CALGARY FILM FESTIVAL
First selections announced
Documentaries on Joan Jett, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and the newest offering by Calgarybased director Gary Burns are among the first batch of films announced for the Calgary International Film Festival.
The festival also announced the documentary Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story by Edmonton Oilers Entertainment Group vicepresident Don Metz about the former Oilers goalie that will be the closing the film gala on Sept. 29.
The festival announced six films that are part of its Music on Screen series, including John Barnard’s Bachman, and Kevin Kerslake’s Bad Reputation, which chronicles Jett’s life and career. The series also includes Heavy Trip, a Finnish comedy about an amateur metal band; Julia Nash’s documentary Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records; Up to Snuff, about composer W.G. Snuffy Walden’s work writing themes for TV series; and Satan and Adam, V. Scott Balcerek’s documentary about the blues duo Adam Gussow and Sterling (Mr. Satan) Magee.
The festival also announced Love, Scott, Calgary native Laura Marie Wayne’s documentary about a gay musician who was attacked and paralyzed.
This week the festival also released a second wave of titles of films about “life on the edge.”
They include the locally shot horror film Alive, starring Angus Macfadyen; the documentary Letter from Masanjia, which is about the closure of China’s labour camps; The Great Darkened Days, Quebec director Maxime Giroux’s followup to 2014’s Felix and Meira about a Charlie Chaplin impersonator trying to survive in the American west during a world war; Eva Vives’ dark comedy All About Nina, a film about a standup comedian starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Common; and the Canadian première of Jim Cummings’ acclaimed comedy-drama Thunder Road.
The festival also announced a new narrative film by Calgary’s Gary Burns called Man Running, about a young doctor who runs a 24-hour ultra-marathon while undergoing both professional and personal crises.
The Calgary International Film Festival runs Sept. 19 to 30. For a full list of films announced so far, visit calgaryfilm.com.