Cities/Calgary

Calgary International Film Festival
Thurs., Sept. 23 – Sun., Oct. 3
Tickets $13.50 per film, bundle options available
Cineplex Eau Claire, 200 Barclay Parade SW
Globe Cinema, 617 8th Ave. SW
Contemporary Calgary, 701 11th St. SW
ciffcalgary.ca

Film buffs rejoice! After going digital last year, CIFF is back and better than ever in person with three theatres, 160-plus screenings and mountains of buttery popcorn over 11 jam-packed days. The CIFF team corralled film features all over the globe, presenting everything from Sundance Film Festival favourites to the best in Alberta filmmaking. Interested in making movies? Sign up for the industry week programming, taking place Sept. 23 – 26 to network and learn from professionals at the top of their craft. Feel like staying home? Tune in online Sept. 28 for the Let’s Get Digital programming.

Here are three screenings we’re hyped about:

We Are The Thousand

79 mins.
Director: Anita Rivaroli
Country: Italy

In a small Italian town, big dreamer Fabio bands together 1,000 musicians to play a Foo Fighters song and convince the legendary rock group to fly out and perform a concert. If this documentary isn’t a testament to the power of music, we don’t know what is.

El Planeta

81 mins.
Director: Amalia Ulman
Country: Spain/USA

Plucked from the festival circuit, this black-and-white auteur-driven comedy is set in post-financial-crisis Spain, following a hustling mother and daughter publicly maintaining their diva lifestyle while privately going broke.

Don’t Say Its Name

84 mins.
Director: Rueben Martell
Country: Canada

In this nail-biting spiritual thriller, a local activist protests a new deal with a mining company to drill on Indigenous land. When she’s targeted in a hit-and-run and the company starts drilling, the land itself starts retaliating.