The Royal Theatre is hosting a cool one-night only event tonight (Thursday, Nov. 14) by combining beer with beer commercials featuring breweries in the Columbia Basin.
“We are thrilled to be on this upcoming Craft Beer tour … both local breweries, the Trail Beer Refinery and Rossland Beer Company, will be on hand selling their liquid,” said Lisa Milne, Royal Theatre proprietor.
“As you know, the Royal is passionate about supporting our community and this is an excellent opportunity for emerging filmmakers to be seen on the big screen.”
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The adult-only evening features 20 three-minute long beer commercials created by local filmmakers throughout the Basin, representing 10 breweries from Kaslo to Revelstoke, and Golden to Fernie.
“The Nelson Civic non-profit theatre was able to get some grant money and spearheaded this last year and made it bigger by taking it on the road to the breweries’ home towns, so the event is all to support local filmmakers, and the angle chosen was through cool beer commercials,” Milne explained.
“Each filmmaker chose a brewery they wanted to make the commercial for, and the film festival is traveling to each of those breweries’ home towns and screening the entire reel. At each screening the audience votes on their top favourite two commercials.”
Both the Trail and Rossland beer makers will be on hand at the Royal Theatre selling their suds, so attendees must be aged 19 or over.
The event begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the theatre and at the brewery.
The top three films determined by jury will receive cash prizes; $1,750 is top prize, $1000 for second, and third place will win $750.
The top pick for audience choice, or the ‘Growler’ award, will be given out at each screening along the tour. As well, the filmmaker receiving the most screening ‘Growlers’ during the tour, will be awarded the ‘Golden Growler’ Audience Choice along with a cash prize of $1,500.
The jury includes Thomas Middleditch, a Nelson-born actor known for Richard from ‘Silicon Valley’, and most recently as Flagstaff in ‘Zombieland 2,’ Ken Beattie from the BC Craft Brewers Association, Meghan Tabor, Marketing Director for Tourism Revelstoke; and Sarah Kapoor, a Creston filmmaker, known for ‘Bad Mother’.
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