I had heard about the Reel Heart International Film Festival and on this past Friday night decided to take in a series of shorts at the U.of T. location at Innis College at 2 Sussex Avenue.
The 28 page full color brochure declaring that the Film Festival is International, Independent and Anti-Niche and looked like it had cost a bomb. IT declares that they put the spotlight on the careers of numerous film makers from all over the world and they exist to rave review of their Audiences.
A good start and quite impressive.
Unfortunately it was downhill from here.
The gentleman who met me to give me my ticket gently mentioned that the films that were published in the impressive program would not be playing that evening. I assumed he meant one or two of them. It turned out he meant all of them. I was rather stunned.
To his further discredit he actually let it slip that several others had come to collect their tickets at other days and times only to discover the printed program frankly had no meaning. Their choice of films were not on the being played.
So, what is the point. My two hours of film enjoyment dwindled down to 30 minutes worth of films that held no interest to me after which I walked out of the almost empty room. The other four people in the room a group of friends who had come together walked out right after me. This left the documentary about some punk rock band owner with a troubled life to play to no one.
Wow, they need to get their act together. This makes the third U.of T. based event I have attended in the last month that was frankly an unmitigated disaster. Apparently they are in their 7th year of this Film Festival. You would think after 7 years they would have figured something out.
Needles to say I won’t be considering tickets to this venue again.