For eight years, the alFresco filmFesto‘s outdoor waterfront screenings of classic and semi-classic films have been a summertime mainstay. And, ever since the very first festival’s very first screening—On the Waterfront, naturally—the Atlantic Film Festival Association (who run alFresco) have been projecting the movies being screened on the wall of Nova Scotia Power-owned Electropolis building.
But, given the impending pricey renovations to the building that NS Power is about to embark on, it’s quite possible that this summer will mark the last time HRMers will spend the season voluntarily sitting down to stare at the side of Electropolis (unless we start a “staring at buildings club.” Who’s with me?)
Where will alFresco go after this summer? That’s still up in the air. “For the time being, we are just focusing on launching our 2008 alFresco season,” says festival director Lia Rinaldo. (The weekly Friday screenings start July 25 at 9pm or dusk. First up to bat: Billy Wilder‘s Some Like it Hot.) It’s also entirely possible that the Electropolis building might still be eventually useable as a screening space. “At this point, prior to the start of their construction, it is impossible to say ,” Rinaldo adds.
If, as suspected, the Electropolis wall does become unuseable for the alFresco folk starting next year (or ceases to exist entirely post-reno), that certainly doesn’t mean that it’s curtains for the summer screenings. “We are very optimistic,” that a suitable replacement venue will be found “and have no plans at all to cancel alFresco,” assures Rinaldo. And, don’t look for the fest to move *too* far, if it does move—Rinaldo says festival organizers are hoping to keep the screenings waterfront-based.
And if they can’t? Well, my friends—it’s just like Joe E. Brown once told Jack Lemmon: “Nobody’s perfect.”
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2008.