The Canadian Film Fest returns for the 16th edition of the festival this month, continuing its dedication to screening and promoting Canadian film and building its community through industry events.
Since starting in Toronto’s Royal Cinema on College St., the festival has grown each year to become a central community hub for independent Canadian filmmakers and emerging talent in the industry.
This year, more than 30 full length features and shorts were chosen for the festival’s lineup.
According to the Canadian Film Fest website, 50 per cent of the films will be from women and 40 per cent from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Colour) filmmakers. The decision to have this representation was important for festival director Ashleigh Rains, who said she continues to strive for gender parity and BIPOC representation in Canadian storytelling – something she said she vouched for since starting as a festival programmer.
“We program films that come from across the country, from the east coast to the west coast, [and] in different languages,” Rains said. “It’s also important to reflect different perspectives in our programming as well.”
Part of this programming is the festival’s opening night film, Tehranto, a romantic drama set in Toronto about two students falling in love within the Persian community. The film is making its debut at Canadian Film Fest, and is expected to have a US release on April 9.
Another Toronto-based film is Tenzin, a film about a man dealing with identity and political strife concerning his Tibetan culture and North American surroundings.
In addition to the film screenings, the festival is hosting a variety of industry events, including the Action on Women in Film. This is an all-day event inviting women, cisgender women, transwomen and gender non-conforming women for discussions, panels and workshops with some of the film industry’s notable female talent, according to the festival website.
The event was inspired by the 2021 Women On Screen Report, which showed a deep disparity in female inclusion and representation in the industry.
Rains said that gender parity in Canadian film has yet to be achieved, especially for women who are Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in terms of representation in the industry, and elevating women into these key creative and decision-making roles.”
Some of the workshops are geared towards anti-racisim, distributing one’s films and round table talks on earning a living as a filmmaker.
Other industry events this year include a master class led by Canadian director Sudz Sutherland, whose work include CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries.
Overall, while the festival has garnered a dedicated community over its 16-year history, Rains hopes new audience members will be more open to Canadian film and its storytellers.
“I would say to new audiences: give us a chance, we’re a lot of fun, we are proudly Canadian, we only screen Canadian content, and our filmmakers as well as our staff are really passionate about the content we are putting out.”
The Canadian Film Fest is streaming on Super Channel now from March 22 to April 2.
Listen to Ashleigh Rains’ full interview:
