2021-05-19

Lunenburg Doc Fest soldiering on amid the pandemic with possible hybrid strategy

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that has already had various activities and festivals cancelled for the second year running, the Lunenburg Doc Fest is soldiering ahead and considering running its eighth annual event as a hybrid event of sorts from September 23 to 29.

"LDF is doing its best to add value and encourage community engagement, especially in a time when so many are isolated," Pamela Segger, executive director of the documentary festival, told LighthouseNOW in an email.

Later in a phone interview, Segger explained that festival organizers "are devoted to having our film program online, however, we are also embracing a responsible approach based on the prevailing health guidelines. So, if there's an opportunity to have select onsite screenings, it would take the form of most likely an outdoor screening scenario."

Segger said the details of how that would work are still being determined. "Nothing is confirmed, but we're looking at a variety of options."

Meanwhile, this year's Seniors Workshop is hoped to be half online and half in-person, while respecting prevailing health protocols. Open to people 55 years and older, the workshop this year will centre on the theme Food Security for All.

The lead mentor for this workshop will be Tim Reeves-Horton, who is a partner in the local video production company, Picnic Studios, which specializes in sharing community stories through projects such as the Seely Hall Oral History Project, Therapy Outside the Natural Environment documentary, Energy Poverty youth documentary and Lunenburg Doc Fest youth documentary programs. Reeves-Horton has documentary credits with CBC Television and National Geographic Channel.

The workshops will run on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon, May 31 to July 12.

Those who are interested in participating can go to http://lunenburgdocfest.com/education/senior/ on the internet. The deadline for registration is May 23.

The organizers also are partnering with the Bluenose 100th anniversary event for this year's Youth Workshop.

Combining online and possibly in-person sessions, workshop participants will brainstorm and create a series of short innovative documentaries relating to the Bluenose.

The facilitator for this workshop is Ariella Pahlke, an award-winning documentary filmmaker with more than 25 years experience creating short and long documentaries, media art and collaborative projects. The deadline to register is June 22.

Meanwhile, festival organizers are busy scrutinizing the flow of documentary films that are being submitted for consideration for screening at this year's festival.

Eight years ago the Lunenburg Doc Fest started with seven films. Now, the event screens upwards of 20 feature films and sometimes almost 50 shorts.

According to Segger, the organizers have already received hundreds of film submissions for this year's festival.

"We have more than ever. We're really surprised," she said, adding, "They're coming in faster and more of them, from all over the world. So that's exciting."