Enter Reel Love Fest into the virtual film festival fray! This new fest, debuting today and running through Valentine’s Day, is a “new virtual film festival event dedicated to honoring the future of love on screen and its profound cinematic legacy thus far.” With 12 feature films, 3 shorts programs, and assorted other special events, Jenn and Morgen are excited to dive in to this new festival’s offerings this week!

The fest is available for viewing across the US, although it does have a semi-local component, with its founders hailing partially from the North Bend Film Festival (as well as the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival). With its similar provenance, it feels kind of like a softer sister festival to October’s NIGHTSTREAM – focused on love (romantic, platonic, familial, etc) rather than horror.

Since we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, this festival is entirely virtual. Read on for more details about what’s available to enjoy from your couch this week!

Tickets and Other Practical Matters

• It’s possible to buy individual tickets (which run $10-$13 each), 6-ticket packages called the “Just Friends Pass” ($55 each; a ticket can be applied to either a feature film or a shorts package), or an all-access pass (advertised at $85, but as of this writing they’re still available at the discounted $75 – so that may go up that last $10 at any time!), or an events-only pass ($10) to join in on the live events and podcasts without any actual film screenings. (All passes also include access to those events; as a pass holder you still do need to reserve a spot for each event you want to attend, but at no charge.)
• The festival is using Eventive as its ticketing + streaming platform. Eventive has very easy-to-use apps available for both Roku and Apple TV, as well as being available to stream from any device via web page or cast using Chromecast. If you’ve done any “virtual cinema” rentals from SIFF over the past few months, chances are you already have an Eventive account. Once you purchase your ticket (via the web page), it’ll show up in the Eventive app on your device. More details at the How-to Fest page.
• Pay attention to the schedule: while most films and events are available from their premiere time onward through the end of the fest (on V-Day), with the caveat that you must finish a screening within 24 hours of when you start it, a few are only available at a specified time for a short window.
• As with most virtual fests of this past year, screenings do still have a limited capacity and may sell out (contracts for festival runs generally entail a limited availability as negotiated with films’ rights holders/distributors, so even without physical space limitations, they can’t offer infinite tickets) – so if you’re a pass or multi-ticket package holder, make sure to still make your ticket reservations as quickly as possible, rather than waiting to saunter up at/after each film’s premiere time and expect a spot to still be open for you – it may be, but best not to gamble!

Beyond Movies

• In addition to feature films, the festival is showcasing three shorts blocks, two live events, and three festival-specific (video) podcast episodes.
• Unlike feature films and shorts blocks, most of the special events will not be available to watch on Eventive’s Roku or Apple TV apps.
• If you don’t want to buy the $10 Events Pass, individual tickets can be purchased for these events and podcasts for $5-7 each; you can get to them all from the lineup page.
• One highlight of the live events is sure to be the Strange Storytelling Hour (Thurs 2/11 at 7pm PST), hosted by beloved Seattle standup comedian/storyteller Emmett Montgomery, which is a NBFF signature event: it originated live at the IRL festival; over the past lockdown year the fest team has produced several live-on-Zoom virtual installments, as well as one during the October sister festival, NIGHTSTREAM. This event is also co-produced by our very own Northwest Film Forum, and features storytellers who will “will take you down a tunnel of love, friendship and the weirdness associated with finding belonging with others.”
• The fest’s FAQ page also mentions that they’ll be using Gather as a festival virtual hub for pass holders: that’s a virtual social space where you can get yourself an avatar and hang out in an 8-bit world with other fest attendees, attend happy hours, meet filmmakers, and more.

Mini Roundtable: What Are You Looking Forward To From This Year’s Program?

Jenn: There’s some great stuff included in this program. Top picks to me look like:

• Dinner In America: Having already made a splash at some late-2020 festivals, Adam Rehmeier’s love story between two punk-rock misfits (played by Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs) is the fest’s opening night film.
• Also of note is that two of this fest’s films were submissions from their respective countries for the Academy Awards this year (True Mothers from Japan and My Little Sister from Switzerland), although sadly, neither of them ended up making the cut on the recently-announced foreign-language Oscars shortlist.

Morgen: Lots to look forward to:

• Jenn and I have annoyingly similar tastes so she’s highlighted some of the films I also ready to sink my teeth into. My Little Sister in particular for expanding love to include family and friends. I think this one will be a painful but beautiful experience.
• Long has the black community had to be its own support system financially and emotionally. Through The Night sheds a light on this constant struggle; just from the trailer I can tell it’ll be a gut wrenching, yet important film to experience.
• I’m gobbling up the shorts like there’s no tomorrow. With a diverse array of storylines from family ties to sexual inhibitions I’m excited to take in every quick and tasty morsel. The standouts:  
  • Lip Service, digging into the role work plays in the rest of our lives and when those blur, things get messy.
  • The Poet and the Plant might hit a little too close to home for me and my dozen new green friends living alone over the last year, but it’s bound to entertain too.
  • Your Monster is the short I’m most excited about, exploring how to deal with emotionally abusive relationships… and the rage monster inside you just itching to get out. Can’t wait!

Thank goodness for virtual film festivals, right?! In this strained time, it’s so encouraging to see the arts blossoming in new ways. While music venues, art museums and theaters are shut tight, what a relief it is that there are still ways we can enjoy and celebrate artists and their work. Looking forward to taking the dive into what “love” looks like on film here in February 2021 – we’ll be back with reviews throughout the fest to keep each other posted on how things go!