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October 18, 19, 20, 2024
News
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Great news! Beginning next year, the Vintage Film Festival will return to its traditional 3rd weekend in October timeslot. Mark your calendars for VFF 2022 on October 21st, 22nd & 23rd!
The theme for our 2022 Vintage Film Festival is "breakout roles". We'll be sharing thirteen great films which made one of their cast members a star, or vaulted an actor to a new level of renown. Check out this programme!
- James Dean in East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955)
- Cary Grant in The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937)
- Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)
- Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (Clarence Brown, 1944)
- Mary Pickford in Tess of the Storm Country (Edwin S. Porter, 1914)
- Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
- Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968)
- Gene Wilder in The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1968)
- Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)
- Sophia Loren in Two Women (Vittorio DeSica, 1960)
- Norma Shearer and Lon Chaney in He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Seastrom [Sjöström], 1924)
- Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942)
- Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century (Howard Hawks, 1934)
There is definitely something for everyone here! Every decade from the Teens to the Seventies is represented, as well as a huge range of vintage film genres: melodrama, gangster, horror, screwball comedy, film noir – as well as classic drama and comedy, and even something for the young people. As usual, we've made sure to schedule a musical, a foreign film offering, and two silent films which will be presented with live piano accompaniment. (The silent movies feature Canadian-born Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer, who will be joining Cobourg's own Marie Dressler as stars of the new Canadian Women in Film Museum: https://www.cdnwomeninfilm.ca/.)
Plan to join us next October, at Port Hope's beautiful Capitol Theatre, for the Vintage Film Festival!
Rick Hill, Chair
Vintage Film Festival Committee
Marie Dressler Foundation
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A highly successful 2021 Vintage Film Festival was presented on the weekend of September 24th, 25th & 26th! And this, after having had to cancel the planned 2020 Festival, and in spite of continued pandemic-driven restrictions on indoor activities.
Film fans came from all over Northumberland County, Durham Region and the GTA, and from as far afield as Kingston, Ottawa, Waterloo and London. More than seventy of them enjoyed the luxury of seeing as many movies as they wanted on a weekend pass, while nearly two hundred single tickets were sold (or given free to guests 25 and under).
All of these movie lovers were able to enjoy VFF 2021 thanks to:
- months of planning by the Vintage Film Festival committee
- tremendous support from the Capitol Theatre staff
- a generous grant from the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund
- a carefully prepared and executed COVID-19 Safety Plan, which protected the health of all patrons and volunteers
- many hours of time donated over the weekend by the Capitol's volunteers and by members of the VFF committee, the Marie Dressler Foundation board, and the community
- the cooperation and patience shown by all of our guests as they worked with us to conduct our Festival safely
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The Marie Dressler Foundation is delighted to confirm that the Vintage Film Festival will take place as planned on September 24, 25 & 26, 2021 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario!
Yes, the Vintage Film Festival is back for 2021, for three amazing days, with twelve terrific films all "based on a true story":
Friday, Sept. 24th
- Doris Day in Calamity Jane (1953)
- Robert Altman's M*A*S*H (1970)
- Henry Fonda in Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1957)
Saturday, Sept. 25th
- Spencer Tracy & Fredric March in Inherit the Wind (1960)
- Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask (1929)
- Vivien Leigh & Laurence Olivier in That Hamilton Woman (1941)
- Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957)
- The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi in The Body Snatcher (1945)
Sunday, Sept. 26th
- Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky (1938)
- Buster Keaton's The General (1926)
- Peter O'Toole in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
As usual, our two silent film offerings, The Iron Mask and The General, will be presented with live musical accompaniment by Jordan Klapman.
And the Festival experience is more than just a compelling programme of great cinema! As usual, you'll have the opportunity to hear an interesting speaker at our Brown Bag Lunch on Sunday, buy cool Festival-themed merchandise, bid on exciting gift packages in our Silent Auction, chat with like-minded movie-lovers, and the Art Deco ambience of a 1930s atmospheric theatre as you enjoy these vintage films on the big screen!
New for 2021: free admission to any and all films for everyone 25 years or younger! (No need to book ahead: just show up at the door.) Parents and grandparents: why not enjoy a family movie outing and introduce your kids or grandkids to the magic of vintage film? Also, we will be offering free popcorn all weekend!
The small print: Any health-and-safety-related restrictions in place at the time of the Festival, whether mandated provincially or by the Capitol Theatre, will be carefully adhered to. Some aspects of the Festival, and the manner in which they are presented, may be subject to change. Specifically, the traditional "finger food" at the Friday evening reception will not be offered this year; but, as usual, drinks and snacks will be available that evening, and all weekend, at the Capitol's bar.
For 2021, single tickets to individual films are still just $10. And a weekend pass for the full Festival experience of 12 movies—a $120 value—is only $75! Tickets and passes are available now: click here to buy them!