This year's Montana Film Festival coming to you

MISSOULA — With COVID cases on the rise and rain on the way, you might find yourself staying in this weekend. But that's not to say you can't have some fun. After all, the Montana Film Festival is coming to you.

Grab the popcorn, hit the lights, and don’t worry about changing out of those sweatpants because this weekend you can attend the sixth annual Montana Film Festival from the comfort of your own couch.

"[The] Montana Film Festival is a festival that was started by the staff at the Roxy Theater," explained the event's director Alana Waksman. "And it was kind of born out of a desire to program fiction films for a short festival, and just enjoy and celebrate great independent fiction filmmaking."

This year the Montana Film Festival is even more unique than years past. You pay $20 and the Roxy will grant you online access to five feature films and 23 short films.

"Our goal with the festival is is to highlight new, exciting, independent fiction films that are from all over," Waksman said.

That includes films and filmmakers from the UK, from Germany, and from right here in Missoula.

John Budge, Missoula resident, and Roxy employee, will bring his short film "Ruined It" to the (virtual) big screen this weekend.

"I've lived in a lot of other places. I've lived in Idaho and Oregon and I'm from Seattle," Budge said. "I lived in New York for 10 years, and all those people that live there wouldn't have been able to see "Ruined It" if the festival wasn't virtual so you know there's a big silver lining."

At a time when it would be easiest to hit pause on events and festivals, the Roxy is making it work and reaching even more people in the process.

The festival is live now and tickets can be purchased here through Sunday.