The Williams Lake Film Club may have a new organizer but remains committed to bringing unique, quality films to the community.
Patricia Weber, a lawyer with Oliver & Co. and mother of two, first came to the lakecity close to 10 years ago. A longtime fan of films and movies, shortly after arriving, Weber became interested in and involved with the film club.
“I’ve always loved films and movies, especially more of the independent and less mainstream films,” Weber said. “For a long time, I loved going to Krista Liebe’s films that she put on through the Williams Lake Film Club.”
Liebe had run the club for well over 10 years up until this past spring when Weber said she decided to branch out and explore what else she can do in the community. Weber likens it to a form of retirement, even if it was just volunteer work.
The reins were passed to Weber and a close friend who, together, are working on bringing a whole new line of films to the community.
“It’s just the two of us kind of figuring out what we can do, the logistics of getting films in and arranging venues is really what we’ve been trying to get off the ground,” Weber explained.
Under Weber’s management, the Williams Lake Film Club is forging closer ties with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) much like the film club in Quesnel. TIFF screens films in the fall that, with the right connections, are then screened in hundreds of small towns and cities across Canada.
“These films that have premiered at TIFF typically go on to get Oscar’s, generate a lot of buzz and I’ve always wanted to have something like what is in Quesnel, in Williams Lake,” Weber said.
Weber said that it’s often difficult to see these films otherwise and that when Leibe left it was the perfect opportunity to bring these TIFF premiered films to Williams Lake. The dialogue she has established with TIFF has been “great” and she’s excited to be bringing a selection of these films to the community.
While Weber may have partnered with TIFF, she is by no means restricted in her films choices. She also plans to show current critically acclaimed films like Colette, Nov. 9, and local critically acclaimed films like Edge of the Knife, Dec.14, by local filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown.
Read More: Colette begins the Williams Lake Film Club’s season
“If there’s a film that comes out that I think the public is going to want to see, we’ll definitely show it, so long as we have some advance notice for film scheduling. So we’re taking suggestions for films, people can send suggestions if to the film club’s Facebook page,” Weber said.
Already, Weber said the community has shown a real appetite on Facebook for the unique films she plans to bring to Williams Lake this season. From November to April this year the film club will be showing one film a month, with the back half of their season in 2019 being announced mid-December.
For those looking to volunteer or help out with the film club more directly, Weber said they’re always looking for more people to help with logistics on show nights as well as help selecting films and organizing the nights themselves. Interested parties can check out the groups Facebook or their new website www.williamslakefilmclub.com for more details.
Tickets are on sale at the Open Book or at the door of the Gibraltar Room at 6:30 p.m. for the price of $12 for both the upcoming films in 2018.
“It’s really meaningful for me to be able to watch a film with all my neighbours, friends and people in the community that I know, the same film that I know all my fancy friends in Vancouver and Toronto have watched too, it’s really nice to be included in the current culture and social network. I’m going to be really proud and happy when we pull it off.”
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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