Our once annual Moonrise Film Festival is back for the first time since 2019!
ANNOUNCEMENT:
This year at The Moonrise Film Festival, we continue to celebrate BC filmmakers from across the province, with 9 new award-winning short and feature films, spotlighting areas from the Cariboo, Okanagan, Kamloops, Pender Island, Greater Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. And with three traveling directors in attendance participating in candid Q&As, we’re beyond proud to share these visionary and accomplished films, once more in our beautiful Sunset Theatre in Wells, BC.
FESTIVAL PASSES ARE $40 FOR ALL 5 BLOCKS. INDIVIDUAL BLOCKS ARE $10/EACH
DAY 1
BLOCK 1 • FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 @ 8PM
MOONRISE ALUMNI FILMS + Q&A
A collection of new works by Moonrise alumni filmmakers, including a special in-progress preview of the upcoming feature film “Legacy” with director Q&A by Devan Scott.
Wok-Hei by Joel Salaysay (10min)
An Asian-Canadian mother reflects on her heritage after uncovering a forgotten family wok.
Smoke Eater by Gloria Mercer (12min)
In 1981, a young girl spends a day at the fire station with her mother, the only female firefighter on the force, and witnesses what a typical day of work looks like, for better and for worse.
SNEAK PEEK: Legacy by Willa Ross & Devan Scott (62min)
A man becomes engrossed in an audiobook while walking home on a summer night.
+ Director Q&A with Devan Scott!
DAY 2
BLOCK 2 • SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 @ 4PM
CARIBOO FILMS + Q&A
Films from the Cariboo! Starting with a special sneak peek of Sarah Genge’s in-progress Wells documentary, and ending with two works by director and historian Richard Wright, this block is dedicated to films that intimately explore the past, present, and future of the Cariboo as home.
The Pond: The Peace of Wild Things by Richard Wright (5min)
Images of life in a small wild pond where we can recreate and relax.
Long Road To Cariboo by Richard Wright (21min)
This is the story of the great Cariboo Waggon Road in British Columbia, and its multicultural beginnings, told through music and song.
SNEAK PEEK: In-Progress Wells Documentary by Sarah Genge (~45min)
Once a booming mine town in the 1930s, now a population of 200 people remain artists, independent prospectors, those who prefer to live in the bush, and the recently moved-in employees of the new mining development. This documentary aims to portray a snapshot of the contemporary dwellers who reside in the historic town of Wells, with all its diversity and contradictions, through a series of intimate and honest portraits of those who call it home.
DAY 2
BLOCK 3 • SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 @ 8PM
THE DUMMY FACTOR + DIRECTOR Q&A
by O. Corbin Saleken (81min)
After two neighborhood children go missing and another is followed home by a strange man, 12-year-old Noel and his friends launch an investigation. Winner of Best Feature Film (Twister Alley ‘21) and Best Director (Deep In The Heart ‘20), Corbin Saleken’s sophomore feature astutely navigates mystery, suspense, and comedy through the lens of his own childhood, with some embellishment.
Watch the trailer here.
DAY 3
BLOCK 4 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 4PM
UNTIL BRANCHES BEND
by Sophie Jarvis (98min)
Set in the seemingly peaceful Okanagan, a distraught cannery worker discovers an invasive insect that could threaten the livelihood of her entire town. Winner of Best BC Film (VIFF ‘22), Until Branches Bend is a compelling debut drama from writer-director Sophie Jarvis that examines how nature can interrupt our best-laid plans.
Watch the trailer here.
DAY 3
BLOCK 5 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 8PM
SEAGRASS
by Meredith Hama-Brown (110min)
A Japanese-Canadian woman grapples with the death of her mother as she brings her family to a retreat. When her relationship with her husband begins to impact the children's emotional security, the family is forever changed. Winner of Best BC Film and Best Director of a BC Film (Vancouver Film Critics Circle ‘24), Meredith Hama-Browne’s “mesmerizing Canadian drama tugs at the tensions we can’t bring ourselves to untangle.” -The Globe and Mail
Watch the trailer here.
