The French-language feature Hunting Daze, the documentaries Plastic People and Adrianne & The Castle, and the copro Kryptic are among Canadian titles making their world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas.

SXSW announced the first wave titles for its 31st edition on Wednesday (Jan. 11). The lineup’s Canadian offering also includes two narrative shorts, one short doc and an immersive animated project.

Writer-director Annick Blanc’s mystery thriller Hunting Daze will premiere in the Midnighter section. Blanc also produced the film with Maria Gracia Turgeon through their Midi La Nuit prodco. The Canadian distributor for the film is Maison 4:3, while Felix Glück of Berlin-based Arthood Entertainment is the sales agent.

Hunting Daze (pictured) centres on a young exotic dancer who finds herself stranded in the far North with five men on a bachelor hunting trip. The film’s cast includes Nahéma Ricci, Bruno Marcil, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Marc Beaupré, Alexandre Landry, Maxime Genois and Noubi Ndiaye.

Director Kourtney Roy’s Canada-U.K. copro Kryptic is also debuting in the Midnighter section.

The psycho-thriller is written by Paul Bromley and produced by Amber Ripley of Goodbye Productions, Sophie Venner and Josh Huculiak, while James Tocher serves as executive producer. The film is distributed by Game Theory Films, and Todd Brown of XYZ is the sales agent.

Kryptic follows a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realisation that she is inescapably linked to the creature being hunted.

The feature doc Plastic People, produced by White Pine Pictures in association with Telus independent, is written and directed by Ben Addelman and co-directed by Ziya Tong. Vanessa Dylyn and Stephen Paniccia are the producers, while executive producers include White Pine’s Peter Raymont and Steve Ord, and author and environmentalist Rick Smith.

Plastic People, which will premiere in the Documentary Spotlight section on the opening weekend, is produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, and Ontario Creates.

The investigative film explores the microplastics crisis, tracing the journey of the particles in the environment to their presence within human bodies. The film sees Tong travel around the world to meet world’s leading scientists and also participate in experiments in her home and her body.

Eight members of the production team will be in attendance for the film premiere, supported in part by Telefilm Canada, according to a news release.

The film has a Canadian theatrical release slated for May, with White Pine handling domestic distribution. The release will be supported by an impact campaign managed by Good Measure Productions, added the release. Plastic People is also slated to screen on Telus’ streaming platforms in spring.

Adrianne & The Castle is written and directed by Shannon Walsh, and co-written by Laurel Sprengelmyer. Ina Fichman of Intuitive Pictures is the producer.

The film, which is screening in the Visions section, documents the life of the St-Georges who built a castle to their love in rural Illinois. Intuitive Pictures is also the film’s distributor.

The narrative shorts making their world bow include writer-director-producer Alexandre Isabelle’s A toi les oreilles, and the Canada-U.S. copro We Are Not Alone by director Adebukola Bodunrin. Both films will screen in the Narrative Short Competition.

The French-language A toi les oreilles is set during a village’s anniversary parade. Robin Miranda Das Neves is the film’s sales agent.

We Are Not Alone is adapted from the short comic of the same name by Ezra Claytan Daniels, who wrote the film, and produced by Mariel Neto. It follows the story of a young Nigerian immigrant, who starts to believe that a mysterious object approaching Earth’s orbit holds the key to her loneliness.

Director Amélie Hardy’s Hello Stranger, about the transition of a young trans woman, will premiere in the Documentary Short Competition. The film is produced by Sarah Mannering and Fanny Drew, with h264 as the film’s distributor.

Rounding the Canadian titles is director Émilie Rosas and Colas Wohlfahrt’s immersive biopic Joseph Rouleau: Final Encore, about the titular Quebec opera singer, which is part of the XR Experience Competition. The 19-minute animated project is written by Roses and produced by Virgnie Jaffredo of JAXA and Camera Oscura’s Christine Falco. Montreal’s HUBBLO is attached as distributor. 

The 31st edition of SXSW runs from March 8 to 16.

Photo courtesy of Midi La Nuit