as a team, and we’d love to continue to grow the festival. But mostly, we feel the demand from both filmmakers and audiences.
Last year, the festival bumped up against the tariff conversation. Did that provide a boost in attendance and awareness?
Rains: My favourite story from last year is we were in the middle of the festival at the Scotiabank, and a group of women came up to me in the afternoon and asked, “What is this?” I gave my elevator pitch and they were angry! Like, why hadn’t they heard of this before? They love Canadian films and come to the theatre all the time. So they stayed the entire day and bought tickets for the rest of the week. So that was encouraging to see, and we’ve had more anecdotal evidence of people feeling this sense of pride in the Canadian industry, and coming out to support it.
Euler: And that story has evolved since I started. Because back then, people would say they were dragged to a film by a friend, and then would come out of it and say, “I didn’t want to see this movie, I’m not into Canadian movies, but I wish I knew about it!” Now, people don’t say that, but what they will say is, “I’ve never heard of this festival. Why don’t you just spend more on advertising?”
So talking about that element, let’s talk about this “Eyeballs Up” promotion. How did that originate?
Euler: We’ve worked with agencies in the past, but it started to become a drain on cash and resources, and we did stuff in house. We never really had an actual campaign. I thought for the 20th year, we’ve got to do something special. I reached out to Ogilvy, they got back to us quite quickly, and they understood the heart of the matter. It was filmmakers working there who wanted to flex their muscles. They take only one pro-bono account per year, and this year it was us. When they pitched us the “Eyeballs Up” idea, we thought it was just great on so many levels. And they encouraged us to keep things clean, sleek.
Rains: What spoke to us about the campaign, too, is that it reflected the sentiment of last year. Just leaning in for Canadian culture. It’s an eloquent call for action. To look up at the screen, support the screen, support those behind the screen. It’s a perfect tonal note for the 20th edition.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
The 20th edition of the CFF runs March 24-29 at the Cineplex Scotiabank in Toronto, featuring the world premiere of the coming-of-age drama Mihnea, the Canadian premiere of the human-rights doc Los Rios, the Toronto premiere of the drama It Comes in Waves, and many more (canfilmfest.ca).