BELLEVILLE – Downtown Belleville’s DocFest will be hosted virtually this year as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in March.
The festival will start on March 5 and continue to March 14, making it longer than in previous years.
Because of COVID-19, DocFest organizers opted to operate virtually this year by allowing those who buy passes to stream the documentaries from home.
“Of course, it’s all intended to make sure people stay safe and keeps us in compliance with the orders from the government in terms of not having people gathered together,” DocFest chair Holly Dewar told QNet News.
This year’s opening documentary will be, Meeting the Beatles in India, which is about filmmaker Paul Saltzman’s story of spending time with the Beatles while visiting India 1968 as well as a being a journey of soul-searching.
As part of the opening gala, Mark Rashotte and Andy Forgie will be performing. The two local musical artists who have known each other since high school perform covers of Beatles songs in a virtual concert at the Empire Theatre.
Despite this year’s unusual circumstances, the festival will be screening the same number of films, Dewar said.
“We’re also hearing from people that it’s a very accessible way for them to watch the film festival,” she said about going virtual.
In the nine days the festival runs, viewers will have three days to unlock a film and 24 hours to watch it once it’s been unlocked.
“We had to invest in a broadcast platform so we would be able to stream the films for people at home,” Dewar said.
Aside from investing in a broadcasting platform, there is also a charge for each time a film is streamed. Additionally, the prices to use documentaries has also increased. These new costs in the budget for the festival have been reflected in the prices of tickets for DocFest.
While in previous years, tickets would be available to purchase in person, this year all tickets will be sold online on the DocFest website.
Ticket prices have been increased from $10 to $12 for a single ticket and from $60 to $100 for a festival pass that includes every film.
“We work really hard to keep our tickets at a price point that is accessible for people,” Dewar said.
Despite the cost of tickets changing, a ticket or pass does not limit how many people can watch the film. One ticket can allow an entire household to watch the film together.
All of Ontario has the ability to stream the films so long as a ticket is purchased.
Of the 50 documentaries that will be shown, topics that will be covered in this year’s lineup of documentaries will include social justice, culture, environmental issues, music art, food sustainability and local topics around Belleville.
In regard to the number of documentaries that will be covering the COVID-19 pandemic, Dewar stated that there will be short films that will be free and shown before other select documentaries begin.
“They’re films that deal particularly with the pandemic and how it’s affected people,” Dewar said.
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