The Chinook Film Group is celebrating its 20th anniversary tomorrow night (Wed. Nov. 20) with a viewing of the film "Ezra" at the Cochrane Movie House at 7 p.m.
Starring Bobby Cannavale, Robert DeNiro, Rose Byrne and introducing the young autistic actor William A. Fitzgerald, the film discusses the challenges posed to those on the autism spectrum and the generational nature of the condition.
"The father, played by Bobby Cannavale, is not happy with the way they're treating Ezra, and it turns out as you get through the movie that he is also autistic but was never treated, and his dad, played by DeNiro is also autistic, but was never treated, and so this is a generational aspect of things," explains Murray Mitchell, of the Chinook Film Group, "Somebody from the 50s, from the 70s, and then this young kid from current time, and it examines how things have changed, and how the lack of treatment has shaped the way they behave, and the coping mechanisms that they've developed in their own lives to get them through the day."
Representatives of the Autism Aspergers Friendship Society, who run a rural program in Cochrane, will participate in the evening.
Tickets are available at the Cochrane Movie House box office or at the door.
After the viewing, people are invited to stay for cake, refreshments, and socializing at the Cochrane Movie House.
For 20 years, film lovers have been able to enjoy films on the big screen in Cochrane that likely otherwise wouldn't be available, thanks to the Chinook Film Group.
Murray Mitchell, who continues to head up the group, says it came together almost by luck. A representative of Film Circuit, an outreach program of the Toronto International Film Festival, happened to be in Cochrane and was looking to make some connections.
Mitchell was on the library board at the time, and he worked closely with Sandy Johnson, then with the town, to get the film group off the ground.
"We were supposed to do fundraising, being on the board, and so that kind of became my angle. Sandy worked for the town, and that was her angle, and I was trying to bring in these movies and we got some other people interested and got the thing up and running."
For several years, proceeds were used to purchase films for the library's DVD/Blu-ray collection.
"We kept the thing going, and people kept buying tickets. It sort of devolved down to me. Sandy was involved quite a bit for the first few years and then Hamish (Kerfoot) has helped me all along."
They also had plenty of help from the crews at the coffee shop Java Jamboree and later the Gentry Espresso and Wine Bar in the strip mall adjacent to Safeway. The coffee shops sold show tickets and hosted gatherings after film showings.
"People from the coffee shop were always stepping up. They were a real strong backbone of the group," he says.
He says they've been fortunate to have Hal Wolf, of Cochrane Move House, on their side from day one.
"We used to walk in with four cans of film and of course, they had to put the film together and then they had to have a projectionist who projected that film for us and then took it apart and gave us the film back. Hal helped helped us through all that."
"It has since evolved to dropping off a hard drive when they went digital, which made things way easier, but he's been our main guy."
There have been many sellout crowds over the years, and some smaller audiences, too. Mitchell says the magic number is 80 to cover the costs of presenting the films. When crowds are larger, they can put a little jingle in the bank for times they aren't.
The viewing of movies at cinemas came to a screeching halt during COVID. Chinook stopped presenting films in March 2020, and it wasn't until October 2022. They received a warm response when they tested the waters with the showing of the film "Peace by Chocolate."
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Chinook is using this season to determine if they should continue or make any changes to their viewing schedule.
In the meantime, films continue to be offered on the third Wednesday of each month from September to November and January to May.
To keep up to date with Chinook visit their Facebook page here. You can also email chinookfilmgroup@gmail.com to be added to their mailing list.
