The 29th Atlantic Film Festival will kick off its 10-day event (Sept 17-26) with a world premiere of Mike Clattenburg’s Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day and one massive concert.

The fest website boasts ‘Exclusive VIP Ticket Packages’ so fans can buy a ticket to the screening then join ‘the cast and crew of the film for NBC Universal Canada Opening Night.’ The Arkells will take center stage at the Metro Centre as will Newfoundland band The Novaks ‘and a few very special guests.’

‘Before Mike and the guys created Trailer Park Boys, we screened every single thing [Clattenburg] made, all his short films and documentaries,’ says AFF festival director Lia Rinaldo. ‘Trailer Park Boys is essential to the local scene. It has a massive cult following, from the series into not one, but two feature films. Mike Clattenburg has done an amazing job developing his audience locally and branching off nationally. Fans coming to see the film won’t be disappointed.’

Regional film highlights also include John N. Smith’s Love and Savagery and Sherry White’s Crackie (which premiered at TIFF). Notable Canadian features include Rob Stefaniuk’s Suck (from Ontario) and Jacob Tierny’s The Trotsky (from Quebec), which both had critics buzzing after TIFF press screenings. And worth noting is that The Trotsky closes the festival on director Tierney’s 30th birthday, and as it is his favorite film fest, there will indeed be another party going on in Halifax.

Atom Egoyan’s Chloe (technically a French film because of its financing) and Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (technically a Canadian copro because of financing) will unspool alongside Jane Campion’s Bright Star and Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces.

A total of 235 films from over a dozen countries unspool in three venues in Halifax over the 10-day film extravaganza.