It’s the second year the Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op has hosted a film festival celebrating the best in outdoor films.
Sudbury Outdoor Adventure Reels or SOAR for short is a collaboration between Laurentian University and the cinema.
The festival highlighting the best outdoor films across Canada and around the globe, began Friday, Nov. 11 and will run until Sunday, Nov. 13.
“Some feature films that have played in other festivals across the world but never in North America,” said the lead programmer for SOAR, Beth Mairs.
“We also expanded our reach in terms of short feature films to have some local adventurers who have never made films before but wanted to tell their story.”
Students in the Outdoor Leadership Adventure Program at the university participated by selling tickets and merchandise, with the funds going towards a planned 14-day expedition to the French River.
“We’re just trying to promote getting active and the outdoors while promoting our expedition,” said Maddie Piper, a student participating in the event.
Mairs said the films speak to northerners who love the outdoors.
“There’s lots of people in Sudbury who are really, really into the outdoors,” Mairs added.
“They just eat up these stories whether they’re local or international and so, we’d have stronger audience for this kind of film festival.”
She told CTV News she hopes the festival will grow bigger as more people hear of it.
“I think we could, with more planning and resources; we could really do more outreach,” said Mairs. “And work with other people who are doing interesting outdoor activities in northeastern Ontario and nurture them to submit something.”
This is the first of two film festivals at the Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op this November. The second, to be held from Nov. 17 to Nov. 20, is called Dance Onscreen and will be the first national dance film festival.
For more information on events at the indie cinema, visit their Facebook page.
