The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) has revealed the full lineup for its 25th edition in September, with the world premiere of Calgary filmmaker Gillian McKercher’s Lucky Star selected as the closing film.

A total of 31 features will have their world, North American, international or Canadian premieres at CIFF, according to the Wednesday (Aug. 28) announcement.

Lucky Star (Kino Sum Productions, Notable Content; pictured) is the sophomore feature of Calgary’s Gillian McKercher, a family drama about fatherly love, deceit, and redemption, and a slice of life of the Chinese-Prairie diaspora. McKercher’s first feature, Circle of Steel, won an Audience Award at CIFF 2018.

The film is distributed in Canada by Game Theory Films and was funded by Telefilm Canada. The script was developed with support from the Canadian Film Centre/Netflix Project Development Accelerator and Harold Greenberg Fund.

Opening CIFF is the Alberta-shot feature film The Thicket, produced by Chad Oakes and Michal Frislev of Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures alongside star and producer Peter Dinklage under his Estuary Films banner, as well as Hollywood Gang and MiLu Entertainment. Dinklage portrays a bounty hunter on the trail of a violent killer played by Juliette Lewis. The western thriller is directed by Elliott Lester.

Among the lineup are seven Canadian features having Alberta premieres, including Guy Maddin’s Rumours a Canada-Germany copro (Buffalo Gal Pictures, Maze Pictures, Square Peg). The film is set during the annual G7 summit where the leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies get lost in the woods at night while attempting to draft their provisional statement.

There’s also Halifax director Jason Buxton’s Sharp Corner, an Canada-Ireland copro (Alcina, Shut Up & Colour Pictures, Kobalt Films), which follows a man who is drawn into saving the lives of car crash victims in front of his house.

Also making its Alberta premiere is Shepherds from director Sophie Deraspe, a Canada-France copro (DCP, micro_scope, Avenue B Productions, Maison 4:3, Pyramide International) about a Montreal ad exec turned shepherd. The film is dapted from the novel D’où viens tu, berger?, by Quebec author Mathyas Lefebure.

Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse (Babe Nation Films, Elevation Pictures, Barry Films, Cinenovo) is also debuting in Alberta. The film follows a young woman who finds her summer getaway in the south of France interrupted by the arrival of a woman from her father’s past, and is based on Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel of the same name.

Two documentary features part of the CIFF Canadian lineup including Adrianne & The Castle (Intuitive Pictures) from filmmaker Shannon Walsh, which follows an Illinois couple who built a castle to their love; and Lisa Jackson’s Wilfred Buck (Door Number 3 Productions, National Film Board of Canada, Clique Pictures), about the charismatic and irreverent Indigenous Elder who survived life on the streets to reclaim and share ancient star knowledge and spiritual ceremony.

Rounding out the Canadian features is New Brunswick filmmaker Michael Clowater’s Drive Back Home (Mason Films, Woods Entertainment), about a small-town plumber from rural New Brunswick who must drive his beat-up work truck 1,000 miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail. The film stars Scottish actor Alan Cumming and is distributed by Game Theory Films.

CIFF’s short film program will see 47 projects screening, including the Canadian entries Eisha Marjara’s Am I the Skinniest Person You’ve Ever Seen?; Megan Wennberg’s Bloody Mess; Jo Roy’s Corpus and the Wandering; Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel ‘s A Crab in the Pool; and Margaret Rose and Mick Robertson’s Every Other Weekend.

Additional Canadian shorts are John Hollands’ Grenfell, Adrift on an Iceberg; Amanda Strong’s Inkwo; Torill Kove’s Maybe Elephants; Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard’s My Tomato Heart; Adrian Gonzalez de la Pena’s Naualli; Meghann Michalsky’s Odeon; Trevor Solway’s Settler; Maziyar Khatam’s The Sweater; Yuqi Kang’s Thorn; and Alexandre Isabelle’s À Toi les Oreilles.

CIFF runs from Sept. 19 to 29.

Image courtesy of Game Theory Films