Tyler Faires
Taking a brief but well-deserved break from Shasta County politics, please join me in welcoming documentary filmmaker Tyler Faires to A News Cafe. He was featured here recently with regard to his award-winning ACID Canal film.
Today, he’s stopped by to tell more about his part in the upcoming Sundial Film Festival’s revitalization.
DONI: Hi, Tyler. What an honor it is to speak with you today about the Sundial Film Festival. I hope you’ve caught your breath from the fame and whirlwind schedule that came with your award-winning documentary, ACID Canal.
TYLER: Thank you for spending this time with me. It has been an exciting adventure working on this project, and I am so thankful for the community’s support at our premiere in August.
Selling out the Cascade was a big task, and with everyone showing up it reminded me of what an awesome town I live in.
DONI: Well, speaking of the ACID Canal project, would you care to brag a bit, and tell a bit about the honors and recognition your film has received to date?
TYLER: Yeah, ACID Canal has been in film festivals since October 2023 and we premiered at the Guernsey Film Festival. It was pretty awesome to have our first big showing in the Channel Islands.
To date we have been accepted into 22 festivals around the world and have been awarded 14 awards, including Best Environmental Film at the Cannes World Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Phoenix Film Festival and we are currently in the running for the grand jury prize at the Richmond International Film Festival.
It has been really neat to travel around and hear people resonate with the story of this small town in northern California losing their water. Each location I have been to has their own personal stories about water issues and concerns.
DONI: I cannot imagine how proud you must feel.
Actually, it was at the Cascade Theatre’s premiere event of your ACID Canal film that the big announcement was made about your affiliation with the Sundial Film Festival. For those who weren’t there, what was the announcement, and what part will you play in the festival’s future?
TYLER: After touring with ACID Canal and seeing all of these awesome film festivals I realized our downtown is a perfect place for a large festival. We have 4 perfect venues downtown all within a short distance that could be showing films. Some of the festivals I attended had multiple locations, but they were spread all around their city, so for traveling filmmakers, the events with multiple locations across long distances made it more challenging to watch all the movies I wanted to see.
So I brought this idea up to a few of my colleagues; Tyler Lockamy and T.L. Green and we were thinking about starting a festival.
But at that same time we had a conversation with the Active 20/30 club of Redding and they were interested in the option of us taking over the festival. So in May of this year they transferred ownership of the Sundial Film Festival to us. It has been very exciting for me because my films have been featured at the Sundial Film Festival many times over the past 10 years, and I think the art of cinema and filmmaking needs to be highlighted more in Redding.
DONI: What was the moment that inspired you to take on this project?
TYLER: I really saw the potential of our downtown hosting an amazing film festival with our downtown corridor being so condensed. Plus we have amazing art advocates like the Shasta County Arts Council, The Redding Cultural District and Viva Downtown. And on top of that we have venues like the Riverfront Playhouse, IOOF Hall and the Cascade Theatre. With all these powers combined I knew this would be a really cool undertaking. I saw the ACID Canal Premiere as an opportunity to not only announce the new ownership of the Sundial Film Festival, but also excite the community and show them how fun it is to come together and watch movies together. It’s not often that you can watch a movie with 900 other people. The ACID Canal premiere was a very magical moment, and it proved that we can do it! We can sell out the Cascade Theatre, and that’s what I am planning to do with the Sundial Film Festival.
DONI: That’s a great plan, Tyler. Can you refresh our memories and tell about the Sundial Film Festival’s history, up until now?
TYLER: The Sundial Film Festival was created by the Redding Rotary and they managed it for 3 years. Then the ownership transferred to the Active 20/30 Club who ran the festival beginning in 2011. The Active 20/30 Club brought us some incredible festivals and did an amazing job filling the Cascade Theatre but over the years and through a pandemic it was a tough feat to keep it going. So we are incredibly honored to keep the Sundial Film Festival alive as we are now going into our 16th season. That’s a big deal in the film festival world. We wouldn’t be where we are now without those two groups working hard to promote our local filmmakers.
DONI: I applaud those who created the Sundial Film Festival, and carried it as long as they did, but what skill sets do you and your collaborators bring to the project that you believe will lead to the festival’s success?
TYLER: They really did some amazing things for our film community. With T.L, Tyler and myself being filmmakers it opens us up to new opportunities and new vision for what we can do here in Redding.
From left, Tyler Faires, Tyler Lockamy and T.L. Green announce the Sundial Film Festival’s transition at the Cascade Theatre following the ACID Canal premier. Photo courtesy of Tyler Faires.
We have connections with filmmakers from around the world and have connections with people and access to movies that not many people have access to. We will be bringing up very well-known directors, writers, sound mixers, cinematographers and more. The additional opportunity we have is to bring in invited films throughout the year. So the Sundial Film Festival will not just be a once a year thing. We will have specific showings and public screenings of unreleased movies throughout the year. We are also going to continue promoting local filmmakers and helping that community grow. We know how hard it can be to make a movie and we want to see our film community thrive.
DONI: That’s pretty exciting stuff. Tyler, I noticed on social media you’re promoting a poll, which I’ve taken. (I especially liked the option to write notes at the end.) What’s the purpose of the poll?
TYLER: Yes, there is a poll which everyone should participate in. This not only gives us data to help program the festival for Redding, it also helps gain information for grant applications. We are starting over with our fundraising and sponsorships. So grants will play a big part in helping us achieve our goals. Click here to participate in the poll.
DONI: How can the public help you and your Sundial Film Festival partners?
TYLER: The Sundial Film Festival will not be able to survive without the support of our town. We need festival partners, sponsors, donors, volunteers and most of all patrons. We want to show the world that Redding is a community that loves the arts and cinema. I truly believe we can become a hub for great cinema, similar to Sundance or Telluride. So please reach out to us, follow us on social media and come out to the events. We need everyone’s support.
DONI: Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
TYLER: I just want everyone to know that I am excited about the future of Redding’s film community. To live in Redding and make films is pretty incredible, and I want to keep my dream alive. I have been working very hard to not only work on my own projects but also support other local filmmakers. We have a monthly media coalition meeting sponsored by the Shasta County Arts Council, and my life goal is to establish a film fund that can provide film funding and scholarships for students who want to pursue filmmaking. I feel like this is my mission in life.
DONI: That’s an incredible mission, and if anyone could make it happen, I believe you can. Thank you, Tyler. I know you’re extremely busy, and we appreciate you taking time to stop by ANC today. Best of luck to you! I’m sure I’ll see you and your wonderful wife at the Sundial Film Festival.
Tara and Tyler Faires take a selfie between airports during their travels to promote the ACID Canal film. Photo courtesy of Tyler Faires.
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