Jul 15, 2024
Your Cinema Needs You: RIFFA Nomination
Jun 18, 2024
Best Documentary Winner: Your Cinema Needs You
Jun 12, 2024
Your Cinema Needs You in Scotland
This month, Your Cinema Needs You is in Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Film Awards where it's been nominated in the Best Documentary category. It's been incredible to see this film travel around the world and pick up so many official selections on this ambitious tour. Obviously, I was optimistic when casting such a wide net with my festival submissions for this documentary, but it's truly exceeded all expectations at this point. June will see the continuation of this festival run as details for the Canadian release are still being finalized.
Jun 5, 2024
Gone Hollywood: Monarch Documentary
Straight from the final screening at the Monarch Theatre on Sunday, Your Cinema Needs You is back in Los Angeles this week at the 2024 Hollywood International Golden Age Film Festival where it's currently a semi-finalist in the Best Documentary category.
Leave it to an L.A. film festival jury to appreciate a story about saving old cinemas. This international film festival tour for the Monarch documentary still has a handful of undecided submissions due to be reviewed this month, but the tour is set to continue all summer long.
May 19, 2024
New York Film & Cinematography Nomination
In what can only be described as exceeding expectations at this point, Your Cinema Needs You picked up another official selection and film festival nomination last week. This nod comes from the New York Film & Cinematography Awards and feels particularly special after I made a point of searching out the oldest cinema in NYC while on a new series of travel shoots last month.
This is just one more piece of good news as promotions are ramping up again in anticipation of the finale screenings of the documentary back in Medicine Hat's historic Monarch Theatre. As we reach the tail end of this incredible ride, I'm already blown away by how many updates and achievements I'll have to look back on from this single project and this ambitious film festival tour that took the documentary around the world.
May 14, 2024
Front Page News: Your Cinema Needs You
May 12, 2024
International Film Festival Tour in Hong Kong
Your Cinema Needs You, my documentary about Medicine Hat's Monarch Theatre, has made it to the Hong Kong Indie Film Festival as part of its ongoing international festival tour. This marks the 15th official selection that the documentary has picked up to date, and the 9th country that the film has screened in since the premiere wrapped back in mid-February.
In addition to the selection, Your Cinema Needs You has progressed into awards contention with the news that it has been chosen as a semi-finalist. While much of this festival run has been surprising, this news from the Hong Kong Indie Film Festival was particularly unexpected. It's amazing how this story has continued to resonate with audiences overseas.
May 8, 2024
Finale Screenings of the Monarch Documentary
May 6, 2024
Monarch Theatre: Taking Her Back to 1941
May 5, 2024
Is the Documentary Coming Back to the Monarch?
Apr 22, 2024
Your Cinema Needs You In Tokyo, Japan
The latest official selection on the spring film festival run for my documentary, Your Cinema Needs You was received this past weekend. The feature documentary about the Monarch Theatre, Canada's oldest surviving cinema, is off to Tokyo, Japan where it has been accepted as part of the Lift-Off series - a collaborative, international festival that takes place in various cities around the world. This edition in Tokyo was my first submission to this film festival series, but I'm excited to see how the film performs with a new international audience.
More updates to come as Your Cinema Needs You continues its festival tour.
Apr 18, 2024
Another Round of Travel Shoots in New York City
This spring I was back in New York City to add to an already extensive collection of travel shoots around the five boroughs. Making this series particularly memorable was the timing of the solar eclipse and some ongoing discussions about my documentary "Your Cinema Needs You", which inspired me to search out the oldest surviving cinema remaining in NYC.
These latest shoots included new observation decks, popular filming locations, and hotels, but to an even larger extent, a lot more general street photography to round out some of the more specific shoots from past visits. The weather was incredible and I managed to cover a lot more ground than I had planned for which was all a bonus. Expect to see a lot more New York City highlights from this series in the months ahead.
Apr 17, 2024
Festival Nomination: Art Film Spirit Awards
Apr 15, 2024
Finding the Oldest Cinema in New York City
Mar 31, 2024
Official Selections & A Best Director Nomination
Mar 21, 2024
Monarch Documentary: Spring Film Festival Run
Sep 18, 2020
Clay Documentary Continues To Find New Eyes
![Editing Luke Fandrich Documentary](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUCZ9kwK2TEXerlELmU9L526oH2IgMx6cuV1vBvgc1ouskeno-se_eb2D5Nvq1gb7wRXlpyAZARBV7sVys2s4s06VzVYuLFXetICVbfLqmDej5gAPApLHIrWuS_xL6WHMNn9H-MaplL_Z/s1600/Editing+Luke+Documentary.png)
Clay, Creativity & the Comeback is the story of how the factories and abandoned ruins of a once booming industrial clay district were saved from demolition and renewed through the work of artists, volunteers, and a community with a vision.
Shot in my hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta this was a story that I felt echoed one of the challenges that communities across Canada are continually facing. How do you preserve heritage while also adapting historic sites for renewed purposes? What does that even look like? And who are the people that make these visions a reality?
Clay, Creativity & the Comeback is a documentary that captures the first hand stories of many of the individuals directly involved in this decades long transformation - a transformation that lead a collection of crumbling structures to not just be saved or restored, but to become a National Historic Site of Canada that would welcome artists from around the world.
The entire feature length documentary is FREE to watch and has been posted on Editing Luke. View Clay, Creativity & the Comeback here.
Jul 7, 2016
The Framed Letter On My Wall
Ten years ago I was a film student at the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan. At that point in my education I'd become a bit apathetic towards my production classes. With the added stress of feeling like I might not find meaningful work when all was said and done, I began looking for validation in the "real world". For me, I found this in film festivals.
![film school letter](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaVnS_qfoQaxAw8ruPHEj2oNBhB4RqZG82kA8eCSdL9Qo1lO1cfmeiwf-mPUUVsfO5i9jEIErjhtZFr3mXfsuiE8gxYlRmlVNW47IGAzujjYINVL_761s2p-LMSuwtlZ1OBtEwvD1xQe5s/s1600/film+school+letter.png)
All of these experiences in the span of a few months completely changed my outlook. I still felt I had a lot to prove, but getting some attention on the back of doing what I loved was hugely motivating. I remember doing a little bit of press, sharing stories for different publications relating to the festivals, and making lots of new contacts in the process. That was the point everything shifted. I wasn't just a film student after that, I'd become a film maker.
In retrospect this all seems crazier because of how limited the platforms for personal promotion were at the time. Facebook wasn't a big thing yet, Instagram didn't exist, and YouTube was just emerging as a place to post short videos. It wasn't until the following year that I even started Editing Luke. In a way it was a great learning experience, because having to apply and submit my work to festivals forced me to be even more critical just to get it seen in the first place.
In the several months following these festivals things died down again, and in the summer of 2006 I was driving a forklift and counting the days before I went back to film school in the fall. Then out of the blue this letter came in the mail, forwarded by the university to my home in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It read:
Dear Luke,
On behalf of the Government of Saskatchewan, I am pleased to congratulate you on your recent success with your student film.
Through your studies, you have demonstrated outstanding dedication and commitment to media production and studies. This is a significant and well-deserved honour, and you must feel a great sense of pride in seeing your work recognized in such a way. Saskatchewan has a vibrant, exceptionally active TV and film industry, and young achievers such as you will be among the leaders who help grow the industry to even greater heights.
Once again, congratulations, and best wishes in all your future endeavours.
Yours sincerely,
Lorne Calvert
Premier
Hand-signed and typed on the official letterhead of the Premier of Saskatchewan, it was pretty humbling for someone like myself who was just starting out to get a letter like that. I had received a lot of congratulations and messages surrounding those projects, but none had seemed this formal or succinct. The student film he was referring to was the short I had created for the National Film Board of Canada, and I guess someone picked up on the small bit of national attention I received following the competition. This was also around the same time that Corner Gas was thriving, so the industry in Saskatchewan was booming.
In the end, I've kept this letter on my wall because it felt symbolic from the moment I received it. Proof that you never know who might be paying attention, and validation that the rewards for pursuing your passions can not only be great, but unexpected in the best ways.
I'm now running my own media production company in Alberta and have come a long way in the last decade. I've also been so fortunate to work on a number of incredible projects with some amazing people. The growth never stops. Curious to know more about what I'm up to now? Explore more here.
Jan 18, 2013
Medicine Hat Student Film Festival
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRN2o5XpqHh4VgQatTBjdrIMi-qjQmGIpvOuEIkk_G4xpgFwhUnDKMM9b48HfQXm0j6PosT227ObObqS5dFLo3cpwJGukz5ov91_oIXKi13DprqCu9bgK-7mWbE4KWjExoV0XGEvjVFEac/s1600/student+film+festival.jpg)
The very first film festival I submitted my work to in 2005 was the Student Video Competition portion of the Medicine Hat Film Festival. It was always a pretty small gathering with no more than 30 or so submissions, but it ended up becoming a testing ground for my work before submitting my projects to bigger student festivals.
I submitted my experimental short, Keys to Existence in the 2005 festival and ended up winning the popular vote for the Audience Choice Award and 2nd place in the video category from the jury vote (the other category was animation). I still have the small plaques on my wall as a reminder of that competition and what it ultimately lead to. Keys went on to screen at Youngcuts International that year in Toronto, followed up by a digital media festival in South Korea in early 2006. My success in my hometown festival is what I credit with opening the flood gates to the other venues that I avidly pursued in the few years that followed.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXweKffaU-Vqh4c_iw_-lk_2aUSDQzDTQeIOKIJsQ7XrhedNRg-eojvwS-pspVFapW-VrQZgtkMl35iQA6pFGj8p2gxeLoxf6oFeP0uvSC_p21bdOKS3n3UKYE8nvB_613I77qLPZDG2Wg/s1600/medicine+hat+student+film+festival.jpg)
One of the other benefits of the Medicine Hat Film Festival came later in 2007, when Stream Media was one of the key sponsors for the fest. After returning home to Medicine Hat after university in 2008, I contacted Stream about potential employment opportunities. My involvement in the festival became my foot in the door, and after a brief interview I was offered a job working alongside a small team to help shoot and edit promotional videos for corporate clients. It was an amazing opportunity, and the start of a business relationship that I still benefit from today.
I always tell people who ask about my start that I never had a very stable plan after film school, but I had hoped that the film festivals I participated in had helped me cast a big net. I became really opportunistic, and I jumped at any opportunity that seemed even mildly related to the things I was interested in in the hopes that I could make them even more relevant. I owe that mindset to the experiences I got from my participation in student film festivals.
The Student Video Competition in the MHFF hasn't run for years now, and it's simply due to lack of sponsorship and organization. It's a big undertaking, and it does take a lot of work to drum up enough attention to get quality submissions. It's a shame, because as a student who was just starting out it was a great experience. Before YouTube, before I ever screened my work at venues outside of Canada, and before I found work as an editor, I shared my work at the MHFF.