Due to COVID-19, the inaugural Great Northern International Film Festival is being postponed to March 18-21, 2021.
“Our aim for the Great Northern International Film Festival is to foster local talent, celebrate attending filmmakers and showcase our city,” said festival director Norm Coyne of UNTLD Media, in a news release. “We want to portray what Prince George has to offer and build a legacy with this festival. September simply is not a viable option for safety and success at this time.”
The Great Northern International Film Festival (GNIFF) saw hundreds of submissions from filmmakers in 22 different countries. The approved selections will be announced next Friday July 31 and will be screened on the new dates in 2021. The following months will feature online interviews with some of these filmmakers leading up to the event. The original schedule of screenings across a four-day span remains unchanged.
“GNIFF is another piece of our ongoing strategy to do our part in building the film industry right here in our city,” said Coyne. “We are grateful to have support from like-minded businesses who have sponsored this event. It is clear to me that people really want to see a resurgence take place and we aim to continue to do our part.”
All sponsors of the event are still set to issue awards to attending filmmakers at a true red carpet gala which is now scheduled for March 20/2021.
GNIFF will also feature prominently in the web series Northern Lights, Camera, Action — an unscripted, factual series chronicling locally based production company Barker Street Cinema’s efforts to rejuvenate the film industry in Prince George by building action plans based on interviews their team conducted with Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner), screenwriter Marc Bernardin (Picard, Castle Rock), director Rachel Talalay (Doctor Who, Sherlock), producer Michael Uslan (Joker, The Dark Knight), and director Skye Borgman (Abducted in Plain Sight). Northern Lights, Camera, Action filming resumes next week.