The Airdrie Film Society, which was an advocate and outpost for local creatives that also put on the annual Airdrie Film Festival, has dissolved.
Kim Cheel, president of the society, took to Facebook on Aug. 5 to break the unfortunate news.
“This isn’t the kind of post any board member of an art-based society wants to write,” she said. “We had dreams of getting a space to provide green screen filming locations, camera rentals and [offer] workshops and courses.”
Cheel’s post went on to say it would be easy to blame COVID-19 for the decision to dissolve the society, but she wanted to be clear that while the pandemic didn’t help matters, running the society has always been difficult.
“We currently have a board of three [members], and all of us are at the end of our terms,” she said. “Our 2020 film festival was our biggest yet in terms of accessibility.. but our viewership was the lowest, despite being a part of the ARTember initiative and [offering] free tickets.”
While the post was made to announce the termination of the society, Cheel’s letter said if there are people who feel like they could carry it on successfully, to reach out to her.
“If you’re reading this and you feel that nudge of action to gather a group of people and keep this society going, we would be glad to hear from you,” she said. “As it stands, our last day in operation will be Aug. 31.”
Cheel also touched on Airdrie’s need to support the arts. She claimed the City spends less money per capita on the arts than other cities of a comparable size.
“If arts are important to you, then we need to patronize it more,” she said. “We need to embrace it, fund it, and experience it.”
Local filmmakers reacted to the announcement with disappointment. Bryan Flannigan, who took home the Audience Choice award at the 2020 Airdrie Film Festival, said the festival helped him realize he could take his craft more seriously.
“The night I was able to see my work on the big screen, I felt like a king,” he said. “It made me take filmmaking more seriously.”
Flannigan said for years, he just wanted to tell stories. He said having a film society available in his city gave him and other local filmmakers a chance to forge a creative identity.
When Flannigan heard the news the society was dissolving, he said was upset. He thought it was odd he had not heard any updates on this year’s Airdrie Film Festival, which he had been working on a submission for.
“I was confused,” he said. “I saw their post, and I felt pretty crushed and upset – they did a lot for my career and many others.”
Mitchell George, who is an established local film director as a part of his company Crooked Cinema, was also disheartened by the news. George was a founding member of the society.
“It just seems like one thing after another,” he said. “Once the Roxy [theater] went, it was almost like a foreshadow to the rest of this.
“To me, it feels like we are about to lose the creatives in Airdrie. It seems like the smoke is about to clear and the battle is over, and we lost.”
George added losing Airdrie’s sole movie theater and the only society that supported the platform of film creates a tough road locally for film creators and enthusiasts.
“I just shook my head, but I kind of expected it,” he said. “I am not going to stop fighting. I will use Crooked Cinema to support.”
Losing the society, according to George, means Airdronians attempting to thrive in the creative filmmaking space will have to take their talents to Calgary. To some, that may seem like the way to do it, but George said it means Airdrie will suffer from a lack of identity in the arts.
“There is so much talent here that prefer to be recognized as Airdronians, but they would rather be recognized where they are appreciated and supported – and that is in Calgary,” he said.
Separately, George added he feels the society dissolving stems from a problem created by the City of Airdrie. He said even though more and more production crews are coming to Alberta to film, there’s still a lack of support for local filmmakers at the municipal level.
“We have just noticed a huge change in the film industry here in Alberta – there is a lot of working coming here,” he said. “You need to have a little support, and you need to have something if you plan on applying for these grants. That’s where the City falls short.”
Cheel said she hopes Airdrie focuses more on culture and the arts, moving forward.
“Without culture, arts have no place to land,” she said. “That is something I have been saying on repeat for a while.”
She added for change to happen locally, there needs to be an arts representative within council, although she did add Couns. Tina Petrow and Candice Kolson have been vocal supporters of the arts throughout the current term.
“They are the only ones,” she said.
Cheel said a little goes a long way in terms of recognition from local politicians.
“It costs them nothing to tweet about us or post about us on Facebook,” Cheel said. “All they have to do is use their reach to signal boost, and they can’t even do that.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
