{"id":27786,"date":"2026-02-04T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27786"},"modified":"2026-02-03T10:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T18:01:38","slug":"local-filmmakers-show-diverse-movies-at-victoria-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2026\/02\/04\/local-filmmakers-show-diverse-movies-at-victoria-film-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Local filmmakers show diverse movies at Victoria Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 32nd annual Victoria Film Festival (VFF) is recognizing and bringing to light bold, creative films and storytelling. From February 6 to 15, the festival will run films from local, regional, and international creators. This year, the VFF will screen 91 feature films and 39 short films that will be shown in nine locations, as well as visual art installations, music performances, and special guest appearances at events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s films include two projects that offer looks into creativity and finding meaning through immersive storytelling, and they both have a local connection. Lucid<\/i>, created by Victoria\u2019s Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall, follows the story of Mia, an art student in the \u201990s who gets kicked out of school and is desperate to get back the life she once had. She uses a magical elixir that\u2019s supposed to give her wishes back to her, but instead it takes her into a psychedelic, mystical, and mysterious journey that plays with what is real and what isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lucid, created by two local filmmakers, is screening at the Victoria Film Festival (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe started thinking about how to destroy creative blocks,\u201d says Milligan, \u201cand that sparked a storyline where Mia takes a magical elixir to release inner demons into monsters she can fight and overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Milligan and Fendall, Lucid<\/i>, which was released last year, isn\u2019t just another project they created\u2014it\u2019s a product of years of development and thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the same world that we\u2019ve been spending time in\u2026 the sort of \u201990s, punk, phantasmagorical world,\u201d says Fendall. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really fun place to spend time in for seven years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucid<\/i> is a whole realm in itself. Fendall describes it as \u201craw, handmade, and kind of in its own world\u201d; Milligan says that it\u2019s \u201ca dream-like, almost hallucinatory experience, but rooted in Mia\u2019s unconscious mind\u201d and adds that \u201cpeople have called it \u2018batshit crazy\u2019\u2014which we kind of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film has travelled the world, being played in various countries, and now, Milligan and Fendall want to give homage to their hometown and share Lucid<\/i> with the contributors and viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our BC premiere, and most of the performers and crew haven\u2019t seen the film yet. Showing it in our hometown is a full-circle moment,\u201d says Milligan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movie could only have been made here,\u201d adds Fendall. \u201cVictoria is in its DNA, from the streets to the punk rock scene that\u2019s existed for decades.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re showing what people can do when they come together, even without a Hollywood budget,\u201d says Milligan.<\/p>\n

The film doesn\u2019t just lean toward the indie, experimental side of filmmaking and art creation\u2014it fully embraces it. The creators want viewers to connect to the project just like they did in production, where the crew\u2019s energy and performance came alive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to feel their way through it,\u201d says Milligan. \u201cNot necessarily intellectually unpack it, but exist on a feeling level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t personally connect, there\u2019s still an opportunity to discover something in the sound design, costumes, and visuals\u2014it\u2019s a world to inhabit,\u201d says Fendall.<\/p>\n

Another local filmmaker is screening their documentary at the VFF this year. Leaving Beringia<\/i>, a 2025 film by Barbara Todd Hager, explores the roots of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to spend more time on the origins of my ancestors and all Indigenous people in North and South America,\u201d says Hager, who is from Edmonton but now lives in Victoria and Vancouver. \u201cThe story deserved more than just 10 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the film, Hager travels to eight archeological sites, finding meanings through the land and the oral tradition that is carried from generation to generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeringia was this land mass between Siberia and Alaska during the ice age,\u201d says Hager. \u201cIt\u2019s where people crossed long before the ice melted. People weren\u2019t just staying in one place\u2014they moved to find better food, shelter, and safer places. That\u2019s how communities survived and thrived. Along the west coast, from Alaska down to Chile, there are more languages than anywhere else in the Americas because people have been there the longest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary serves as a complete and structured informational piece, featuring interviews with experts and having Hager as protagonist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt spiritual,\u201d says Hager. \u201cStanding where people lived, hunted, laughed, and loved thousands of years ago gives a profound sense of connection to history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hager\u2019s background is in journalism and archeology, which ties in with her experience working with museums. An inquiry she always kept in her mind was why certain narratives were seen as lesser than or simply omitted in history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no \u201812,000-year gap\u2019\u2014that\u2019s life, culture, history, and achievements,\u201d says Hager. \u201cIndigenous peoples have been recording history in our own ways for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film is very significant to Hager as she feels exploring her heritage through travelling the lands her ancestors once set foot in enlightens her soul and gives her reasons as to why sharing this journey is important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe documentary invites viewers to look beyond scientific tools and measurements and listen to Indigenous people,\u201d says Hager. \u201cThey have something to say about their history that hasn\u2019t been heard by the wider world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hager says it\u2019s special for her to get to show Leaving Beringia<\/i> at the VFF.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people who worked on it live here,\u201d she says, \u201cand it\u2019s a way to honour the land and community that\u2019s shaped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victoria Film Festival
\nVarious times,
\nFriday, February 6
\nto Sunday, February 15
\nVarious prices and venues
\nvictoriafilmfestival.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 32nd annual Victoria Film Festival (VFF) is recognizing and bringing to light bold, creative films and storytelling. From February 6 to 15, the festival will run films from local, regional, and international creators. This year, the VFF will screen 91 feature films and 39 short films that will be shown in nine locations, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-february-4-2026"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27788,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27786\/revisions\/27788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}