Photo: Dan Watson, who has joined Reel Alternatives Huntsville as the film group’s new president, poses with committee members (left to right), Helena Renwick, Laura Kennedy and Zelda Dwyer. Absent are Rob Saunders and Gail Orr. (Photo submitted).
Reel Alternatives Huntsville is back for another season of festival-quality films, a new permanent home at the Algonquin Theatre, and a new president. Following in Rob Saunders’ footprints, Dan Watson, who heads up the Huntsville Festival of the Arts, has joined the local film group’s committee as president this year.
“There’s a lot of shared goals and overlapping synergies between the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and Reel Alternatives in that both organizations work to bring enriching cultural experiences to our community,” says Watson. “Besides, since I took over the reins of HFA from Rob’s tenure as general manager after he retired, there’s some poetic consistency in me taking over from his position as president of Reel Alternatives now that he’s scaling back his involvement.”
Reel Alternatives Huntsville is part of Film Circuit, the Toronto International Film Festival’s national outreach programme with over 150 locations across the country. Touted as Canada’s largest film club, Film Circuit’s mandate is to bring the best of Canadian and world cinema to small market communities.
Reel Alternatives has been doing just that here in Huntsville since 1998. In addition to Saunders, who was a founding committee member along with the late Kareen Burns, several of the committee members have been volunteering with the group for well over a decade including Zelda Dwyer, Gail Orr, Laura Kennedy and more recently Helena Renwick, and now Dan Watson.
Over the past two decades, this non-profit group has supported film-related projects, including the Muskoka Heritage Foundation video project and Virginia Hastings’ Starshine video production of Carolyn Van Den Bulk’s Race Across America. They have also donated towards DVD lending inventory for the public libraries in Huntsville, Dwight, and Baysville and provided post-secondary scholarships for film/media-related studies.
“While we’re now the only movie presenter in town since the cinema closed, our mandate remains showing and promoting fine quality alternative films that might not be on everyone’s radar. And of course, being able to enjoy films on a theatre screen with other film lovers holds a special appeal,” says Watson. “Our movie nights are very much a social experience.”
Reel Alternatives Huntsville normally screens two Mondays a month from September to June. Their next screening is on October 17th with the comedy Official Competition with Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. After that, Peace By Chocolate will be shown on November 7th, followed by Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On on December 5th.
To see their upcoming schedule visit reelalternativeshuntsville.ca or browse algonquintheatre.ca which is where tickets can also be purchased in advance.
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