Kingston Canadian Film Festival, the nation’s largest festival devoted exclusively to Canadian film, is heading back to theatres. KCFF announced yesterday that it would return in a hybrid format. The festival kicks off March 3 with a theatrical opening night screening of Michael McGowan’s drama All My Puny Sorrows, adapted from Mariam Toews’ book.
Documentaries announced for KCFF in yesterday’s programming release include Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ acclaimed Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. The doc observes the Kainai First Nation’s response to the growing opioid epidemic ravaging communities. Tailfeathers’ also appears in the KCFF selection Night Raiders. The drama by Danis Goulet is nominated for the Toronto Film Critics Associations $100,000 Rogers Canadian Feature Award, as is fellow KCFF drama Scarborough by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williams, which is adapted from the novel by Catherine Hernandez.
Other documentaries at KCFF include Nadine Pequeneza’s environmental feat The Last of the Right Whales and Heather Hatch’s Wochiigii Io: End of the Peace, which examines the fight to save BC’s Peace River. Janet Wells and Mwaura Timothy’s Sleeping Warrior, meanwhile, brings an inspirational look at Africa’s first female lacrosse team as the athletes compete at the World Championships in Peterborough. Rebecca Campbell’s The Secret Society, finally, offers a multifaceted study of women’s infertility. All the docs screen online at KCFF this year with geographic reach varying by film.
Dramatic highlights at this year’s festival include Canada’s Oscar submission Drunken Birds, which gets a theatrical screening for audiences to appreciate its exquisite cinematography on the big screen it deserves, and Bretten Hannam’s Wildhood, a groundbreaking Two-Spirited coming of age story. KCFF also pays tribute to the late Jean-Marc Vallée with a screening of his 2005 hit C.R.A.Z.Y., while audiences can take in the full range of Zacharias Kunuk’s talent via a retro screening of his breakthrough drama Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and his animated short Ngakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice, which is on the Oscar shortlist ahead of Tuesday’s nomination announcement.
Tickets and passes for the 2022 Kingston Canadian Film Festival are now available.
