A Message from the President

   Adaptation. A word in film world that usually refers to the process of turning a book into a movie, but in a year like this adaptation means a whole lot more. This is a year of adaptation. We've all had to adapt our lives to the circumstances we've been living with.

   For CineCentral this year, it meant adapting our wonderful local film festival to show films online instead of a theatre. Unfortunately this year renting the Avalon movie theatre and having 200 attendees fill up the theatre just wasn't an option like it has been in the past. Thanks to the financial support of the BC Arts Council and the City of Nanaimo though, we still felt that it was important to have a festival. We would just have to do things differently.

   So this year we are presenting local short films by streaming them online. For me personally though, I didn't feel that just showing local films online was very exciting. For me the excitement was being able to watch our films in a crowded movie theatre, and the connection and discussion that came from all being in the same room together. Why should people tune in to watch films online for one night when almost all the films will eventually be on Youtube for everyone to watch? We needed to do something special to make an online festival more exciting. But what?

   The answer: a 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge!

   I have been wanting to organize a local 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge for many years now, and it felt like the perfect way to make our festival this year an event not to be missed! Teams of filmmakers will be challenged to make short films (write, shoot and edit) all in one weekend and then we will premiere those films online on the same weekend! That will be exciting! I can't wait to see the movies made by the filmmakers!

   As this is also my last year as president of the society, I'm glad to be able to finish by checking off the 48 hour challenge off my to do list. It's a bittersweet end to my presidency. I want to thank you for taking part in the festival this year and all the past years. Every person who has joined in on the celebration of local films makes all the organizing worth it.

​Dream on!

- Zachary Tannar
President of CineCentral