Local documentaries and Quebec films will grab the spotlight when the Whistler Film Festival returns to the B.C. ski resort Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 for its sixth edition, backed by a new documentary conference and three Quebec films in the running for its Borsos Award.

The Doc Talk conference, Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, will showcase doc production in Western Canada and pair filmmakers with decision makers at a pitch forum on Nov. 30. Executives from Mongrel Media, CHUM, the National Film Board and PBS’s P.O.V. are among those due to attend.

‘There’s a real hunger from local audiences for documentaries, and there’s a lot of work being done in Vancouver mainly, but also Manitoba,’ says Whistler director of programming Bill Evans.

Documentaries playing the festival include the world premiere of Joe Moulins’ Citizen Sam, a portrait of paraplegic Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, and Carolyn Allain’s A Safer Sex Trade, which features the madam from a local brothel expected to attend the festival. In all, 40 features and mid-length films will unspool at Whistler, plus 53 shorts.

Whistler has also matured beyond its local roots to include three Quebec entries among the six in contention for the $15,000 Borsos Award for best new Canadian feature. Stéphan Lapointe’s La Vie sècrete des gens heureux, Joshua Dorsey’s The Point and Matt Bissonnette’s Who Loves the Sun will compete against local challenger Bojan Bodruzic’s Immigrant, SK8 by Toronto’s S. Wyeth Clarkson and Steel Toes by David Gow and Mark Adam, from Montreal and Vancouver, respectively.

Last year the prize went to Ilan Saragosti’s Exiles in Lotus Land, an NFB doc about Quebec street kids.

Evans says the emergence of Quebecois films reflects their current box-office strength and a need by Whistler to cast a wide net for hidden gems.

‘There’s so much going on in Quebec. But these are also the kinds of films we’re trying to attract and bring here,’ he says.

Whistler is also hosting a tribute to veteran director Norman Jewison, who will lead the Borsos jury alongside actor Tantoo Cardinal and Andrew Currie of Vancouver’s Anagram Pictures.

www.whistlerfilmfestival.com