Stratford Film Festival

The Stratford Film Festival was an annual film festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, which was staged from 1956 to 1961 and from 1971 to 1975.[1] One of the first film festivals in North America ever to present international films, it was the preeminent film festival in the Southern Ontario region until the launch of the Festival of Festivals in 1976 resulted in a loss of arts funding and audience support that led the Stratford Film Festival to permanently cease operations that same year.[2]

Origins

The festival was launched in 1956 under the direction of Tom Patterson, screening films in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Avon Theatre.

The second festival, held in 1957, grew from the first year's one week of films screened only in the afternoon to a two-week program of films screened both days and evenings,[3] and included the films Oedipus Rex, City of Gold, The Naked Eye, On the Bowery, Pacific Destiny, French Cancan, Girl in Black, The Girl and the Oak, Back of the Beyond, The Devil's General, Trnka's Puppets and Hill 24 Doesn't Answer.[4]

In its initial form the festival ran annually until 1961,[5] when it was suspended because the increasingly decrepit Avon Theatre was no longer a suitable venue for the festival but no other replacement venue was available at the time.[6]

Revival

After the Avon Theatre was renovated, the festival was relaunched in 1969 by Gerald Pratley of the Ontario Film Institute, and staged its first revived iteration in 1971.[7] Films screened at the 1971 festival included Mon oncle Antoine, King Lear, Tomorrow My Love, Playtime, Derby, Doctor Glas, The Confrontation, A Little Fellow from Gambo, Millhouse, Three to Go, Deep End, Punishment Park, Lola Montès, Medea, W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism and Bless the Beasts and Children.[8]

The 1971 festival was successful, and it was announced that it would be scheduled again in 1972;[9] however, the 1972 festival was marred by the Ontario Censor Board's refusal to clear the film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, as well as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's refusal to grant the theatre a liquor license for the festival.[10]

The final edition of the festival was staged in 1975.[11] Films screened that year included Visit to a Chief's Son, Between Wars, Royal Flash, Akenfield, Cats' Play, Lions for Breakfast, F for Fake, The Moon and the Sledgehammer, A Private Enterprise, Nirmalyam, Impossible Object, The Men and Eliza's Horoscope, as well as a retrospective of the films of Harold Lloyd.[11]

With the launch of the Festival of Festivals in 1976, the Stratford Film Festival's funding from government arts agencies was significantly cut back.[12] In tandem with the expected decline in attendance given Stratford's proximity to Toronto, organizers decided to cancel the planned 1976 festival.[13]

References
  1. J. A. B. Somerset and James Lindroth, The Stratford Festival Story: A Catalogue-index to the Stratford, Ontario, Festival, 1953-1990. Greenwood Press, 1991. ISBN 9780313278044.
  2. Robert Martin, "SOME FESTIVALS BRING OUT THE STARS: Like Montreal's World Film Festival; But for Toronto's, they don't show up". The Globe and Mail, August 27, 1977.
  3. Ronald Johnson, "Moving With the Movies: Film Festival Selects Best From 16 Nations". The Globe and Mail, June 8, 1957.
  4. Ronald Johnson, "Moving With the Movies: Own Oediptis Rex To Open Stratford's '57 Festival of Films". The Globe and Mail, May 4, 1957.
  5. Jan Uhde, Vision and Persistence: Twenty Years of the Ontario Film Institute. University of Waterloo Press, 1990. ISBN 9780888980977. p. 27.
  6. "The 9th Annual Wendy Michener Symposium: A Salute to the 100th Anniversary of Motion Pictures". Cinema Canada, Spring 1996. pp. 24-29.
  7. Martin Knelman, "Dance of Death belongs to Olivier". The Globe and Mail, September 13, 1971.
  8. Martin Knelman, "20 films to be shown af Stratford film festival". The Globe and Mail, September 4, 1971.
  9. Martin Knelman, "Stratford turnout encouraging: Film festival assured for 1972". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 1971.
  10. Martin Knelman, "Censor and LCBO deal blows to Stratford Film Festival". The Globe and Mail, September 16, 1972.
  11. "Two premieres at Stratford film festival". The Globe and Mail, September 3, 1975.
  12. Gary Thomas, "Film festivals". The Globe and Mail, September 30, 1977.
  13. "Stratford closes film festival". The Globe and Mail, June 7, 1976.
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