• Writer/director: Alexandre Franchi
• Producers: Alexandre Franchi, Karen Murphy
• Production company: Animist Films
• Key cast: Mark A. Krupa, Ricky Mabe, Tiio Horn, Trevor Hayes
• Distributor: TVA Films (Canada)
• Budget: $500,000

Writer/director/producer Alexandre Franchi sees The Wild Hunt as the festival’s best-kept secret. ‘I think it’s the best film in terms of budget-quality ratio.’

The story is about a young man who crashes a medieval re-enactment game to win his girlfriend back from a charismatic suitor. Franchi sees it as a dark comedy/drama ‘that ends up as a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.’ But the experience of making of the film ‘was kind of like that documentary Lost in La Mancha,’ he adds.

‘We wanted to do the film for $1.2 million, but everyone in town said ‘You guys are crazy. It’s impossible. You should shoot it on video.’ So we ended up with a budget of just under $500,000,’ recalls Franchi.

‘But we still shot on 35mm film, we had about 100 extras, medieval costumes, plus we worked with a union crew, while still capturing all the battle scenes in the script.’