# WIFF 2023 with Vincent Georgie

An episode of [Rose City Politics](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1247337855), 18 Oct 2023, 40 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/57296457/wiff_2023_with_vincent_georgie.mp3

Jon, Melinda and Doug are joined by Vincent Georgie to discuss the Windsor International Film Festival in this special episode. Rose City Politics is brought to you with the kind support of LiUNA Local 625: Building Better Communities. Support the show at Patreon.com/RoseCityPolitics. Read our stuff in Biz X Magazine or online at BizXMagazine.com and RoseCityPolitics.ca.

## Transcript

[0:24] Hey, everyone, welcome to Rose City Politics, a Rose City Politics especial,
[0:29] joined right now by regular panelists Doug sar Tori and Melinda Monroe. Doug,
[0:34] how you doing okay? Melinda? Howbout yourself? Having a great day?
[0:39] I'm doing really well as well. It really doesn't matter what the data
[0:43] is right now or what the time is, because it's one of those specials,
[0:45] as we said, but as always we are able to record live on
[0:48] tape thanks to the kindness of six two five building Better Communities. There's a
[0:54] big event that's coming up in soon. Of course you all know, there's
[0:59] no way not to know what it is when it's this type of time of
[1:02] year. It's of course when they're international film Aftable. We are so excited
[1:07] to be joined right now by the executive director of with Vincent Georgie. How
[1:12] do you doing, Vincent? Hey, I'm awesome. I'm awesome. The
[1:15] coffees are big and potent, but me and the team are doing pretty good.
[1:22] Yeah, just why don't you start right there? What's it like in
[1:25] the build up to it, because I'm going to be going in to start
[1:27] work for Dan McDonald next week on Thursday, as he takes off his annual
[1:34] with a week and a half two week extravagants or where he watches absolutely everything
[1:38] and then I think he shut down and reboots for a couple of days because
[1:42] that's a lot of process. The bandwidth just overflows. But there's so much
[1:48] involved on the volunteer side of things, the organizing side of things. So
[1:51] as we are right now on the Wednesday, the week before, what are
[1:57] things look So things look like now is everybody's day starts probably about six and
[2:04] our day ends at three am, so it's about three hours of sleep at
[2:07] night, you know, maybe four hours if you find it somewhere. It's
[2:13] the finishing of the set up of the box office. Box office in person
[2:15] opens tomorrow. The venues get set up on Monday, go in and build
[2:19] and transform. That's something that simple don't realize. There's a significan amount of
[2:23] technological transformation that goes on inside the Capital, the christ and the Armory.
[2:27] So there's quite a bit of that would go on on Monday. Sunday,
[2:30] we have about an eight hour giant all heads meeting at my home. It's
[2:36] an annual thing. Bring up some food, bring up the coffee, bring
[2:38] out the line and we go through hour by hour of all eleven days,
[2:45] like every single little thing and figure every department what's going on. Because you
[2:47] got multiple venues, you got indoor, you get outdoor, you get with
[2:50] Valley, got a special guest, you got words going on, you got
[2:53] film intros, get Q and a's, you got sponsors, You've got mid
[2:57] and madness and all the stuff sort of moving around. So, uh,
[3:00] that's happening tonight. We have rehearsal. We have to. We have rehearsed
[3:04] the opening night, the closing night, Marcus Scaufouri or flick Fast that gets
[3:07] rehearsed another set of rehearsals next Tuesday. That's where it's like, it's a
[3:13] very but you know what it's so it's really long days and a whole bit
[3:16] of whatever and not to be sucky around you and if you believe in it,
[3:20] it's worth it. And because it actually is, we love this time
[3:23] of year because it means we're that much closer to being around our audience,
[3:27] which is definitely what we like. We get our energy from being around all
[3:31] of you guys. That's the part we find the most motivating. So as
[3:35] much as the days are long right now, we just can't wait to stop
[3:38] being in meetings about it and actually just be around everybody. So energy is
[3:42] definitely high. We had a solid meeting this afternoon and you know, knock
[3:46] on wood, everything everything's in good shade. But you know what, the
[3:50] the ultimate support to not procrast tonight is we always just jokingly remind ourselves,
[3:57] hey, it's not like it's starting in eight days, and then just everybody
[4:00] just pours dix to pot of coffee because you're leg Oh my gosh, because
[4:03] that's the thrill of live events. They are happening. We will open nine
[4:09] am Thursday, October twenty sixth ready or not, And that's actually quite motivating.
[4:13] You know, you can be flying the plane, you can hang onder
[4:15] the wing, but the plane is taken off, so pick your seat.
[4:18] I would love so much, sorry to interrupt, John, I would love
[4:21] so much to be a fly on the wall at that day long planning session.
[4:27] That sounds like such a blast. But I got a question for you,
[4:29] Vincent, like, how often does it come up at that session something
[4:31] that would have been completely foo bar if you hadn't had it. Oh yeah,
[4:38] there's definitely stuff that comes up because it's every department listening with their agenda
[4:45] in mind. So as we go through everything, it's like, oh,
[4:47] the box office team just heard from the special events thing about that thing that's
[4:51] taken to the party. Okay, I didn't know that. Or so it's
[4:55] all the collision of all the groups of well, okay, good to know.
[4:58] There's all there's always pain points that come out. There always no no
[5:03] question on because there's so many moving parts to it, thankfully, and again
[5:08] not nothing cheesy. It's a really good group of people that are just trying
[5:11] to put on the best festival possible. So there's there's there doesn't tend to
[5:15] be a lot of bumping into each other territorially. It's more our culture.
[5:18] The organization has always been and we openly talked about it. Best idea wins.
[5:21] No one really cares whose idea was, It really cares what You just
[5:25] forget what the best situation is and you got to go with that. But
[5:29] yeah, when you pick apart the e an hour by hour, there's about
[5:31] thirty thirty five of us at this meeting. Oh yeah, you're getting into
[5:35] stuff of like whoops were they invited? Oh my god? Or like whoops,
[5:40] is that happening there. I thought that was canceled. Now it's up
[5:42] again. Oh yeah, oh no, there's there's a few gems. There's
[5:45] there's there's no question. Oh yeah, there has to be. Yeah,
[5:48] there has to be. And you know, I don't know if people,
[5:51] if folks listening who don't do volunteer organizing understand the magnitude of the achievement to
[5:59] pull off a festival like this with volunteer labor and coordinate that labor and have
[6:04] it go so seamlessly like it's it's really an impressive and impressive thing that you
[6:10] do every year. Thanks for saying it, And on behalf of three hundred
[6:15] community volunteers will take the compliment. Thank you. We do the very best
[6:19] we can. People put in long hours and hard hours. But I think
[6:24] the best compliment we we got last year at the festival barn on all our
[6:28] visiting filmmakers, they said, you know, the films, they're great,
[6:30] great, the parties are really good, it's fine, venues are nice.
[6:32] They said, it is so obvious your community backs this and supports it,
[6:38] and it's so palpable that your volunteers truly are proud of it. That's what
[6:43] makes it actually special and that were that we're really proud of. You know,
[6:47] we get volunteer training all week and long, and this past weekend of
[6:50] the Capitol Theater and you've got people in there who took vacation time to volunteer.
[6:56] You have people there like, well, I was planning on going to
[6:57] visit relatives in Virginia, but we're growing later, so I'm going to volunteer
[7:00] now. I always find that extraordinary. I'm like, I can't believe people
[7:02] reorganize their time and give it their time that type of thing. And yeah,
[7:08] I mean, and we're all, you know, everyone's sort of we're
[7:11] pretty boots on the ground type of group. Like at some point if something's
[7:14] lovely, great, but at some point we need to haul boxes or sorry,
[7:17] we need to vacuum the pentastar. Like it's happening, you know,
[7:20] you know what I mean. And it's actually matters that we all just sort
[7:23] of like, okay, like this is just what's got to happen. Yeah,
[7:27] it's fun. And also I mean the thrill of it, there's an
[7:29] actual thrill of it of running a major live event, multiple locations and situations
[7:33] and all sorts of things that happened behind the scenes you'd never guess, and
[7:38] things that go well and things that don't go well, and what have you.
[7:40] But it's a pretty well oiled machine. I mean, we're nineteen years
[7:43] in. This was founded here, founded by people like Marcus Scarett that always
[7:47] believe, you know, the end of the films being in the conversation,
[7:49] and so many good people put their energy into getting it up and running.
[7:54] And I think, I honestly, I definitely believe. I think that the
[7:57] reason that's successful big big picture is it's been made by people in this community.
[8:01] It's not something that's brought in elsewhere and then condescendently told us, well,
[8:05] this is how culture is done, and this is how it's good in
[8:07] bigger cities. This is something that your friends and neighbors and winds are built.
[8:09] And I've always thought that was really quite extraordinary that this thing was built
[8:13] on people's dining room tables and Riverside and South Windsor and West End, you
[8:18] know what I mean. That's that to me is pretty often awesome. That's
[8:22] my soapboxer today, Like feel free to editate, like it's it's yeah,
[8:26] what are you most excited about for this year's lineup, Vincent, I mean,
[8:31] I've just been kind of looking at it as you were talking, and
[8:33] so much you choose from. I'm I'm most excited because I think this series
[8:37] lineup very much lives up to Mark's vision of the end of the film at
[8:41] the beginning of the conversation. We've got a couple of films that will push
[8:46] conversation out of people, whether you want to have them or not. I
[8:48] think about two films with the festival one the Zone of Interest in the film
[8:52] by John and Glazer, and the film called IRENA's Val which are both Holocaust
[8:58] tramas and different angle on them, different takes on them, different focus on
[9:01] them that are extraordinary and are very sadly going to be relevant again, they
[9:07] are always relevant. They have an extra just potency, and then they're going
[9:09] to get people to acting a question I think of I like a Smith and
[9:15] Hurl team from Windsor Law Center for Cities are supporting the screen of Leacamegon Sick
[9:20] This is Not an Accident, which is the tenth anniversary of the horrific train
[9:24] derilment that eviscerated a community where people were literally vaporized. The filmmaker of that
[9:31] film fit up that Aldo. He's coming to the festival this year. He's
[9:33] receiving an Achievement award at the festival, and then we're going to do a
[9:35] screening of his docu series on Leacamegon Sick. It's unbelievable and it's unbelievab when
[9:41] you watch this series of what happened in a town of six thousand people on
[9:45] one ninth when a train literally derailed and all this crude oil fire, you
[9:50] cannot help but think about what have you been in your community? And that's
[9:54] a film that instantly generates conversation. We've also got a whole series on housing
[9:58] this here as well. Libro's on board and every year we're going to a
[10:03] focus on a specific pillar that it deals with. So the issues we got
[10:07] on hand right now and they're doing one on housing and this specific film we're
[10:09] bringing in called Someone Lives Here. And what's amazing about it is, you
[10:13] know, some of these giant social issues, they're so big and all of
[10:16] a sudden, you know, talking today, you're almost like it's so much
[10:20] bigger than us. At some point, what can we actually do? And
[10:22] this film is about someone that tried to tackle housing at a micro level,
[10:26] where this man decided, if I try to build very small mobile units that
[10:31] I can build with plywood and put in some insulation, a little roof,
[10:35] I'll just start making these and fill up a park and people can just go
[10:39] live in them. And I'm just going to try to tackle it. And
[10:41] that goes well in a lot of ways. And then of course there's also
[10:43] it's a political pushback and what have you. This is the true story of
[10:46] Toronto and the men that build him. His name is Khalil. He is
[10:48] coming to the festival and he's going to be on stage having an in depth
[10:50] conversation about how he at a micro individual level, was like, I'm going
[10:56] to do what I can here and try to build some houses for some people
[10:58] to get them warm tonight. You know. Yeah, sir, Melinda served
[11:03] a super long answer to your good question. But it's there's so many films
[11:07] that are just going to spur convo and I think that's that in particular stand
[11:11] out this year. You Oh sorry, Johnquhead's gonna say, well, I
[11:16] mean on that topic, I is it your is it ever your intention?
[11:20] You or the people who are selecting their films to actually kind of you're talking
[11:24] about, well, there's going to be a conversations if it's like, wow,
[11:26] whatever the conversation is, is the conversation or is it you're trying to
[11:28] actually drive the conversation in a particular direction, like you're trying to Are you
[11:33] in some sort of light, light touchway, trying to you know, make
[11:37] a statement on local or provincial or even federal politics. I'd say both.
[11:43] I'd say both because at one point, we don't make films. We have
[11:45] to invite the films that exist, and some films are thrown in different directions.
[11:48] But in some cases too, if we think something is a pressing issue,
[11:52] or something needs more airtime or airspace, we will program according or try
[11:56] to push it accordingly. Yeah. Absolutely, you want to generate conversation,
[12:01] you understand, to bring attention, or there might not be. Yeah.
[12:05] I think it's a little bit of both, to be honest. Yeah,
[12:05] I think that's actually really fair to be honest. Okay, I questions this
[12:09] popped in my head. Do you ever get concerned that you're not going to
[12:13] sell tickets so like one specific show or generally speaking, or are you guys
[12:16] at all? I mean I mean listen, not you know, not so
[12:20] much. I mean, I mean, listen, you know the Monday nine
[12:22] am, three hour documentary on you know, Turkish or Gami maybe. Yeah,
[12:30] it's like listen, it's gonna sell nineteen tickets and by nineteen maybe three,
[12:33] and you go with it, you know what I mean, Like that's
[12:35] fine. No, not not so much. I mean we've been very,
[12:39] very fortunate in the attendance and interests. We've had in support a lot,
[12:43] a lot of strotting effort in marketing and working with a lot of sponsors and
[12:48] that people that get behind stuff. So not so much to be honest,
[12:50] though, but we do monitor ticket sales like daily, and by daily,
[12:52] I mean hourly, because it's exciting to see it coming in and we always
[12:56] do get surprised of like okay, like that film really took off, or
[12:58] that film not so much, or that's that's that's actually quite exciting to see
[13:03] what people respond to. But that's the beauty too, running and not for
[13:07] profit is that ultimately you need to cover your bases, you need to stay
[13:11] you know, basically solve you know, solvent and responsible that obviously, but
[13:16] of course you know it does every single film make money, No, no,
[13:20] do, many of them do. Yeah, And you should have balanced
[13:22] out. And that's why you get to show a film that you believe in
[13:24] or deals with subsequent that is important. And maybe that's one that you lost
[13:28] two hundred bucks on, and that's okay, it's fine, because the next
[13:31] one across the street you made four hundred bucks on, and you just moved
[13:33] around that way. Okay, listen, Vincent, I want to get personal
[13:37] here and talk about a film you showed a couple of years ago. Ani
[13:41] Aarra, you remember that one? Say it again? Say it again,
[13:43] Annie Ara? Yeah, yeah, yes, yeah, So that is one
[13:50] of my favorite films. It's it's an amazing movie. And it's something that
[13:54] I would only have been exposed to because it was shown at with and I
[14:01] was in that theater. And and buddy, you did not make money on
[14:03] that movie. But I'm so glad, No, no, I am so
[14:07] glad that it was screened here. Yeah, I think you in two and
[14:11] a half of your best friends saw that film, and yeah, right,
[14:13] yeah, And it's a damn good movie. It is. It's a it's
[14:18] a day and good no question, Yeah, yeah it And that's sort of
[14:22] the joy of it. I mean, I mean, like this year there's
[14:24] films from forty six countries and we've got films going on midnight. We've got
[14:28] mid that madness on the weekends and and you you you push people to go
[14:33] find some good stuff, and some films sell out and some films that are
[14:35] okay and some of nine people and that's okay too. You know it.
[14:39] It's getting people to see something they would have seen otherwise, getting to take
[14:41] a risk on something. That's the thing too, that's actually very really good
[14:45] with people that pick up This is not a promo things is reality. The
[14:48] pass because the past tends to reduce risk aversion, so that when you've got
[14:52] a pass and you're there and like, you know what, let me try
[14:54] that one out, or let me I have never seen a film some sweet
[14:56] why not people just open up one, just grab tickets and go to stuff.
[15:01] They tend to experiment more, which is really good. And that's what
[15:03] you want people doing of just shaking it up and being like, well that's
[15:05] some free time, now what's playing? Sure, I'm walking into that and
[15:09] you go for it. You know, well, we got to do some
[15:13] you know, basic standard questions here. So let's guide into stood with by
[15:16] the numbers. How many films one hundred and eighty six feature films? Okay,
[15:20] I guess we're shooting this also like it's a quiz for you, so
[15:22] yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No, it's a thing. Is
[15:26] that I know these so fast? All to pretend like, oh, let
[15:30] me think for like, yeah, no, one hundred eighty six to how
[15:33] many countries correct? How many short films thirty eight that adults go correct local
[15:39] programming? Local would be two features, seventeen shorts and with local and then
[15:46] in the Mark bascaral forty our flick fest another twenty one. Isn't this sad?
[15:50] John? That's fair? Guys are loving this. I'm like this sounds
[15:54] actually quite sad, be honest, you know what I mean? Like it
[15:56] depends the way you listen to this. Okay, we got one last one
[16:00] here. This is for all the points. If you don't get this,
[16:02] you lose the points. You don't get the car, everything falls apart.
[16:04] How many films in the world leading film festivals? Forty six from tiff and
[16:10] one hundred and seven from world leading film festivals. You know what, You're
[16:14] gonna have to go and take it up with some of your media partners because
[16:17] you're adding information that some of them didn't have in their pieces. But you're
[16:22] correct, but you're giving us more, so you win. Doug, did
[16:26] he have the promo budget for the car or I'm sorry, John, that's
[16:33] that's actually all in the make John's bail fund. We can't afford a car
[16:37] this year. That's fine, listen, No, it's great. I would
[16:41] rather be the bail fund. Let's be honest, okay, and just to
[16:42] do when we bail you at some point, John, it was thanks to
[16:45] like my generosity. Well, thanks for playing the roasty politics with quiz round.
[16:52] Really not a fair round when you're bringing on the executive director of Whip,
[16:56] but you know, this is what you get when you look at the
[16:56] program here and Doug, why don't I talk to follow? The questions may
[17:02] have been easy, but the risk was high. Vincent's got a lot on
[17:07] the line when you're asking about the statistics of his own festival. But fortunately
[17:11] you were totally on top of it. But if if he bombed, though,
[17:15] we would have just like replaced it with technical difficulties for like yeah,
[17:18] yeah, yeah, probably probably Vincent. This is a political show and I
[17:23] want to maybe move the conversation into a more political realm with is engaged with
[17:33] government, certainly government at municipal and provincial levels. Do you have any any
[17:40] federal associations We do. Certainly. We received support from FEDEV, which is
[17:47] federally administer Tassy's office this last year formerly came to last year, which was
[17:52] half million dollars of support towards all the work we're doing towards driving economic investment
[17:56] growth in the region. And then some of that fun thing was attached for
[18:00] twenty twenty three budget as well, so it was as much as it was
[18:03] an announcement of twenty twenty two. Some of that overlapped this year. Yep.
[18:06] That federally is the support you receive. So so funding from all three
[18:10] levels of government in Canada. Yep. That you know talk about and I
[18:15] really like unpacking this when we are talking about your festival, I also want
[18:19] to talk about your organization. This is something else that not a lot of
[18:22] other people do. So you have to maintain relationships with all three levels of
[18:27] government. Absolutely, You've got to keep them sweet. You want to see
[18:30] that them to see that your your you see their interests and that your interests
[18:34] are aligned and all that good stuff. What's that like for a volunteer festival
[18:41] one? I mean, once time consuming is there's no question, I think
[18:45] the big pieces. We've always been politically minded. But a political with itself
[18:52] does not have a position on any part year in any government. It just
[18:56] does not, nor really should it. So what it is, it's really
[18:59] working with who is in power and who's in government federally, provincially, municipally,
[19:03] and working to we're the commonalities, We're the areas that we are aligned.
[19:07] We're the areas that we actually can do good work together and really focus
[19:14] on that. And you know, it's funny, it's not actually know what
[19:18] to make the comparison. It's not particularly different how we even engage, even
[19:21] in interpersonal relationships. Even how I engage interpersonal relationships, I will always focus
[19:26] on the eight un ten things I had in common with someone and not really
[19:30] work on the two out of ten that will probably never aground, which is
[19:33] also okay, you know what I mean, That's really all we've always approached
[19:36] it. And I've got to say and be mindful, this is a very
[19:38] political show, and as you know, I have a very big listener we've
[19:42] had really really excellent support and meaningful support and meaningful interest with all three levels.
[19:49] And I'm really proud to say it. And could I have said that
[19:52] that was always the case, all three levels, all times and always known,
[19:56] but it is certainly the case the past many years, and we're really
[20:00] really appreciated of that. It's it's it's actually been really excellent in terms of
[20:04] and again you've got to build the case, you've got to prove your support,
[20:08] you've got to prove what you've got, you know what I mean.
[20:11] It's it's those things are fleeting, there's no question at all. But we're
[20:15] really really fortunate that by working with each government and seeing what matters, where
[20:19] do we fit into that, how can we actively and meaningfully actually contribute to
[20:23] it. It's it's been We really really appreciate it. Actually, it's funny
[20:29] enough, you might find it surprising. It's it's as much as it's time
[20:32] consuming, the whole relations piece for with isn't one of the most stressful ones.
[20:37] It's one that needs a lot of time, but that's not all the
[20:38] most stressful ones, because you just keep going back to where do we align,
[20:42] where do we fit and it's it's been it's been really good. Yeah.
[20:48] What are the stressful components then of the festival? Just you brought that
[20:51] up? Sure, I mean stress stressful components of it. Yeah, there
[20:55] are certainly a few. I mean definitely mean the scale and size of it,
[20:57] no question. You know, the average lifespan of film festival in North
[21:00] America's two years. We're nineteen years in. You know what I mean.
[21:04] These things are. These things are not Mickey mouse, and people have I
[21:07] think very what I call romantic ideas about them, like oh, put up
[21:11] a screen and everyone will come, it'll be nice and lovely and no,
[21:14] no, no, no no. These are very expensive to do. They're
[21:15] complicated, the distributed relationships complicated. Legalities with the films are complicated. The
[21:21] tech piece is really quite complex, and the anti piracy stuff and all that,
[21:25] the behind the scenes stuff on the tech team is not for the fainthearted,
[21:27] and thankfully have a very strong team on that front also too. At
[21:33] the scale and size that we operate at, we have you know, we
[21:38] have four contract employees right now, three hundred volunteers year round, so the
[21:44] proportion there is exactly what it is. But also we're active year round we
[21:48] have with presents going on year round. That we did. We have under
[21:49] the Stars free for the community on the front lawn City Hall. Over the
[21:52] summer. We've during the pandemic we went for the drive in. I think
[21:56] that the biggest that's stressor, but I'd say it's time consuming. As alves
[22:00] a challenge, I'll throw this one on the table. We're competitive with ourselves.
[22:07] We are very very terrible grammar here, very non stagnant. Our group
[22:14] is totally what's next? How do we step it up? That was great,
[22:18] but that was yesterday, very much like that, And that's I said
[22:22] in other ways though, is actually throwing because it's never cut and paste.
[22:27] It's never like, well that seems to be fine. No, actually quite
[22:30] quite the opposite. It's always yeah, but how can that go the next
[22:34] level? How can that be better? How it can it be pulpolished?
[22:37] But then to keep it always at that standard and almost the expectations we have
[22:41] in ourselves is definitely you know, we're probably a whole buzz our core team
[22:47] about thirty people or so. It's like thirty type a's all together in a
[22:51] room going at it, which on most days is really really good but you
[22:53] know what I mean, like everyone's really trying to go for something great because
[22:57] we really believe in it. I'd say those are some of it, somewhere
[23:00] between the stressors and just the ones that are just time consuming. You know,
[23:03] we were, we're I'll give you the best example of that I can
[23:07] give you without a shadow of doubt, was in the pandemic, every film
[23:11] festival by nature was going virtual by nature. Obviously everyone was the most obviously
[23:15] humanly possible, and we very quickly were like, we're not doing it.
[23:19] It's not about the experience anymore. It's not about the end of the film's
[23:23] being in the conversation, why would we do to this? And not only
[23:26] did we not go in that direction, we decided to create a home new
[23:30] event and do a drive in on the on the Detroit de River front.
[23:33] In hindsight, now, oh we were nuts, but like there's just no
[23:40] quote, I'm just being honest, Like now that back, I'm like,
[23:42] especially the first one because all the closures on the this and that, and
[23:47] we did it, but we're we're not arresting on the Laurel's type of group.
[23:52] There's no question on that good or bad. Actually there's just no question.
[23:55] We are not at all a cut and pace group. And and but
[23:59] you know what, it keeps us busy and that's why we're that much prouder
[24:03] when something successful in our audience choice it. Sorry for the super long answer,
[24:07] but like it's it's just an honest one. I just want to before
[24:10] only to you ask your question. I remember, Dug when we presented the
[24:14] Mark Pots scariol Holmfest Award at that first drive in in the Pandemic. It
[24:19] was like the first time that we had really seen each other in persons ever,
[24:22] doing everything by zoom, and I was like, oh, I've got
[24:26] some anxiety. I don't know if I want to see everyone talk, you
[24:27] know. I smoked of it a weed. And then we met up and
[24:30] wandered onto the state and I can handle that fine. And then the thing
[24:33] that got me, Oh, the audience's cards. That's really weird. I've
[24:38] never seen this before. And then it's like, okay, everyone makes noise
[24:44] and they altered, honking their horn again. Being a little stoned, I
[24:48] was just like, this is really weird, but you could do a great
[24:51] job. Wenda Fell throw it over to you. This is a question maybe
[24:55] a little bit more that the real film boss would be interested in the answer
[24:57] to. But we we saw that the writers and actors strike impacted TIFF and
[25:03] that they were unable to have the sort of red carpet experience that is really
[25:07] a feature of TIFF. So how did that, How did the writers strike
[25:11] and the actor strike have impact your planning or your scheduling. I mean,
[25:15] it seemed like the programming was late coming out this year, and I wondered
[25:18] if that was a function of that. No, no, not at all.
[25:22] Actually, the writers wouldn't impact us at all, even though it's something
[25:26] we monitored for sure because it matters for our sector in terms of the actors
[25:30] only on some of the talent that would be joining the festival. There were
[25:34] a few more backflips around that, making sure what exact union are very part
[25:37] of. Is that a production that has a waiver or not. That was
[25:41] a little bit more in involved, but ultimately doesn't change much in terms of
[25:45] the people joining. But that was that one was a little bit more involved
[25:48] and in terms of the program getting out of the lineup was announced probably maybe
[25:53] three or four days later than normal. Key reason, Yeah, we better
[25:57] felt it that actually just actually was just in fairness. But what's happening is
[26:02] we're being offered and being able to court more and more pigh profile films,
[26:07] which then are taking to the eleventh hour plus of getting them through eight million
[26:12] clearances, right and that that has been like this, get a perfect example
[26:18] one the film that we're showing American Fiction, which when the people should wear
[26:22] to Tiff, Warner Brothers just pick that up. That took that took us
[26:26] until I don't know, ten minutes before the press conference, you know,
[26:29] you know what I mean. It was so many levels of clearance on that.
[26:32] And that's the same thing like last year we had our pollies to women
[26:33] talking some of those films will just take to the eleventh hour because what happens
[26:37] on the sector side, so you guys get the vially inside baseball, tiff
[26:41] is are like our annual agm for the world that we all go to.
[26:45] Okay, and because it's such a wild ramp up to Tiff. Right after
[26:48] Tiff, the industry goes to sleep for like two weeks and goes on vacation
[26:52] and everyone's catching up for lost time, which is when we're in prime time
[26:56] booking and finalizing things. So everything we're doing to except TIF is like hunting
[27:00] people down on their vacations, being like, by the way, I need
[27:03] an answer on that. It's it's yeah, it's it's the two weeks is
[27:08] purely calling people in on favors and like cajoling people. But yeah, but
[27:14] overall what I what I am interested to see? Just on that that good
[27:17] note, though I do think the screen Actor's Guild strike though, will take
[27:22] us another couple of months. I don't see a resolution for that when that
[27:25] fast. I would like to think by New Years, but it's not me
[27:29] fast. There's a really big stuff on the table, and it seems to
[27:32] have taken a bit of a step backwards as a leap. So does that
[27:34] impact Just is that something you're now worried about for next year, not just
[27:37] in terms of who can come, but whether the films even get made?
[27:40] Yeah, I know that, that's exactly it. Like having the writers been
[27:42] on strike this long, you're going to see a lag in some productions,
[27:47] and that probably for like twenty twenty five because film is longer or is You're
[27:51] going to see an impact on the TV side next year, no question,
[27:52] because TV is a shorter arc, so you'll see that It is good that
[27:57] the writers have come back first because now it would be going into stockpilot script
[28:02] mode, so once the actors get back to go into production much faster.
[28:06] So the sequence is good if you if you can, it would have been
[28:10] useless to bring all the actors back now because the writer's not back. But
[28:15] it's it's dicey. But when you've got AI and you've got streaming residuals amongst
[28:22] other things, this is not small potatoes. These are messy, complicated things
[28:26] that are justifiable, that are concerning. I mean the idea that you know,
[28:30] if our video call here was a film, and because Milanda, we
[28:36] now have your likeness, we can have you making films for hundreds of years
[28:38] from now and never banging for it and using your voice and your shape and
[28:42] your hair what have you. In any way we see fit that is like,
[28:45] that is that is profound, That is not nothing, so it's called.
[28:51] And also the streaming piece. You know, back in the day when
[28:53] you're doing Law and Order episodey twenty six, are getting residuals for decades and
[29:00] now you know you live on in perpetuity on the Sopranos or succession or the
[29:03] Crown and good luck to you. It's it's it's there's a lot on the
[29:08] table. That's what I would say. There's a lot on the table.
[29:11] Well, listen. Listeners don't know. But we've trained the Roasti Pelitics panel
[29:15] through AI a couple of months ago, and we haven't put out a new
[29:17] episode since it's all been generated through checking and with the boy. But in
[29:22] all seriousness, though, solidarity to my brothers and sisters bag because I'm also
[29:27] in that union of just in, I do have a question, Vincent.
[29:33] It occurs to me that the last few questions that we've asked have related to
[29:40] sort of the the challenges that you have and the responsibilities you have in the
[29:45] community and the political sort of connections and responsibilities you have as a big festival.
[29:52] You're a big festival, and uh, I'm really curious about about the
[29:57] process of adding big. You know, you talked about the relationship with the
[30:03] city in a very diplomatic way, but it was you know, it's something
[30:07] that that relationships evolve, right, It's all easy now you you know,
[30:11] you're the premier cultural event in the city. You've got you know, you've
[30:15] got the cultural capital to attract hundreds of volunteers. I don't want to say
[30:21] that it's you know, it's not like it's on autopilot, but a lot
[30:26] of those a lot of the challenges of a small nonprofit group, you know,
[30:30] you've conquered them along the way. What was that, Like, this
[30:37] is an excellent question. You're chipping it away daily or hourly, Like there's
[30:41] no autopilot at all, never has been, even now, there's even now,
[30:45] it's definitely autopilot, and back in the day, not at all.
[30:48] It's you're constantly building and proving and showing and building interest and finding the pennies
[30:57] to make the dollars, find finding the dollars, the thousands of dollars,
[31:00] you know what I mean. There's there's just no shortcut around it. Yeah,
[31:07] And it's it's been a long it's been a long haul long strategy on
[31:10] that for for sure, No, no question, Like it's definitely been year
[31:15] round. Like the idea that like we started up a couple of months ago
[31:18] or something is ludicrous. We will go to bed after this year's festival and
[31:21] jump right back in of it a week later. Because it takes a butu
[31:23] fifty one weeks to do it. Let alone. This coming year's ACTU twentieth
[31:26] anniversary, so ann a versary year. You just got you know everything,
[31:30] Like it's it's but there's it's definitely not. Our gang are people that meet
[31:36] on Sunday mornings for three hours. Our gang are the types that there's an
[31:40] emergency, call it ten pm on a Tuesday and you're going to it.
[31:41] Our gang is the type of a board meeting and everybody knows. Tell your
[31:45] partner, like do not beholding dinner that that's that's how you do it.
[31:51] It's definitely definitely not. I don't want to say enough for the faint hearted,
[31:56] but I do mean that. Do you know what I mean? This
[31:57] is not you know, you know, put a few hours here if he
[32:01] is there and it's you know, I always say to people, if you
[32:04] want to walk a red carpet, go buy one and walk on it.
[32:06] Don't join with you know you want to, Or you want to watch a
[32:08] lot of movies unless you're in programming, you're not watching, you know what
[32:10] I mean? Like, it's it's definitely everyone's going to jump in because the
[32:15] scale and size of it, Like we are not a little regional festival,
[32:19] We're a national festival that that that is in Windsor, and there's expectations and
[32:23] standards around that. And I mean I think the last year too, Like
[32:27] example, the moment I'm like, okay, this is happening. So our
[32:29] film opening film last year, Empire of Light, was from Fox Searchlight got
[32:31] it a couple of months earliest tip of stuff. The film arrived with security.
[32:36] Security guards entered with the film. A security guard sat with the projectionist
[32:40] up in the booth, and we had security guards in the audience with the
[32:45] infrared glasses on watching the audience make sure they weren't recording the film. Do
[32:51] you know what I mean? Like like that's a type of sad back of
[32:52] my mind, Like okay, like that's happening now, you know what I
[32:55] mean? Like, and this is what I'm getting at because this is such
[32:59] a difference from we got to lay out the folding chairs in the warehouse.
[33:01] Oh so we can scream this movie. And is there an inflection point that
[33:07] you can point to and say that was when it you know, that was
[33:08] when we went vertical? Yeah, I would say it was the City of
[33:16] Windsor's commitment in twenty eighteen. I really, I really do up to that
[33:21] point, the city being supportive in some ways but in ways that we're not
[33:25] getting us to where we knew we could be the good we could do for
[33:28] the community. And the city made, you know, an incredible capital investment
[33:31] that allowed us to stop renting all of our equipment and purchase it. And
[33:37] that was an armis I really really can that that's really that was actually none
[33:42] it is. It was. It was the turning point because all of a
[33:44] sudden, we were not having so much money going out the window or renting
[33:47] stuff. We actually had our equipment and then we're able to focus elsewhere that
[33:52] honestly, and that was in like jan or feb of twenty eighteen. Yeah,
[33:57] that really really was. And that was also the I think the moment
[34:00] the community really rallied and it crystallized with everybody were like, this is a
[34:05] big deal and it's a big deal in Windsor. And I think that's where
[34:07] just so much crystallized. I would look at that point, there's been a
[34:10] lot of major milestones along the way when you're seeing inflection point. When you
[34:14] said inflection, yep, my mind went right there. And not to be
[34:17] cheesy, it's the political show, but that really was the inflection point.
[34:22] And I remember that moment because it sort of it was as someone who's been
[34:27] you know, active in the arts. Yeah, for you know a number
[34:29] of years in this community to see the city kind of out of the blue.
[34:31] It felt so out of blue. Now you probably had been negotiating word
[34:35] rageous, but it just felt like suddenly, out of the blue, there
[34:37] was this real, huge, you know, injection of capitalists you say,
[34:40] and it felt great, but it was also like, oh wow, where
[34:44] did that come from? No, No, Milndia, No, you're perfectly
[34:46] right. It was years of just building the case. It was years of
[34:52] saying, hey, kind of give you some information. It's years of saying,
[34:54] did you know what we're doing? Did you know compared to other festivals
[34:58] in Canada? Did you know how to pople are coming to this? Did
[35:00] you know how long our guests are staying? You know what I mean?
[35:02] It was years of that. It was not a fast rate on any of
[35:06] these types of things. The advocacy piece is always consistent and has to be
[35:10] credible and has to be factual, and it takes time, like it just
[35:14] but over time, when you when you make the case and you're saying this
[35:15] is where we're at, this where we can go, and also giving you
[35:19] know, comparators, giving people understanding of you understand what you have here,
[35:23] that it was it was really really extraordinary, It really really was. And
[35:27] that set us on a on a different course. And and uh, you
[35:30] know what i'd say here to again being a political show, you know,
[35:32] certainly looking you provincially and federally, considering you know, obviously different parties or
[35:38] what have your different leadership styles happening. I've got to say, for what
[35:43] it's worth in terms of meaningful support, not just you know, you know,
[35:46] verbiage or what have you. I've got to say, you know,
[35:50] for governments that have different points of view, different ways of operating, there's
[35:52] been really really significant meaningful support, you know. And then some some people
[35:58] are more and less surprised by that. But I've got to say, credit
[36:00] where credits do sure, And so this is maybe you know again not really
[36:06] about with uh specifically, but what does it mean that Belle is pulling out
[36:09] of Tiff for film festivals in general? The Bell piece with Tiff. From
[36:15] my understanding, I have probably a decent view on it, dec understanding of
[36:20] some of the players there, so I feel okay to talk about it.
[36:22] I think is more reflection where Bell is at than where Tiff is at.
[36:27] I think it's a really matter of that's a commitment. So the Bell gift
[36:30] is about five million a year to Tiff, which is which is you know,
[36:34] substantial. I don't know that Belle's performance in the past few years can
[36:39] could justify that amongst the different philanthropic ventures they have that there's five million for
[36:44] that five million for anything, to be honest, and I know that drove
[36:47] I'm not gonna say it that drove all of it, but it did drive
[36:51] most of it. I know that was a huge, huge piece. I
[36:53] think the the the the other, the other piece, you know, I
[36:57] mean obviously to consider I think for for for Bell, and that case is,
[37:01] you know, where are they spending their time, how they're showing value
[37:05] to shareholders, you know, the whole bit. Tiff has certainly changes the
[37:07] organization as well. But I wouldn't read that as a death knel type piece.
[37:15] But it's certainly something that you know, in all fairness, you know
[37:19] today, would I want to be the VP fundraising for Tiff right now?
[37:22] No, I wouldn't want to be looking for, you know, a new
[37:24] five million dollar partner this year, especially that their building is named after them,
[37:29] it's the Tiff Bell Light Box. That's a challenging situation of being sorry
[37:32] not to give you like a pat answer, but like, but but was
[37:37] this the biggest shock that they pulled out of that I would I would say
[37:39] no. I had an inkling, an inkling, for whatever it's worth,
[37:44] I had an inkling probably a year ago. I'm like, maybe a few
[37:49] question marks on that one. I guess just the what you mentioned about Tiff
[37:52] being kind of the the international of the world's a GM for film festivals and
[37:55] then and now they've got this like they've had this kind of like you know
[37:59] AMPI if you will, Yeah, that's the rest of the film festival circuit.
[38:02] Yeah, no, no, it definitely does. So Tiff is where
[38:07] all the business is done for the industry year round. So it's sort of
[38:08] that's why I viewed as our AGM. So for it to hit at that
[38:12] festival, that that that that is not it's just not good. The other
[38:15] part that was rather merciless and all of it how it got out or and
[38:20] I would know, but all that was announced prior to them starting, and
[38:23] there was an extra viciousness I thought, And however, gotten got out that
[38:28] all of that bad news leaked right before they went up on stage that I
[38:31] thought was ahead a little bit, you know, if that would come out
[38:34] saying now or in December. Okay, it happened, what have you.
[38:37] But that was sort of all in the press and everything like the week before
[38:39] TIFF started, and that that's I certainly I wasn't envious of my colleagues at
[38:45] TIFF in that situation. Well, hey, Vincent, I think that worked
[38:52] pretty well at the end of where this conversation is going to go to and
[38:55] taken up more of your time than we had expected to. Really want to
[38:59] say thank you so much, especially considering how busy you are, and I'm
[39:02] sure that you've got a volunteer meeting that you've got to run to right now
[39:05] or go wrangle. Okay, actually do thank you so much for your time.
[39:10] We really appreciate it, and we can't wait to h you know,
[39:14] check out the Bestial next week. We'll see all of the festival. Thanks
[39:15] ever so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks great, thanks every appreciate
[39:20] it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Bye. Well,
[39:23] folks, that's the Rose City Politics Special. I want to thank our guest
[39:28] tonight, Executive director of Windsor International Film Festival, Vincent Georgie, as well.
[39:32] Our regular panel for this special included myself, John Lynkey, the Star
[39:37] Story and me Linda Monroe. You can check it out online wherever you want.
[39:43] And it was able to be put together thanks to the kind support of
[39:45] the Unit sixty five building Better Communities and see what happens when I'm trying to
[39:50] get that out of my head and not off of the sheet. Cheer folks,
[39:52] by H.

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