The Bow Valley Film Tour is an annual film showing that features a collection of stories from the Bow Valley, and is stopping at the Cochrane Movie House this Thursday, Aug. 22.
Event organizer Rongqin Zu emphasized why the film festival was created in the first place, and the purpose of representing local filmmaking talent in Bow Valley.
“In our local neighborhood, there are some amazing film makers and local talents, and there are so many good stories,” Zu said, “That's why we came up with this idea to make a local showing with a focus for our community.”
All of the films being shown at the Bow Valley film Tour celebrate the spirit of the mountains, water, life, and dreams. This year, the small festival aims to integrate more diverse local art forms, making the festival more contemporary and localized.
Zu said that this will be the tour’s second official year, with last year being their surprisingly successful first year. Out of their three different location stops, each was around 80 per cent sold out.
“This year, we saw that there's some amazing stories in our area and then I got some new things too,” Zu said, “That's why we are here.”
The Bow Valley Film Tour this year will stop in four different locations, those being Canmore, Cochrane, Calgary and Banff. The two Canmore showings already happened on Aug. 9, and 10, with both showings being completely sold out.
“The first two nights came and we sold out all the tickets, and people still waited outside to try and get tickets to get in,” Zu said.
After making its top in Cochrane this Thursday, the Bow Valley Film Tour will continue with its stops, hitting the Globe Cinema in Calgary on Aug. 31, then on to the Lux Cinema in Banff on Sept. 7 for its final showing.
So far, Zu said that the feedback has been very positive, and he hopes to see a similar reaction going forward from the Calgary community as well.
If you live near or around Cochrane, and have a passion for filmmaking or local storytelling, you can buy tickets to this year’s Bow Valley Film Tour at bowvalleyfilminstitute.org.
The festival will happen at 218 5th Avenue West, on Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
