During the OHL playoffs last spring, when the Sudbury Wolves were facing our near northern neighbours the North Bay Battalion, the Wolves limited tickets to Sudbury games for North Bay residents, angering some Battalion fans.
But Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival is going the opposite direction - it wants to show some love for North Bay residents.
“We're putting a stop to this,” said Cinéfest executive director Patrick O’Hearn, speaking at the Aug. 22 press conference where the film festival’s lineup was revealed. “We're having North Bay day here in Greater Sudbury.”
On Thursday, Sept. 19, four movies filmed in North Bay will be screened at the film festival, including the gala presentation that evening, “Drive Back Home.”
Set in the winter of 1970, the film is about a plumber from New Brunswick who must drive 1,000 miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park.
Passes for North Bay day at Cinéfest will cost $45.
“This is really designed to encourage people from North Bay to come out, stay in a hotel room, visit our wonderful hospitality here in Greater Sudbury, but also to celebrate some of the work,” said O’Hearn.
“It's not just about celebrating North Bay. North Bay and Greater Sudbury do so much great sharing of crew resources, production resources, and everything like that. So this is really a day to celebrate, you know, just that collective vision we actually are partners in a great film industry that we developed here in Northern Ontario.”
Of the roughly 100 films being screened at the Sept. 14-22 festival, roughly half are Canadian. As previously mentioned, there’s four films shot in North Bay (“Drive Back Home,” “We Forgot to Break Up,” “All The Lost Ones” and “Seeds”), two in Greater Sudbury (“Neon Dreaming” and “40 Acres”) and one on Manitoulin Island (“Dada”).
Snapshot of the times we live in
The quality of the submissions to the festival is impressive, especially coming out of the strikes in the film and television sector in the United States last year, O’Hearn said.
“You never know how things are going to recover,” O’Hearn said.
“We have star power prominently featured in the program this year, which we're thrilled about. I look at the films that we're producing here in Northern Ontario, and look at nationwide, Canada has become a leader in terms of co-productions. They’re partnering with other countries and making really high-quality films.”
O’Hearn said one of the reasons he loves working in film so much is that they provide a snapshot of the times we live in.
“And I think you're going to see with the program this year that we couldn't have a better snapshot,” he said, pointing out that this year’s Cinéfest films focus on topics including the war in Ukraine, environmental issues, addictions and more.
Visit www.cinefest.com for further details, including ticket information and more.
2024 Cinéfest gala presentations:
Opening night (Saturday, Sept. 14)
The Invisibles [Andrew Currie, Canada, 2024]
Charlie (Tim Blake Nelson of Nightmare Alley) and Hanna (Gretchen Mol of Manchester by the Sea) are in crisis and facing the end of their marriage when Charlie literally starts to disappear. As he fades from the world, he discovers a new world of “invisibles”; people who have disappeared just like him and who now exist in an alternate reality. Continually drawn back to his old life, he starts to see their marriage and the tragic loss of their six-year-old son from Hanna’s point of view and soon realizes that he must fight to return to his reality.
Sunday, Sept. 15
Young Werther [José Lourenço, Canada, 2024]
Charming, passionate, totally irresponsible young novelist Werther (Douglas Booth of My Salinger Year and Loving Vincent) is sent to the city on an errand by his mother. By chance, he meets lovely Charlotte (Alison Pill of Trap and All My Puny Sorrows), whose allure and commitment to her impressive, stable fiancé Albert (Patrick J. Adams of USA Network’s Suits) will turn Werther’s life upside down. Werther and Charlotte embark on an emotional affair, while Werther and Albert start an awkward friendship. The more entwined this trio becomes, the harder it is to navigate the complexities of lust, affinity, and love. This romantic comedy of semi-requited love is a modern take on Goethe’s smash hit 18th century novel of tragic romance. In this first feature from José Lourenço, Young Werther holds as much charm as its well-meaning protagonist in a vibrant, witty style.
Monday, Sept. 16
1995 [Ricardo Trogi, Canada, 2024]
In 1994, at twenty-four, Ricardo (Jean-Carl Boucher) has already given up on his dream to become a filmmaker. However, a call from Radio-Canada advising that he was a finalist for the program La Course edition 1994-95 rekindled the young man’s artistic flame. Commissioned by the public broadcaster to produce twenty short films around the world, we meet up with Ricardo as he lands in Egypt, halfway through the televised “race.” Experiencing one problem after another to produce a four-minute film about excision, Ricardo will question many things, including his very own nature. Is he or is he not a true artist? This is the fourth film in director Ricardo Trogi’s semi-autobiographical series after 1981, 1987, and 1991.
Tuesday, Sept. 17
The Mother and the Bear [Johnny Ma, Canada, 2024]
After 26-year-old Sumi (Leere Park) suffers an accident on the streets of wintry Winnipeg, her overbearing mother Sara (Kim Ho-jung) flies in from Seoul to be by her now comatose daughter's side. As Sara meddles in Sumi's life via a dating app, attempting to catfish a husband for her daughter before she wakes up, she ends up on a journey that will leave her forever changed. The Mother and the Bear is director Johnny Ma’s third feature film, following Old Stone, which won five Canadian Screen Awards in 2017, and To Live to Sing, which won Best Film and Best Actress at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Wednesday, Sept. 18
The Outrun [Nora Fingscheidt, Germany/Spain/UK, 2024]
Rona (Saoirse Ronan of Ammonite and Lady Bird), fresh out of rehab, returns to the Orkney Islands, a place both wild and beautiful right off the Scottish coast. After more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona—now 30—attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery. The Outrun was adapted from Amy Liptrot's bestselling memoir.
Thursday, Sept. 19
Drive Back Home [Michael Clowater, Canada, 2024]
In the winter of 1970, a cantankerous, small town plumber from rural New Brunswick must drive his beat-up work truck one thousand miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park. The two men are then forced to drive back home together at the behest of their hard-nosed mother before they kill each other. Drive Back Home is inspired by a true story and was filmed in North Bay, Ontario.
Friday, Sept. 20
Bob Trevino Likes It [Tracie Laymon, USA, 2024]
A young woman named Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira of HBO’s Euphoria) uses Facebook to pursue her estranged father, Bob Trevino. In the process, she encounters a different, childless man (John Leguizamo of Moulin Rouge!) of the same name who begins liking her posts, causing the two to correspond. Upon meeting up in real life, Bob becomes a father figure in Lily's life. Inspired by a true story, Bob Trevino Likes It screened at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year where it won both the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award.
Saturday, Sept. 21
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (The Count of Monte-Cristo) [Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte, France, 2024]
The target of a sinister plot, young Edmond Dantès is arrested on his wedding day for a crime he did not commit. After fourteen years in the island prison of Château d’If, he manages a daring escape. Now rich beyond his dreams, he assumes the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo and exacts his revenge on the three men who betrayed him. Director Alexandre de La Patellière has a long history with The Count of Monte-Cristo for his father worked on the adaptation for television of the same novel by Alexandre Dumas many years ago.
Closing Night (Sunday, Sept. 22)
Bookworm [Ant Timpson, New Zealand, 2024]
12-year-old Milfred's (Fisher) life is turned upside down when her stressed out, strapped-for-cash single mom lands in hospital and her estranged father, Strawn Wise (Wood), an American illusionist now past his prime, flies to New Zealand to look after her. The bookish tween's lifelong quest has been to capture proof that the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther exists, which would also entail a cash prize that would pull her and her mother out of their financial struggles. Newly introduced father and daughter head to the wilderness on a camping trip for the ultimate test of family bonding, watched from afar by a deadly black beast that could be the solution to all their woes. Bookworm explores universal themes of fatherhood, survival and overcoming fears.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
