Four documentaries will compete for the annual $25,000 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film at the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF). The festival announced its full line-up today after teasing the competition slate at a TIFF event last week. Documentaries competing for the prize—one of the largest on the circuit—include Ashley Duong’s Ba’s Book; Matthew Rankin’s Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney; Nico King’s Nekai Walks; and Sean Menard’s Run Terry Run.
Ba’s Book sees Duong interpret her father’s journey from wartime Vietnam to revolution-era Iran to Canada. In Mulroney, which just won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rankin brazenly gives the ascent of Canada’s 18th prime minister a farcical spin. Meanwhile, Nekai Walks, which won the Rogers Audience Award for Canadian Film at Hot Docs earlier this year, observes a young Toronto man as he undergoes rehabilitation after being caught in the crosshairs of gang violence. Finally, Run Terry Run offers an all-archival account of Terry Fox’s historic Marathon of Hope that continues to inspire and raise awareness for cancer research.
Also screening at in the WIFF competition slate is Nina Roza, Genevieve Dulude-De Celles’ period drama, which was selected to represent Canada in the Oscar race for Best International Feature. Rounding out the competition titles are the dramas Haunted by Rafaël Ouellet, Julián by Louise Bagnall, Neverman by Rodrigo Barriuso, Pauline by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, and You Will Be Free by Bachir Bensaddek.
The competition documentaries represent a strong showing for non-fiction films among WIFF’s line-up of 232 films from 55 countries. Hot docs include the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Nuisance Bear from Canadian filmmakers Gabriela Osio-Vanden and Jack Weisman, about polar bear migration habits in the face of climate change. Nuisance Bear was also just announced as the opening night film of Toronto’s Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival.
Canadian titles include Thomson Highway: Permanent Astonishment, Barbara Hager’s portrait of the beloved playwright; Captain Newfoundland, Mike Feehan and Jamie Miller’s take on cartoonist Geoff Stirling; Sean Stanley’s music doc Call the Office; Ceremony, Banchi Hanuse’s award winning study of efforts to restore the ooligan fish population of Bella Coola; Code of Misconduct, Sébastien Trahan tough look at misogyny in hockey; Still Night, Burning House, Carol Nguyen’s personal exploration of family trauma; The Delivery Line, Nance Ackerman’s snapshot of valiant midwives; The Sandbox, Kenya-Jade Pinto’s essay about lives caught in the migration crisis; Dear Lara, Lara St. John’s personal exposé about sexual violence in classical orchestras; Il Paese: The Village, Shelley Tepperman’s study of the renewal of a small Italian village; and Barry Avrich’s Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been, which just won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at TIFF.
International highlights include Poh Si Teng’s Hot Docs Audience Award winner American Doctor, about three medical workers supporting the rights of Palestinians in Gaza; Manhood, Daniel Lombroso’s study about penile enhancement (no word yet about on-site activations); Runa Simi, Augusto Zegarra’s portrait of the effort to crowd-source a Quechua dub of Disney’s The Lion King; and Rebecca Tansley’s Tenor: My Name Is Pati about Samoan tenor Pene Pati.
This year’s Windsor International Film Festival runs Oct. 29 to Nov. 8.
