Telefilm Canada says that it is backing nine English-language feature films with a total of $13.8 million through the Canada Feature Film Fund.

“From drama to comedy to science fiction, the selection of films is very diverse and features marquee talent. Directors Atom Egoyan and Paul Gross are back, while new talent such as Nick Powell, Ana Valine and Peter Stebbings will also have a chance to spotlight their work. Our Canadian producers will additionally have an opportunity to work with China, France and Germany thanks to the coproductions Outcast and Hector and the Search for Happiness,” said Telefilm executive director Carolle Brabant in a statement Wednesday.

From the Ontario and Nunavut region, Atom Egoyan’s upcoming thriller Queen of the Night, produced by Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm, received a $3.5 million investment, and David Hewlett’s sci-fi horror feature Debug received $1.4 million in funding.

Queen of the Night, written by Egoyan and David Fraser, starring Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman and Rosario Dawson, is a race against time to recover an abducted child. Debug, produced by Copperheart Entertainment and Jeananne Goossen, Adam Butcher and Jason Mamoa, follows a crew tasked with eradicating a derelict spaceships’ AI, which has taken a homicidal stance against them.

And Paul Gross‘s Hyena Road, produced by Rhombus Media, Whizbang Films and Triple 7 Films, received just under $4 million, while Peter Stebbings’ drama Empire of Dirt, produced by Redcloud Studios and Narrow Path Productions, received $200,000.

Hyena Road is about three men who intersect in a story about modern warfare, while Empire of Dirt explores issues of family legacy in a story about a single mother, struggling to make ends meet, who returns home to reconcile with her own mother to save her teenage daughter from the street.

From the Western region, Ana Valine’s debut feature Sitting on the Edge of Marlene also received $520,000 in backing, and Ryan Bonder’s The Brother received a $620,000 investment.

Dark comedy Sitting on the Edge of Marlene, produced by Rodeo Queen Pictures and Foundation Features, centres on a mother-daughter con artist duo, while The Brother, produced by Insomnia Productions, focuses on a man whose life gets complicated when his brother urges him to save their father from his last illegal arms deal.

And Germany-Canada coproduction Hector and the Search for Happiness, starring Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Rosamund Pike and Christopher Plummer, also received backing from Telefilm. The film, which received $1.5 million, is directed by Peter Chelsom, with Vancouver-based Screen Siren Pictures and Germany’s Egoli Tossell producing.

From the Atlantic region, Greg Jackson’s Bunker 6 received  $60,000 in support. The Sheltered Pictures production, filmed in Nova Scotia, is a sci-fi thriller about a girl who must take charge of the fall-out shelter she lives in after her mentor and father figure dies.

And Telefilm also backed China-Canada-France copro Outcast, starring Nicholas Cage and Hayden Christensen, with $2 million. The Ancient China war romance filmed in Chinese province Yunnan is helmed by Canuck director Nick Powell and written by James Dormer.