When the Atlantic Film Festival started up in 1981, it was a simple affair held in St. John’s, NF. By design, it was a place where regional filmmakers could show their work. As it would in the years to follow, it screened everything and anything Atlantic-Canadian, from television commercials to features.

Fast-forward 25 years to find the AFF still catering to the local scene, but as an evolved version that includes features from the rest of Canada and around the world, industry-focused events and an international coproduction conference unlike any other in the country. Virtually everything about it has changed, except its reputation – which differentiates it from any other major film festival on the fall circuit – for a laid-back atmosphere where the films and filmmakers are as accessible as the nearby ocean.

The AFF was created by Quebec-born filmmaker Mike Riggio (Wanes), who headed it until 1983. Under Riggio’s direction, the first AFF opened with the controversial National Film Board documentary Not a Love Story, Bonnie Sherr Klein’s feminist look at the porn industry. The screening gave the festival its first taste of national attention.

AFF senior programmer Ron Foley Macdonald recalls it all vividly.

‘The film caused a sensation across the country, so whenever there was a screening it was sold out,’ he says, adding that the print unspooled in 16mm at an arts center in downtown St. John’s.

The AFF moved to Halifax the following year, and set up shop in the NFB building where Foley Macdonald was employed at the time. He worked with festival organizers for the first few years before being offered an AFF programmer position in 1986, and has been a fixture ever since. He weathered the fest’s early days in the ’80s, when some local exhibitors were so uninterested in the AFF that the only time they’d give for screenings was 5 p.m. But he has also been witness to a film festival that has grown with its film community.

‘The stature started to grow, from being a regional affair to being a little more internationally connected,’ he says. ‘By 1984, we had Dan Petrie’s [Genie Award-winning] The Bay Boy being made, then in 1987 you had [William] MacGillvray’s Life Classes, which ended up going to the Berlin Film Festival.’

In August 1991, a few weeks before the festival, a fire broke out in the NFB offices and gutted the building, destroying many of the film prints intended for the festival. It is also responsible for the dearth of archival materials the AFF has dating prior to 1992. The festival went on, however, and introduced two key characters in AFF lore – Gregor Ash and Lia Rinaldo – who are now, respectively, the executive director and festival director. It is a far different festival than the one where Ash began as a volunteer 15 years ago.

‘When I arrived, it was a great, funky little festival,’ says Ash. ‘Attendance was decent, but it hadn’t grown in a while. It still had much more of a regional focus, but was exploring the idea of having an international focus.’

‘Everything has completely changed,’ adds Rinaldo. ‘Slowly, different international programs were added and seemed to enrich the whole festival. It has had phenomenal growth in every respect.’

The AFF has balanced steadily on a very thin line by staying true to its original Atlantic focus, while incorporating international elements. In 1996, it screened Lars Von Trier’s influential Breaking the Waves, which would go on to win the best feature award. The same year, a virtually unknown Halifax filmmaker named Mike Clattenburg took Telefilm Canada’s short film prize for Liquor Store. Clattenburg has since gone on to create the hit Showcase series Trailer Park Boys, and recently wrapped a feature based on the show.

In 1997, another up-and-coming Atlantic filmmaker named Thom Fitzgerald landed the opening-night-gala spot with The Hanging Garden. In 1998, the festival debuted its first international coproduction conference, Strategic Partners, welcoming filmmakers from focus country Germany. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project producers Gregg Hale and Robin Cowie bypassed every other film festival except the AFF.

‘They were this international success and… they went to no other festivals at all,’ says Foley Macdonald. ‘I think because they were from central Florida they were trying to make a statement – that the kind of marginalization they felt resonated with us.’

The AFF was not only hitting its stride at this time – it was also considered a ‘cool’ festival, where filmmakers could go to fraternize with colleagues without being swarmed by press and hangers-on.

‘Even before Strategic Partners, filmmakers would just show up and hang out for seven days, then nine days and now 10 days, and in most cases – because our budget didn’t allow – they did it on their own bill,’ says Ash.

In 2000, the AFF opened with Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water – a U.S./France coproduction that shot in Halifax – and featured Rosemary House’s Violet as the Atlantic gala. This was Ash’s first year as executive director, and between the success of the festival and the evolving Strategic Partners, the festival was truly on a roll.

Until, that is, 9/11 left the 2001 edition in peril.

That year, flight schedules were affected and many delegates had to cancel. It humbled the festival, which in many ways had to go back to its roots, relying heavily on local filmmakers to make it a worthwhile event. A streamlined version of the festival took place, and despite the cancellation of Strategic Partners and various industry events, attendance rose 7% over the year prior.

‘It was a hard time looking at what we had created and trying to figure out what was going to be left, but public and industry response has been fabulous,’ Ash told Playback at the time. ‘We got back to audience and film, and people responded positively. It gives us something to look at next year: What really is the show, and who is the show for?’

The AFF came back strong in 2002, screening Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, coproduced by Halifax prodco Salter Street Films, and with Fitzgerald’s The Event opening the following year. In 2004, another controversial NFB documentary, What Remains of Us, concerning oppressed Tibetans receiving a video message from the Dalai Lama, closed the festival, bringing it full circle in time for its silver anniversary. Almost 24,000 film fans attended last year, accounting for 22 sell-outs. (About 10,000 turned out for AFF’s 15th in 1995, and 15,800 attended its 20th in 2000.)

Organizers feel the key to the success, growth and longevity of the little festival in Halifax is that it has remained accessible. While many film festivals like to scream in your face, the AFF seems more apt to talk to you quietly over a beer.

‘There is an area we’ve carved out that keeps the festival on a human scale,’ says Foley Macdonald. ‘It is a bit more low-key and approachable.’

But what has endured more than anything, says filmmaker Fitzgerald, whose feature 3 Needles will open this year’s fest, is that the AFF, through its growth, has always stayed true to its original intention.

‘The main service of the AFF is that it brings so much local cinema to local audiences,’ says Fitzgerald. ‘It has a dual focus of local and international cinema, and is the main venue for both in the region. You can’t overestimate the importance of a filmmaker standing with their work before a hometown crowd. It is about community and feeds the soul.’