The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival kicks off its eighth edition in Toronto Wednesday, opening with a screening of the Sundance winner and critically acclaimed drama Four Sheets to the Wind, from first-time feature film director Sterlin Harjo.

The festival, which showcases film and art by indigenous Canadian and international artists, has come a long way since its inception, according to interim executive producer Kerry Swanson.

‘Our audiences have grown by 82% since 2004, so it’s been an amazing trajectory of growth for us in a pretty short amount of time,’ Swanson tells Playback Daily. ‘It’s a result of the really fantastic work coming out of our communities and the interest of audiences to access these works.’

More than 140 films will be screened over five days at the fest, which attracted over 8,000 moviegoers last year.

Swanson says organizers chose Oklahoma-native Harjo’s film to open the fest because they loved it, but also to spotlight the film’s Canadian stars, including Toronto’s Tamara Podemski (Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis) and Edmonton’s Cody Lightning (Edge of America). They portray brother and sister in the drama about a family coming to terms with their father’s suicide. Podemski was awarded a special jury prize at Sundance earlier this year for her performance.

The festival, which runs Oct. 17-21, will also have an accompanying exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, including sculpture, video, drawings, and paintings by contemporary indigenous artists. Local director Shane Belcourt’s drama Tkaronto, which explores urban aboriginal identities, is set to close the fest.