Largest Canadian-only film festival underway in Kingston, Ont.

The Kingston Canadian Film Festival has returned to the city’s theatres for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its 22nd year, The Kingston Canadian Film Festival is the largest movie festival dedicated to Canadian films.

This year, 30 movies are slated, including Drinkwater, starring Eric McCormack, and All My Puny Sorrows, with Alison Pill of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World among them.

On until March 14, the 2022 season will be under a hybrid model as the festival continues to take COVID-19 precautions. Films are being shown on the big screen over three days, while also being offered though online streaming.

Festival Director Marc Garniss says he hopes that gives a chance for the festival to expand beyond city borders.

“The last stat I saw was, at the national box office, less than three per cent of movies were Canadian films,” says Garniss. “So Canadians don’t really watch a lot of Canadian movies and there’s great ones being made.”

Linda Ann Daly is attending two showings at The Screening Room, which is one of two locations of the film festival.

“Very excited about being here,” she says, of the chance to see the movies in person.

She says she tries to get to the festival every year she can.

“It’s a fairly intimate surrounding, it’s reasonable, it’s local,” she says of why she likes it. “The fact that they’re all Canadian. I mean, you want to support that now more than ever, but I think there’s a resonance that lingers. No matter what the theme is”

Denise Clark attends every year.

“We’re seeing 11 movies,” she says.

Clark says she’ll use the hybrid model, to see as many movies as she can.

“It’s a film marathon, and you watch one movie after another,” she says. “It’s a lot of fun.”