Cinéfest 2024 Highlights

Sudbury’s Cinéfest 2024 did not disappoint. I was only able to watch eleven films this year (I watched 14 last year), but the quality was very high, with six standouts that got at least ***+ - **** (one step up from ***+). These six films are briefly (or not so briefly in some cases) reviewed below. Only one of them is an English-language film - the only film made in North America is French-Canadian. 

I was pleased to discover that six of the eleven films I watched were directed by women and seven were written by women. In the world of independent cinema (unlike Hollywood), the overwhelming domination of men in those two roles is largely a thing of the past. This is good news for me as I often find films made by women easier to relate to (three of my six favourite films this year were written by women). 

This year would have had three four-star films were it not that two of those films are so incredibly dark that I had to drop their rating a bit just for the unrelenting bleakness (also known as horror). Indeed, five of the six films below are very serious dramas. But for those who enjoy lighter films, you’ll be pleased to note that Flow, my favourite film of Cinéfest 2024, is a delightful animated family film. And I did watch three other lighter films this year, but they didn’t make my standout list. One of those was Sean Baker’s Anora, the winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. It was my biggest disappointment of the festival. 

In order of how much I liked the films:

1. Flow - That my favourite film of Cinéfest 2024 is a dialogue-free animated film about a cat (and other animals) is a bit of a shocker. In a world no longer inhabited by humans, an independent cat afraid of water suddenly finds the sea level rising by a meter a minute and must rely on other animals to survive in this strange new world. Made by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who did just about everything, Flow is a stunning achievement, with extraordinary animation (influenced by Hayao Miyazaki) and a thought-provoking story full of animals, each of which is given a depth of characterization and personality that is remarkable without dialogue. This is a must-see for everybody (on the big screen!).

2. The Girl With the Needle - One of the two exceptionally dark films I watched, this Danish black & white film directed by Magnus Von Horn and written by Line Langebek Knudsen reminded me of the darker works of another Danish filmmaker, Carl Dreyer. Indeed, this film felt like a classic from the 1950’s. It tells the story, based on actual events in 1920’s Copenhagen, of a young woman with an unwanted baby who meets an older woman who runs a clandestine adoption agency. It’s not a happy tale. The cinematography is breathtaking, the acting by the two women leads, Vic Carmen Sonne and Trine Dyrholm, is mind-blowing, the sound is terrifying and a major contributor to the haunting harrowing atmosphere. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw writes: “There’s no doubting the shiver of pure fear that runs through this movie from beginning to end.” Another critic, Mina Takler, writes: “The Girl with the Needle is pure cinema – a film that reminds us why movies can evoke an essential sense of questioning and contemplation, offering us a much-needed invitation to look within ourselves and reexamine the choices that have long defined us.” In short, it’s a masterpiece that I recommend only to those who can handle the grimmest of tales.

3. Who Do I Belong To - This Tunisian-Canadian film, made by Tunisian-Canadian filmmaker Meryam Joobeur, concerns Aïcha (a wonderful Salha Nasraoui), a woman whose two oldest sons have gone off to fight in Syria (a crime in Tunisia). One of those sons suddenly returns to his village, accompanied by a mysterious pregnant woman wearing a Niqab. Strange things begin to happen. This is the second super-dark film, a haunting nightmarish tale that grips you and doesn’t let go until its horrific end. Film critics don’t know what to make of the last half hour, and indeed it’s hard to imagine any viewer not being utterly confused by the events that take place during that time, but if my interpretation is correct, this is another masterpiece of psychological horror that I can’t recommend except to a few hardy viewers.

4. To a Land Unknown - This film by Mahdi Fleifel brings us back to a less horrific world, telling the story of two Palestinian refugees in Athens who are trying to get to Germany, where they hope to build a new life for their families. Well-played by Mahmoud Bakri and Aram Sabbah, the two young men use whatever means they can find to get the money they need for their illegal passports, while struggling with the morality of what they are being forced to do. While the film contains more pieces than are absolutely necessary, many scenes are riveting and powerfully thoughtful. Film critic Sophie Monks Kaufman writes: “To a Land Unknown is a tour-de-force of empathic storytelling, with its genre narrative bursting with an overabundance of humanity.”

5. Who By Fire - This good old-fashioned French-Canadian drama by Philippe Lesage is about eight people stuck together for a few days in an isolated fly-in cabin in the Quebec wilderness. While there are many major characters, the protagonist seems to be a teenager named Jeff (Noah Parker) who begins to distrust and then despise Blake, the owner of the cabin, whose friend (?), Albert, is on hand to offer no end of insults to Blake at the dinner table. Jeff’s romantic interest, Aliocha (who doesn’t share Jeff’s interest), is his best friend’s sister. They are also present for this incredibly tense (the tension mounts throughout), compelling and LONG (161 minutes) ride. I ‘enjoyed’ almost every dark minute of it, not least because of its surprising ending.

6. The Outrun - Saoirse Ronan is superb as a young woman struggling with alcoholism in Nora Fingsheidt’s film, based on a 2016 memoir by Amy Liptrot. Beautifully filmed in Orkney off the northern coast of Scotland, this slow-paced film tells a moving powerful story, anchored by Ronan’s amazing performance.