The SharpCuts Indie Film and Music Festival returns for its fourth year this weekend, with an expanded line-up and old favourites for the first spring edition.
This year’s festival will unroll over five days, from May 5 to 9 and can be seen at various venues across Guelph including The Bookshelf Cinema, The Red Brick Café, Galaxy Cinemas Guelph, and the underground movie and music venue, The Synnema.
The festival began with the comedy Kick-Off on May 5 at 7pm. In a night dedicated to comedy on screen and live on stage, several independent short films were presented in two sets, while in-between there was some improv and stand-up routines.
The traditional Friday Night Fright Night moves a day earlier this year as May 6 marks the Thursday Night Thriller at 7pm. Offering the usual collection of scary shorts and chilling thrillers, the night will be capped off by the Guelph-premiere of Adam Green’s Frozen, a chilling story of three people trapped on a chair lift, which opened to great acclaim at this past year’s Sundance Festival.
May 7 will introduce fans to Freestyle Friday, which will begin at 9pm. Independent musicians will create melodies together, on the fly, with zero rehearsal time, courtesy of the Guelph Improvised Music Series. The night will also feature new music videos from Nameless KX and The Ascot Royals, and the short film Stargazers’ from Singapore.
The Friday events take place at The Synnema, at 121 Wyndham Street Suite 106, in Downtown Guelph.
On May 8 starting at noon at the Bookshelf Cinema, the festival partners with Science Rendezvous to present a fun, interactive, and thought-provoking science journey through media called ScienceCuts. People can see some of the greatest – and most disastrous – science moments in film, hear science-inspired acoustic sets from renowned musicians, and join maverick filmmakers and scientists for a lively debate about science in pop culture.
Following that, SharpCuts’ presents two sets of dramas and hot button documentaries starting at 1:45pm.
Film makers will be on hand to discuss their films and answer questions.
Following the Saturday showcase, join the festival’s filmmakers and organizers for a drink and a nosh as organizers toast the festival and its films at the Red Brick Café on Douglas Street at 9pm. Also, jury and audience choice award winners will be announced.
To complete the festival, the May 9 afternoon is dedicated to the screening of the second annual Blended Film Challenge. Over a dozen high school teams from Guelph, Cambridge, and Erin are participating in this year’s challenge as they attempt to blend three randomly selected film genres into one short film. This year’s screening will take place the Guelph Galaxy Cinemas at 2pm with the winners and the awarding of the SharpCup to take place immediately following the screening.
For more information, contact Adam A. Donaldson at 519-731-3029 or email to adamadonaldson@gmail.com.
