Because it's been such a great year for film, Tammy Frick said the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival can offer a stellar lineup of movies for its 28th annual celebration of the silver screen.
“Cannes (Film Festival) had one of their best years ever,” said Frick, Cinéfest Sudbury's executive director, speaking at a Tuesday press conference where part of the Sept. 17-25 festival's lineup was released.
“That really makes it much easier for us to access great products. That's part of the challenge every year — to get out there and dig things up so you find those gems.”
While the festival's complete lineup is expected to be released in mid August, organizers revealed four gala presentation films, along with a dozen other films that'll be shown (visit the website for a full list).
The festival's gala presentations kick off Sept. 17 with the Canada-Ireland production “Maudie.”
Starring Ethan Hawke, Sally Hawkins and Kari Matchett, it's about an arthritic Nova Scotia woman working as a housekeeper and honing her skills as an artist, who eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.
The Sept. 18 gala is the American film “Manchester by the Sea,” featuring Michelle Williams, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Kyle Chandler.
It's about an uncle who's forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.
The Sept. 22 gala is the German comedy “Toni Erdmann,” starring Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischeck, about a father trying to reconnect with his daughter.
The Sept. 24 gala is “I, Daniel Blake,” a UK/France/Belgium production starring Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann and Dylan Phillip McKiernan.
It's about the relationship between a middle-aged carpenter who requires state welfare after injuring himsel and the single mother in a similar scenario.
For the last few years, Cinéfest Sudbury has featured a film shot in Sudbury as one of its gala presentations, and Frick said that could be the case again this year, although she said we'll have to wait and see.
We do know there's at least one Sudbury-shot film on the festival's roster. “Antibirth,” starring Natasha Lyonne and Chloë Sevigny, is part of Cinéfest Sudbury's new #GenYZ program, catering to young adult viewers. The exact date it's being screened hasn't yet been released.
The horror film, shot in Sudbury in the spring of 2015, is director Danny Perez's debut feature. It's a tale of illegal drugs, strange pregnancies and weird experiments.
It appeared at this year's edition of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, the largest film festival in the U.S.
David Anselmo, CEO of Sudbury's Hideaway Pictures and the Northern Ontario Film Studios, was one of the producers. This is the fourth year one of his films has appeared at Cinéfest Sudbury, which he said is an honour.
“I think people will enjoy 'Antibirth',” he said. “I think it is very different and unique. The concepts are phenomenal. It's really out there. The crowds at Sundance just welcomed it with open arms and laughed and enjoyed, and were scared. It was a great experience.”
