By Ralph Lucas – Publisher
(August 19, 2024 – Toronto, ON) We’re a little past halfway through the month and in this part of the country news about the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) seems to crowd out everything else. It runs from September 5 to 15th and helps kickoff what many of us refer to as Film Festival Season. This is a quick look at some of the other film festivals taking place next month.
First up is my local Toronto favourite, The Cabbagetown Short Film and Video Festival. The festival only lasts a few hours on the evening of September 4 but it will be available through streaming on September 5, 6, and 7. As I have mentioned before, the great thing about short films is if you don’t like what you’re watching, there’ll be something else to watch in just a few minutes.
The 9th Annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) takes place in Toronto this September 4th-15th and offers up a selection of established and emerging filmmakers of the Caribbean and African heritage. Screenings are spread between the Harbourfront Centre, TIFF Lightbox and the DundasWest Studio as well as online.
While no challenge to TIFF, the other TIFF, the Toronto Independent Film Festival kicks-off on September 9 and runs until the 14th. Centred at the Paradise Cinema, as organizers mention on their website, it’s a “festival for truly independent films, and a headline event for micro-budget and no-budget films in North America.” Of equal importance to filmmakers, there’s also a market component since Toronto will be flooded with film executives at this time, and indie filmmakers might be able to screen their projects to sales agents, distributors, and investors.
Also launching on the 11th, but on the West Coast, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) is back for their 36th annual Festival, which runs from September 11-22. The programme includes “international film and episodic content authored by 2SLGBTQIA+ creators, centred on 2SLGBTQIA+ protagonists, and celebrating queer storytelling and joy.”
The 11th must be a popular start date because the 44th Atlantic International Film Festival (AIFF) starts on that day and ends on the 18th. They fit 96 feature and short films into the schedule at Halifax’s Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane. The programme “reflects the diverse stories coming out of Atlantic Canada, alongside award-winning cinema from around the world.” The Opening Night Gala film is the highly anticipated Sharp Corner, directed by Jason Buxton and starring Ben Foster (pictured above) and Cobie Smulders.
Cinéfest Sudbury has yet to announce their full lineup, according to their website this morning, but look for these Canadian films screen during the festival: 40 Acres from R.T. Thorne, Sophie Deraspe’s Bergers (aka Shepherds, image above), Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness, Kaniehtiio Horn’s Seeds and the 2024 film Dada, which marks the feature film debut of director Aaron Poole, to name a few. Cinéfest Sudbury runs from September 14 to the 22nd.
Other festivals worth exploring are happening in Lunenburg, Montréal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver including The Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver International Film Festivals and the Montreal International Black Film Festival. Find more information and links to these festivals on our September 2024 Film Festivals page.
Also see: September Film Festivals – Part Two
Ralph Lucas is a former broadcast executive and award-winning director in high-end corporate video production. The founder and publisher of Northernstars.ca, online since 1998, he began writing about film and reviewing movies while in radio in Montreal in the mid-1970s.
