When Norm Coyne was making the rounds of film festivals with The Doctor’s Case, he was doing more than promoting the film. He was noticing what worked at various film festivals he attended, and what didn’t.
Those best practices from other film festivals will all be incorporated into the Great Northern International Film Festival (GNIFF) coming to Prince George September 10-13, 2020.
“We will be attracting film makers from all over the place,” Coyne said Thursday. “This is bringing people in, it’s not just Prince George, it’s people from all over the world.”
GNIFF will screen over 100 films during the four days it runs plus host a series of filmmaker workshops inspired by the success of Northern FanCon’s Creative Corner series.
The festival will be in the brand new Treasure Cove Show Lounge and will feature a true red carpet gala September 12 which will issue 24 awards to category winners during a formal evening which celebrates excellence in filmmaking.
“The gala will be Oscar-style,” said Coyne. “The entire front area of the hotel and casino will be red-carpets, stanchioned, (filmmakers) will come in by limo, there will be photographers on the red carpet, and a red carpet correspondent doing live videos.”
The winning filmmaker in each category will receive a $500 cash prize. Interested filmmakers can submit their entries through the Filmfreeway website. All Prince George based filmmakers will receive full fee waivers to enter their films in the festival. Films will be selected by a jury of industry professionals overseen by Paul Donnett of the Story Institute . Donnett comes from years of past experience on selection committees including the Leo Awards, the British Columbia Student Film Festival and Zoomfest. Submissions for GNIFF will be live on FilmFreeway.com Dec.6/2019.
Tickets for GNIFF are available online at Eventbrite and at in person at the Treasure Cove Casino. Ticket prices range from $20 for a single day to $60 for a full festival pass.
On sale date is Monday December 9.
