CINEFEST IS BACK AT IT WITH HYBRID FESTIVAL

Film lovers rejoice your favourite time of the year has returned once again! Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival kicks off its 33^rd season September 18^th – 26th bringing with it the best in cinema for Sudbury audiences. Once again they will be hosting the festival in a hybrid format which means you can enjoy the show in theatres at Silvercity OR from the comfort of your own home, the choice is up to you! Tickets are available in packs of 10 or if you just can’t narrow it down go for the full passport to see an unlimited number of screenings. The full festival lineup is available right now at www.cinefest.com for you to browse but if you’re looking for some suggestions read on for our tops picks for Cinfest 2021!

Best Sellers

Directed by Lina Roessler • 2021 • Canada

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Michael Caine, Scott Speedman, Cary Elwes, Ellen Wong, Veronica Ferres

Harris Shaw (Caine) is still typing on his rickety typewriter, even though he likes to bellow into his rotary dial phone that he is long dead. He coughs and swears, drinks and smokes, quite unlike Lucy Stanbridge (Plaza), heir to the publishing house which made it big half a century ago with the author’s successful novel, Atomic Autumn. While the old curmudgeon has turned his back on life, the energetic young woman jogs through New York’s Upper East Side, receiving live updates from her ambitious assistant about falling sales figures and crushing influencer blogs. A book tour, of all things, with the old boy and his new work is meant to save the publishing house, but the old codger is a real pain in the arse. Spewed out in a British accent, his “bullshite!” quickly becomes the hashtag of a generation of US hipsters—but it doesn’t sell any books.

Broken Diamonds

Directed by Peter Sattler • 2021 • USA

Cast: Ben Platt, Lola Kirke, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Alphonso McAuley

Scott (Platt) is an aspiring writer who dreams of moving to Paris. Just as he is about to fulfill his dream, his father suddenly passes away. In the wake of his father’s death, Scott’s plans are put in jeopardy when he’s forced to temporarily take in Cindy (Kirke), his wildly unpredictable, mentally ill sister who has just been kicked out of a mental care facility. As the hopes and dreams of the two siblings begin to clash and Cindy stops taking her medication, Scott’s attempt to get his affairs in order go increasingly off track.

Drunk Bus

Directed by John Carlucci & Brandon LaGanke • 2020 • USA

Cast: Charlie Tahan, Pineapple Tangaroa, Kaya Hayward, and Dave Hill

A directionless, young campus bus driver (Tahan) and a punk rock, Samoan security guard named Pineapple (Tangaroa) form an unlikely kinship as they navigate the unpredictable late shift shit show known as the “drunk bus.”

Falling for Figaro

Directed by Ben Lewin • 2020 • Australia/USA/UK

Cast: Joanna Lumley, Danielle Macdonald, Shazad Latif, Hugh Skinner, Gary Lewis, Rebecca Benson

Millie (Macdonald) is a brilliant young fund manager who leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands. She begins intense vocal training lessons with renowned but fearsome singing teacher and former opera diva Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Lumley). It is there she meets Max (Skinner), another of Meghan’s students who is also training for the upcoming “Singer of Renown” contest. What begins as a brutal competition between Millie and Max slowly turns into something more.

Fanny: The Right to Rock

Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart • 2021 • Canada

Fanny: The Right to Rock reveals the untold story of a Filipina-American garage band that morphed into the ferocious rock group Fanny. Fighting early barriers of race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock ‘n’ roll fame.

Julia

Directed by Julie Cohen & Betsy West • 2021 • USA

Julia tells the story of the legendary cookbook author and television superstar who changed the way people think about food, television, and even about women. Using never-before-seen archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and cutting-edge, mouth-watering food cinematography, the film traces Julia Child’s surprising path, from her struggles to create and publish the revolutionary Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), to her empowering story of a woman who found fame in her 50s, and her calling as an unlikely television sensation.

Kicking Blood

Directed by Blaine Thurier • 2021 • Canada

Cast: Alanna Bale, Luke Bilyk, and Vinessa Antione

It’s Anna’s (Bale) 24th birthday and the elderly staff at the library where she works quietly mark the occasion with carrot cake and song. Anna, a centuries old vampire, celebrates in style that night by feeding on a co-worker. In a haze of psychedelic blood fueled bliss, Anna fully indulges her addiction. Meanwhile, Robbie (Bilyk), an alcoholic party boy, wakes up in the aftermath of a bender where he blacked out and made out with his pregnant sister’s fiancé. After becoming homeless and unemployed, he stands on a bridge contemplating his fate, and meets Anna. A drunk looking for a drink and a vampire looking for a feed, they bond. Kicking Blood was filmed in Sudbury and explores the journey out of addiction using the metaphor of vampirism.

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers • 2021 • Canada

Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.

Run Woman Run

Directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins • 2021 • Canada

Cast: Dakota Ray Hebert, Lorne Cardinal, Jayli Wolf, Braeden Clarke, and Asivak Koostachin

Run Woman Run is a magical anti-rom com about Beck (Hebert), a bereaved single mom who has lost her passion for life and for her Mohawk language after the death of her mom. Now Beck lives for donuts in her bathrobe where she even drives to the mailbox. Beck’s lifestyle lands her in the hospital where she wakes from a diabetic coma to see she has conjured the ghost of a legendary Six Nations marathon runner. Instead of rallying to take charge of her life, Beck runs away from her problems, alienating her family. Alone and bereft, Beck has to win them back. She finally listens to her ghostly coach who goads her, makes fun of her, and ultimately inspires her to become a runner herself. Beck learns to run, but most importantly she learns to be grateful for her life. She honours the earth and her family with every run, leading her back to her calling: to learn her language.

See For Me

Directed by Randall Okita • 2021 • Canada

Cast: Skyler Davenport, Kim Coates, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Laura Vandervoort

Sophie (Davenport), a young blind woman, is house-sitting at a secluded mansion when she finds the home under invasion by thieves seeking a hidden safe. Her only means of defense is a new app called “See For Me”, which connects her to a volunteer across the country named Kelly (Kennedy), an army veteran who spends her days playing first-person shooter games. Sophie is forced to learn that if she’s going to survive the night, she’ll need all the help she can get from Kelly to help her find her way around the house.

The White Fortress (Tabija)

Directed by Igor Drljaca • 2021 • Canada/Bosnia/Herzegovina (English and Bosnian with English subtitles)

Cast: Pavle Cemerikić, Jasmin Geljo, Sumeja Dardagan, Alban Ukaj

When a chance encounter brings together two teens from opposite sides of life in post-war Sarajevo, a blossoming romance conceals their desperate and disturbing motives. Faruk (Cemerikić) is a poor Sarajevo youth selling scrap iron with his uncle (Geljo) while getting increasingly involved with organized crime. When he meets rich high-schooler Mona (Dardagan), Faruk begins to question a life that is becoming increasingly dangerous. The White Fortress (Tabija) is a stunning blend of crime drama and teenage romance.