With more and more large productions choosing to film in the city, Cinéfest has been giving gala slots to locally-shot movies for the last few years.
“It's such a pleasure for us to spotlight those films,” said Tammy Frick, the festival's executive director, speaking at a press conference Aug. 24.
“They keep getting better and better. We've worked towards encouraging the film industry in Northern Ontario for so many years ... Born to be Blue is a spectacular film that will go over so well. It can stand up against any Hollywood film right now. So we're very pleased to have it as our Saturday gala.”
Cinéfest has now released its full lineup, with the exception of its Monday gala, as it's still waiting to sign the papers with the distribution company.
Frick said she and her staffers start screening films in May to put together just the right mix. “It's quite a complicated process, and let me tell you, there's some pretty heated debates at times,” she said.
As you'll see below in the list of this year's gala films, Cinéfest received submissions of several films starring A-list celebrities. Many Hollywood actors are choosing to push the envelope by starring in non-mainstream films, Frick said.
“It's a benefit to the audience, because we get to see these brilliant talents on the big screen, trying different things,” she said.
The as-yet-announced gala films are:
-Saturday, Sept. 19 – Beeba Boys (Deepa Mehta, Canada, 2015) — Mix bhangra beats, AK-47s, bespoke suits, and cocaine and you have Beeba Boys, an explosive clash of culture and crime.
-Sunday, Sept. 20 – The Lady in the Van (Nicholas Hyntner, United Kingdom, 2015) - The legendary Maggie Smith stars in this adaptation of the based-on-fact play by acclaimed author Alan Bennett, about a high-born homeless woman fallen on hard times who found temporary shelter parking her van in Bennett’s driveway – for 15 years.
-Tuesday, Sept. 22 – Remember (Atom Egoyan, Canada/Germany, 2015) - The darkest chapter of the 20th century collides with a contemporary mission of revenge when Zev, a nursing-home resident (played by Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer) sets out to exact vengeance on the man who murdered his family seven decades earlier.
-Wednesday, Sept. 23 – Brooklyn (John Crowley, UK/Ireland/Canada, 2015) - Set on opposite sides of the Atlantic, the film tells the story of Eilis Lacey (Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn.
-Thursday, Sept. 24 – Ville-Marie (Guy Édoin, Canada, 2015) - An actress shooting a movie hopes to reconcile with her son. A paramedic haunted by his past tries to stay on course, while a caring nurse keeps an eye on him from afar. It is at the Ville-Marie Hospital that these four lives will take an unexpected turn.
-Friday, Sept. 25 – Forsaken (Jon Cassar, Canada/France, 2015) - Kiefer and Donald Sutherland share the screen in this brooding western about an embittered gunslinger who attempts to make amends with his estranged father whilst their community is besieged by ruthless land-grabbers.
-Saturday, Sept. 26 – Born to be Blue (Robert Budreau, USA/Canada/UK, 2015) - Jazz legend Chet Baker (Ethan Hawke) searches for love and redemption when he is approached to star in a movie about his own troubled life in order to mount a comeback in the late 1960s.
-Sunday, Sept. 27 – The Daughter (Simon Stone, Australia, 2015) - A man returns home to discover a long-buried family secret, and his attempts to put things right threaten the lives of those he left home years before.
For a full list of Cinéfest films, or to purchase tickets, visit www.cinefest.com.
