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It’s a wrap!

Eighth annual Whistler Film Festival maintains numbers, attracts more out-of-town visitors

Whistler saw a lot of action last week, as avid film aficionados, industry professionals and celebrities flocked to town to attend the eighth annual Whistler Film Festival.

A grand total of 92 films — feature and mid-length, and shorts — were screened during the four-day festival, which also featured some seriously swank parties and special events.

This year, the annual tribute to the president of the Borsos jury honoured none other than Donald Sutherland.

“Obviously, that was a highlight,” said festival director Shauna Hardy Mishaw. “We’ve been trying for four years to get him to come to Whistler, so it was really a hallmark thing for us to, after four years, actually achieve that.

“He had such a special connection to Phillip Borsos and for me, and I think for everybody on the team, it was really a hallmark moment to have him share his story about Phillip and just his connection to the family. And I know for the filmmakers that were in that competition, that they were unbelievably moved by it.”

This year’s festival also included a memorial tribute to William Vince, a well-known Canadian producer who passed away in June.

“It was quite fresh and we really wanted to make sure that his legacy was celebrated by the industry to which he contributed so much,” Hardy Mishaw said.

“3 Seasons” won the Borsos Competition, Best Documentary was awarded to “Art Star and the Sudanese Twins,” while “Journey of a Red Fridge” was selected as Best Mountain Culture film. Best Short Film was “Next Floor,” while “The Gray Matter” captured the MPPIA Short Film Award, and “The Apology” won Pitch Fest West.

The opening gala featured Michael McGowan’s new feature-length film, “One Week,” starring Joshua Jackson, as well as four shorts from the Sea to Sky region: Whistler Stories.

“The opening gala was really well received — people loved the film,” she said of the sold-out event.

On the industry side of the WFF, the Filmmaker Forum, is also being labeled a success.

“The industry came out in force — we had all the four Western provinces represented — we had a strong contingency from Toronto and Montreal, the calibre of the international guests was huge, and there were tons of relevant connections that were made,” said Hardy Mishaw.

Figures for the eighth annual WFF were slightly above last year’s attendance numbers, with a total attendance of over 7,596 people, which represents a 7 per cent increase over 2007. Given the poor current economic conditions, organizers were pleased with the attendance.

“We’re really happy because, of course, that whole situation happened in October and we thought, ‘Oh God, we hope it doesn’t really have an impact on us,’” Hardy Mishaw said. “…We’ve had year over year growth of 15 per cent for the past six consecutive years, and this year we were on par with last year, and we’re definitely pleased with that.”

They also saw an increase in the resort occupancy numbers during the festival.

“We definitely saw a notable increase in room nights, so we may have had the same numbers, but what we saw was some more people coming into the resort,” she explained.

In terms of media coverage, this 8th annual Whistler Film Festival definitely spent more time in the national and international spotlight than it has in previous years, drawing coverage from E Talk, E Canada, Hello! Magazine, Playback, Hollywood Reporter, Maclean’s Magazine, Globe and Mail, National Post, and the BBC.

“We just had huge coverage, plus we got picked up for the 6 ’clock news spot (on CTV), so to go 6 o’clock news across the country is massive,” Hardy Mishaw said.

She attributes the increase in media coverage to some of the big names in attendance at this year’s festival — Sutherland, Tom Green, Barry Pepper and Steph Song, to name a few.

Local filmmakers also had the opportunity to network and make significant industry connections.

In fact, Bruce MacDonald, a well-known Canadian director, met Feet Banks at the Whistler Creek Productions party on Friday night, and after seeing a few of the films from this year’s Heavy Hitting Productions’ Horror Fest, insisted upon screening them before the B.C. premiere of his own film on Sunday evening.

“This festival is very unpretentious and it’s very intimate and it’s true to its core, and in this town, we have a healthy group of filmmakers, so it was really cool that they could somehow connect to some of the people at the festival,” Hardy Mishaw said.

One of the only disappointments at this year’s festival was the cancellation of the annual Celebrity Ski Challenge, which had to be called off due to poor conditions.

“What’s really funny is that a whole bunch of people still went up, because even though it’s not as great as we all know it is, some people are used to skiing on these putzy little mountains, so to come here, anything is better than that!”

Hardy Mishow added that the mountains are still a beautiful background for the festival, even if they aren’t ensconced in fresh powder. And they plan on bringing the Celebrity Ski Challenge back next year.

The 2008 film festival may have just drawn to a close, but organizers are already busy preparing for the 2009 WFF, which is slated take place from Dec. 3 to Dec. 6.