If there is one thing you should be celebrating at the Sydney Film Festival, it’s the many and varied films that we are privileged to be able to watch at cinemas around our beautiful city. If you’ve got room to celebrate a second thing, why not make it the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation? And what better way to honour the Maple-lovin’ country than through appreciation of its celluloid output.
There are a number of fantastic Canadian films screening at SFF this year, and we’ve selected our five favourite picks, below. So why not crank up your Bryan Adams best of, grab a huge bowl of poutine, strap on your hockey skates, and check out any of the below five flicks at Sydney Film Festival? You owe it to yourself, and to the fine people of Canada. Now, stand with us for the national anthem: “I got my first real six string…”
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Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves
Easily winning the (just invented) BRAG prize for Best Movie Title at this year’s SFF, this drama follows four young revolutionaries during the 2012 Maple Spring student protests, which fought proposed fee hikes in Quebec. While the real unrest was quickly quashed after negotiations, this film imagines them as a springboard for four (good-looking) revolutionaries who continued the good fight, planning increasingly dangerous and defiant acts: all part of their plan to overthrown the government, end capitalism, and look good on movie posters. A heady blend of real footage and imagined drama makes this an interesting ‘what-if’ case study, as well as an entertaining film in its own right.
The Sun at Midnight
When sullen teenager Lia (Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs) is sent to stay with her grandmother in a remote sub-Arctic community in Canada, she is a pink-haired, pouty, teen out-of-water who deftly plots her escape. Things go awry and she finds herself lost in Canada’s beautiful Northwest Territory – not so beautiful when you are struggling to stay alive, as she learns. An encounter with an older hunter who is desperately searching for a lost herd of caribou leads Lia to take up a journey to hunt down the herd. Obviously she learns some stuff, too, otherwise it’s just not a movie.
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Maudie
You can bet that any film starring Ethan Hawke in recent years can be described as “a thought-provoking meditation on [insert existential theme] featuring loads of clever dialogue, and Ethan’s expression-filled little face.” This one is slightly different, as Hawke hides most of his natural light inside reclusive, rather-mean film-maker Everett Lewis who hires a housekeeper, Maudie, played by Sally Hawkins. Maudie is a natural artist, wracked with arthritis, who slowly builds a loyal following through her outsider art pieces. The heart of the film is their unlikely relationship — it’s all based on a true story, so don’t Google either of their names unless you enjoy spoilers with your cinema.
Angry Inuk
Arnaquq-Baril had an idyllic childhood, hunting seals with her family on the remote Baffin Island. As part of the Inuit community, she believes their approach to hunting is ethical and sustainable, yet images of seals being clubbed senselessly pervaded the news and shock docos for decades, muddying the public’s image of how Inuit people live off the land. This documentary finds Arnaquq-Baril attempting to redress the balance, fighting years of environmentalist propaganda, which often has good intentions, but harmful results.
Maliglutit
When is a Western not a Western? When it is set in the deep Arctic. Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk has reimagined John Ford’s classic 1956 Western The Searchers, placing his people at the forefront of the story. Set in 1913, main character Kuanana’s home is raided, his relatives murdered, and his wife and daughter are kidnapped. Cue an epic chase across the Arctic, and one of the most breathtaking revenge stories of recent years. Kunuk cast members of his First Nations community to add an air of authenticity to the tale.
