Canadian filmmaker Coby Friesen’s short film Hook Up (pictured) is among nine shorts and one feature making their world premiere at the 35th Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF).

Directed by Friesen, Hook Up will premiere in the episodic Fresh Starts Shorts programme of the festival. VQFF’s lineup includes 24 features and 68 shorts, according to a news release.

Also making world premieres are four titles from the U.S., including the short documentary And They Were Loved by Malik Shamar Julien and Emily McClanahan, and the shorts Polywood by Alessio Mineo, Cousins by Karina Dandashi, and No One Knows I’m a Dog on the Internet by Nate King.

Completing the world premiere lineup is the feature film I Love You More (Kosovo, Albania) by Erblin Nushi, and the shorts The Tree (Norway) by Ida Hansen Eldøen, Gen (U.K.) Vivian Barton, Bright Heart (France, Belgium) by Tarek Lakhrissi, and A Bed for Three or The Extraordinary and Surprising Complexity of Bedroom Furniture (Germany) by Jan-Peter Horstmann.

VQFF will open with a programme of six short films, titled Stronger Together, including Canadian short Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, directed by Nicole Bazuin. The festival’s closing film is the B.C. premiere of the South Africa feature Runs in the Family, which is directed by Ian Gabriel. Toronto-based Fae Pictures’ Shant Joshi is an executive producer on the film. The festival runs from Aug. 10 to 20.

Telefilm supports 31 film festivals

Telefilm Canada has allocated $310,000 in support for 31 film festivals in the first intake of its General Admission Festivals Program.

The festivals have start dates between Oct. 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, and were selected from 44 applications, according to a Telefilm advisory. The program provides funding to small and emerging film festivals.

Nine festivals take place in Ontario, including Toronto’s CineFam Festival and Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival; and Ottawa’s IFFO: The International Film Festival and the Ottawa Black Film Festival.

Eleven are from B.C., including the Vancouver International Black Film Festival and Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone de Vancouver. Another three are from Quebec, such as Festival Filministes, and two in Manitoba, including Cinémental.

Dawson City International Short Film Festival in Yukon, Edmonton Short Film Festival in Alberta, Hellifax Horror Fest in Nova Scotia, Charlottetown Film Festival in P.E.I., Yellowknife International Film Festival in N.W.T., and Silver Wave Film Festival in N.B. round out the selected festivals.

June releases boost Cineplex revenue

Cineplex has reported that its combined box office and food service revenues for June have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

The Canadian theatre chain reported box office revenue of $55.7 million in June, down slightly from the same period in 2019. However, Cineplex said in a statement that the box office tally, when combined with food service sales, “amounted to 104% of June 2019 results” overall. Food service revenue figures were not disclosed.

The month of June saw the release of films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Cineplex president and CEO Ellis Jacob said in a statement that the company is “confident in the continued strength of our business” ahead of anticipated summer releases such as Oppenheimer and Barbie.

With files from Kelly Townsend

Image courtesy of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival