Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry will make its world premiere in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).

The Toronto and Waterloo, Ont.-shot film (pictured) is directed by Johnson and produced by Niv Fichman, Fraser Ash and Kevin Krikst of Toronto-based Rhombus Media and Matthew Miller of Zapruder Films. Miller and Johnson, who are both behind Toronto-based Zapruder Films, adapted the screenplay from the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff.

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the Canadian software company Research In Motion, now known as BlackBerry Ltd., and stars Johnson, Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Rich Sommer, Martin Donovan, and Michael Ironside. It received financial participation from Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund and Ontario Creates, in association with CBC Films and Finland’s IPR.VC, and XYZ Films.

IFC Films has acquired all U.S. rights to BlackBerry, which will be distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures. The feature is among 18 films that will compete for the festival’s coveted Golden and Silver Bear prizes. This year’s international jury to determine the winners is led by U.S. actor Kristen Stewart.

Another homegrown feature set to world premiere at the festival is Montreal-based filmmaker Sanaz Sohrabi’s Sahnehaye Estekhraj (Scenes of Extraction) in the Forum Expanded program. Commissioned by Montréal’s VOX Centre de l’image contemporaine, the film is written, directed, produced and researched by Sohrabi. It showcases the still and moving images of the British Petroleum Archives that documented the British oil operations across Iran from 1901 to 1951. It received funding from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture, and Mitacs.

Other Canadian projects that will be at the festival include Montreal-based ComediHa!-produced and distributed series À propos d’Antoine (About Antoine) and The Way Home, produced by Toronto-based Neshama Entertainment and Hallmark Media in association with MarVista Entertainment, which have both been selected for the Berlinale Series Market; and Zoé Pelchat’s Gaby les collines, which is set to world premiere in the Generation Kplus program, along with the European premiere of Aziz Zoromba’s Simo in the Generation 14plus.

Berlinale runs from Feb. 16 to 26.

Image courtesy of Berlin International Film Festival