Between Port Hope’s transformation into the American town of Derry for the spine-chilling film It to the shooting of Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia and CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries in Cobourg, Northumberland County is becoming a destination in Ontario for filmmakers. Now, emerging artists and filmmakers can get behind the scenes and learn even more from one of Canada’s fastest-growing film festivals.
Presented by charity organization Film Access Northumberland (FAN), the Eye2Eye International Film Festival will be screening both classic and new films under this year’s theme “Secrets in Film.” Running from Friday, June 7th to Sunday, June 9th at Cobourg’s Victoria Hall, the festival will include 12 film screenings, film talks from industry leaders, an emerging filmmakers showcase, and a masterclass with an award-winning director.
“When we started talking about what we wanted from the fourth year and going forward, we knew we needed those filmmakers in the room, having conversations with them, and hearing the inside stories or their insights on the film we’re watching,” says co-festival director and FAN board member Lesley Myers. “It’s become what the festival is about — those connections to the people in the industry in a way that is comfortable and engaging.”
One of the festival highlights this year is the screening of Seven Veils (2023), a film by internationally renowned Canadian director Atom Egoyan that stars Amanda Seyfried as a theatre director who is plagued with disturbing memories while remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome.
Egoyan will be in attendance during the weekend and, following the screening of Seven Veils, will participate in an in-depth conversation with journalist and author Karin Wells and producer Simone Urdl around the film’s making and themes.
“There’s a really beautiful background and texture to the film,” Myers notes. “It’s brilliant and I can’t wait to see it with an audience and hear him talk about it. We are extremely fortunate to have him coming.”
In celebration of the Eye2Eye Film Festival, FAN is presenting two small exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Northumberland with behind-the-scenes of props and stills from both Seven Veils and The Burning Season (2023), another film being screened during the festival that will feature a film talk with its director, Sean Garrity. The exhibitions are on display at the gallery until June 19.
Along with Seven Veils and The Burning Season, other films being screened over the three days of the Eye2Eye Film Festival include Gaslight (1944), Hitchcock (2012), The Others (2001), Strictly Ballroom (1992), The Princess Bride (1987), Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023), Moonstruck (1987), the short film The Home Team (2024), and The Ashbrove Experiment (2024). The festival’s closing night gala will feature a screening of Still Mine (2012).
Several of the films will be followed by film talks, including Hitchcock with documentarian filmmaker Joel McCarthy about how Alfred Hitchcock changed the way we see films, Strictly Ballroom with Jennifer Nichols on the secrets of choreography, Moonstruck with a talk on the late Norman Jewison and the legacy and work of The Canadian Film Centre, The Ashbrove Experiment with the film’s directors Christopher Warre Smets and Jeremy Lalonde, and Still Mine with the film’s writer and director Michael McGowan.
Tying together the more contemporary works with the classics, the 1944 psychological thriller Gaslight is being screened to identify the origin of the term “gaslighting,” which is commonly used today to describe manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality.
“People use the term gaslighting every day as a verb, but very few people have seen the film that inspired the term in the first place,” says Myers, referring to the film’s protagonist (Ingrid Bergman) who notices the gaslights in her Victorian-era home dimming for no apparent reason while her husband (Charles Boyer), who is purposefully dimming the lights, insists she is imagining it which, among other things he is doing, makes her think she is going insane.
Myers notes the presentation of the film is also a “nod” to the Vintage Film Festival in Port Hope in October, with which the Eye2Eye International Film Festival shares an audience.
VIDEO: “Gaslight” (1944) Trailer
“It’s an inspiration what you can do in this community with film appreciation, so we wanted to do a little tip of the hat to that festival and show an older film, but we thought this has such a modern interest to it because of the term gaslighting,” says Myers. “It’s a very cool movie, beautifully shot by one of the great directors of cinema, and is aligned with the Vintage Film Festival.”
With the goal of nurturing the future of film professionals in the region, the post-show film talks provide an opportunity for emerging filmmakers to learn about the strategies used in the films being screened.
“Just watching a film anybody can do, but watching a film and then talking about that film — what it means to you, why something happened, why write the character in that way — can really inform how we think,” she says. “Those are important conversations to have but it’s also rewarding to get to that level of understanding.”
To pair with the award-winning film screenings, Sunday’s schedule includes two showcases for emerging filmmakers.
The morning Film Newcomer Showcase will include a screening of a juried shortlist of films submitted by high school students in Kawarthas Northumberland, while the afternoon Film Forward Showcase is a juried short film competition that was open to emerging Ontario filmmakers. Winners will be announced at both showcases, with the Film Forward Showcase awarding a $1,000 bursary to a post-secondary student enrolled in a film-related program in the 2024/25 school year.
“The emerging filmmakers showcases are so important to give an opportunity to have something screened, judged, and awarded as a finalist in any film festival and proves they did their job as a filmmaker and storyteller,” says Myers. “To sit in a room with complete strangers and have your movie shown is so rewarding for new filmmakers.”
Sunday morning will also feature a masterclass in unscripted acting led by celebrated film director Sean Garrity (The End of Sex, The Burning Season). He will share techniques and examples in his many films for improvised dialogue that creates compelling on-screen performances. The masterclass will end with a live demonstration using local actors from the Northumberland Players.
“In independent film, some actors feel that (scripted dialogue) takes the creativity away and their ability to really flush up the character,” says Meyers. “Or there are things that are written that they feel are not the character’s voices, or don’t sound natural when they’re said aloud, or don’t work in the chemistry of the scene. There are a lot of creative things that are happening in a scene and sometimes not being able to change the dialogue is problematic.”
“If you’re a filmmaker or writer or director, or theatre person — or someone who just really loves this stuff and to see how it happens — this is an amazing opportunity to see how it’s done,” adds Myers.
According to Myers, connecting with and learning from industry experts is one of the largest benefits of a film festival in an industry which she notes can be “inaccessible.”
“With colleagues and peers by your side, you can make partnerships and maybe you’ll make the next film together,” she explains. “That is the brilliant thing about a film festival — meeting people who you otherwise would not and maybe collaborating later on.”
Aside from aspiring or emerging filmmakers, Myers points out that a film festival also provides a shared experience for the community.
“We want the audience feeling a communal experience of watching something altogether, laughing at the same jokes — there’s nothing like it. Netflix is not the same, so coming to a theatre, and having people there with that energy, that’s what we’re working towards.”
For details about the Eye2Eye International Film Festival, including the schedule and descriptions of films, visit www.filmaccessnorthumberland.ca. A weekend pass (not including the Sunday masterclass) costs $75 or $37.50 for students under 18 and can be purchased online or by calling The Concert Hall at Victoria Hall box office at 855-372-2210. TIckets for the Sunday masterclass are $10 and must be purchased separately.
