Catch the Silver Wave Film Festival from Nov. 7-14

The Fredericton-based festival also includes a comprehensive industry series designed to bring together experienced and emerging filmmakers.

What is new at this year's festival?
"This year we have added two new in-person screenings to our lineup: On Friday, Nov. 8, at Gallery on Queen, 7 p.m., our Poetic Visions screening features an eclectic mix of outstanding experimental short films from local, Canadian, and international filmmakers. On Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, at noon, our International Shorts screening showcases diverse short films from around the world."

Is there one film with "the wow factor" that's creating a buzz, even before the launch of the festival?
"We have so many remarkable films in all genres screening at SWFF this year, but our two feature film gala screenings are creating considerable buzz. Both are by first-time feature film directors from New Brunswick, and both touch on 2SLGBTQIA+ themes:

"Drive Back Home, a period drama by Michael Clowater, opens the festival this year on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Tilley Hall, UNB, 7 p.m. A small town plumber from rural New Brunswick in 1970 must drive his beat-up truck to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park. Based on a true family story and shot in Ontario and New Brunswick, Drive Back Home stars multiple Emmy- and BAFTA-winning actor Alan Cumming."

"Do I Know You From Somewhere? directed by Arianna Martinez is our special gala feature, playing on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Tilley Hall, UNB, 7 p.m.  A sci-fi romance about the alternate reality of a missed connection. As their shared past begins to be replaced by an alternate timeline, a couple faces a bittersweet choice — embrace newfound joy or cling to a fading connection before they lose each other forever. Written and directed by Arianna Martinez (winner of the CBC Short Film Face Off in 2021 with her short film Maya Eterna) and produced by her Fredericton based production company Strike Pictures, Do I Know You From Somewhere? is a New Brunswick film filled with local talent both in front of and behind the camera that has been making a big splash at major international film festivals including TIFF and Busan, and now comes to Silver Wave for a hometown screening."

What films are going to stick with audiences long after the festival is over?
"With 79 short films in Silver Wave Film Festival this year from local, Canadian and international filmmakers running the gamut of emotions, themes, and genres, the short films screenings truly have something for everyone."

"Our two N.B. shorts screenings are extra special as they showcase our homegrown talent, telling stories exploring identity, coming of age, apocalyptic worlds, addiction, memory, mortality, existential angst, self discovery, and more. Notably, in N.B. Shorts II on Sunday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m. at the Fredericton Playhouse, the short drama The Peninsula, directed by Tyler Warren Ellis, is a family affair, written by and starring then-11-year-old Hunter Mullinger, produced by Hunter's father, actor/comedian James Mullinger, and co-starring Hunter's grandfather Barry Arthurs. Set on the Kingston Peninsula, the story revolves around a young orphan trying to befriend a cantankerous old man who has lost all hope in the world."