The Royal City is the place to be this weekend for anyone interested in checking out some critically acclaimed movies on the big screen.
The NewWest FilmFest, formerly known as DocFest, is returning to Landmark Cinemas at Plaza 88 for its fourth year from Nov. 5 to 7.
The festival kicks things off on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. with the documentary This Changes Everything, inspired by Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein’s bestselling non-fiction book of the same name.
“Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to reimagine the vast challenge of climate change,” the festival’s website notes.
Also on Friday, viewers are invited to learn more about the early years of Greenpeace in How to Change the World.
The documentary features archive footage from the 1970s from some of the group’s first protests that capture the beginnings of our “modern Green movement.”
“When youthful energy comes up against the complexities of a growing organization, and idealism meets compromise, the group find their battle to save the planet forces them also to fight each other. This insightful film is also a vibrant, moving reflection on the struggle to balance the political and the personal,” the festival’s website notes.
How to Change the Worldis scheduled to screen at 9:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Nov.6, catch CITIZENFOUR, a documentary about the real-life meeting between filmmaker Laura Poitras, journalist Glenn Greenwald and former analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden. The film is screening at 7 p.m.
At 9:30 p.m., Rosewater takes to the screen. The film, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, was written and directed by The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and is based on BBC journalist Maziar Bahari’s bestselling memoir, Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity and Survival.
Things get started a little earlier on Sunday, when Borealis hits the screen at 2 p.m.
The Canadian-made crime comedy and drama tells the story of one man’s failings, his journey to escape his fate and shield his daughter from her own impending reality.
The story of a young public prosecutor in Germany who discovers documents that lead to a case against some of the members of the SS who served in Auschwitz is played out in Labyrinth of Lies at 4:30 p.m.
The festival wraps up with the much-talked-about German film Victoria. Filmed in one continuous shot, this feature film tells the story of a young woman from Madrid who ends up being the getaway driver for a gang of young Berlin men.
The festival website described Victoria as a “film about a youth that wants more. About a crazy love at first sight. About the wild heartbeat of the big city.”
Catch Victoria at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6.
For more information on the festival or for tickets, visit newwestfilmfest.ca.
