The longtime organizer of a floating film festival on Yellowknife Bay is hoping this year’s event will be able to take place on Friday.
Terry Woolf, of the Dog Island Floating Film Society, says people interested in attending the one-night festival should keep an eye out for the torch on Dog Island – the informal name for a small island in Yellowknife Bay so-called because houseboaters used to take their dogs there.
“If we light the torch, that means the show is on. But if there’s really bad smoke, if the weather’s bad or if it’s windy, then we have to cancel,” Woolf said.
“It’s kind-of a little bit ephemeral, you know? It can or cannot happen, it depends on the weather.”
Woolf said the first floating film festival took place with a slideshow and bedsheet in 1991. Since then, volunteers have held more than a dozen boat-in film festivals on Yellowknife Bay over the years.
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“It’s just fun to see all the people show up in canoes and kayaks and boats,” Woolf said, comparing it to the summertime Float on the Rocks evening of music.
“It was a great sight to see all these canoes and boats show up and people celebrating being in a boat and doing something kind-of odd, watching a film or watching a band play.”
Woolf encouraged “hearty people” to come out to the film festival, advising attendees to dress warm, wear a life jacket, travel with friends and bring a flashlight.
The festival is set to start at dusk, or around 9pm.
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The list of films that will be shown is still being finalized. Woolf said it will include a variety of short films and some northern music videos.
He said the main movie he wants to show is Paddle to the Sea, a 1966 live-action short based on the children’s book of the same name by Holling C Holling.
“It’s kind-of a classical story,” Woolf said. “I like to show some of the old National Film Board films because people don’t see them any more.”
If the festival does not go ahead on Friday, organizers plan to try again on Saturday.
