It’s a silver anniversary for the Calgary International Film Festival, and this year’s lineup is worthy of a quarter century of growth that has seen CIFF become one of the best film festivals in North America, according to programmers.

From gripping documentaries to soul speaking narratives, to stories that touch upon nearly forgotten Calgarians with larger than life histories, the festival is aiming at presenting something for everyone.

As much as that phrase has become a cliche, presenting a wide-ranging selection of feature films to entice Calgarians to visit CIFF was absolutely the goal for the festival’s 25th anniversary.

“There’s not very many festivals that get to celebrate their 25th anniversary, silver anniversary. That tells filmmakers around the globe that there is quality here, that the programmers know what they’re doing, that this is a place to come,” said Brian Owens, artistic director for CIFF.

“As the film industry grows, more filmmakers becomes familiar with what we’re doing here in the province. It gets people excited to be a part of the festival.”

That meant only the cream of the crop this year when it came to getting films to put before Calgary audiences.

That extended to interest to attend CIFF by international guests, said Owens.

“We’ve got guests requests coming in from all over the globe this year. I’m not exaggerating. Knock wood these applications get approved in time,” he said.

“As the lineup continues to get announced you’re really going to see the international uptake and the growing international reputation [of CIFF].”

Award-winning films, and films that are set to win awards

Among the initial wave of reveals by CIFF for 2024, included films like Porcelain War, Grand Theft Hamlet, and My Favourite Cake—which all have won awards at other international film festivals.

Films The Birds Who Fear Death, and Goddess of Slide are both set to hold their world premieres at CIFF.

“I’m really excited about this unique mix of films from all over the world, with standouts from Iran, Argentina, Belgium, and our homegrown talent with a number of Alberta films featured,” said Brenda Lieberman, Lead Programmer for CIFF.

“This wave includes horror and family-friendly animation in the mix, amongst all other great stories and film genres.”

This year’s selections included a lot more animation than years past, including the animated feature Flow, which received the jury award and audience award at the Annecy International Film Festival.

“So anybody who was a fan of Robot Dreams last year, Flow world premiered at Cannes… and last year, Robot Dreams did the exact same thing, world premiered at Cannes, won the Grand Jury Prize at Annecy, and then went on to an Oscar nomination. So we’re pretty confident that Flow is going to follow that same path,” said Owens.

Another one of the exciting animated films, he said, was Sunburnt Unicorn which will be receiving its Alberta premiere at CIFF.

That film was created by Nick Johnson, who serves as a professor at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary.

“We’re excited to celebrate his work,” said Owens.

Something you’ve probably never seen before, and a return of something you should

Grand Theft Hamlet, said Owens, was another one of those documentary films that had to be seen to be believed that will be shown at CIFF this year.

“[It’s] one of my favourites that I saw in the whole build up… which is about two actors during the pandemic who attempt to stage a full production of Hamlet within the video game Grand Theft Auto. It’s mind boggling. It is really like no documentary you have ever seen,” he said.

Closer to home, he said that the film Goddess of Slide—which tells the story of largely forgotten blues artist Ellen McIlwaine—had a real tie in to Calgary itself.

“She actually lived the last 20 years or so of her life here in Calgary, but back in the ’60s, she played with the likes of Hendrix and Dylan and her own record deal became huge in Australia before the playing clubs here towards the end of her life, giving lessons, and driving a school bus for a girl school here in Calgary,” Owens said.

“It’s just really exciting that the director Alfonso Maiorana won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Doc back in 2017.”

Owens said that one of the exciting things make a return to CIFF this year was a trailer party set for Sept. 3, which will show trailers for a host of films playing during the festival.

“That’s how I think a couple of those movies, those smaller movies get picked up is when people see a trailer. Not just in their living room by themselves, but those trailers when you see them together, and you laugh together, or you are shocked by something together, or cry together at a trailer that really tends to push audiences together to get people talking,” he said.

He said that an example of how trailers have really helped previous audiences gravitate towards a great film was for the quirky film Denmark, which ended up selling out both showings as a result.

“It doesn’t even have to be something like Anatomy of a Fall. Last year, we had a nice delicate Mexican drama called Martinez, and the filmmaker came up from Mexico and she got to see a full house house,” Owens said.

“That’s what I love about our audiences is they’ll take the journeys with us from the big ones, to the smaller titles.”

The Calgary International Film Festival runs from Sept. 19 to Sept. 29. Tickets are on sale now at www.ciffcalgary.ca.

Feature films showing at CIFF 2024

• 7 Beats Per Minute, Directed by Yuqi Kang (Canada): During a world record freediving attempt, Jessea Lu blacked out and was lifeless for four minutes.
• All We Imagine as Light, Directed by Payal Kapadia (France/India/Netherlands/Luxembourg): In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband.
• The Birds Who Fear Death, Directed by Sanjay Patel (Canada): Disinherited and desperate for cash, two brothers journey into the Canadian wilds to find themselves, their people and their fortune.
• The Bones, Directed by Jeremy Xido (Canada): The Bones traverses the globe alongside paleontologists on a quest to unearth dinosaur fossils that may hold the key to save humanity from extinction.
• Bookworm, Directed by Ant Timpson (New Zealand): During a time of crisis, a washed-up American magician, and his precocious estranged daughter, take to the New Zealand wilderness in search of a mythical black panther.
• Curl Power, Directed by Josephine Anderson (Canada): In this sport/coming-of-age documentary, a team of young women pursue their dream of becoming Canadian National Curling Champions.
• Dark Match, Directed by Lowell Dean (Canada): A small-time wrestling company accepts a gig in a backwoods town run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match.
• Eudaimonia, Directed by Dylan Rhys Howard (Canada): A young artist with telepathic abilities searches for connection and meaning in a world of her own eccentric design.
• Flow, Directed by Gints Zilbalodis (France/Belgium/Latvia): Cat is a solitary animal, but when its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species and will have to team up with them despite their differences.
• Goddess of Slide: The Forgotten Story of Ellen McIlwaine, Directed by Alfonso Maiorana (Canada): An intimate look at a pioneer performer whose road trip to stardom and long career deserves a rightful place in music history.
• Grand Theft Hamlet, Directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane (United Kingdom): Struggling actors stage a production of Hamlet through the video game Grand Theft Auto.
• The Hobby, Directed by Simon Ennis (Canada): From the World Series of Board Games on the Las Vegas strip and dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, The Hobby is an affectionate, character-driven portrait of the massive and diverse subculture of board games.
• Linda Perry: Let It Die Here, Directed by Don Hardy (United States): An intimate look at Linda Perry’s personal and professional life as one of pop music’s major creative forces as a multi-faceted singer, songwriter and producer.
• Luther: Never Too Much, Directed by Dawn Porter (United States): An intimate portrait of R&B legend Luther Vandross, as told by Luther, his closest friends, and his musical collaborators.
• A Man Imagined, Directed by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky (Canada): A bracingly intimate and hallucinatory portrait of a man with schizophrenia surviving on the edges of society.
• Misericordia, Directed by Alain Guiraudie (France/Spain/Portugal): A man returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss. Mysterious circumstances make Jérémie’s stay in the village take an unexpected turn.
• My Favourite Cake, Directed by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (Iran/France/Germany/Sweden): Mahin, 70, lives alone until she decides to break her solitary routine and revitalize her love life. As she opens up to romance, an unexpected encounter evolves into an unforgettable evening.
• A New Kind of Wilderness, Directed by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen (Norway): In a forest in Norway, a family lives an isolated lifestyle in an attempt to be wild and free, but a tragic event changes everything.
• Our Dream—A Rio de Janeiro Funk Story, Directed by Eduardo Albergaria (Brazil): Our Dream dramatizes the musical journey of Claudinho and Buchecha, the superstar duo of Brazilian funk music.
• Porcelain War, Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev (United States/Ukraine): Three artists struggle with their morality when they choose to stay behind and fight in Ukraine.
• Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story, Directed by Darrin Hagen (Canada): An Albertan gay man fired for his sexuality sets a transformative precedent for 2SLGBTQ+ rights worldwide.
• Reinas, Directed by Klaudia Reynicke (Switzerland/Peru/Spain): As his estranged family prepares to flee 1990s Peru, an absent father must confront his neglect and earn back their love before it’s too late.
• Resynator, Directed by Alison Tavel (United States): In unearthing the synthesizer her late father invented in the 1970s, Alison forges a bond with the man she never got the chance to know.
• Secret Mall Apartment, Directed by Jeremy Workman (United States): The bonkers real story of eight artists who built and lived in a secret apartment inside their local mall from 2003 to 2007.
• Singing Back the Buffalo, Directed by Tasha Hubbard (Canada): Award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard examines North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and their return to the Great Plains.
• Sisters, Directed by Susie Yankou (Canada/United States): Best friends Lou and Esther are each other’s “chosen sisters”, but when Lou discovers she has a long-lost half-sister, she must redefine what that loaded F word—family—means to her.
• Soul’s Road, Directed by Joel Stewart (Canada): After ruining his career and taking a break from music, a former rock star returns to his hometown to make amends with the people he abandoned years ago.
• Sunburnt Unicorn, Directed by Nick Johnson (Canada): A teenager on a mission to rescue his father adopts the identity of a mythical unicorn to survive surreal encounters.
• They All Came Out to Montreaux, Directed by Oliver Murray (United Kingdom): The epic story of Claude Nobs and the Montreux Jazz Festival.
• Vera and the Pleasure of Others, Directed by Romina Tamburello and Federico Actis (Argentina): A 17-year-old rents out an apartment to teenagers looking to have sex and discovers her own pleasure along the way.