The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) saw an influx of submissions in two particular genres this year.
But, says Paul Gratton, director of programming for the festival, there’s a logical explanation for that—and a perk, too.
“We had about a 30-per-cent jump in submissions in documentaries and lower-budget Canadian films, which made screening a little bit more arduous on the one hand, but on the other hand, I’d say the overall quality of what got in is significantly higher than in some past years just because of the sheer volume,” he says. “I think during COVID it was easier to put together documentaries than to assemble crews and to abide by COVID protocols [on a traditional film set]. From what I hear from my producer friends, that added anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent of your budget, if you were doing it properly.”
The 2022 festival, which kicks off in-person from Nov. 30 and runs until Dec. 4, and streams online until Jan. 2, 2023—is marking a return to normal this year.
Part of the fun for audiences—and appeal for people in the industry—is having actors, directors, and producers attending screenings and events.
For Angela Heck, executive director of the festival, a question about what it will be like to have these people “mingling” again struck a chord after last year’s hybrid format.
“You said ‘mingling’ there and I actually had a little chill up and down my spine,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s what that feeling is of being together in person.’ And really that’s where the energy and synergies of the creative worlds coming together are. That’s what makes it all so exciting.”
But, of course, it’s also the selection of films. On the aforementioned documentary front, Gratton said many of the offerings fall into the sports and music categories this year.
One he’s excited about is Offside: The Harold Ballard Story, directed by Jason Priestley, who will be attending.
“I want to emphasize clearly this is for people who hate the Toronto Maple Leafs,” he adds. “It shows how the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans were manipulated and basically presented a second-class product on the ice compared to what they could have done just because of this incredibly controversial Harold Ballard character [the Leafs’ mercurial former owner].”
Another unique sports documentary on the roster is Out in the Ring, which delves into homosexuality in pro wrestling.
“[It] has the most incredible footage,” Gratton says. “Historically, of course, it wasn’t cool to be gay in wrestling and yet a lot of the people who were practising the sport were in the closet. At some point as society changed and they were looking for new villains and ways of making things interesting, they allowed certain characters to come out publicly, but they were usually set up as villains and booed. Nowadays, the scene is a lot healthier.”
The feature films on the schedule, meanwhile, offer a healthy mix of crowd pleasers and cinephile favourites.
One of Heck’s top picks falls into the latter category.
“I shouldn’t pick favourites, but Diaspora, it’s not for the faint of heart,” she says. “It’s for people who want to get into something that is beautifully crafted, really takes all of the aspects of filmmaking—I want to say, ‘seriously,’ but it’s a real delight to see all of the aspects of sound, cinematics and storytelling. It’s just a really beautiful film.”
About a Ukrainian immigrant in Winnipeg, the film features 25 languages without a word of English spoken for the first 40 minutes. But it gets to the heart of an immigrant’s story in a unique way.
On the flipside, there’s the more commercially appealing Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Featuring Daniel Craig, the mystery film follows a group of suspicious characters who are sent to an isolated island in Greece run by a multimillionaire.
“Glass Onion is playing in many markets in Canada this week for one week only and Netflix is not going to release the box office results to anybody,” Gratton says. “We’re kind of going to be the only place in North America running the movie next week after it’s one-week screening.”
The End of Sex is also expected to be a laugh-out-loud crowd pleaser.
“This is kind of the spiritual follow-up [to My Awkward Sexual Adventure, which screened at WFF in 2012) after those two [characters] got married and raised their kids,” Gratton says. “What are they doing to spark their relationship? They go to great awkward lengths to explore options from swinging to going to a dungeon to you name it. And, of course, everything backfires.”
If the festival’s 41 feature films and 45 shorts leave you feeling at a loss for where to start, one solution is to check out the brand-new 10 Canadians to Watch program—or the established Stars to Watch event—featuring talent from movies that will be screening at the WFF.
With the festival’s new hybrid model, you can also revisit the winners of the coveted Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature and spend your holiday season streaming those prized selections.
“They’ll be announced at an award ceremony at the end of our in-theatre [run], so you’ll know what won,” Gratton says. “If you want to focus online with the ones that won that you missed, that would be a really good starting point. Especially if you’re stuck at home between Christmas and New Year’s.”
To explore the entire range of films screening, or to buy passes and tickets, visit whistlerfilmfestival.com.
