OLDS — The Mountain View Film Group (MVFG) has re-started after a two-year hiatus, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
They’ve chosen an initial four films to be shown once a month at the Mayfair Cinema over the next four months: September through December. Then they’ll choose another four for January through April.
The first film will be shown Sept. 18. They always have two screenings, one at 11:30 a.m. and another at 3 p.m.
The Sept. 18 film is Peace By Chocolate.
“It’s a show about some immigrants to Antigonish (N.S.), an Arab family,” MVFG spokesman Ross Dabrusin said during an interview.
“The film is in English, but based on a true story about how they established, in this small town, Antigonish, a chocolate shop.
“The tension was the son wanted to be a doctor. The family needed him to help with the chocolate shop and so that’s part of the story.
“But I saw in the trailer that the town actually raised funds to help them open this shop and it’s terrifically successful.”
Dabrusin says MVFG has a dedicated, enthusiastic audience.
He noted that the group is on the Toronto International Film Festival circuit. As such, they receive amazing films that “wouldn’t necessarily run – be a mass audience thing in the theatres -- but might be of interest.”
Once they’ve been shown in Olds, the MVFG passes them on down the circuit to places like Innisfail and Sylvan Lake and Red Deer.
“We’ve had certain shows that have sold out the theatre,” he said.
They do include films that have subtitles, but Dabrusin stressed they limit that to one sub-titled film.
“We’ve had some wonderful British films and Canadian films and yeah, we’ve had very good luck,” Dabrusin said.
“We have a group of about 10 people and we got together. We did our first meeting in two years (in about mid-August).
"We look at the trailers and we look at the summaries and we look at the Rotten Tomatoes to see what the critics say and the audience say. And then we make our determination, based on all of that,” he added.
“We’re able to show more interesting and diverse films than the people who have to worry about making the big bucks.”
There’s usually lots of seating available during the screenings, so viewers can space themselves pretty far apart if there's concern over social distancing, he said.
