South Western International Film Festival

The South Western International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Sarnia, Ontario, staged from 2015 to 2022.[1] Launched in 2015, the festival programs a lineup of Canadian and international films in November each year,[2] at the city's Imperial Theatre and Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery.[3]

The inaugural festival was opened with a gala screening of Into the Forest, a film by Sarnia native Patricia Rozema.[4]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the 2020 festival was staged online.[5] The 2020 festival included a retrospective program of the work of Sami Khan, a filmmaker from Sarnia whose short documentary film St. Louis Superman was an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 92nd Academy Awards.[6]

The festival's longtime executive director was Ravi Srinivasan,[7] until his death in January 2023.[8] He was also an associate programmer with the Toronto International Film Festival, specializing in South Asian and Philippine films.[8] His death resulted in the festival cancelling the 2023 edition, stating that Srinivasan's wider industry connections had been too essential to the festival's operations for it to continue without him.[9]

## References

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1. ^ Louis Pin, "Local film festival touts bigger-than-ever lineup". Sarnia Observer, October 7, 2019.
2. ^ Barbara Simpson, "Film festival hopes to reel in new industry". Chatham Daily News, October 17, 2015.
3. ^ Carl Hnatyshyn, "Film festival marks five years of bringing the world to Sarnia". Sarnia & Lambton County This Week, October 9, 2019.
4. ^ Paul Morden, "Rozema still calls Sarnia 'home'". Sarnia Observer, October 31, 2015.
5. ^ "Festival will home stream films to counter winter blahs". Sarnia Journal, August 27, 2020.
6. ^ "Sarnia film festival offering retrospective of hometown director". Sarnia Observer, October 20, 2020.
7. ^ Paul Morden, "Sarnia film festival supporters step up". Sarnia Observer, September 23, 2020.
8. ^ a b Barry Hertz, "Ravi Srinivasan, TIFF programmer and ‘champion’ of Canadian film community, dies at 37". The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2023.
9. ^ Paul Morden, "Sarnia's South Western International Film Festival ending". Sarnia Observer, September 22, 2023.

## External links

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* Official website

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