Last month I posted about visiting my sister at school, but I forgot to mention the real reason that I was in Kingston. I was there to celebrate the tenth year of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, which is the largest stand-alone showcase of feature films from across Canada. I’ve been involved it in for the past six years in some capacity of another (volunteer, intern, employee, guest, etc) and its one of my highlights every year.
When I arrived on the Friday, I headed over to Career Services at Queen’s University to participate in the “Breaking In: Starting a Career in Film & Media” event. Its my third year talking to the students and I wish that they’d had something like that when I was there.
Its just a nice informal event that lets students talk to representatives from prominent Canadian film and media organizations. We offer advice on how to network, get their foot in the door and where to find jobs for summer employment.
There I am chatting with some students…telling them the horrors of the film industry and warning them to stay away…stay very far away. But you can’t really tell that from my expression. I’ve got a pretty good poker face 😉 And I really do love this industry and working in it.
On Saturday afternoon I went to the Grand Theatre in downtown Kingston for a special gala event that the festival was running. It was great to see all the renovations that had been done to the theatre since I’d been at school here.
The gala was for the special screening of the silent film Carry on Sergeant with live accompaniment by the famed concert organist William O’Meara. Released in 1928, it tells the story of a group of Canadian men fighting in World War 1 and the trials and tribulations they endured. Filmed in Trenton, Ontario and and partially in Kingston, it originally played at this very theatre in December 1928.
The projectionist hard at work getting the film reels up. If that were me there would be film everywhere. Way too klutzy to be a projectionist.
And here is a peek into another one of the theatres during the festival. Unfortunately I never get to see the screenings when I’m there, because I’m usually busy working back at the headquarters, but its great to see the theatres packed with people watching Canadian films!