The experience returns!!📽️💜 #WIFF22
— WIFF (@WindsorFilmFest) October 6, 2022
WIFF is back and bigger than ever with an impressive slate of 177 feature films from 32 countries and more than 300 screenings!
đź“…October 27 - November 6
View the complete lineup and purchase tickets:https://t.co/uJ9UkiR1pL pic.twitter.com/iMV6RYyRSg
The 2019 Windsor International Film Festival had 10 days and lots of amazing momentum. One of the worst days in 2020 and 2021 was the cancellation of that film festival. 2022 brings an 11-day film festival with plenty of Canadian film, U.S. film, and cinema from around the world.
The 2022 version kicks off this morning. The Windsor International Film Festival is Canada's biggest volunteer-run film festival.
Seeing a bunch of Canadian films and films from other countries is only part of the experience. We've been watching films on various computer screens and on demand for the last 3 years. The joy of film festivals, especially the Windsor International Film Festival, is comparing notes with other people. Their enthusiasm can draw you into a film you wouldn't have thought to watch but then glad you did. Even if you can't fit them all into your schedule, you have a well-crafted list to draw from in the upcoming year.
We've shown this photo (my photo) of the WIFF Alley in 2019 a few times. This was a nice reminder of where this festival had grown to over the years and a notice that we can return to this splendor once again.
A look back to past years of the Windsor International Film Festival
The Windsor International Film Festival is once again awarding a WIFF Prize in Canadian Film. The award carries a $25,000 cash value given to the director of the chosen film. The winner will be selected by a jury of film professionals.
All 10 of the nominated films will be screened during WIFF's opening weekend. The festival will announce the Canadian Film Prize at a special event during the festival on October 30.
These are the Canadian films contending for the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film:
Brother (Clement Virgo)
Eternal Spring (Jason Loftus)
Falcon Lake (Charlotte Le Bon)
I Like Movies (Chandler Levack)
Norbourg (Maxime Giroux)
North of Normal (Carly Stone)
Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim)
Something You Said Last Night (Luis De Filippis)
The Swearing Jar (Lindsay MacKay)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja)
Eternal Spring is the Oscars entry for Best International Feature Film. All but Norbourg and Eternal Spring were at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
2019 WIFF Canadian films in review
Kuessipan won the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film award in 2019. That film received a $10,000 cash award so the stakes are a lot higher in 2022.
The other Canadian films that contended in 2019 were And The Birds Rained Down; Antigone; Castle in the Ground; Easy Land; Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind; Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger; Matthias and Maxime; Prey; and Willie.
Your humble narrator saw all of the 2019 films list in that year's festival, except for Prey. We will run a film review of Prey during this year's festival.
We normally run a count and list all the Canadian films. Instead, we recommend checking out the list of films and synopses of the Canadian films.
Some of the other Canadian film highlights include:
- Wolves
- Family of the Forest
- Babysitter
- Unloved - Huronia's Forgotten Children
- The Origin of Evil
- Ice-Breaker: The Legacy of the '72 Summit Series
- Arsenault & Fils
- Geographies of Solitude
- The Middle Man
- Slash/Back
- Maria
- So Much Tenderness
- Rosie
- Goodbye Happiness | Au Revoir Le Bonheur
- A Year in the Forest
- Coyote
- Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On
- Hands That Bind
- The Long Rider
- The Last Tourist
- Ever Deadly
- Aline
The festival includes Canadian films we have already reviewed: The Grey Fox (1982); Indian Horse; and Peace By Chocolate. This is far from a complete list.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Women Talking will also play in the festival, a film technically not Canadian. Plan to see and write about the film in some fashion. We are good at writing about Canadian films in name only, an easier task than doing the opposite.
Canada drops all COVID-19 measures at borders as of October 1
This isn't just about a film festival. Opening up the borders means more cross border travel across the world's longest undefended border between Canada and the United States.
Ketchup chips and butter tarts. Spending loonies and twoonies.
Windsor International Film Festival cancels the 2021 festival
Windsor International Film Festival cancels the 2020 festival
These were 2 of the most difficult stories to write, outside of stories that involved someone dying. The cancellation of a film festival is never an easy call to make. The memories of the 2019 festival had to stretch out longer than we wanted them to stretch. The hope of returning to that world kept a lot of us going.
If this festival isn't within reach, hope you got a chance or will get a chance to discover the joy of seeing films in a local film festival.
The 2022 Windsor International Film Festival runs today through November 6.
Twitter capture: @WindsorFilmFest
photo credit: me
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