The Arts Station’s Indie Films Fernie (IFF) Film Club kicked back off this week with a virtual discussion about the documentary-drama, The Social Dilemma.
The club has modified their traditional structure by hosting free virtual conversations on the second Tuesday of each month, with discussions revolving around indie films available on Netflix.
“Because of COVID-19 we can’t host our regular indie film series, but we still wanted to kind of interact with our film participants who normally come, so we decided to start a film club – which is kind of like a book club but it’s with a film instead,” said Louise Ferguson, executive director of the Arts Station.
Ferguson added that in previous years the club received their films through TIFF’s circuit club, screening their monthly flicks at the Vogue Theatre, however the pandemic is requiring them to work around theatre closures and film shortages by sourcing their content from Netflix.
“We pick a film each month and choose something that’s more of an indie film… they’re not blockbusters, they’re not something everyone watches, so it’s kind of to expand people’s engagement into different film types, and maybe you watch something that you wouldn’t normally.”
Discussions are led by Arts Station staff members and revolve around the film’s style, content and the viewer’s general thoughts on the movie.
According to Ferguson, the club’s first session made for good conversation about an eye-opening film.
“It went really well…the first film was something that was easy to talk about – The Social Dilemma – which is obviously an interesting topic, and also the film style was documentary drama which is an unusual mixture.”
The IFF Film Club’s next meeting is set for Feb. 9 from 7:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. While the club is aimed at adults, discussions about PG films are open to all ages.
Films will be announced on the Arts Station’s website prior to the discussion date, with participants free to watch each film at their leisure.
For more information or to register for upcoming discussions, visit the events page on the Arts Station’s website.
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