The life and legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau is a key theme at this year’s AFF, with a pair of PET-themed films on the menu: Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and Trudeau’s Other Children.

Starring Stéphane Demers (Temps dur) and Tobie Pelletier (Un monde à part) as the legendary prime minister at different stages of his life, Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making is the much-anticipated prequel to Trudeau, the miniseries produced by Halifax’s Big Motion Pictures. First airing on CBC in April 2002, the original garnered two million viewers on night one and 1.75 million the following evening.

‘We absolutely loved this film, and we love the work of director Tim Southam [The Bay of Love and Sorrows],’ says AFF festival director Lia Rinaldo, when asked why the AFF chose to screen the new made-for-TV mini.

‘For us, appearing at the AFF is the icing on the cake,’ says BMP’s Wayne Grigsby, who cowrote Trudeau II with Guy Fournier. However, for Trudeau fans, the AFF premiere is more than just icing – it’s their only chance to see Trudeau II any time soon, as it won’t have its intended CBC premiere on Sept. 25-26 due to the staff lockout at the pubcaster.

‘God knows when CBC will get back on the air, so it’s hard to tell when Trudeau II will be shown,’ Grigsby says. ‘The lockout will have done damage to their audience base, so I can’t imagine that the numbers for Trudeau II will be as big as for the first miniseries.’

Meanwhile, director Rohan Fernando’s documentary Trudeau’s Other Children traces the story of three ethnic minority Canadian musicians (Mei Han, Vineet Vyas and Asif Illyas) making their careers in the multicultural Canada Trudeau helped to shape. Fernando’s credits include the doc series Past Lives.

‘We have screened all of Fernando’s films at the AFF in years past,’ Rinaldo says. ‘Trudeau’s Other Children is a pretty interesting film that provides insights into the origins and practical realities of Canada’s multicultural policy.’

Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and Trudeau’s Other Children will screen in Halifax on Sept. 16 at the Park Lane theater.