Hartford to Host First Competitive Film Festival this Week

November 8 - 15, 2006
By The Hartford News Staff

Filmmakers, film critics and film enthusiasts are set to gather at cinema venues across Hartford for the city’s first-ever competitive international film festival, aptly named the Hartford International Film Festival. The festival is a production of the Capitol Cinema Collective (CCC), a two-year old organization comprised of greater Hartford residents who are passionate about cinema. The festival will take place Thursday, November 9 through Sunday, November 12 at a variety of locations in Hartford.

The screening venues for the festival range from the Wadsworth Athenaeum to Franklin Avenue’s Art Cinema, also including Trinity College’s Cinestudio, La Paloma Sabanera, the Charter Oak Cultural Center as well as other both traditional and non-traditional cinema venues. Similarly, the festival will offer a diverse program of films including locally-produced feature-length films as well as documentary short films, animation and several experimental films of different lengths. The complete schedule of films and venues for the festival is available at CCC’s website www.capitolcinemacollective.org.

The festival’s opening feature, a pairing of two Canadian films, tells the story of the Winnipeg Jets, a hockey team that while loved by its fans eventually left Winnipeg for Phoenix, Arizona, not unlike Hartford’s-own Whalers hockey team. Other official selections explore several aspects of social and cultural identity through both fictional and true stories.

“We are really excited to be having Hartford’s first competitive film festival. We feel like this is something that can bring people together in our city, both to enjoy film and to enjoy their community. Capitol Cinema Collective is a group of people that came together because we all share a love for film and we’re really proud to be putting on this exciting event,” said Helder Mira, a festival organizer.

Tickets for the film festival are available for sale through the CCC website and also at La Paloma Sabanera. The cost for tickets is $8 per venue and $35 for an all-access pass.

Founded in 2005, the Capitol Cinema Collective seeks to foster innovative opportunities in the viewing and production of film in Connecticut’s Capital City. Projects of the Capitol Cinema Collective include; Kino Kafé, a weekly film series with films selected by the viewers themselves, LoResFest, a grassroots experiment in filmmaking and the Hartford International Film Festival.