Belleville Downtown DocFest

Belleville Downtown DocFest is excited to be bringing back the much-loved Gala Event, an evening of film and music at Belleville’s historic Empire Theatre on March 3, 2023 sponsored by Brad Aulthouse and Andrew Bandler at BMO Nesbitt Burns. The live Gala event kicks off an in-person weekend of films at three amazing downtown venues, as well as online streaming starting March 5th. In total, this hybrid festival season will showcase 50 outstanding documentary films, plus filmmaker Q&A’s.

The Gala film this year is Okay! (The ASD Band Film), which premiered at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival in the spring of 2022 where it was the second-place winner of the Rogers Audience Award. Following the DocFest Gala tradition, the film features incredible original music by the ASD Band. This screening will be paired with a live performance by the ASD Band in-person on the Empire Theatre stage! The ASD band recently played at the CNE in Toronto and opened a sold-out show at Massey Hall. You won’t want to miss seeing them in person at this special Gala performance.

In addition, this year’s Local Filmmaker Spotlight films, sponsored by the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board, have been announced. Eleven films were selected from local filmmaker’s submissions, many featuring local characters and stories, including: Shelter, by filmmaker Tess Girard; The Mighty Spits: Allies Above Clouds, by filmmakers Brock Kerby & Brian Long; The Kingston Red Barons, by filmmaker David McCallum; Chaka Chikodzi, by filmmaker Naomi Okabe; What I Learned From 8mm, by filmmaker Sean Scally; Full – A Recipe For Happiness, by filmmaker Victor Cooper; A Century in the Making: The Stu Crawford Story, by filmmakers Mike Downie & Mickayla Pike; and 4 Loyalist College Student Films, by second year Television, Filmmaking & Digital Content Creation students.

The Local Filmmaker Spotlight will culminate with the “Best Local Feature” and “Best Local Short” film prizes being awarded on Sunday, March 5th at the Empire Theatre! All in-person pass holders are invited to attend. 

Festival Passes are on sale now. Click here to purchase.

Click here for all the latest festival news and to see a sneak peek at other recently announced films.