'Banner year' expected as curtain lifts at Cinéfest

Cinéfest executive director Tammy Frick is calling it a banner year.

Frick says the amount of attention the festival is receiving, as well as the number of stars heading to Sudbury, is an "organic" development.

Now in its 31st year, the festival draws almost half of its attendance from out of town. That includes northern and southern Ontario, and also Ottawa and Michigan.

Frick said people in the film industry are also now quick to accept invitations for galas.

"They keep saying 'sure I'm available' and 'let's come'," Frick said. 

Those include some established names, as well as new faces on the film scene.

"From the opening night film we have Gerran Howell, one of the young actors in the film Song of Names which is an absolutely brilliant film by François Girard, who brought us the Red Violin not that long ago ."

"We'll also have Alex Wolfe in town," she said. "He has his film The Castle in the Ground on Sunday."

To view the full Cinefest schedule, click here.

Actress Sophie Nélisse (The Rest of Us) will be visiting, as will Louise Archambault, the director of French film Il Pleuvait Des Oiseaux. (And the Birds Rained Down.)

The festival will also be screening films made in northern Ontario, like Honeybee, Riot Girls, and Brotherhood.

And if viewers are having difficulty choosing which films to watch, Frick said Cinéfest's "special presentation" films usually are accompanied by industry buzz.

"We present people with the larger corporate films, the more mainstream films, in the Gala program," she said. "While special presentation films are films that are worthy of a gala spot but are typically foreign language, which some people will shy away from because of subtitles."

"But they're very high calibre films that will typically be seen throughout awards season." 

To see the Cinefest Schedule visit their website by clicking here.