Fairy Tales, a Calgary-based LGBTQ2A+ film festival which has hosted over 35,000 in-person attendees, is bringing their entire community online with the help of platform Xerb.tv.
This festival is offering far more than online screenings: they’re featuring digital discussion spaces for the duration of the festival where both the audience and the filmmakers will be able to interact directly, but on their own time, through Xerb’s unique threaded messaging system.
“Had anyone asked me in 2003 if I could imagine Fairy Tales entirely online, I would have said absolutely not. The film industry is changing; advances in technology and accessible platforms allow us to tell our own stories in new and exciting ways. Community is about so much more than places or numbers; it’s about connection, and it’s the one thing about Fairy Tales that’s never changed,” said James Demers, executive director of the Calgary Queer Arts Society.
“At an in-person festival, you’re not just seeing films. You’re meeting new people, talking to them in the lobby about what you’ve seen, and getting insider information from the filmmakers. Fairy Tales can provide this same experience to their community on Xerb.tv, in a way that makes sense in the online world” said Xerb.tv CEO Eric Streeper.
“The discussions we’ve seen around the Virtual Events have been incredibly high quality and kind. Especially considering it’s the Internet,” quips Streeper. “The audience is super engaged, and the comments stay focused around the films. There’s no comparison to being able to talk about a film with the people who made it.”
This year’s programming includes features, documentaries, short films, and animation. The festival kicks off on May 14 with the documentary “Stonewall: Paving The Way For Gay Pride” marking the 50th anniversary of the Gay Pride parade in New York — the first time gays and lesbians walked the streets claiming publicly to be out and to commemorate the Stonewall riots that had occurred a year earlier.
And while the films from each of the 14 programs will only be available during 24-hour windows through the 11 days of the festival, the discussions will continue throughout, giving attendees the chance to think, and digest, before they engage in conversation.
Ticket prices for each of the 14 programs are (CAD = Canadian Dollars, USD = US Dollars):
Single Ticket: $10 CAD/$7 USD
Ticket 3-Pack: $25 CAD/$18 USD
All Access Pass: $90 CAD/$64 USD
Special pricing for students, seniors and essential workers.
Dates and Screenings (full festival May 14th – May 25th):
05/14: Stonewall: Paving the Way for Gay Pride
05/15: Dry Wind featuring We Are Dancers
05/16: Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street
05/16: NevrLand
05/17: Treaty 7 Film Collective: Here N’ Queer: Vol 2
05/18: Sexy Shorts
05/19: Changing the Game featuring The Key of T
05/20: Sex, Sin and 69’
05/21: Queering the Script featuring Otherland
05/21: International Shorts
05/22: Bitter Years featuring Button Out!
05/23: Dear Fredy
05/24: Animation and Identity Shorts
For more information visit:
The Fairy Tales Xerb.tv channel: https://xerb.tv/channel/ftff
May 21 – Queering The Script | Fairy Tales 2020 from Calgary Queer Arts Society on Vimeo.