Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Oakville Festivals of Film and Art (OFFA) will host an event for the public to attend.
It will begin with the beat of the Butterfly Spirit Drum Circle of Women, led by Grandmother’s Voice co founder, Jody Harbour, accompanied by Josie Lavalley and Jenn Luxmore-Begin. Their collective performance will echo the timeless wisdom passed on through music and community gatherings with a mission to revive and amplify ancestral insights and values.
This year, guest emcee Carole Bertuzzi-Luciani returns to delight attendees with her entertaining vignettes as she introduces special live musical and feature performances.
Award-winning singer/songwriter Sydney Mae will perform her latest release ‘Rhythm’ to lead into the 2024 feature film ‘500 Days in the Wild‘, from award-winning director and cinematographer, photographer and author Dianne Whelan. She’s the first person to complete what is being credited as the longest trek in the world, traversing 24,000 km of Canada’s land from sea to sea to sea.
Whelan completed this gruelling, occasionally harrowing, often exhilarating and always surprising journey of discovery in her 50s by hiking, biking, paddling, snowshoeing and skiing across the country. She started out alone, disillusioned with the state of the world and worried about climate change, but ended this journey a bit wiser, more hopeful, in love, and with a passion to share her story. A virtual live Q&A with Dianne will accompany the screening.
On why she chose to feature her film at OFFA, she shares:
“Ideas shape our lives. As a storyteller, they are the seeds from which it all begins. As words give shape to breath, art gives shape to ideas.”
Partial proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to The Women’s Centre of Halton. Attendees can enjoy a regular or VIP Ticket experience and a chance to win one of three door prizes.
This inspirational, entertaining, and awareness-raising homage to females in film and the arts is scheduled for Monday, March 4th at the Film.Ca Cinemas at 171 Speers Road in Oakville.
Learn more here.
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