The Whistler Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 22nd edition, set to kick off on Nov. 30.
Organizers sorted through more than 2,000 submissions this year to land on 41 feature and 45 short films from 19 countries.
Launching the festivities: the Western Canadian premiere of White Noise, directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig. The apocalyptic black comedy has also opened both the Venice International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival.
Other hotly anticipated films are on the roster, including Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion version of Pinocchio, and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Things, about a journalist who has returned to his home country near the end of his career.
The festival will also host the world premiere of the documentary Offside: The Harold Ballard Story, directed by Jason Priestley, chronicling the two decades its namesake owned the Toronto Maple Leaves.
If relationship dynamics pique your interest instead, check out Vanessa Matsui's debut feature, Midnight at the Paradise, also making its world premiere.
A total of 15 film awards will be handed out in seven juried competitions at the festival as well, the biggest being the Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Film Feature with a $15,000 cash prize and a production prize worth $20,000.
This year, 14 films will vie for that honour, which includes several first-time and female directors.
- Soft-Spoken Weepy Cult Child, about a daughter whose mother is part of a religious sect
- Adult Adoption, telling the story of an adult who attempts to get adopted
- Exile, about a father protecting his family following a DUI
- Broken Angel, delving into the abusive relationship of an Indigenous woman as she and her daughter seek refuge
- Rodeo, chronicling a trucker who steals off with his young daughter to compete in a "truck rodeo"
- Niagara, following three sons on a road trip to bury their father
- Coyote, telling the tale of an ex-chef who must suddenly take care of his grandson
- The 12 Tasks of Imelda, featuring Martin Villeneuve dressing up as a granny to pay tribute to his grandmother
- Lissa's Trip, about an actress taking acid ahead of an audition
- Colorblind, following a Black mother and son who are struggling with a racist landlord
- Polaris, a dystopian action movie set in the future
- Diaspora, which tells the story of a young Ukrainian immigrant who lands in North Winnipeg
- Midnight at the Paradise, following three couples at different stages of their relationships
- The End of Sex, a comedy in the vein of My Awkward Sexual Encounter from WFF's 2012 edition
Also part of the festival: documentaries that have a heavy focus on music and sports, the ShortWorks short-film series, a Films from Away stream, and American Indies.
This year, the locally loved Mountain Culture film stream will include Sherpas Cinemas' Know Before You Go as well as Mike Douglas and Anthony Bonello's Tracing Influence, connecting six skiers with the people who inspire them.
The festival runs in-person from Nov. 30 until Dec. 4 and online from Dec. 5 to Jan. 2. Tickets, passes, and a full list of films and events are available now at whistlerfilmfestival.com.
