NAME OF FESTIVAL: Whistler Film Festival
SINCE: 2001
WHERE: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
“Canada’s Coolest Festival”, the Whistler Film Festival, combines an esteemed international film competition with a concentrated industry summit organized to address the ever-changing landscape of film and media creation. Tailored to fit the moment, the festival includes in-theatre and online screenings, red carpets, talent talks and special events. Industry initiatives include a Content Summit featuring interactive sessions and networking meetings, to provide filmmakers new opportunities to connect around the globe.
Whistler Film Festival
Actors Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Carlyle will be honored at the upcoming 15th anniversary 2015 Whistler Film Festival taking place December 2 to 6, 2015. British-born Canadian actor, film producer, and film director Kiefer Sutherland will be honored with the WFF 2015 Trailblazer in Acting Award presented to an actor who “has carved a unique and inspiring path for themselves in film and who continues to engage audiences with meaningful and impactful work,” followed by […]
The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) returns December 2 to 6, and is offering a sneak peek of what audiences can expect at this year’s fest including its first 18 confirmed films.
FÉLIX AND MEIRA
Whistler Film Festival announced the winners of the 14th annual Festival, and FÉLIX AND MEIRA, by Canadian director Maxime Giroux, won the 11th edition of the prestigious Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film. This unusual love story, between a lonely francophone man in Montreal and the married Hasidic Jewish mother to whom he feels a connection, uncover themes of tradition, loneliness and desire, making for strange bedfellows in this contemporary Canadian tale of longing. FÉLIX AND MEIRA had its Western Canadian premiere at the festival and stars Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron and Luzer Twersky.
THE IMITATION GAME
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.
Six producers from across Canada have been selected to participate in the Whistler Film Festival’s annual Feature Project Lab, held from December 2 to 5, 2014 during the Whistler Film Festival + Summit. Designed to advance Canadian creative talent, the WFF Feature Project Lab focuses on strengthening dramatic feature projects from script to screen by facilitating feedback as well as collaboration on and investment in film projects that have US and international appeal.
BANG BANG BABY
22 Canadian feature films, including 13 by first-time feature film directors and six directed by women, will screen at the upcoming 14th Annual Whistler Film Festival (WFF) taking place December 3 to 7, 2014 in Whistler, British Columba, Canada. 6 films will compete in the 11th annual Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film including AFTER THE BALL, BANG BANG BABY, FÉLIX AND MEIRA (Félix et Meira), MOUNTAIN MEN, RELATIVE HAPPINESS, and WOLVES (Les Loups).
THE HUSBAND, by Canadian director Bruce McDonald
THE HUSBAND by Canadian director Bruce McDonald, won the prize for Best Canadian Feature Film in the 10th edition of the Borsos Competition at the 2013 Whistler Film Festival. THE HUSBAND is described by the festival as a unique film about the other side of an adulterous affair follows Henry (McCabe-Lokos) as he deals with raising a child while his wife serves a prison sentence for an affair with a 14 year old student. THE HUSBAND had its Western Canadian premiere at the festival and stars Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Sarah Allen, Dylan Authors, August Diehl and Joey Klein.
THE CRASH REEL
The 13th Whistler Film Festival (WFF) taking place from December 4th to 8th, 2013, in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada has unveiled its lineup of films . WFF’s Closing Night Gala film is the Western Canadian Premiere of THE CRASH REEL by two time Academy Award nominated documentary director, Lucy Walker, and is about champion half-pipe snowboard legend Kevin Pearce’s inspiring rehabilitation following a devastating neck injury.
Located in the spectacular Coast Mountains of British Columbia, and just two hours north of Vancouver, the 13th annual Whistler Film Festival will run December 4 to 8, 2013. The Whistler Film Festival will open with the Western Premiere of Jason Priestley’s “heart-warming and inspiring” road movie CAS & DYLAN, also starring Tatiana Maslany and Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. This story follows a couple of mismatched road travelers and the festival says that the film “will not leave a dry eye in the house.” CAS & DYLAN is one of six titles that will be competing for this year’s coveted Borsos award.
The Whistler Film Festival opens on Wednesday, November 28 and runs through Sunday, December 2, 2012 in Whistler, British Columbia Canada.
Canadian writer and director Michael McGowan’s STILL (Western Canadian Premiere) is this year’s WFF Opening Night Gala presentation, an inspirational film based on the true story of 88 year old Craig Morrison, who took on the bureaucrats and the challenges of building a home from scratch with equal aplomb. WFF’s Closing Night Gala film is the World Premiere of THE SHEEPDOGS HAVE AT IT by Canadian director, John Barnard and featuring Saskatchewan rock band The Sheepdogs.
Additional World Premieres include: BIRD CO. MEDIA by Vancouver director Jason Bourque, THE MOVIE OUT HERE directed by David Hicks, MAD SHIP directed by David Mortin, STATUS QUO? directed by Karen Cho; and TEMPTING FEAR directed by Mike Douglas.
The complete 2012 lineup:
Quebec director Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, starring Fellag, Marie-Ève Beauregard, Marie Charlebois and Evelyne de la Chenelière, took home the Audience Award at the eleventh annual Whistler Film Festival (WFF), which wrapped on Sunday night. Winner of Best Canadian Film At TIFF and Canada’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, Monsieur Lazhar follows Bachir Lazhar, a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, who goes to a Montreal elementary school to offer his services as a […]
KEYHOLE, directed by Guy Maddin, beat Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, Canada’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, to win the $15,000 Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film, at the eleventh annual Whistler Film Festival.
KEYHOLE, which had its Western Canadian premiere at the festival, stars Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini and Udo Kier.
It is a rousing 1930s gangster picture set in a haunted house in which dream and waking life are seamlessly blended to isolate and expose universal feelings. The Jury says “Yahtzee!” and awarded KEYHOLE the Borsos award “for its inventiveness, audacity and humour.”
The other 2011 Borsos Competition finalists were 388 ARLETTA AVENUE, dir: Randall Cole, (ON – Western Canadian Premiere); CAFÉ DE FLORE,dir: Jean Marc Vallee (QC, Western Canadian Premiere); DOPPELGANGER PAUL, dir: Dylan Akio Smith, Kris Elgstrand (BC, Western Canadian Premiere); MARILYN, dir: Christopher Petry (BC – World Premiere); and MONSIEUR LAZHAR, dir: Philippe Falardeau, (QC, British Columbia Premiere) – Winner of Best Canadian Film At TIFF and Canada’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. {jathumbnail off}