Saturday, March 16 / 1:00 pm / ByTowne Cinema

Program: The Tadpole Trilogy, Loch Ness: They Created a Monster

This program is presented in partnership with the British High Commission and the Scottish Government.

Feature presentation \

Nessie \ does \ exist

Big news, Ottawa: the search for the Loch Ness monster is over! You will finally see Nessie at IFFO! …Okay, not exactly, but you will be able to see this lively documentary about those who have spent days, months, years, and even decades searching for the creature that supposedly swims in that massive inland sea in Scotland. At 23 miles long and over 700 feet at its deepest point, Loch Ness has attracted the obsessed, the disturbed, the strange, the superstitious, and the scientific types to its shores, all looking for that elusive beast. John MacLaverty chronicles the serious and silly heights of monster-hunting frenzy at Loch Ness in the 1970s and 80s. “It was a race! It was zoological Mount Everest!” remembers one hunter, while another recalls hearing that discovering the monster would be bigger than the moon landing. Focusing on one notorious dogged Nessie hunter, an oddball English ex-soldier named Frank Searle, MacLaverty reveals the lengths to which some would go to prove, or at least to convincingly fake, the existence of Nessie in order to cash in. It’s a fast-paced and fascinating trip through pop culture history and collective obsession, and it may even supply some actual visual evidence that something’s out there in those dark waters.

- Tom McSorley

Short film \

The Tadpole Trilogy

La trilogie des têtards

2023 / 21 minutes / Quebec
Director: Léonard Giovenazzo
Language: French

Alain has been locking himself in the basement to work on… something. Louise is miserable and considering running away with her sensei/lover. And their son, Pierre-Louis is in the trenches of an existential crisis.

Equal parts strange and entertaining, Tadpole Trilogy captures the dynamics of a family whose threads have begun to fray.

This program is presented in partnership with the British High Commission and the Scottish Government.