The Okotoks Film Festival is back with a seasonal spin.
Now in its fifth year, the Okotoks Festive Film Festival will feature a variety of holiday-themed screenings at Okotoks Cinemas on Saturday, Dec. 14.
"It's an international film festival, the same as our regular festival, except all the films we show have to do with the holidays," said festival director Katie Fournell.
As a film festival focused exclusively on the holidays, the event sets itself apart from others worldwide.
"One thing that's really unique about this festival is that there aren't a lot of a holiday-themed film festivals in the world... there's only [a few] other Christmas film festivals in the world," said Fournell, noting that many Christmas festivals include film screenings but are not exclusively film festivals.
"We are in a vast minority and it's kind of exciting that we are, here in Okotoks, able to bring a tradition that is kind of just starting to grow around the world," she said.
When the event was first held in 2020, it was called the Bite-Size Okotoks Christmas Film Festival.
"It was a bit of a mouthful and we realized that we should change that," said Fournell.
The event kicks off at 5 p.m. with an assortment of holiday short films from across North America and the world, followed by cookies courtesy of German bakery Bretzelking and photos on the red carpet.
Short films to be screened include:
War Games! A Christmas Truce by Adam Benish, Canada
Christmas Dance by Tiffany Jiang, United States
Pigeon by Kiki Allgeier, United States
The Holidaze of Noelle Snow by Courtney Anne McLaren, United States
Cookies for Christmas by Adam Raynes, United States
Christmas Day by Alexandra Pärn, Estonia
Deadly Christmas by Laurent Ardoint, Stéphane Duprat, France
Shine by Yujin Mingala, United Kingdom
The Okotoks Festive Film Festival wraps following the feature film screening of Nochebuena, a Latino feel-good film directed by Adam Lopez, at 7:30 p.m.
Get tickets to the Okotoks Festive Film Festival here, and learn more on the Okotoks Film Festival website.
The eighth annual Okotoks Film Festival was held in June, with 81 films from across the world screened along with a record 17 films from Alberta, including eight from the Foothills.
With the international film festival's 10th anniversary looming, Fournell said she's got big plans for what's to come.
"Our goal this year is to just be bigger than ever," she said. "We have plans to grow a bit this year and then to explode in the following year in 2026."
