Global Visions Film Festival

This year’s festival, with nearly double the audience of 2006, was the best attended in its twenty-six year history.
“We put a lot of effort into selecting exceptional films from around the world”, said Graydon McCrea, Global Visions’ Program Director. “We looked at more than 150 feature docs, and chose only 28 to screen over the festival’s four days. We were especially fortunate to have half a dozen filmmakers in attendance, including the directors of both Up the Yangtze and A Promise to the Dead. Ironically we screened those films back to back at the Paramount and both were near sell outs.”
Yangtze’s director Yung Chang described the screening as “an amazing experience, I was truly humbled by the Edmonton audience. A young student from China came up to me in tears, unable to express herself through words. I will never forget it.“
Other highlights included The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, an Emmy Award winning film by New York’s Rory Kennedy and War/Dance, an almost certain Oscar contender directed by American filmmakers Andrea Nix and Sean Fine. A thought provoking discussion led by U. of A. Middle Eastern Studies Professor El-Shamma followed Occupation 101, a Palestinian point of view documentary chronicling the turbulent half century history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Looking back on this year’s Global Visions, Festival President Shelaine Sparrow said, ”The incredible response, an 79% increase in attendance, to the 26th Global Visions Film Festival says a lot about this city. We are a municipality of global citizens who want to know more about realities around the world. That holds potential that Global Visions will continue to feed.”
In addition to screenings that focused on 25 countries from around the world the festival featured workshops for filmmakers, a Global Marketplace, gala parties every night, a youth media program, and LocoVision Art Walk, featuring new works by local artists.
The 27th Global Visions Film Festival is slated for November 6-9, 2008.