Film Societies in Edmonton

I managed to find a couple of interesting societies/groups in the Edmonton area I could join up with, one called F.A.V.A. (Film and Video Arts Society) and the other being I.A.T.S.E. which is "The I.A.T.S.E. is the labor union representing technicians, artisans, and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live theatre, motion picture and television production, and trade shows.".

F.A.V.A. is a society that offers membership, in which you must offer up to 24 hours per year of your time to working on peoples film projects. Its pretty much there to establish contacts, and has full production and post production facilities and discounted gear rentals. You can rent an Arri 35mm camera for $125/day instead of their usual price of $500/day, although I probably wouldn't end up using a film camera for one of my own projects. Not that I wouldn't like to, but you have to take into consideration the film stock and processing costs as well.

I.A.T.S.E. on the other hand is obviously a more professional, industry related union. In order to become even an associate member I have to take a day course at the Grant MacEwan polytechnic here called "Set Etiquette and Protocol". Once you are an associate member you have the opportunity of being offered jobs in certain aspects of major productions that full members have passed up, and after that as a full member you can be contracted out etc.

So sounds like I might be able to get some experience here after all which is good news. It'll be interesting to see how everything works in a film industry similar to our own, but of course much larger in scale. Links are as follows: F.A.V.A. and I.A.T.S.E.