So it’s a pretty rainy Saturday and whatever plans you had that involved lazing in the park or on the island is probably shot by now. What do you do now? Make your now lacklustre weekend a little more exciting, of course! You know the deal with film festivals already. Buy your tickets, check out the schedule and pick out what films you want to see based on that little blurb you’ve read and maybe a short trailer you’ve YouTubed. What if you didn’t have a schedule to look at though? What if you just bought your tickets and introduced a little spontaneity to your life? That’s pretty much what the Hidden Film Festival is about.
The film line-up is completely under wraps and will be until you’re seated and actually watching the selection chosen for the festival. As you can probably tell from the trailer, it’s all kinds of vague and that’s what makes it really interesting. The aim is to create buzz over independent films and filmmakers. So secret is it that even yours truly and other members of the press aren’t allowed to screen it beforehand. Their reason? “Inviting press takes away the eligibility of a film to premiere at a larger festival, instead we want to generate buzz so that films can get into those festivals and have strong public awareness to assist their Premiere in being an event, not just a screening.” Cool idea, right? Their way of promoting the festival is through conversations online via various social media platforms. Before and after the screening, audience members are also given the opportunity to take part in the conversation by taking to these platforms to express their thoughts on the festival and the films.
The festival takes place every weekend during the month of July in a different city. So far, the films have premiered in London, Dublin and Paris with Toronto as the last and only non-European stop.
The first Toronto screening will take place tonight at 8 p.m. at the Winchester in Cabbagetown which will be followed by an after party. The second screening will be held at Humber Cinemas tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Both screenings will be comprised of completely new films, so those who want to attend both won’t find themselves at the same screenings twice.
You can click here to get your tickets online or visit www.hiddenfilmfestivals.com