Thursday, March 18th

  (Starting at 7:30pm)

Opening Gala The festival kicks off at Kitchener City Hall with a celebration, music and entertainment. There will be brief speeches of introduction, Joseph Chen will announce the Waterloo Region Film Society, and artists fees will be distributed. Clips from each movie will be playing on screen. All are welcome.

  (Starting at 7:30pm)

Kissed by Lighting (2009) Director: Shelley Niro Category: Feature Film Time: 1hr 25m Honours: Featured at Imaginative Film Festival, Won Best Indigenous Film at Santa Fe Film Festival

Mowhawk painter Mavis Dogblood sees her husband Jessie Lightning vanish before her eyes in a thunderstorm. This has left her lost and absent from the world. She again starts painting stories of the Iroquois Peacemaker, stories Jessie used to tell her, to help pay the bills and keep the memory of him close to her. The new man in her life patiently waits for her to resolve her emotional struggle, but the situation only becomes more complicated.

Friday, March 19th

  (Starting at 7:00pm)

Agent Lee Jackson (2010) Director: Connor Barnett Category: Animation / Youth Director Time: 3 min

Agent Lee Jackson, one of the N.A.S.I.S's top agents, now has to pass his final agent exam to become a class A agent. But what Jackson doesn't know is that he also has to stop all of the S.P.E.I.K agents from taking over N.A.S.I.S.

Boobytrap (2009) Director: Elizabeth Dent and Mary Lalonde Category: Short Film Time: 11:30 min

What happens when you ask two feminists, "How low can you go?" The Boobytrap was created in response to Ed Video's members' project on that theme. Charlie Chaplin meets Gloria Steinem in this silent, romantic comedy. Lots of cleavage gets exposed when George loses control and becomes a caricature of every woman's experience.

Mind's Eye (2009) Director: Thomas M. Gofton Category: Short Film Time: 12 min

Mind's Eye is a contemporary fantasy story about a fellowship of guardians and their quest to protect a child prophesied as the chosen one. These guardians, the Dream Weavers, are a special class of humanity that possesses the ability to alter reality that surrounds them. Wedged at the core of an ancient war between both angelic and demonic forces, the Dream Weavers decide to veil their identity from the chosen one by disguising themselves as childhood friends. In this facade, the Dream Weavers strive to preserve the chosen one's innocent mind from all existential influences both good and evil until fate fulfills its promise once and for all.

War Machine (2009) Director: Craig Hennessey Category: Short Film Time: 9:40 min Honours: Won Best Short at K-W Film Harvest

As the machinery of war rages around him, an isolated soldier fights his own disbelief of an enemy soldier he thinks is hunting him. The fight for survival is on. Resigning himself to his situation, the soldier realizes his fate has already been sealed ...by himself.

Que Sera (2009) Director: Jonathon Lucas, Tallen Kay, Fiona Chan, and Adien Huisman Category: Short Film Time: 7 min

A dying young man reflects on life, and contemplates whether it was his actions that led him to his fate, or merely the actions of others. Que Sera (what will be) is a mediation between free will and determinism; fate and causality; a glimpse-of-life story told from the collective perspective.

Her (2009) Director: Angus Mclellan Category: Short Film Time: 4:55 min Honours: BMO Short Award (Grand River Film Festival)

Her is a story about true love, murder and heartbreak. Elle is a young woman stuck in a broken relationship with Ed, a man she no longer loves. When she meets and falls head over heels for Pet, the two set out to leave town and start a new life together. Ed, betrayed, becomes crazy with jealousy and barges in on the two lovers as they pack their suitcases. The results are tragic.

Cast Lead (2009) Director: Taghreed Saadeh Category: Documentary Time: 33 min Honours: Official selection at Female Eye Film Festival - Toronto

This documentary takes us back to the Israeli War on Gaza in 2009, code named Operation Cast Lead. As a witness of this aftermath, filmmaker Taghreed Saadeh, shows real accounts of the suffering of people in Gaza. She illustrates the devastation of children and their schools being attacked in this war.

Along the Grand River (2010) Director: Dragan Doric Category: Documentary Time: 26 min

The visuals presented in this cinematic essay chronicle the diverse natural world Along The Grand River. It highlights a wide range of wildlife species and explores some picturesque communities which have retained their historic architecture and pace of life from a bygone era. Filmed over a two year period, it captures an array of plant and animal varieties, showing seasonal progressions of the landscape through the course of a full year. Along The Grand River shows us rarely seen details of the natural world in the Grand River watershed.

Saturday, March 20th

  (Starting at 2:00pm)

At this time, we will be screening all films created by the "24 Hour Film Challenge" teams. As the name implies, filmmakers had 24 hours to produce these short films from start to finish.

  (Starting at 7:00pm)

The Promise (2009) Director: Alex Szatmary Category: Animation Time: 1 min Honours: First place at Buffalo Movie-Video Makers annual Short Contest, 2009

A short one minute film about practical way to quit smoking.

Shattered (2009) Director: Alex Szatmary Category: Animation Time: 4 min Honours: Official selection at the Hamilton Film Festival, 2009

Shattered is a futuristic view of a Nature Museum, someplace in the Universe.

Not a Friendship (2009) Director: Uzma Khan Category: Short Film Time: 7:41 min

Two old friends Jane and David meet after a long time. Jane congratulates David on his upcoming wedding and a captivating conversation follows. It is disclosed that David always had romantic feelings for Jane that were never communicated. As they travel through the day, resentment and bitterness ensues. Are they losing what they really had, their friendship?

Shades of Grey (2009) Director: Nick Montgomery Category: Short Film Time: 7:54 min

Two contract killers with completely different methods find themselves caught in an awkward situation. As the tension escalates, only one can emerge victorious. But is it really that simple?

The Interview (2009) Director: Dave McLeod Category: Short Film Time: 6 min

Looking for a job sometimes has its disadvantages.

On the Way (2009) Director: Scott Meadows and Emily Buck Category: Short Film Time: 16 min

Steph and Luke are two siblings with very different views of the world. After Luke returns from travelling, he and Steph head home and discover on the way that they can still share their old childhood wonder with one another while exploring an old decrepit house.

My Trip with the Traveling Guru (2010) Director: Marjonneke Grech Category: Documentary Time: 23 min

Traveling Guru Dr. Darrol Bryant from Elmira Ontario takes 15 students on an immersion trip to India. There, they meet people whose religious ideas are very different from their own. Along the way, everyone learns about the world's major religions while filmmaker Marjonneke Grech brings the story to life with her own personal narrative.

Dear John (2010) Director: Mark Lammert Category: Documentary Time: 30 min Honours: Official selection for the Canadian Labour International Film Festival

Chronicles the close of Welland Ontario's leading industrial employer, John Deere Welland Works, located in Dain City. The film looks at the current recession, the forces behind the closure, and what a community struggling to stay afloat can do. Lammert and his crew try to explore what Welland has in store for its future, while helping those that worked at the plant tell their story.

Sunday, March 21st

  (Starting at 2:00pm)

Rangers (2010) Director: Justin Lenssen Category: Animation Time: 1:20 min

A medieval kingdom is destroyed and one forest ranger has to find the one responsible... his brother. A tale about the fates of two brothers.

Be Free (2009) Director: Sara Johns and Carissa Schency Category: Animation / Youth Directors Time: 2:40 min

A stop-motion animation depicting the freedoms we celebrate in today's society.

Humanoid (2009) Director: Torin Langen Category: Short Film / Youth Director Time: 13:36 min

A cyborg is hunted down by henchmen attempting to steal his "heart" to their own malicious purposes.

Nameless (2008) Director: Greg Kavacs Category: Short Film Time: 20 min

Mr. X awakens buried in snow, an open gash on his forehead, and no memory of his identity. Wandering a vast forest that has neither a beginning nor an end, he meets the most peculiar of personalities along the way. All he wants to know is who he is.

Wide Asleep (2009) Director: Joel Di Giacomo Category: Short Film Time: 7:41 min

A story about one woman's relationship to a man. Reality, imagination, and dreams lose their distinction as her inner world slowly envelops the narrative.

Vengeance (2009) Director: James C. Golden Category: Short Film Time: 7 min

At the old ruins to the death! The poetic bard who stands for passion and love faces the stalwart nobleman who stands for security and honor, fighting over a rose that has long since wilted.

Before it is Too Late (2009) Director: Andrew Matheson Category: Documentary / Youth Director Time: 4 min Honours: David Suzuki Foundation Award

Students sending a letter of protest to Stephen Harper.

Addictions (2009) Director: Jessica Paynter Category: Documentary Time: 6:38 min

A documentary on addiction. Interviews with an addiction counsellor, an addict, and a family member of an addict.

Going to the Moon (2009) Director: Isabel Cisterna and Azam Fouk Aladeh Category: Documentary Time: 47 min

This film follows the dream of Isabel Cisterna to bring a Chilean youth band from Chile to Canada. The journey starts in Puerto Varas, a small town in Chile, where talented young jazz musicians are invited to play for thousands of people in the Region of Waterloo. For the youth, the experience of coming to perform in Canada is as unbelievable as going to the moon. For the lucky audiences and those who were involved with the project, the experience was eye-opening and inspiring.

  (Starting at 7:00pm)

Closing Celebration At the Walper Hotel's Oak Room (second floor), there will be refreshments, music and a cash bar available while clips of Local Focus 3 films are played. At this event, we will announce the winners of the Jury Award and People's Choice Award in each category, and the winners of the 24 hour Film Challenge. Trophies, certificates, and cash awards will be presented. All are welcome.

This event is sponsored by:

• City of Kitchener
• Waterloo Regional Arts Council
• Region of Waterloo Arts Fund
• Generation X Alternative Video and Media
• The Walper Terrace Hotel
• Ontario Arts Council
• The Waterloo Region Record
• Neruda Productions
• Princess Cinemas
• Media Producers Group of Ontario (MPGO)