BELLEVILLE – Brothers Andrew (left) and Adam Gray directed Fly Colt Fly and attended a screening of the film at DocFest. Fly Colt Fly tells the story of Colton Harris-Moore, who was wanted by and eluded the police for almost three years. Photo by Micah Bond, Loyalist Photojournalism
By Erin Stewart
BELLEVILLE – Local filmmakers Andrew and Adam Gray say that making their DocFest debut was a great way to connect their community with their work.
The brothers’ first feature-length documentary, Fly Colt Fly, about a teenage burglar, premiered at the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival in Toronto last month. Although the subsequent screening at DocFest in Belleville may not have been quite as prestigious, they said that showing their film here was wonderful.
“For us it was just great to be able to share our film with the local community. Because we’ve played it in large cities and other festivals, but you get a completely different reaction from your home town. It’s such a warm audience and they are so supportive,” says Adam Gray.
Andrew, 38, and Adam, 41, grew up in Belleville but went away to Montreal for university. They returned home about 10 years ago to be close to family, and now create films here.
They were not the only Belleville-area filmmakers to have their work featured at the third annual DocFest, which ran from Feb. 28 to March 2.
More local filmmakers submitted documentaries to the festival this year than ever before. Of the 52 documentaries shown, 14 were local.
DocFest is wonderful for the community as a whole but also inspires local filmmakers to continue what they do, Andrew Gray said.
“It’s great for filmmakers to get out to share their work in front of a live audience – or (any) audience at all, in some cases,” he said.
Garry Magwood, the co-chair of DocFest, says that another positive aspect of the festival is that the documentaries shown at it can have a lasting impact on the community.
Some of the issues raised in the films have inspired people to make a difference, he said.
“A whole group called Occupy Our Hearts spun off from the second year after seeing a film called Occupy Love by Velcrow Ripper. They are looking at all the things that we can do to make our community a better place to live,” Magwood said.
This year he organized a panel discussion after the festival’s final film, Watermark, was screened. Filmgoers stayed to talk to the panel of people knowledgeable about water issues, and the discussion was localized to what could be done about such issues locally.
It’s too early to know if a group will spin off from that discussion, Magwood said, but seeing the community act on the documentaries screened is the most gratifying part of the festival.
This year’s festival was the most successful yet, he said.
“For our third year, it was pretty incredible. We sold out our gala at the Empire Theatre, we sold out of festival passes a couple of days ahead of the event, and we had 3,300 to 3,400 bums in seats, which is about 20 per cent more than last year. I’d say that was a pretty good indication that Belleville’s Downtown DocFest has been adopted by the community in a big way.”
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