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Great turnout for Headwaters tour stop of EQUUS Film Festival

July 26, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Headwaters Tourism hosted the first-ever Canadian Tour Stop for the renowned EQUUS Film Festival, and is now looking to it becoming an annual event.

For three days (July 20 to 22), hundreds of film enthusiasts, arts and culture lovers, equestrians and visitors stopped by the Orangeville Town Hall Opera House to view 19 films from across the world celebrating horses, including Canada, the United States, Belgium, and Germany.

“Were such a horsey community, that I thought this would be an excellent location to have a film festival that focused on horses,” explained Karen O’Brodovich, the Executive Producer for EQUUS Film Festival Headwaters Tour Stop, on wanting to host the festival.

EQUUS Film Festival was founded by avid equestrian enthusiast Lisa Diersen in 2013, and co-organized by acclaimed equestrian photojournalist Diana De Rosa. The festival takes place annually in New York City in November and makes more than 12 Tour Stops throughout the year. Since its inception, hundreds of equestrian themed films have gained recognition, found international distribution and reached global audiences through the Festival.

Ms. O’Brodovich said what enticed her about EQUUS was the broad range if filmmakers around the world, and diversity of films, from documentaries, to short and feature-length films. “You didn’t have to be a lover of horses, but enjoy art, and film. It was really the spirit of the horse.”

She said that despite it being their first time hosting the event, it was a “tremendous success,” was well received by the community, “and everyone who attended, seemed to be really engaged with the films.” She added they are looking to make this an annual event.

It was announced that the promotional artwork for the Headwaters Tour Stop created by local design firm Touchwood Design Inc. received national award recognition for Applied Arts 2018 – Advertising Illustration.

Filmmakers in attendance included Orangeville residents Miranda and James O’Connor (The Edge), Julianne Neal (The Rescue) and Stefan Morel (Herd).

“It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to a movie where people were actually clapping, the whole audience was clapping at the end of each movie, so I thought that was really terrific,” described Ms. O’Brodovich.

She added that she liked the festival most for being different and unique, and offering visitors a chance to travel around downtown Orangeville.

Films were screened in blocks including a morning of Free Family Films presented by Victoria Phillips and Janna Imrie, Headwaters Country, Royal Lepage RCR, Saturday afternoon and evening blocks sponsored by RAM Rodeo Tour 2018 and Sunday Films presented by Caledon Equestrian Park.

The Festival partnered with two National Media Sponsors, Heels Down Media and Horse Media Group (Horse Canada and Horse Sport Magazine) and garnered interest and coverage from several media outlets.

The Headwaters Stop for the EQUUS Film Festival received support from support of the Headwaters Tourism Board of Directors, the Town of Caledon, Dufferin County, and the towns of Erin, Mono and Shelburne, as well as event sponsors The Art of Storytelling, Manning Equine Vet Services, Ontario Equestrian, Pommies Cider Co. and the Town of Erin, venue hosts the Town of Orangeville and Theatre Orangeville; and attendees who purchased tickets over the three days.

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