October 26, 06: It's a gloomy fall day in the village of Wilno, but the woodstove in the cafe is radiating heat and the tempting smells of chicken stew and beef bourguignon emanate from the kitchen. We're in the midst of the Third Annual Wilno Film and Video Festival which happens every year in the Red Canoe Cafe at our inn so we're preparing one dish comfort food meals which the audience can spoon up while staring raptly at the huge screen filling one wall of the cafe. Last night we screened an Ottawa Valley classic called Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar....a film written by Joan Finnegan, well known for her books about this area and a fabulous poet and all around creative spirit. (She won a Gemini for the Fiddler screenplay). We also screened "Shakedown" a doc written and directed and produced by Kathryn Gilday in 1992...this piece profiles our local forest industry and a group called The Forest Industry Survival Association (FISA) which was able to change some long-time methods of allocating Crown Timber to the area sawmills and logging companies. Tom was a pivotal person in that organization and we are both in the film...along with many of our friends and neighbours and so it's always fun to see how we've all changed (or not) after these many years. And to round off the first night of the Festival we showed a half hour piece called Straight Arrow...a profile of aviation pioneer and test pilot of the Avro Arrow, Janusz Zurakowski. Janusz and his wife Anna were also innkeepers in this beautiful valley with their Kartuzy Lodge. Janusz died a couple of years ago but his memory lives on in Barry's Bay's Zurakowski Park with its dramatic flying model of the Arrow. This short film is an inspiring portrait of this unassuming humble and very kind man who made Canadian aviation history.
Later today, Friday, we'll screen a whole selection of short films about our local artisans and some videos made by local film-makers. All in all, a lovely way to spend a dismal October afternoon and evening.
Today's village update: The rest of the red roof has gone on the new front porch at the old general store which is being renovated by its new owners in preparation for a spring opening as a quilt shop and we hear....a Polish Deli. Great news, if that is indeed the case.
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