Indie Lounge @ Grand River Film Festival

Since the GRFF can't get ahold of a 35 mm projector this year, most of their screenings are constrained to movies that are already out on DVD (Pontypool, Krabat, An American Crime, etc.). While this isn't stopping me from attending given that most of the films are screening somewhere in Kitchener (at the GIG or the Children's Museum), it definitely gives the Fest a second-hand feeling that founder Ken Nakamura is frustrated by.

One of the ways that Ken and the GRFF coordinators are trying to compensate for the low-intensity film selection is with workshops and other points of interest, such as their Indie Lounge, an ambiguous fashion party following Every Little Step, and their SHORT Shorts competition.

The Indie Lounge seems to be the most engaging of these events, although I'll be the first to admit that my cinematical abilities lay completely in the realm of "watching." Spread over the upcoming weekend at the Walper Hotel and the Children's Museum in Kitchener, the Indie Lounge is an outreach to those interested in the filming process, with workshops spanning digital lens discussion, fight scene choreography and editing. The roster for the event includes action stuntman/choreographer Simon Fon (winner of the "Best Action Sequence - Martial Arts Short" award at the US Action on Film International Film Festival) and "award winning editors who have worked on shows such as The Eleventh Hour, The Line, Dead Like Me, This is Wonderland."

The simultaneously weirdest and coolest part of the Indie Lounge (in my non-filmmaking opinion) are the live stunt demos that are open the public on Sunday at noon. From their website, it looks like they're going to have Randy Butcher light himself on fire, and Blair Johannes do a free fall from the top of the Children's Museum.


I'm not sure what the attendance rates are going to be for the Indie Lounge in particular, but I think that it's a clever side-step around the lack of film presence that also provides a much-needed attempt to engage the growing art scene in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge. If nothing else it will hopefully inspire some local indie film makers, especially given that the two-day workshop is available to students for only $35, which includes lunch (if you register before Thursday) and coffee on both days. Passes are available for those of us in an older demographic for $60.


You can head over and check out the Indie Lounge blog for some behind-the-scenes information and an interview with one of the SHORT Short finalists, and if Twitter is your thing (like it is mine... sometimes), you can follow them here.