Wildhood Opens IFFO
by Staff
(February 11, 2022 – Ottawa, ON) The film Wildhood is making news again. Following its September 2021 World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, it has screened at several festivals and it was announced this morning that Wildhood will open the 2022 International Film Festival Ottawa.
What makes this newsworthy is the fact that this newly created festival has never had a full opening. It’s first year, 2020, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, IFFO was moved online and offered audiences an at-home festival experience. Now, in 2022 the second edition will be the first time IFFO will be in-person, featuring films on the big screen at the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG), the ByTowne Cinema, and the Mayfair Theatre.
“While our 2021 edition was entirely online, we are thrilled to present IFFO 2022 as a primarily live event, adhering strictly to public health and safety protocols”, said Tom McSorley, the Executive Director of IFFO and of the Canadian Film Institute (CFI), the charitable organization that hosts IFFO.
“For our second edition, we have curated a collection of some of the best feature length and short films from Canada and around the world to premiere at IFFO 2022. Our dedicated IFFO programming team has worked hard to deliver a diverse, challenging, entertaining, intelligent array of films from over 20 countries”, McSorley added.
The opening film, Wildhood is by Two-Spirit L’nu director Bretten Hannam. Since its debut, Wildhood has endeared itself to audiences with its story of a rebellious two-spirit teenager who runs away from home to find his birth mother and reclaim his Mi’kmaw heritage.
From director Grégory Monro comes Kubrick by Kubrick, a documentary that delves into the life and films of the legendary Stanley Kubrick. Winning Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production at the FOCAL International Awards 2021, the film is structured around interview recordings with Kubrick.
Inspired by the novel of the same title by Canadian author Amy Jones, We’re All in This Together is written, directed by and stars Katie Boland. The film focuses on the Parker family and how they navigate trauma, mental illness, and redemption.
Silent Land, by director Aga Woszczyńska, takes audiences on a summer holiday gone wrong. After an accident during their holiday, a well-off Polish couple is forced to confront their internal demons and the cracks in their relationship.
The debut film from Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, Gagarine, focuses on Yuri, a 16-year-old boy living in Cité Gagarine, a housing project in Ivry-sur-Seine as he protests the planned demolition of the community. This touching film seamlessly transitions between the real and the imaginary, reminding audiences that there can be good and beauty in the most overlooked of places.
All My Puny Sorrows, an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ best-selling novel, tells the story of two sisters and the complexities of life and death. Director Michael McGowan’s commitment to bringing the nuances of Toews’s story to life was recognized by the film’s inclusion on Canada’s Top Ten at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Closing weekend wraps up with a screening of Indonesian film, Yuni, an audience favourite and winner of the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Described by Variety as a film that “has the feel of a documentary that sets out to explore the life of a typical Indonesian girl caught up in the excitement, confusion and trepidation that is universally experienced by adolescent”, Yuni is a film not to be missed.
IFFO runs March 9-20, 2022, with a new event, SAVE AS, taking place on March 10. SAVE AS examines issues of preservation, distribution and exhibition of Canadian cinematic heritage. The industry event, Screen Summit, returns on March 19.
IFFO Passes are $200 and give passholders access to all screenings. General admission tickets are $15, while interested parties can register for SAVE AS and Screen Summit for free. There is more information online.
Also see: Our listing of March 2022 film festivals.
SOURCE: IFFO
