Mirror Mountain Film Festival

Our friends at Digital Arts Resource Centre are hosting a week-long Interactive Projection Mapping program that provides q***r and racialized youth (ages 16-29) with the hands-on skills and knowledge to create their own interactive installations.

Working in small groups, the youth will learn to create custom audio and projection mapped visuals to be exhibited as an interactive installation at the end of the program.

The program takes place from October 21-25 and runs from 10am-5pm each day.

DARC have 9 spots available and the cost to register is $50 for the week. Fees can be waived if cost is a barrier to participation.

The registration page is here: https://amsnetwork.ca/partners/darc/programs/4-9594

Mirror Mountain’s earlybird submissions deadline is coming up soon on Monday July 15. We’re looking for diverse, unconventional and innovative films from every genre, including documentary, drama, animation, experimental, music video, dance, interactive media and much, much more. Submit and share your unique vision with us!

Visit our website for more more info:
https://bit.ly/3oDaxTR

DARC's Indigenous Residency Program is still open for submissions! This is a one-month intensive on-site artist residency offered to mid-career Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) artists in the Ottawa-Gatineau region who are seeking to develop their current practice, experiment with a new medium, or continue an existing project.
The residency provides access to DARC's facilities and equipment, up to 16 hours of advisor time, and an artist fee of $2,000 plus $500 for an artist talk or presentation. The residency will run for the month of October 2024.

Apply here: https://digitalartsresourcecentre.ca/indigenous-residency/

Everyone at Mirror Mountain is deeply saddened about the passing of our dear friend and community member Eric Archambault. Eric was an ardent supporter and attendee of our festival for nearly a decade, and was always curious to see what other artists were making.

We had the honour of presenting a live performance by Eric in 2019 under the stage name VJ Cinetik, where he created beautiful, immersive live visuals alongside local band Novusolis. The musicians who collaborated with him spoke of how natural the process was and the way he made others feel comfortable and respected.

Amanda Lowe Warnakulasuriya, a former member of Novusolis and current board member of the festival, remembers Eric as a lovely person both on and off the creative stage. His approach to their multidisciplinary collaboration was not based in the potential aesthetics of it all, but rather how they could use their creative gifts to enhance one another’s art, and work together in presenting the shared message behind their creations. Every element was personalized and steeped in intention, in care. He had a gift for connecting the audience to the artist.

Eric’s kind, warm and compassionate presence will be truly missed. We all feel lucky to have known him.

A memorial service will be held on June 12 at Borden and Fleming Suites at 1pm:
https://beechwoodottawa.ca/en/services/eric-archambault

Our very own board president Kenneth Warner was invited to be a special guest juror for the 1st Edition - Ottawa Youth Film Festival this year, which is being held at the Mayfair Theatre this May 11th with screenings starting at 11:30am. Mirror Mountain is pleased to help OYFF support young and emerging filmmakers and this should be a fun event. Tickets are free!

https://www.ottawayouthfilmfestival.ca/

Tomorrow at 12pm at Library & Archives Canada (395 Wellington St.), Mirror Mountain Film Festival is co-presenting SHORT SCREENINGS, a program of international short films that is part of this year’s Ottawa Black Film Festival - OBFF. The program can also be viewed online!

Find out more about the 6 short films in this program here: https://ottawablackfilm.com/event/short-screenings-series-1/

Mirror Mountain Film Festival is pleased to be co-presenting SHORT SCREENINGS, a program of international short films being shown on Saturday, March 23rd at 12pm at Library & Archives Canada (395 Wellington St.) as part of this year’s Ottawa Black Film Festival. Films can also be watched online!

Find out more about the 6 shorts being screened in this program here: https://ottawablackfilm.com/event/short-screenings-series-1/

Say hello to our 2024 - 2025 live performance jury! We’e delighted to welcome Annie Socoria to our team. Annie created some amazing live visuals at our last festival in collaboration with Ottawa-based electronic musician Jakean. This will be her first time participating on one of our juries!

Returning to the jury this festival season is OK Naledi, who gave a stunning show at our 2021 live music + film performance alongside local filmmaker Hingman Leung.

Annie and Naledi’s experience and insight will help guide our board when it comes time to review all the live performance proposals we receive from the Ottawa-Gatineau community of filmmakers, media artists, musicians and bands this season!

kicks off tomorrow, presented by our friends at the International Film Festival of Ottawa. See 25 feature films from 26 different countries, plus 21 Canadian short films, from March 13 - 24.

Say hello to our 2024 - 2025 interactive media jury members! We are very happy to be welcoming Efehan Elbi and Lisa Birke back this festival season.

Efehan is an animator, game designer, writer and poet who won our Best Director award in 2016, and along with other members of the studio Done \ Undone created IN COLD DARK, which was Mirror Mountain’s first-ever interactive display in 2019.

Lisa’s work crosses the boundaries between painting, digital video and performance art. Her short film THE KNITS was featured in our 2017 festival, and her interactive piece THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY was a highlight of our 2021 edition.

Efehan and Lisa will be bringing their expertise to help our board review the interactive media submissions we receive this season!

Did you know? Mirror Mountain Film Festival is a qualifying festival for the Canadian Screen Awards.

Acceptance into 2 or more festivals approved by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television makes your short drama, documentary or animation, or your feature-length documentary, eligible for a Canadian Screen Award, and as of 2024, we’re on the list!

More info: https://bit.ly/3T9BNZR

Say hello to our 2024 - 2025 film jury! We are very pleased to welcome Amanda Feder to our team. Amanda won the Best Local Film award at our last festival for her hilarious and thought-provoking documentary THE VA**NA SLIDES.

Returning to the jury this festival season is local filmmaker Nicole Blundell! Nicole teaches filmmaking at De La Salle in Ottawa, and creates experimental works on 8mm and 16mm through The Lightproof Film Collective.

Amanda and Nicole will bring their wealth of experience to help our board assess this year’s film submissions.

Mirror Mountain Film Festival is now welcoming submissions for our 7th edition! We want to see the most groundbreaking, unconventional and alternative films from every genre, including drama, documentary, animation, experimental, music video, dance film and much more. Short, medium-length and feature-length films are eligible to apply. We’re also welcoming submissions of interactive media for exhibition in our festival lounge.

Submit your work and be a part of the action: https://bit.ly/3oDaxTR

Are you an independent filmmaker with a unique creative voice? Mirror Mountain Film Festival is officially opening for submissions next Monday, February 12th, and we want to see the most offbeat, outrageous, innovative and original films out there. Shorts, medium-length and feature-length films in all genres are welcome, and so are interactive media artworks! We’ve also lowered our fees a little from last year, and submission is always free for alumni and local filmmakers.

Visit our Submissions page for more info: https://bit.ly/3oDaxTR

Say hello to our 2024 board of directors! We are very pleased to welcome Amanda Lowe Music to our team. She has been a longtime collaborator with our festival, and their experience as a leader in the local arts scene will help guide our board toward more productive growth in the future.

Relive Mirror Mountain Film Festival’s epic 2023 live music + film performance! Ottawa-based electronic musician Jakean and local experimental media artist Annie Socoria collaborated on this unique audio-visual experience to form a compelling fusion of light and rhythm.

Jakean x Annie Socoria - Live Music + Film Performance Relive Mirror Mountain Film Festival’s epic 2023 live music + film performance! Ottawa-based electronic musician and local experimental media artist ...

Revisit a highlight of the immersive live music + film performance from our 2023 festival as Ottawa-based electronic musician Jakean performs “Phantom Moon” with an ever-changing backdrop of images created live by local experimental media artist Annie Socoria. Full concert to be released soon!

Jakean x Annie Socoria - "Phantom Moon" Revisit a highlight of the immersive live music + film performance from our 2023 festival as Ottawa-based electronic musician performs “Phantom Moon”...

A high point of our 2023 live music + film performance was the scorching closing number, “Dawn & Owsley” by Ottawa-based electronic musician Jakean, with distorted and altered visuals created in real time by local experimental media artist Annie Socoria. See more of their amazing collaboration on our YouTube channel soon!

Jakean x Annie Socoria - "Dawn & Owsley" A high point of our 2023 live music + film performance was the scorching closing number, “Dawn & Owsley” by Ottawa-based electronic musician , with di...

We’re so glad to finally share the full album of images from our July 2023 screenings and special events at LabO Theatre - so many great moments and fun times were had with festival friends both old and new. Hope to see you all again at our next edition!

Photos by Timothy I. Smith

Some special moments from our magical weekend at Mirror Mountain Film Festival captured by the talented Timothy I. Smith - be on the lookout for the full photo album soon!

Join us in congratulating this year's award winners! We are so proud to have been able to screen these fabulous films by Amanda Feder, Anya Liftig, Will Rahilly, Devin Shears and Julien Cadieux at Mirror Mountain last weekend, and share them with our audience. Thanks again to all the filmmakers who joined us in person at the festival, and to our wonderful sponsors for donating so many great award prizes.

Come visit us at LabO today for some great screenings and sign our guestbook while you're here!

Listen to local filmmaker Alexander Cruz talking with Alan Neal on CBC Ottawa's All in a Day about his film PORTRAIT OF A SONGWRITER: A LOU ALBERT MIXTAPE, which will have its world premiere at Mirror Mountain this Sunday July 23 at 1pm.

Gatineau filmmaker premieres documentary a decade in the making | All in a Day with Alan Neal | Live Radio | CBC Listen In 2010, Alexander Cruz started to film his friend, Gatineau rock musician Lou Albert. His documentary, 'Portrait of a Songwriter: A Lou Albert Mixtape' will now premiere at the Mirror Mountain Film Festival in Ottawa this weekend