The International Film Festival of Ottawa (IFFO) starts this Wednesday, March 13th, with Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Egoyan will attend opening night to introduce the 2023 Canadian drama that stars Amanda Seyfried as a theatre director whose repressed trauma surfaces as she prepares to mount a production of the opera Salome. Following the screening, Egoyan will participate in a short Q&A session.
The Canadian short film Heat Spell, directed by filmmaker Marie-Pier Dupuis will screen before Egoyan’s feature at the Festival. IFFO 2024 runs from March 13 –24 and includes 25 feature films from 26 countries and 21 Canadian short films. We spoke with IFFO Executive Director Tom McSorley to learn more.
“We are both thrilled and honoured to open the fourth annual IFFO with renowned, Academy Award-nominated Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s latest film,” says McSorley.
“Egoyan has a long history with our organization, dating back four decades when we premiered his debut film, Next of Kin (1984), in Ottawa. Moreover, he was our first-ever Canadian Masters guest artist in 2016,” McSorley continues. “Given this history, it’s exciting and apt that his latest film will open IFFO 2024.”
Photo provided.
But Seven Veils and Heat Spell are only the beginning. There are many Canadian films and international including Tiger Stripes—a collaboration piece from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, and Qatar.
Photo provided.
“The films are selected by me and my IFFO programming colleague, Tish Black,” explains McSorley about the curatorial process of IFFO. “Together, we watch about 200 feature films each year from Canada and around the world and choose 25-30 to show at IFFO. It’s an arduous process, but also fun! The films each year are usually selections from the major film festivals here and abroad: Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Montreal, Toronto, Tribeca, and Whistler. It’s a kind of ‘festival of festivals’ format.”
In choosing the films, IFFO seeks as diverse a range of cinematic voices as possible and as broad a geographical representation of the globe as the festival can cover. IFFO is dedicated to 50/50 gender parity for filmmakers, and they always include Indigenous, BIPOC, and LGTBQ2+ artists and content.
“We also like to showcase emerging filmmaking talents and have presented many debut feature films at IFFO,” adds McSorley. “More established directors are also present, and we also show recently restored versions of cinema classics. At IFFO we are committed to the present and future of cinema, but also to its extraordinary history.”
Now in its fourth year, IFFO is growing and expanding.
“What’s different this year is the number of high-profile, internationally renowned Canadian filmmakers are coming to IFFO,” explains McSorley. “We have Atom Egoyan’s latest film, Seven Veils, to open the festival, with Atom Egoyan in attendance, Academy Award-nominated Deepa Mehta is our featured guest artist in our annual ‘Canadian Masters’ series, and international arthouse-cult sensation Guy Maddin—who just finished shooting a film with Cate Blanchett—will join us to present the 4K restoration of his second feature, Archangel, made in 1990. If that isn’t enough, we also have a special screening of the beautiful 4k restoration of the 1983 rarely screened classic, The Wars, a star-studded film adaptation of Timothy Findley’s famous novel.”
Indian-born Canadian screenwriter, director and producer, Deepa Mehta, is the 2024 Canadian Masters guest artist. Mehta will participate in a one-on-one conversation about her career, influences, and lasting impact on Canadian cinema. Following the talk on March 20 at the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Festival will screen Mehta’s powerful coming-of-age 2020 drama, Funny Boy, with Mehta in attendance.
Still from the film. Photo provided.
“For five decades, Deepa Mehta has reshaped contemporary Canadian cinema, exploring the complexities of the immigrant experience, the challenges for equality and justice for women in society, and the beauties and shortcomings of Canada’s multicultural society,” says McSorley. “Mehta is prolific, working in Canada and internationally. From her over 20 feature films to her extensive directorial experience in television, she has assembled an incredible body of work,” McSorley continues. “We are honoured to have Deepa Mehta as our 2024 Canadian Masters guest artist.”
An annual celebration of excellence in Canadian filmmaking, Canadian Masters features extensive onstage interviews and special screenings with some of the greatest names in Canadian filmmaking. Mehta joins the growing list of artists, including recent guests Mina Shum (2023), Denis Coté (2022) and Patricia Rozema (2021).
We also asked McSorley which film was his favourite.
“I’ve seen them all already, of course, so what I always look forward to is the audience reactions to the various selections we’ve made,” says the McSorley. “I am especially curious about the response to our selection from Argentina, Let the Dance Begin, an entertaining and bittersweet love story involving two aging superstars of tango. We’re also hoping to have some live tango performance before the screening!”
Tickets are available for purchase on the IFFO website. Opening night usually sells out!
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