PARAMEDICS AWARDED
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NORTHERN WIT PAGE
STRATFORD VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 14
25 FREE
NOVEMBER 14, 2025
A Passion for People
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That’s a wrap for 2025 Stratford Film Festival
LISA CHESTER
Times Correspondent
The Stratford Film Festival (SFF) held its first ever four-day festival Nov. 6-9, with thirteen screenings that had been whittled down from submissions of over 500 films. Opening night was sold out with a welcoming reception and the screening of the award-winning documentary Beethoven Nine: Ode to Humanity directed by Canadian Larry Weinstein. The feature took home the Best Documentary award. The SFF Award is a special edition print of the painting called Attentive Eyes by Stratford artist Tom Campbell. The prints were created specially for the festival and the original painting hangs in the Bruce Hotel. There were ten awards handed out at the end of the festival. The Audience Favourite, Behind the Castle Walls: The Origin Story of the Hilarious House of Frightenstein attracted the most first-time attendees of all the screenings, with fans anxious to meet and be photographed with co-producer Mitch Markowitz – who along with filmmakers Tammy Heisel and Morgan Baker were on hand for a Q-and-A. The session was moderated by journalist Claire Bickley who helped charm the audience with Markowitz and his stories. Many came to the Saturday morning screening appropriately dressed in pyjamas eating the complementary sugary cereals reminiscent of youth. CONTINUED TO PAGE 12
(CONNOR LUCZKA PHOTO)
After the Remembrance Day service on Nov. 11, the Stratford Police Pipes and Drums band led the procession from the cenotaph back to the Stratford Armoury. For more photos, see page 8.
Just 16% of children will have access to full-time care: report CONNOR LUCZKA Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A report just accepted by Stratford city council at its meeting on Nov. 10 paints a dire picture of the area’s child-care services. On average, only about 16 per cent of children up to the age of five have access to licenced, full-time childcare. “Through the Ministry of Education’s Capital Priorities program, which supports the creation of licensed childcare spaces in conjunction with school infrastruc-
ture projects, 176 new full-day, year-round spaces are expected to be opened this year in Perth County,” a report from Mandy Koroniak, manager of children’s services, said. “These spaces resulted from successful applications made by school boards and endorsed by the City of Stratford … While progress towards equity of access to licensed childcare is being made, most families remain without access to a space.” A subsequent correction noted that 88 of those spaces will not come online until a later date, though a new CONTINUED TO PAGE 3