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EQUUS Film Festival comes to Headwaters this July

May 17, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Whether you are a horse enthusiast or not, there is great news coming to Orangeville for the weekend of July 20 to 22, 2018.

The EQUUS Film Festival is coming to the Opera House for that weekend with 19 films of stories that are not simply horse stories but people stories, films about courage, healing, adventure, family films – all the best in film making. Not much violence.

Many of the films come from around the world, a collection of international films, bringing other approaches to life, really, into the heart of the Headwaters Horse Country.

Importing the Festival into Canada, into Headwaters, came about this way: Karen O’Brodovich, who is a member of the Headwaters Horse Country and deals with its Social Media, came across the American based EQUUS Film Festival. She did some  research on it and realized that it would be wonderful to bring the festival to Headwaters.

With that thought, Ms. O’Brodovich contacted the festival’s organizer, Lisa Diersen, to discuss the idea.

Ms. O’Brodovich told the Citizen, “I called Lisa Diersen and told her about Headwaters Horse Country and she was very excited about Canada and loved to explore the idea. It was a great fit all round” with these beautiful films coming to a region acknowledged as an equine centre of Canada.

Said Ms. O’Brodovich, “Theatre Orangeville stepped up. It will be great to hold the festival there, in the centre of town, with all the restaurants and shops. It was just so synergetic. Everyone will have such a good time with these films, horse lovers or not.”

The way to get tickets for the whole or part of the festival is to purchase Access Passes. This passes are seat allocated so that one pass reserves a specific seat for all the films in a specific time slot.

The weekend begins with a “Friday Night VIP Experience” on July 20 and includes, after the reception, two films: a short of 17 minutes and a full feature film.

The morning of Saturday, July 21: morning is Free Family Films with no admission charge and no reserved seating, two films, one from Germany, the other from the USA.

Saturday is then divided between afternoon and evening with separate showings of films from the USA, the Netherlands and Canada in the afternoon. The evening is a full run of three films from the UK and Thailand, all different lengths, and running from 6:30 pm to a 9:00 pm showing. Stretching in between.

Sunday is the whole day from 11:00 am on to a last showing at 4:20 pm. Lots of films, lots of opportunity for entertainment. So, for clarification, Access Passes are geared toward time slots, not individual films.

This appearance here in Headwaters of this cinematic celebration of horses, people, their connection and much more, is the only stop in Canada of the EQUUS Film Festival’s tour.  The tour is otherwise entirely in the United States. Where it has become part of the annual schedule of the culture of other cities, the festival also includes art, literature, artisans taking part at the venues in the whole fun.

Ms. O’Brodovich told the Citizen that this is part of the future plan for the annual return of the festival to Headwaters.

Said she, “We really hope, as we build this festival’s presence over the years, that we will also be inviting other artists, writers and artisans to participate as well.”

“Founded in 2013, “ according  to the press release, “the annual Film Festival takes place in New York in November…. In 2018, the …festival gallops strong with tour stops across the United States and an exclusive engagement in Canada.”

Headwaters Horse Country was created out of the Equine Leadership Group from a desire to link with Headwaters Tourism and of which it is now a pillar. During the annual Barn Tour, visitors to the area flock to see the fabulous horse farms that abound in this area.

No doubt, they also will rush to join us with the EQUUS Film Festival July 20 to 22. For Access Passes and information, go to EQUUSfilmfestival.ca or call 519-942-3423 ext 2800/1-800-424-1295 (Toll Free)

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