Stephen Dunn and Rhombus Media got more good news today as the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax announced Closet Monster will topline the festival’s Blue Carpet Atlantic Gala on Sept. 18.

It was revealed today that Newfoundland-native Dunn’s film will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall.

The festival’s first major programming announcement included six world premieres for Canadian features in its Atlantic Features program, including: Harmony Wagner’s comedy bro-mance Kooperman, Bretten Hannam’s North Mountain and Caley MacLennan’s exploration of race relations in Halifax, Noon Gun; New Brunswick-set coming of age film Owl River Runners from Danny Thebeau; Iain MacLeod’s Your Money or Your Wife and Wayne’s Deer from doc-maker Kent Martin.

The Atlantic Essential’s program features one world premiere and one Canadian premiere. Donna Davies’ Fanarchy, a doc about the evolution of the entertainment industry, gets its Canadian premiere, while racial drama Undone, the debut feature from music video maker Director X (a.k.a. Julien Christian Lutz), makes its world bow.

Short films are the under the spotlight in the Reel East Coast Showcase Gala. The program will feature nine shorts from Canadian filmmakers: Ron McDougall’s Alien Love Story, Megan Wennberg’s First Weekend, Corinne Dunphy’s Chase the Ace, Tamara Segura’s Before the War, Joshua Young’s Una forma de partir / A Way to Go, Mark O’Brien’s Wanderer,  Jenna MacMillan’s Not My Brother,  Stephanie Clattenburg’s A Suicide at the Gun Range and Nathan Boone’s Arty.

Elsewhere, the television production-focused Atlantic Broadcast Program will feature six projects. Five of these projects are from Nova Scotia producers: Jackie Torrens (My Week on Welfare); Rama Rau-Swaroop (No Place to Hide: The Rehteah Parsons Story); Lisa Heyden (Scars of Shame); Meredith Ralston (Selling Sex); Cory Bowles, Juanita Peters and Jerrett Shaw (Studio Black!). The sixth project is from Newfoundland’s Katherine Knight and Marcia Connolly (Strange and Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island).

The festival will also present six additional short film programs as part of the Reel East Coast Showcase.

The entire schedule for this year’s festival, which runs from Sept. 17-24, is set to be announced at the end of the month.