Spring Film Festival looks to foster discussion on inclusion, belonging and more

By medicinehatnews on March 27, 2026.

What Matters to Hatters is back at it again with the annual Spring Film Festival this weekend.

Hosted twice a year and in partnership with the Medicine Hat Public Library, the event aims to foster a sense of community, belonging and hope in attendees by sharing a series of films from Project UnLonely, with a trio of local films joining the roster this year to bring the point even closer to home, says Michelle Sauve with the coalition.

“We’re calling it our bi-annual festival now. We had one last fall, in November, and the spring before that, we had one. So this is our second annual spring one,” said Sauve. “We are starting our films at 2 p.m. and they’ll run for about an hour, and then we have a guest panel that will be answering any questions. There’s some really good films. We’re excited to share them with folks.”

The guest panel, a new feature for the event, will include Kym Porter, Brenda Mercer and chair of the What Matters to Hatters Coalition, Taneil Zanidean.

This, says Sauve, was created due to the number of themes that will emerge from the collection of films, which they hope to facilitate discussion on.

“We want to talk a little bit about inclusion and belonging, that idea of, how do we make everyone feel welcome in our communities,” said Sauve. “Another one is around isolation and loneliness and how we can help people to feel when they come here as newcomers.

“We think people will be pleased to see most of these films and maybe surprised by some of them, but the three of them that are local are really well done.”

The event will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MHPL theatre. There will be popcorn and water provided to attendees while supplies last.