The Atlantic Film Festival will open Sept. 12 with the East Coast premiere of Thom Fitzgerald’s The Event, one of 26 Canadian feature films, nine of which are Atlantic in genesis, to screen at the 23rd edition of the popular fest. The festival will run until Sept. 20 in Halifax.

Festival director Lia Rinaldo says that although the AFF doesn’t have any set rules for what opens the fest, those involved do like to see an Atlantic film kick it off.

In all, 176 films out of 450 submitted were chosen for this year’s AFF. A solid 100 of the films are Canadian, including Denys Arcand’s acclaimed The Barbarian Invasions, which will light up the screen as the closing-night gala.

The Atlantic gala is St. John’s, NF-based Anita McGee’s first feature, The Bread Maker, starring Sherry White and Jonathan Torrens. The film will be coming off its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Toronto filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s The Republic of Love will be featured as the international gala, while Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without Me will screen as the Canadian gala presentation. AFF special presentations include Nathaniel Geary’s debut feature On the Corner, Jean-Francois Pouliot’s La Grande seduction, U.K. director Duncan Roy’s semi-autobiographical feature AKA and feature doc Words of My Perfect Teacher from Halifax’s Ziji Film and Television Productions. Tom McCarthy’s The Station Agent will screen as the anniversary gala, and Andy Jones: To the Wall, based on Jones’ one-man theatre show, is the CBC gala.

The AFF’s returning international coproduction conference, Strategic Partners (Sept. 13-15), will give delegates a chance to mingle with producers, financiers, broadcasters and distributors from the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. More than 100 delegates have confirmed their attendance for this year’s Strategic Partners.

This year’s CBC Industry Series is headlined by the Academy Luncheon, where journalist Laurie Brown will be in conversation with Serendipity Point producer Robert Lantos and Telefilm Canada executive director Richard Stursberg. The Directing Master Class session will feature director John Greyson. And The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam director Ann Marie Fleming will lead a Master Class called Personal Politics: The Biographical Documentary.

For a full listing of AFF films and events, check its website.

-www.atlanticfilm.com