The 21st Silver Wave Film Festival launched on Oct. 15 with the goal of highlighting local creators from New Brunswick.
The festival is hosted by the New Brunswick Filmmakers Cooperative, a non-profit charity supporting local filmmakers.
“[The purpose of the festival is] primarily to spotlight New Brunswick filmmakers telling their own stories,” said Cat Leblanc, the membership services director of the NBFC.
In recent years, the festival evolved to showcase films from around the world, while still providing opportunities to local filmmakers.
With so many different genres of film, Leblanc said the festival does its best to include everything from dramas to music videos.
“You name it, we got it,” said Leblanc.
One film Leblanc was interested in was Jillian Acreman’s first feature film, Queen of the Andes.
Queen of Andes is made of an entirely New Brunswick-based crew and was shot in Fredericton in 2019.
The film follows the last days on Earth of a woman who has been forcibly drafted on a one-way trip to colonize Mars.
Acerman submitted to the festival for 12 years and said that it’s her favourite event of the year.
She is an experienced filmmaker who has been making short films since 2009.
Acerman values the Silver Wave Film Festival as well as the work from the NBFC. She loves the opportunity the festival gives her to see her fellow filmmakers and celebrate their works.
She said film festivals like the SWFF provide a crucial space for filmmakers to network and gain a resume of screenings to help fund future projects.
“I usually find myself moved or inspired after seeing what other filmmakers have made. Watching other people’s works usually results in me wanting to try something new or different to what I’ve done before,” said Acreman.
Acremen encourages people interested in filmmaking to “just go for it.”
“None of us know what we’re doing until we’ve done it, and even then there’s no making a perfect film. You’re always going to wish you could re-shoot something or change something,” she said. “But that’s the job.”
To Acreman, the most important part of the festival and filmmaking in general is just telling stories.
“We learn from each project and we try not to make the same mistakes again,” she said. “Mistakes can result from poor preparation, but they’re also the price of experimentation and innovation, so it’s a fair trade. Just keep telling stories.”
