Two long-lost 1950s short films written by late Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler and starring Peter Sellers will be shown at the inaugural Niagara Integrated Film Festival.

The 30-minute films, produced by the long-defunct Park Lane Films, were discovered in a trash can in 1996 outside the production company, and only came to public light earlier this year thanks to Stephen Podgorney, Robert Farrow and Paul Cotgrove of Dimwittie Ltd.

Bill Marshall, the Toronto International Film Festival co-founder who is programming NIFF, will screen the Sellers/Richler films, Dearth Of A Salesman and Insomnia Is Good For You, and the 1911 Mary Pickford film Their First Misunderstanding, as part of his film lineup.

Marshall also booked a world premiere for Mike Enns’ Restrung, about a Disney artist/animator who gave it all up to handcraft bass guitars, and will screen the animated feature Ribbit, voiced by Sean Astin and Russell Peters.

There’s also the North American premiere of the Swedish film The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared, directed by Felix Herngren.

The Niagara Integrated Film Festival is set to run from June 19 to 22.