2024 Atlantic International Film Festival Explained
The 2024 edition of the Atlantic International Film Festival, the 44th edition in the event's history, will be held from September 11 to 18, 2024 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.[1] The first films in the program were announced on July 25,[2] with the full program announced on August 14.[1]
The event was scaled back to an extent from previous years, with a program of 96 features and shorts compared to almost 200 in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Festival chief Martha Cooley attributed this decision both to residents of the Halifax area still having a greater reticence in returning to large scale public events after the pandemic than people in other parts of Canada, and to the perception that as Halifax has a smaller population than cities like Toronto or Vancouver, audiences were being "pulled too thin" by past programs that were approaching the size of TIFF or VIFF.[3]
The festival will open with Jason Buxton's film Sharp Corner, and close with Sean Baker's Anora. The Atlantic Gala slot will feature Melanie Oates's film Sweet Angel Baby.
Official selections
Gala Presentations
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| Anora | | United States |
| Sharp Corner | | Canada |
| Sweet Angel Baby | | Canada | |
Reel East Coast Shorts
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Province |
|---|
| Back to Camp 41 | Greg Hemmings | Canada |
| Bedlamer | Alexa Jane Jerrett |
| Hairy Legs | Andrea Dorfman |
| An Impression of Everything | Millefiore Clarkes |
| The Kitchen Sink | Olivia King |
| Paper | Charles Wahl |
| Permit Garden | Jenny Yujia Shi |
| welima'q | shalan joudry | |
World Cinema
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| Bird | | United Kingdom |
| Can I Get a Witness? | | Canada |
| Caught by the Tides | 风流一代 | | China |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | Le Comte de Monte Cristo | Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière | France |
| Darkest Miriam | Naomi Jaye | Canada |
| Flow | Straume | | Latvia, France, Belgium |
| Grand Tour | | Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China |
| Lakeview | Tara Thorne | Canada |
| Matt and Mara | | Canada |
| The Outrun | | United Kingdom, Germany |
| Paying for It | | Canada |
| Presence | | United States |
| Reinas | | Switzerland, Peru, Spain |
| Rumours | | Canada, Germany |
| The Seed of the Sacred Fig | | Iran, France, Germany |
| Skeet | | Canada |
| To the Moon | | Canada |
| Universal Language | Une langue universelle | | Canada |
| When the Light Breaks | Ljósbrot | | Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, France | |
Narrative New Waves
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| 40 Acres | | Canada |
| All We Imagine as Light | | France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg |
| Boxcutter | Reza Dahya | Canada |
| Do I Know You From Somewhere? | Arianna Martinez | Canada |
| Girls Will Be Girls | | India |
| Monica's News | Pamela Gallant | Canada |
| Pierce | Nelicia Low | Taiwan |
| Seeds | | Canada |
| To a Land Unknown | | United Kingdom, Greece, Netherlands, France, Germany, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia |
| Young Werther | José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço | Canada | |
Late Night Visions
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| The Girl with the Needle | Pigen med nålen | | Denmark, Poland, Sweden |
| My Mother's Eyes | Maimazāzuaizu | Takeshi Kushida | Japan |
| The Substance | | United Kingdom, United States, France | |
In Focus
Documentaries
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| 7 Beats Per Minute | | Canada |
| | Michael Mabbott, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee | Canada |
| Black Box Diaries | | Japan, United Kingdom, United States |
| Curl Power | Josephine Anderson | Canada |
| Dahomey | | France, Senegal, Benin |
| Disco's Revenge | Omar Majeed, Peter Mishara | Canada |
| Grand Theft Hamlet | | United Kingdom |
| | | United States |
| Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger | David Hinton | United Kingdom |
| Never Look Away | | New Zealand |
| A Photographic Memory | Rachel Elizabeth Seed | United States |
| Seguridad | Tamara Segura | Canada |
| Standing Above the Clouds | Jalena Keane-Lee | United States |
| | | Canada | |
Shorts
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|
| 8 Times | Adam Mbowe | Canada |
| 73 Seconds | Stacy Gardner | Canada |
| Bloody Mess | Megan Wennberg | Canada |
| Bust | Angalis Field | United States |
| Cart Girls | Katelyn McCulloch | Canada |
| Carved from Stone | Tyler Burr | Canada |
| Circle | Yumi Joung | South Korea |
| Cold Soup | Sopa Fria | Marta Monteiro | Portugal, France |
| The Distance Between Us | Qu'importe le distance | Léo Fontaine | France |
| Every Other Weekend | Mick Robertson, Margaret Rose | Canada |
| Eye Piece | Kate Solar | Canada |
| Freedom | | Canada |
| Gaslit | Anna MacLean | Canada |
| Gigi | Cynthia Calvi | France |
| Good Grief | Megan Chumbley | United States |
| Hello Stranger | Amélie Hardy | Canada |
| Himalia | Clara Milo, Juliette Lossky | Canada |
| Holiday House | Alex Heller | United States |
| Inkwo for When the Starving Return | | Canada |
| Julian and the Wind | | Canada |
| Maybe Elephants | Kanskje det var elefanter | | Norway, Canada |
| Mother Tongue | Lea Tupu'anga | Vea Mafile'o | New Zealand |
| Motorcycle Mary | Haley Watson | United States |
| Moving Water | Kaia Singh | Canada |
| Nola | Aisha Evelyna, Natalie Novak Remplakowski | Canada |
| On a Sunday at Eleven | | Canada |
| Panadrilo | Marcela Heilbron | Panama |
| Pearls | Mike Simms | Canada |
| Percebes | Alexandra Ramires, Laura Gonçalves | France, Portugal |
| perfectly a strangeness | | Canada |
| Santa Maria Kyoko | Guil Sela, Felix Loizillon | France |
| Terminally Ill | Chris Cole | United States |
| Things Behind the Sun | Giran Findlay | Canada |
| What Good Canadians Do | | Canada |
| Where My Branches Stem | Teresa Kuo | Canada |
| The Wolf | Le Loup | | Canada |
| Wouldn't Make It Any Other Way | Hao Zhou | United States | |
Notes and References
- Sean Mott, "Atlantic International Film Festival reveals lineup for September". CTV Atlantic, August 14, 2024.
- Kelly Townsend, "AIFF unveils three world premieres for 2024 festival". Playback, July 25, 2024.
- Barry Hertz, "Halifax’s Atlantic International Film Festival sharpens programming and size to stand out in shadow of TIFF"
