They’ve come from the United Kingdom, Germany, Jordan, Mexico, Italy and all over the world for the Regina International Film Festival, which started on Tuesday.
Claire Belanger-Parker is the festival manager. She says there are many aspiring local filmmakers and their mission at the Regina International Film Festival and Awards Foundation (RIFFA) is to make sure they keep chasing the dream.
“We want to make sure that they connect with people all over the world and have those conversations and pursue their passion,” she told The Greg Morgan Morning Show on Thursday.
“Films are important to the making of our lives, the stories they share through documentaries. And everyone has been to a film that has made them laugh or cry or change their lives.”
Women in cinema is one of the themes this year. Seventy out of 142 films being screened are directed by women.
“To see this number of films by women, we were over the moon,” Belanger-Parker said.
Some of the other festival themes include climate change, Indigenous women and social justice.
The five-day festival has screenings at Casino Regina, the Normanview Cineplex, Shumiatcher Theatre at the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the First Nations University of Canada.