Grand River Film Festival goes on hiatus; director to oversee Cineseries

As The Grand River Film Festival (GRFF) goes on hiatus until next spring to re-evaluate its needs in a changing film climate, the gap will be filled by the monthly Cineseries art film screenings currently run by Cambridge Art Galleries in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival. “We’re eager and ready to grow our popular festival screenings in a yearround program,” said Tamara Louks, who has stepped down as the festival’s executive director to oversee the Cineseries transfer to GRFF in September. “Cineseries has held a captive audience for 19 years in our community, and we were honoured to have both Idea Exchange and TIFF identify GRFF as the perfect partner to assume this program,” noted Louks of the series, billed as a forum for “exceptional Canadian, foreign and independent films from the festival circuit.” As for the festival proper, it will continue under its recently adapted “Where Tech Meets Indie” tag line when it “relaunches” in May 2019, a mandate that resulted in partnerships with tech giants like Shopify Plus at last fall’s festival with a panel discussion about women-led startups with local female entrepreneurs. “We started to look at working more closely with the tech industry and building on our tech tag line,” noted Louks of the recent shift in focus. Why move the festival to spring? “In the fall, we had to compete with everything else that’s happening,” she pointed out, citing Oktoberfest and other fall festivals. “May is a much better time and aligns with the festivals we get our films from: Hot Docs, Sundance, South by Southwest. The repositioned festival will also segue nicely with the end of Cineseries, which runs September to May, while its 19-month hiatus feeds into a general sense that, after 11 years, it’s time for a change. “As Tamara Louks has transitioned to take on the Cineseries program, we are taking the extended planning time to re-evaluate our needs for the executive director position,” noted Paul Tortolo, the festival’s board chair. “The film industry and community have dramatically changed since it was established.” Nothing has been a bigger disrupter, of course, than the region’s burgeoning tech industry. “We’re very excited to explore even more opportunities that bring together a wide range of community members to embrace independent Canadian film and homegrown technology,” adds Tortolo. “GRFF will maintain and embrace new partnerships with Waterloo Region companies and organizations to create meaningful experiences around film, innovation and the stories that unite us.”