WINNIPEG — Bright new talent is the focus of this year’s FilmExchange festival, which returns to Winnipeg’s National Screen Institute on Wednesday with a roster of films by new names from Vancouver, Ontario and the Prairies.

‘It has become a tradition at FilmExchange to promote the works of directors doing their first or sophomore feature, and that definitely holds true this year,’ Liz Janzen, NSI director of programming, tells Playback Daily. ‘Supporting emerging talent is what the NSI is all about.’

The national training school’s all-Canadian film festival will screen seven features, of which four are directorial debuts, and will showcase nearly 60 short films.

Just over 5,000 delegates from across the country attended last year’s festival, which also includes professional development sessions, parties and the infamous SnowScreen event, during which classic National Film Board cartoons are screened outside in the blustery cold — projected on an outdoor screen made of snow.

The first-time features include the comedy Love and Other Dilemmas by Vancouver’s Larry Di Stefano and the drama That Beautiful Somewhere from Toronto’s Robert Budreau, starring Roy Dupuis (The Rocket) and Jane McGregor (Flower & Garnet). The drama Who Loves the Sun comes from Ontario director Matt Bissonnette, who previously codirected 2002’s Looking for Leonard.

Sarah Polley’s feature directorial debut Away from Her — seen previously at both Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival — is FilmExchange’s closing-night gala on March 3.

Also screening at the festival is Vancouver director Andrew Currie’s zombie comedy Fido and Sans elle, a French-language film about a young musician (Karine Vanasse), directed by Quebec’s Jean Beaudin (Nouvelle-France).

But the only Canadian sort-of premiere at FilmExchange is Wrath of Gods, a documentary from Manitoba filmmaker Jon Gustafsson (Kanadiana) which offers a behind-the-scenes look at director Sturla Gunnarsson’s troubled 2004 Icelandic shoot for Beowulf & Grendel. A shorter version aired on TV late last year.

Five new short films produced through the NSI Drama Prize training program will also premiere at the festival, as will five short documentaries from aboriginal filmmakers in Saskatchewan, made through an NFB training initiative.

The industry component of the festival aims to be ‘informative and practical, as opposed to anecdotal,’ says NSI’s manager of training programs Brendon Sawatzky. ‘We want to offer real, applicable advice to filmmakers.’

The lineup includes a feature film writing master class with Currie and a series-directing workshop with Gary Harvey (Cold Squad, Robson Arms, Godiva’s).

There are also panels on multiplatform deals, the video game industry, music in film, and rights and clearances.