Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 22/99) - Wait! Hold on! The Sundance Film Festival? Isn't that Robert Redford's famous film festival in Park City, Utah? Oooh, you mean the Midnight Sundance Film Festival.

That's right. Right here in Yellowknife, film lovers can catch acclaimed films that have appeared at the original festival -- on the big screen, too. Films like The Big Night, Night On Earth, Basquiat and I Shot Andy Warhol.

Thanks are due to Kevin McGarrell, manager of Javaroma.

"I used to live in Park City, Utah," says McGarrell. "I always enjoyed the film festival down there. It was a lot of fun, and great films to boot. Every movie I've seen at Sundance -- I've never been disappointed. I've been to a lot of festivals around the world, this one's the biggest for independents."

McGarrell has personally seen each film he selected for the festival. He's even seen some of them more than once and he vouches for the quality of each one. In fact, McGarrell loves film, period, and hopes to revive the now-defunct Yellowknife Film Society.

"There is the Far North Film Festival, but that really focuses on Northern filmmakers. There aren't a ton of filmmakers -- and the nights are a little dark and cold around here -- I just thought people might like to come out and watch these films that they maybe haven't heard of."

The festival kicked off last night and continues through to Sunday Jan. 31, excluding Monday to Wednesday. In all, 16 films will be shown.

Two of my personal favourites are playing tonight: The Big Night, winner of Sundance Best Screenplay Award, 1996, about two brothers whose Italian restaurant is on the brink of bankruptcy and their only chance for success is to risk everything they own on an extravagant feast for bandleader Louis Prima; and Night On Earth, which takes five rides on the wild side, as we experience humour, drama and mysteries of life in a series of far-flung taxi cabs.

Other films in the lineup include Spitfire Grill, I Like It Like That, Welcome To The Dollhouse, Two Girls And A Guy, Black Robe, Comfort Farm, Let Him Have It, Bound, When We Were Kings, Owen Stacey -- Stand-up Comedy and Smoke Signals.

As a bonus, Love Letters, a two-hander of live theatre, which played in the fall at Javaroma, will have an encore performance Saturday, Jan. 23, at 8 p.m. This piece stars Angela Carruthers and Kenneth Woodley.

Finally, on both Sundays, there will be live entertainment. On Jan. 24 -- Leela Gilday and for the big wrap-up party on Jan. 31 -- Efren Pereira and his people.

Schedules for the festival lineup are available at Javaroma (NorthwesTel Tower, where the festival is taking place) and other locations all over town.

The festival is also a fund-raiser for AIDS Yellowknife. Donations will be greatly appreciated, though admission is free.