FREE-B FILM FESTIVAL
Where: Cameron Bandshell, Beacon Hill Park, Victoria
When: Friday, Aug. 11 through Saturday, Aug. 26, 9 p.m.
Admission: Free
The format of the Free-B Film Festival is embedded into the title: It’s a festival of B-movies, provided free of charge.
“There’s nothing better than free, especially in this economy,” said Bryan Skinner, program manager for the Victoria Film Festival, which produces the annual event.
“Inflation is going nuts, the cost of living is out of control, so it’s nice to know that through it all, Free-B is there for the people.”
In addition to being cost-friendly and fun, the all-ages festival endures because of the programming. Six feature films will be screened through the summer, with showings at 9 p.m. each Friday and Saturday in August. The festival gets underway tonight (Friday) with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and continues Saturday with a screening of The Mask — the 1961 Canadian film, not the Jim Carrey re-boot — which will presented in 3-D.
“We’re going to have 3-D glasses for the first 1,000 people,” Skinner said. “It’s the old blue-and-red glasses, which is about as psychedelic as you can get in black and white.”
Free-B also includes series of French language short films provided by the National Film Board of Canada, in partnership with the B.C. Francophone Affairs program. The five-minute shorts will be screened prior to each feature. “It’s a nice little blast of French-language programming,” Skinner said.
Other films in the festival include Paris When it Sizzles (Aug. 18), Napoleon Dynamite (Aug. 19), Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (Aug. 25) and Plan 9 from Outerspace (Aug. 26). “We always try and include an older movie, a classic film,” Skinner said. “Paris When it Sizzles fits the bill as being somewhere between a B-movie and a classic, depending on who you ask. It’s definitely one of Audrey Hepburn’s lesser-known roles.”
Food and drink is not available, Skinner said. Washrooms will be open for the first hour of each feature but are expected to be closed at some point during the films, he added.
Some seating is provided, but Skinner said the majority of attendees should prepare to sit on the lawn. “We ask that people bring a blanket, bring a flashlight, and come prepared for variable weather.”
