Cinéfest 2023 Highlights

The Sudbury International Film Festival (Cinéfest) is one of the largest in Canada. I was able to watch 14 films this year with my close friend, Terri, who lives in Sudbury. An amazing nine of the films we chose to watch were written and directed by women and half of the films had a woman protagonist. Here are brief comments on my six favourite films at the festival.

1. The Teachers’ Lounge, a German film directed and co-written by Ilker Çatak, concerns a grade-six teacher (Carla Nowak, played perfectly by Leonie Benesch) who discovers the identity of the person responsible for a series of thefts. When she confronts the person, Carla’s life takes a dramatic turn as the school she loves becomes a nightmare. I found The Teachers’ Lounge gripping and believable from the first minute to the last, with excellent performances from both children and adults and a brilliant, haunting and thought-provoking screenplay. ****

2. Anatomy of a Fall, a french film written and directed by Justine Triet, is a courtroom drama about a German writer (Sandra, played brilliantly by Sandra Hüller) accused of murdering her French husband in their house in the French Alps. The long courtroom scenes are riveting. A classic. ****

3. One Summer, a French-Canadian comedy-drama from Louise Archambault, who made my favourite film of the year in 2019 (And the Birds Rained Down). A parish priest in Montreal (played by Patrice Robitaille), who has been serving the homeless for years, takes a group of homeless people on a summer retreat in eastern Quebec. Trouble ensues. A beautiful humanizing film about community and relationships. ***+ - ****

4. Femme, an incredibly intense and gripping drama about what happens when a gay man who was viciously attacked meets one of his attackers in a gay sauna three months later. Set in London, this British film was written and directed by Sam H. freeman and Ng Choon Ping and features stunning performances by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George Mackay. ***+ - ****

5. The Old Oak, the latest and possibly final film from the writer/director team of Paul Laverty and Ken Loach, who made my favourite films of the year in 2016 (I, Daniel Blake) and 2020 (Sorry We Missed You). This film about a pub owner (played by Dave Turner) in northern England who befriends Syrian refugees, to the consternation of many of his regulars, is not as good as their last two films (too many loose ends) but is another humanizing and empathetic attempt to make the world a better place. ***+ - ****

6. Hey, Victor! is an absolutely hilarious Canadian Indigenous mockumentary directed by Cody Lightning, who plays himself. Having played the young Victor in the wonderful Indigenous film Smoke Signals (back in 1998), and since fallen on hard times, Cody wants to make a sequel, bringing in all the actors of the first film. A little over-the-top at times, but I haven't laughed this much in a long time. ***+