If you’re a film buff, or just hungry to see something interesting post a dry summer’s movie haul, you are eagerly anticipating the months’ end. September 20th to October 1st will see the city’s downtown cinemas host the Calgary International Film Festival, and half a dozen LGBTQ interest films in its docket.

The festival was literally inundated with submissions for the 2017 roster: a record setting 2,700 films were sent in. All of them had to be seen, some numerous times over – a daunting task, even for the keenest cinephile.

"We’re thrilled about this year’s line up," said CIFF Programming Manager Brenda Lieberman. "It has everything from crowd-pleasing films to more challenging ones, with big budgets and small. We’ve woven in genre films throughout, tons of first time filmmakers, and an increasingly large number of female directors are represented."

Opening the festival is one such "unheralded gem", as CIFF Executive Director Steve Schroeder termed the film When They Awake, a documentary that follows the exciting ‘groundswell’ of Indigenous musical artists in Canada, and the positive effect that music is having on those communities. "...[The film] came to us through our open submission process, which is really what film festivals are all about," he said. Appealing to local interest, segments of the doc were filmed here in town at the Calgary Folk Festival.

More than 50 countries are represented over the 12 days of screenings, meaning a diverse repertoire that spans the gamut. If you like to pair film and food, consider attending the Lunchtime Shorts Sampling that will take place during noon hour at The Palace Theatre, inclusive of lunch buffet, on Thursday September 28th. Or opt into the Dinner and Date option, available at Paper St, on Monday, September 25th. For $55, you and a loved one can dine on two main courses and a dessert, and grab tickets to one of 15 movie choices.

GayCalgary is stoked to see a film by Chilean director Sebastián Lelio in the line up: A Fantastic Woman follows Marina, a transgender woman, who must prove herself to her partner’s family and society in general after his illness and death.

The Misandrists, a zany erotic comedy out of Germany, sees an injured young man on the lam fall in the care of a ‘secret cell of feminist terrorists’. It’s directed by  Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (Gerontophilia) and was nominated for Best Feature Film at the Berlinale.

Rebels on Pointe takes viewers behind the lens of the famous all-male company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and their own brand of drag ballet. The Canadian film intends to illustrate "how dance can break down barriers across cultures and political lines, one pirouette at a time".

Signature Move is an award winning romantic film – a premier for director Jennifer Reeder – that follows Zynab, a Pakistani lesbian lawyer, and the confrontation she must engage in with tradition and family as she falls in love with a Mexican-American woman. It is opened by short Iconoclast.

Tickets and event packages can be purchased in advance online, over the phone or in person at the festival box office located on the main floor of Eau Claire Market. All ticket sales are final.

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Contributor Janine Eva Trotta |

Locale Calgary |

Topic calgaryfilm | Film Festival |