Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 standout titles directed by women at Whistler Film Festival

Valerie Buhagiar’s Malta-set Carmen, Rebecca Campbell’s shocking egg-donor doc The Secret Society, and more

By Gail Johnson and Janet Smith

Natascha McElhone finds freedom in Malta in Carmen.

Whistler Film Festival runs in person in Whistler from December 1 to 5 and online from December 1 to 31.

WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL kicks off today with a new mandate: directorial gender parity. Fully 20 of 40 features and 25 of 41 shorts at the hybrid in-person and online fest are directed or co-directed by women or non-binary artists. You can check out some of the best in-person in the Village December 1 to 5, and online through the entire month. Here are just a few female-helmed stories to pique your interest and take you from snowy northern Quebec to sun-dappled Malta.

#1

Carmen
December 4 at 3 pm at the Maury Young Arts Centre and December 5th at 3:30 pm at Village 8 Cinemas; available online starting December 21 via Whistler Film Festival

Valerie Buhagiar is best-known for her lead roles in such raucous Canadian classics as Roadkill and Highway 61, but she’s also a seasoned director. Her latest film, Carmen, making its world premiere at the fest, finds Buhagiar joining joyous forces with actor Natascha McElhone in postcard-picturesque Malta. McElhone plays Carmen, a 50-year-old who’s spent most of her life in servitude to the church. Faced with her own mortality, she embraces a life of newfound freedom. Expect much-needed uplift, transporting you to a magical part of the world when global travel is still limited.

Olivia Colman in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter.

#2

The Lost Daughter
December 1 at 7:30 pm and December 2 at 12 pm at Rainbow Theatre

Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her directorial debut with the fest’s opening film based on Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name. The psychological drama centres on Leda (Olivia Colman of The Crown, Fleabag), a middle-aged woman whose tropical-island getaway is intruded upon by an extroverted American family. She meets Nina (Dakota Johnson), a younger woman who’s struggling with the competing demands—and constraints—of motherhood and marriage. Their interactions take Leda back to her own difficult days raising two daughters in an unhappy relationship. The story unfolds in dark and unpredictable ways as it exposes the characters’ raw, deep flaws. Making its Canadian premiere at WFF, The Lost Daughter won Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival.

Nouveau Quebec. Photo by Voyelles Films

#3

Nouveau Quebec
December 3 at 5:30 pm and December 4 at 3 pm at Village 8 Cinemas; available starting December 14 online

Sarah Fortin’s directorial debut is set in the northern Quebec mining town of 155 of Schefferville, on the traditional territory of the Innu and Naskapi First Nations, whose 600 members live in surrounding areas. When Sophie and her boyfriend Mathieu travel to the remote community to handle the sale of her father’s chalet, Mathieu becomes the sole witness to a tragic accident. The two are forced to stay far longer than expected in the vast, isolated region while a police investigation gets underway, and the stress and strain of the situation begin to cause their relationship to unravel. The film is a contender in WFF’s Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature. 

The Secret Society

#4

The Secret Society
December 4 at 6 pm and December 5 at 3:45 pm at Village 8 Cinemas; available online starting December 19

It’s legal in the States and other countries, but in Canada, women who want to hire an egg donor to conceive because their own eggs are unviable can face federal criminal charges. Director Rebecca Campbell’s shocking doc reveals this little-known women’s health crisis, featuring interviews with medical and legal experts in the field of assisted reproduction, politicians trying to reform complex laws, and people who have taken matters into their own hands. The film introduces viewers to a woman who, after donating eggs six times, opened Canada’s first agency that requires future babies to know who their donors are; a couple who found a legal loophole that comes at an enormous cost; and another pair who travelled abroad to pay for an egg donor only to discover that the donor must remain anonymous by law. There’s a secret Facebook group for those facing the already stigmatized world of infertility, and the absurdity of the situation becomes even more pronounced when the documentary explains how Canadian law allows for egg “donation” for compassionate reasons as long as no money exchanges hands.

Pink Cloud

#5

Pink Cloud
Streams starting December 2 via Whistler Film Festival

It’s incredible to think that Brazilian director Iuli Gerbase’s deliriously shot debut feature was written in 2017 and filmed in 2019. That’s because it speaks so directly, and atmospherically, to COVID lockdown. The setup: a mysterious and deadly-toxic pink cloud is wafting over the globe, and Earth’s inhabitants have to head inside immediately and lock their windows and doors. The situation forces website designer Giovana (Renata de Lélis) and chiropractor Yago (Eduardo Mendonça), who have just had a one-night hookup, into extended lockdown together. Can they forge some kind of relationship together, or will they feel like trapped animals?

For more information, see Whistler Film Festival.

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