Kingston Canadian Film Festival Preview

By Niall McArdle

Fans of Canadian cinema will be heading to Kingston next week for the 2014 Kingston Canadian Film Festival, which begins on February 27th.

As you may know, I was recently in Kingston for the REELOUT Film Festival and had a wonderful time. I am hoping to get back there next week if I can. There is a wealth of Canadian film talent on display. Here are my choices of films to watch out for.

Cas & Dylan, Jason Priestley’s directorial debut, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Tatiana Maslany, which is also screening this week in Dublin at JDIFF

Empire of Dirt, written by Cree-Canadian Shannon Masters, stars Cara Gee as a First Nations teenager struggling with addiction.

 

Matthew Johnson makes a strong directorial debut with the audacious, controversial The Dirties

The Festival’s Opening Night Gala film is Gabrielle, which is Canada’s official submission for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film

Naomi Jaye’s WWI drama The Pin is the only fully Yiddish-language feature made in Canada.

The Festival also features several documentaries, including the sure to be heartbreaking The Ghosts in our Machine about animal cruelty, Jason daSilva’s When I Walk, which charts his life from the moment at 25 he was diagnosed with MS, and Burt’s Buzz, Jody Shapiro’s portrait of Burt Shavitz, founder of Burt’s Bees.

Many of the filmmakers will be in Kingston as special guests to discuss their projects and conduct workshops.

Tickets for the festival are available here. The Festival’s Twitter feed is here. Visitors to Kingston should also check out Tourism Kingston.