The 38th Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) gets underway Thursday.
The 10-day event features about 150 films from around the world, with a range of genres and formats from short to feature length.
“Our theme is Leave Different,” EIFF executive director Sydney Moule said.
“We are really encouraging people to watch films outside of their comfort zone. Come as you are and leave a little bit different, hopefully.”
Among the buzz-worthy films is a Donald Trump biopic called The Apprentice and Anora which is the Palme d’Or winner.
Also worth noting is Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. It’s about a trans soul musician who disappeared after being in the public eye and she hasn’t been seen or heard from in about 40 years.
Memoir of a Snail is an animated film from Australia about an eccentric, middle-aged woman who hoards snails and romance novels. After a series of misfortunes, she learns how to find confidence amid the clutter of everyday life.
“It’s great to finally see a year’s work coming to fruition, and get to see the audiences reacting to the films,” Moule said.
The festival has left its mark on the world stage over the years.
“For our festival in particular, we have sent three films to the Oscars. Two of those have actually gone on to win the Oscar because of the Edmonton Film Fest,” Moule noted.
She said while the it’s not as big an event as the Fringe Festival or Folk Fest, it is growing.
“We’re getting there,” she said.
“We definitely have a nice cult following, and being in places like the Garneau is incredible, because we get their awesome audiences to the rest of our screenings as well.”
There’s something for everyone at EIFF, according to Moule.
“We’re not a pretentious festival. We’re not just showing art house films from tiny little countries. We show films from everywhere. It could be your neighbour’s film, it could be a film starring Saoirse Ronan.”
There are three venues screening the films: Metro Cinema at the Garneau, Landmark Cinemas at Edmonton City Centre and the IMAX at the Telus World of Science.
Tickets are available online.