Canadian writer, actor and director Ben Lewis (pictured) will have his feature directorial debut, Don’t Let Him Get to You, highlighted at Inside Out’s International Finance Forum (IFF).

The forum of the 2SLGBTQ+-focused film festival has selected five features, including Lewis’, that are in the late development or packaging stages. The forum runs at the TIFF Lightbox from May 29 to 30 and connects queer filmmakers with industry figures across the globe.

Don’t Let Him Get to You is written and directed by Lewis (Apart From Everything) and is produced by Andria Wilson Mirza (The Queen of My Dreams) and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), who is also starring. The dramedy follows Augie, a man with a loving husband and thriving career, who begins to unravel when his estranged brother appears and begins spending time with Augie’s best girlfriend.

Among the non-Canadian selections for the forum are two U.S. projects: the western romance A World of My Own, the feature debut of writer-director Niki Ang, produced by Andrew Ahn (Fire Island) and Laura Scarano; and writer-director Susie Yankou’s comedy and sophomore feature Here for the Right Reasons produced by Allison Tate.

Next, When The River Splits Open, is a U.S./China coproduction that marks the feature directorial debut of Chinese-Canadian writer-director Jess X. Snow. The film is a romance drama produced by Petrus van Staden with Lucie Zhang and Huang Lu attached to star.

The final selected project – The Young and the Dopeness – is another feature directorial debut, this time from the U.K., by writer-director Nosa Eke and producer Nell Whitley.

Forum participants will also engage in one-on-one meetings, both in-person and virtually, with representatives from a variety of companies and organizations including CBC Films, Elevation Pictures, Lionsgate, Elliot Page’s U.S.-based PageBoy Productions, Photon Films, A24, Neon, GLAAD and Netflix.

Additionally, roundtable conversations will be held with writer-directors Ahn and Mirza, U.S. casting director Kerry Barden (Sex and the City), U.S. director/producer duo Elegance Bratton and Chester Algemal Gordon (Pier Kids) and president of New York and Toronto-based Fae Pictures Shant Joshi (Framing Agnes).

“At a disruptive time for the film industry, we are so happy that we can create a space where amazing queer creators and their stories are front and centre,” said forum producer Jan Nathanson in a statement. “In our ninth iteration, [Inside Out’s] IFF brings the creative teams together with 20+ industry executives actively looking for queer content.”

Inside Out’s International Finance Forum is produced by Nathanson, Sarah Barzak, Jenna Dufton and Lu Linares.

The 2025 edition of the Inside Out Festival began on May 23 and runs until June 1.

Image courtesy of Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival