A great reason to ditch TV viewing this weekend.
The 24th annual Victoria Film Festival begins Friday, offering 110 films over the next 10 days.
It's Vancouver Island's largest and longest running film festival, attracting product from 30 countries, including six Canadian premieres, 36 B-C premieres, and 28 local premieres.
Festival Programmer Donovan Aikman says most of the gems are a limited time offer: "The most common question I get is 'When am I going to see it - if I miss it at the festival?' I tell them 'I don't know, sometimes films don't come back.' That's part of the joy of the experience. We build on that experience with guests, talks and industry seminars."
Case & Point: Fans of the Game of Thrones series on HBO will see one of the characters in Victoria, albeit in a different role.
Adian Gillen, who portrayed Lord 'Littlefinger' Baelish in GoT, is bringing the North American premiere of 'Pickups' to the festival for two screenings on Saturday.
Gillen co-wrote and stars as himself in 'Pickups', a film about an sleep-deprived actor coping with sudden fame.
Other notables worth their weight in popcorn:
'WATERBOYS' Set to a soundtrack of the Scottish folk rock band by the same name, this dramedy folllows an egotistical father and his emotionally sensitive son as they embark on an quirky journey to heals their tattered bond.
'THE BLACK COP' Canadian actor, director and choreographer, Cory Bowles, best known for his portrayal of "Cory" in the series Trailer Park Boys, will be presenting his full-length directorial debut.
'OUR PEOPLE WILL BE HEALED' Alanis Obomsawin, an American Canadian Abenaki filmmaker, a trailblazer for Indigenous filmmakers in Canada will be unveiling her 50th film.
'INDIAN HORSE' - A boy stolen from his Ojibwe family in the 1950s who, once forced into an Ontario residential school, discovers a talent for hockey that gives him a temporary escape from the horrors of the oppressive system.
A number of screenings have sold out in advance. Tickets to the opening gala Friday night are $79. Individual screening tickets are $12.
For more information, click here: https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/