The Canadian Film Fest has unveiled its 2022 lineup, with the world premiere of Faran Moradi’s dramedy Tehranto set to open the festival.

The event, which runs from March 22 to April 2, will once again be presented by Super Channel, marking the third year of the partnership. Super Channel first broadcast the festival in 2020 after its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 10 features and 28 short films will be in the virtual Canadian Film Fest festival, which includes pre-recorded and live Q&As with filmmakers, panel discussions, masterclasses and a virtual awards presentation. Of the filmmakers included, approximately 50% are women and 40% are Black, Indigenous or a person of colour, according to Super Channel.

Each feature-length film will have a scheduled linear broadcaster and will be preceded by a short. Opening film Tehranto will be preceded by the short I Hate You, directed by Taylor Olson and Koumbie.

Tehranto is written and directed by Moradi (Holly Hobbie) and produced by Jacqueline de Niverville (Chesterfield). The film stars Sammy Azero (Easy Land), Mo Zeighami (Three Sisters) and Navid Negahban (Tehran) and follows two young students who fall in love, despite being raised on different sides of a divided Iranian community. Executive producers include Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, Mariah Owen and Wendy Donnan.

The festival will close with the Toronto premiere of Valerie Buhagiar’s Canada/Malta coproduction Carmen, which had its world premiere at the Whistler Film Festival. It will be preceded by the short God@mail.com, directed by Roger Gariépy.

The festival’s Canadian premieres include Jeremy LaLonde’s drama Ashgrove; Sean Cisterna’s documentary The Long Rider; Michael LeBlanc and Josh Reichmann’s drama Tenzin; and Reem Morsi’s action dramedy The Last Mark.

Rounding out the features are the Toronto premieres of Philippe Grégoire’s drama The Noise of Engines; Katie Boland’s drama We’re All in This Together; Adam Perry’s drama A Small Fortune; and Marie-Geneviève Chabot’s documentary Beneath the Surface.

Four of the 28 short films will be world premieres, including Nessa Aref’s Decomposing; Marilou Caravecchia-Pelletier’s White Rose; Kennedy Kao’s We Don’t Need Your Kind; and Chen Sing Yap’s Feeling the Apocalypse.

The Canadian Film Fest will also include a free one-day summit on March 23, titled Action on Women in Film, which addresses the gender gap for women in Canada’s film industry, sponsored by Scotiabank and DGC Ontario. The summit provides education, mentorship and networking opportunities for women and gender non-conforming individuals. Scotiabank has also reimbursed submission fees for women and racialized filmmakers as a way to remove barriers to access the festival.