Technically, it’s still winter outside, but spring has sprung as far as film festivals are concerned. Sure, biggies like the Vancouver International Film Festival and the ethnocentric fests are mostly in the fall. And there’s also the sense that every available cultural resource (read: money) was already funnelled into a certain gargantuan sporting event. But there’s actually no reason to put off the thrill of the popcorn and the smell of the crowd.

Right about now, in fact, you could be heading to the Pacific Cinémathí¨que (1131 Howe Street) for Secrets Beyond the Door: Treasures From the UCLA Festival of Preservation, happening March 11 to 29. Preservation has been quite a buzzword in the movie world of late, with cinephiles struggling to raise money for keeping films, not just making them. The series title, as explained at cinematheque.bc.ca/, refers to an almost forgotten Fritz Lang noir from 1948, and there are also lovingly restored prints of movies from John Sayles and Frank Borzage.

It’s got a big, big name, but the Canada International Film Festival, running March 19 to 21 at the Edgewater Casino, shows mostly small films, and isn’t very noisy about it. The shorts range from docs to dramas to animated films.

The relationship between film and other visual arts is underlined in Visionaries: Art on Film, a program of docs at the Vancity Theatre from April 2 to 8. The titles, soon to be up at vifc.org/, include the 1973 classic Painters Painting and the delightfully titled Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies.

Although many of the groups behind these celluloid events have educational arms, the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth is primarily an outreach vehicle. So it’s slightly surprising that founder Venay Felton had to scramble to keep this year’s kid-aimed flick fest afloat. Last summer, she was refused the provincial grants that made her event happen the previous 11 years.

“What was most disturbing was the timing of it,” she explained in a call to the Georgia Straight. “It was rough to be told at the end of August that we would have no funding for a festival we start on in September.”

To avoid the Olympics, the event had already been moved from its usual February slot back to April 9 to 16—with films screening at the Vancity Theatre, Granville 7, and Roundhouse—so there was additional time to raise dollars with an on-line auction and hit up more sponsors, including the returning Telus.

“We’ll make do for now,” Felton concluded. “We’ll have to find more sources for next year.”

Right after that, on April 17 and 18 at Vancity, Women in Film and Television Vancouver brings us its fifth annual Women in Film Festival, complete with informative panels and networking sessions.

Environmental and social themes are the focus of the third annual Projecting Change Film Festival, with a schedule of movies and panels, mostly at the Fifth Avenue Cinema from April 22 to 25.

After a year off due to budget cuts, UBC’s Persistence of Vision is back to showcasing the best student work of the previous year—all dramas, as it happens. This is its 20th-anniversary edition, unspooling April 30 and May 1 at the Granville 7 Cinemas, and the event marks 40 years of film production at the university. Details will be posted at povfilmfestival.com/.

The celluloid blowout of the season is the DOXA Documentary Film Festival happening May 7 to 16, with films divided between the Granville 7, Vancity, and Cinémathí¨que. The fest is staggering from its own budget shortfall, as discussed at doxafestival.ca/, where you can still find out how to become a volunteer or, better yet, a donor. (The complete film lineup will be there April 7.)

“We got cut like everybody else, so it’s been tricky,” said Kristine Anderson, DOXA’s top programmer. “We really had to pay attention to all the little details and cut a lot of corners. On the other hand, our sponsors—corporate or community—have been just as generous as before, if not more so.”

The doc-making crowd has already been hit by budget drops all decade long, but she said that isn’t reflected in the stuff that does get made.

“The filmmakers are adjusting and adapting and are not being entirely quiet about it. It’s important to keep lobbying for the importance of the arts. The community is struggling, but not beaten down. Since we grew to 10 days last year, however, our lineup has actually improved. And that quality will bring more and more people to our theatres.”

No matter what else is going on, feel free to curate your own darned festival. Keep an eye on art houses, second-run theatres, and cinematheques to stay in touch with the obscure, the archival, and the cutting-edge, and maybe you’ll even run into Picasso and Braque in the bargain. And since this is officially the week to start exploiting our great outdoors—even when heading into the dark—could you please oil up your bikes and ride between venues?