The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | 28 John Bkila Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com WOFF screening 18 films, documentaries from June 24-26 continued from p.1 "Other than our gala last year, which sold out the day of, nothing else has really sold out before. We're happy with the numbers, our ticket sales... we're very happy with those this year." Donnan, who co-founded OFFA with artistic director Judah Hernandez, noted having sold-out screenings before the start of the festival shows major promise for the relatively new Oakville event. "It's really good for the festival, it's good for us (OFFA) and it's good for Oakville because it means people are becoming much more aware of the festival and all the things we're doing," she explained. It all begins with two 8 p.m. gala premieres at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, 130 Navy St. Tomorrow (Friday), director Brian DeCubellis' Manhattan Nocturne, starring Adrien Brody, will be screened. Based on acclaimed author Colin Harrison's novel by the same name, the film tells the story of Porter Wren (Brody), a New York City tabloid writer with an appetite for scandal, who is drawn into a case of sexual obsession and blackmail -- the case threatens his job, marriage and life. A VIP Gala party will follow the screening of the modern film noir. Matched with Manhattan Nocturne will be the world premiere of a short film from Sheridan College, directed by Aya Aki, Nighttime is Cold and Lonely Like a Motel Along a Desolate Road. "It's just the perfect short because it's done in a film-noir style, so it matches the film so well," said Donnan. The Canadian and gala premiere of James Franco's Memoria is scheduled for Saturday (June 25). Set in the "troubled-teen" genre and based on Franco's Palo Alto Stories and A California Childhood, the film tells the story of a young boy struggling to find his place in the world. This year will be the first time WOFF features two gala premieres with a chance to meet and speak with the directors of each film and have their photo taken with them. "What we wanted to do this year was have two very different approaches to the gala and we wanted different films that captured different audiences," Donnan said. The Friday night premiere is more of the traditional gala that Artscene "Connected to your Community" The third annual Willson Oakville Film Festival (WOFF) officially kicks off tomorrow (Friday) with the red carpet gala premiere of Manhattan Nocturne at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts and a VIP after party for audiences. Screenings of the 18 Canadian and international films and documentaries -- not including gala premieres -- continue at Film.Ca Cinemas from Saturday-Sunday (June 25-26). Pictured during the official WOFF kickoff held earlier this year at Film.Ca, from left, are: Peter Willson, president and CEO of WOFF sponsor Willson International; Oakville Festivals of Film and Art (OFFA) co-founder and executive director Wendy Donnan; and OFFA co-founder and artistic director Judah Hernandez. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or www.facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) audiences would expect, with a red carpet and a photographer there the entire evening. "We're not going to tell people it's black-tie, but it's nice to see people get dressed up," noted Donnan. "We'll tell people to dress for the event -- if you want to get dressed up to a cool event where you get to meet the director and have your photo taken with him, then that would be great." Saturday night will have a different feel to it, explained Donnan, as Memoria is more of an "in-your-face" kind of film. "It's a very serious film, with a serious message of how youths can get into trouble and the problems and loneliness and isolation faced by kids when they're growing up, and it's very raw and very real," she said. "... And the director (Nina Ljeti), she's Bosnian-Canadian, so she'll be there to answer some questions and shed some light on how female directors can break into Hollywood, because, quite frankly, there's still way too few of them. She's a very interesting woman," continued Donnan. "The film style is inexpensive to shoot... it's very realistic, almost like a docu-drama feel." The OFFA co-founder said the main thing with film festivals is to get people excited and come out, and hosting gala premieres is a traditional way to do just that. see WOFF on p.29 Big Movies, Small Prices! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville general: $8.50 children (3-13): $6.50 seniors (65+): $6.50 Tuesdays: $5.00 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @filmcacinemas Teenage MuTanT ninJa TurTles: ouT of The shadows (Pg) June 3rd now you see Me 2 (Pg) June 10Th cenTral inTelligence (Pg) June 17Th finding dory (g) June 17Th indePendence day: resurgence (sTc) June 24Th