Nine Canadian films are set for their world premieres at the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF).

The Alberta festival unveiled a first wave of 11 films, including its day-one programming, on Wednesday (Aug. 13). CIFF’s full lineup will be announced on Aug. 27.

CIFF opens its day-one programming with the Spotlight+ screening of the documentary Bif Naked, which explores the successes and struggles of the eponymous Winnipeg-raised musician.

Bif Naked is directed by Pollyanna Hardwicke-Brown and Jennifer Abbott, and produced by Adam Scorgie, Shane Fennessy, Gabriel Napora and Yas Taalat.

Fennessy and Scorgie are also two of the producers behind another world premiere title, Singhs in the Ring, alongside Sunny Sidhu. The Crave original documentary from director Akash Sherman tells the story of Canadian wrestlers Gama Singh and his son Raj.

Also in the CIFF lineup is writer-director Pavan Moondi’s fourth feature Middle Life (pictured). The film stars Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis, the singers of the Toronto band July Talk, and follows the tumultuous year after the former saves the latter from a car wreck.

Middle Life is independently financed and produced by Moondi, Dreimanis, Goldstein, Jared Raab and Dean Perlmutter of Toronto’s Smash Arts. The production team currently holds the film’s worldwide distribution rights.

From Playback‘s 2024 10 to Watch alum Gillian McKercher is the holiday film A Dickens of a Christmas, written by Catherine Fridey and produced by Kyle Cooper and Jason Wan Lim.

A Dickens of a Christmas follows a busy lawyer who, while attending a holiday party, becomes the recipient of a magical book about English author Charles Dickens. It stars Ashley Newbrough, Kaya Coleman and Chad Rook.

Another documentary selection is Fruit is Ripe from Vancouver-based filmmaker Yuqi Kang. The film is produced by Kang and Yiqian Zhang, and depicts a group of Chinese fathers as they make lives for themselves in Alberta.

The final feature documentary selection is Love, Harold from director Alan Zweig. It is produced by David York of Toronto’s 52 Media and the National Film Board of Canada’s Kate Vollum. The doc follows Zweig, who, after an old friend takes their own life, speaks to others who have lost those close to them through suicide.

Writer-director Eisha Marjara’s Calorie follows the lives of three generations of women whose past and present lives collide during a summer in India. The drama is produced by Joe Balass of Montreal’s Compass Productions.

Clare Preuss’ Do Us Part, an adaptation of a play by the same name, rounds out the Canadian features unveiled in CIFF’s first wave. The film, written by Katherine Rawlinson, is the debut feature from Preuss, the artistic director of Calgary-based theatre prodco Downstage. It is produced by Sandi Somers and Rawlinson, with development support from Downstage.

The dramedy depicts a single day within the home of a family of eco-architects, and stars Michelle Thrush, Andy Curtis, Imajyn Cardinal, Linda Kee, Rawlinson, Garret Smith, Joel David Taylor and Telly James.

The mid-length documentary Pulse of the Continent from director Eric González will also make its world premiere at CIFF. The 52-minute film, produced by Guillaume Carlier, follows Locomotive 2816 as it completes its journey from Calgary to Mexico City, making it the first steam locomotive to travel between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in one continuous route.

CIFF runs from Sept. 18 to 28.

Image courtesy of CIFF