The Whistler Film Festival taking place December 3 to 7, unveiled its complete 2014 film lineup featuring original films from around the world and more feature premieres than ever before. THE IMITATION GAME (Western Canadian Premiere) and Audience Award winner at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival is this year’s Opening Night Gala presentation starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in his efforts to break the Nazi’s Enigma Code during World War Two at Britain’s top secret Blectchley Park. WFF’s Closing Night Gala film is the World Premiere of SNOWMAN by Whistler filmmaker and ‘godfather of free skiing’, Mike Douglas, following avalanche controller Kevin Foglin’s close call with the mountains in Douglas’ tribute to mountain culture lifestyle and living in Whistler.
Five films make up this year’s Special Presentations including the Canadian Premiere of crime drama A MOST VIOLENT YEAR from director J.C. Chandor and starring Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, as an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business in New York City’s most violent year in its history, 1981. The Western Canadian premieres include STILL ALICE directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and starring Julianne Moore as the titular character battling Alzheimer, and thriller ’71, directed by Yann Demange, which has received nine nominations in the Independent British Awards, and follows a British solider accidentally abandoned by his unit following riots on the streets of Belfast. Other Special Presentations include the BC Premiere of American remake of Spanish language hit ELSA & FRED starring Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer directed by Michael Radford and the Whistler
Premiere of Academy Award front runner and portrait of a marriage, James Marsh’s THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING starring Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife Jane as they fight the odds of his ALS diagnosis to change the face of science in the 20th century.
Returning programming strands include the 11th annual Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature presented by the Directors Guild of Canada – British Columbia featuring six diverse titles competing for $15,000 cash prize and a $15,000 Post Production prize, the second highest award of its kind in Canada. This year’s Borsos competition will also showcase three World Premieres AFTER THE BALL, WOLVES (LES LOUPS) and MOUNTAIN MEN and three Western Canadian Premieres BANG BANG BABY, RELATIVE HAPPINESS and FELIX AND MEIRA, which won Best Canadian Film at TIFF14.
The World Documentary competition returns with five titles in addition to SNOWMAN, including A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES (Canadian Premiere) from director Wiktor Ericsson highlighting the lives sexploitation director Joe Sarno and his devoted wife Peggy, POINT AND SHOOT (Western Canadian Premiere) by two time Academy Award nominated documentarian Marshall Curry and winner of Best Documentary at Tribeca 2014 which follows Matt Van Dyke’s 35,000 mile motorcycle trip that leads to his involvement in the Libyan fight against Muammar Gaddadfi, and MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (Western Canadian Premiere) in whichRobert Kenner investigates the shadowy world of professional skeptics for corporations, think tanks and special interest groups who cast doubt on climate change. Other documentaries include the previously announced STAY AWHILE (World Premiere) directed by Jessica Edwards, the daughter of two of the members of the Canadian supergroup The Bells who are affectionately profiled, THE BACKWARD CLASS by Madeleine Grant following a class of students from India’s lowest Castes working toward college entrance exams, and THAT GUY DICK MILLER, following Hollywood character actor Dick Miller from Elijah Drenner.
WFF’s World Now will showcase four films from diverse corners of the world including the Western Canadian Premieres of IN HER PLACE (Canada/South Korea) directed by Albert Shin; GEMMA BOVERY(France) from Anne Fontaine; Hitchcockian thriller THE NEW GIRLFRIEND (France) directed by François Ozon, and the Simon Pegg starrer KILL ME THREE TIMES (Australia), directed by Kriv Stenders.
Late Night selections will showcase four great genre films including the World Premiere of BAD CITYdirected by Carl Bessai; the North American premiere of DEADLY VIRTUES directed by Ate de Jong; andthe Western Canadian premieres of TIFF14 Midnight Madness winner WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS directed by Jemaine Clement (one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi,and the UK’s THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY directed by Peter Strickland.
A selection of all age friendly flicks make up the Family program, including the Western Canadian Premiere of the 24th entry in the TALES FOR ALL series, legendary Canadian family content producer Rock Demers’ THE OUTLAW LEAGUE directed by Jean Beaudry, and the Whistler Premiere of Irish animated film SONG OF THE SEA by Academy Award Winner Tomm Moore (SECRET OF THE KELLS).
WFF’s second From The Vault strand includes the Western Canadian premiere of three long lost shorts featuring legendary comedic actor Peter Sellers in the Peters Sellers Trilogy, COLD COMFORT (1957),DEARTH OF A SALESMAN (1957), and INSOMNIA IS GOOD FOR YOU (1957).
New for 2014, the Gen Next strand features five Canadian titles including the World Premieres of AFTER FILM SCHOOL directed by Joel Ashton McCarthy, PRETEND WE’RE KISSING from director Matt Sadowski and produced by Whistler’s own Peter Harvey, THE COCKSURE LADS MOVIE directed and written by Murray Foster, and WHAT AN IDIOT directed and produced respectively by Vancouver couple Peter and Julia Benson. The Western Canadian premiere of BACKCOUNTRY directed by Adam McDonald and starring Missy Peregrym is also included.
The Discoveries strand includes the Western Canadian Premieres of I PUT A HIT ON YOU directed by Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, prairie noir BIG MUDDY directed by Jefferson Moneo and WE WERE WOLVES by Jordan Canning. Also included is the BC Premiere of ALLY WAS SCREAMING by Jeremy Thomas.
WFF’s American Indies strand covers the gamut from the ‘Do It Yourself’ filmmaking of Jeffrey P. Nesker’s ELSEWHERE NY to the major Hollywood production of Whistler Premiere THE HOMESMAN directed by Tommy Lee Jones starring Jones and Hilary Swank, to the Canadian Premiere of Jay Craven’s NORTHERN BORDERS starring 2013 Academy Award Nominee Bruce Dern and Geneviève Bujold in between.
This year’s ShortWork Competition is comprised of 44 diverse shorts curated into six programs, including strands devoted to comedy and Aboriginal shorts.
WFF 2014 Complete Feature Film Listing:
World Premieres:
AFTER FILM SCHOOL (Canada) Dir. Joel Ashton McCarthy
AFTER THE BALL (Canada) Dir. Sean Garrity
BAD CITY (Canada) Dir. Carl Bessai
ELSEWHERE NY (Canada) Dir. Jeffrey P. Nesker
THE COCKSURE LADS MOVIE (Canada) Dir. Murray Foster
MOUNTAIN MEN (Canada) Dir. Cameron Labine
PRETEND WE’RE KISSING (Canada) Dir. Matt Sadowski
SNOWMAN (Canada) Dir. Mike Douglas
STAY AWHILE (Canada) Dir. Jessica Edwards
WHAT AN IDIOT (Canada) Dir. Peter Benson
WOLVES (LES LOUPS) (Canada) Dir. Sophie Deraspe
North American Premieres:
DEADLY VIRTUES (Netherlands) Dir. Ate de Jong
Canadian Premieres:
A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES (Sweden) Dir. Wiktor Ericsson
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (USA) Dir. J.C. Chandor
NORTHERN BORDERS (USA) Dir. Jay Craven
THAT GUY DICK MILLER (USA) Dir. Elijah Drenner
Western Canadian Premieres:
’71 (United Kingdom) Dir. Yann Demange
THE BACKWARD CLASS (Canada) Dir. Madeleine Grant
BANG BANG BABY (Canada) Dir. Jeffrey St Jules
BIG MUDDY (Canada) Dir. Jefferson Moneo
DUKE OF BURGUNDY (United Kingdom) Dir. Peter Strickland
FELIX AND MEIRA (Canada) Dir. Maxime Giroux
THE IMITATION GAME (United Kingdom) Dir. James Marsh
I PUT A HIT ON YOU (Canada) Dir. Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart
IN HER PLACE (Canada/South Korea) Dir. Albert Shin
KILL ME THREE TIMES (Australia) Dir. Kriv Stenders
PETER SELLERS TRILOGY (United Kingdom) Dir. James Hill, Leslie Arliss
THE NEW GIRLFRIEND (France) Dir. François Ozon
THE OUTLAW LEAGUE (Canada) Dir. Jean Beaudry
RELATIVE HAPPINESS (Canada) Dir. Deanne Foley
STILL ALICE (USA) Dir. Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
WE WERE WOLVES (Canada) Dir. Jordan Canning
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (New Zealand) Dir. Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
British Columbia Premieres:
ELSA & FRED (USA) Dir. Michael Radford
GEMMA BOVERY (France) Dir. Anne Fontaine
MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (USA) Dir. Robert Kenner
ALLY WAS SCREAMING (Canada) Dir. Jeremy Thomas
Whistler Premieres:
SONG OF THE SEA (Ireland) Dir. Tomm Moore
THE HOMESMAN (USA) Dir. Tommy Lee Jones
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (United Kingdom) Dir. James Marsh
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