Events

[FILM] A good way to evaluate a film festival is to look backward, to see how many of its previous presentations went on to national distribution. (There are too many festivals that exist only to make money by charging entrance fees to filmmakers whose work thereafter disappears forever.) Last year’s inaugural edition of the Niagara Integrated Film Festival was small, but a substantial proportion of its offerings went on to greater success, including The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Love Is Strange, Frank, and God Help the Girl. This weekend brings the second edition of the festival started by Toronto International Film Festival founder Bill Marshall to showcase the Ontario wine region that’s right over the Rainbow Bridge. NIFF’s splashiest events will be the eight “Filmalicious” presentations, combining a special dinner at one of the area’s wineries with a new film. And there are four days of screenings of new films at theaters in St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake. For full details on venues visit niagarafilmfest.com.