Canadian filmmaker and actor Ben Petrie’s feature directorial debut The Heirloom will make its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

The romantic dramedy will be making its bow in the Bright Future section. The 52nd edition of the IFFR runs from Jan. 25 to Feb. 4.

The Heirloom (pictured) is written by Petrie, and is based on a story by Petrie and partner and collaborator Grace Glowicki. Petrie is also a producer through his Cheekdance Spectacular banner alongside Glowicki and Cedar Pictures’ Justin Elchakieh. The film does not have a distributor in place as of press time.

The Heirloom, shot in winter 2021 and partly in winter 2022 in the Riverdale area of Toronto, centres on a filmmaker facing writer’s block and a COVID-19 lockdown when inspiration comes in the form of a rescue dog that he and his partner adopt. The film stars Petrie and Glowicki.

The film was financed by Telefilm Canada, with the project receiving $125,000 through the 2018 Telefilm Talent to Watch program.

“The budget was a pinch north of that, with money I put into the project,'” Petrie tells Playback Daily, noting that the film secured funding before the pandemic struck and things came to a standstill.

Petrie says the film “is largely a chamber piece” which was trimmed down to its current form out of 150 hours of single camera improv, adding that the filmmaking team hopes the film brings audiences in Rotterdam “laughter, feeling and resonance.”

“We spent 26 days with a close group of collaborators, in our own little bubble, in an apartment we rented in the Riverdale area of Toronto. Our script was very sparse and loose. We showed up every morning and started collaborating to unearth the raw instinct that had brought us together in the first place,” explains Petrie.

The filmmaker says the process was “intense, scary, vulnerable” and “succeeded as a result of the trust, dedication, and contributions of my consummately game, generous and inventive collaborators.”

The film’s team is currently in talks with “a couple” of sales agents and “have received an offer but have yet to cement a relationship.”

The Heirloom marks the third collaboration between Petrie and Glowicki. The duo acted in Petrie’s short Her Friend Adam. They also performed in Glowicki’s directorial debut Tito, on which Petrie was a producer.

Photo courtesy of Cheekdance Spectacular