Cinéfest Sudbury has announced a second round of official selections as an early look into what this year’s film programming has to offer.
Additional early film announcements include:
Gala Film Presentations
John Candy: I Like Me [Colin Hanks, USA, 2025]
From director Colin Hanks and lifelong John Candy fan Ryan Reynolds comes John Candy: I Like Me, an exploration of the life of the Canadian comedic icon. This John Candy film documents his on and off-camera existence, featuring never-before-seen home videos, intimate access to his family, and candid recollections from collaborators to paint a bigger picture of one of the brightest stars of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. It’s the story of a son, husband, father, friend, and professional driven to bring joy to audiences and loved ones while battling personal ghosts and Hollywood pressures. Sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn Sudbury.
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) [Joachim Trier, Norway/Germany/Denmark/France/Sweden/UK, 2025]
Sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father—and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics. Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Sponsored by Desjardins.
Special Presentations
Saints and Warriors [Patrick Shannon, Canada, 2025]
Saints and Warriors is the epic and inspiring story of how basketball became not only an obsession, but a means for survival for the Haida people and their culture on the remote Indigenous Nation of Haida Gwaii. Saints and Warriors follows the legendary Haida basketball team the Skidegate Saints who have dominated the iconic All Native Basketball Tournament for the past decade. As aging team leaders Desi Collinson, Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, and Duane Alsop attempt to defend their title, the surprising defection of star teammate Jesse Barnes to a rival big city team sets local heroes on a collision course in a dramatic championship game. Meanwhile, leading members of the Saints team are also leaders of the Haida government who are fighting a court battle with the provincial and federal government to take back Aboriginal title of their land, stolen with the Indian Act.
Steal Away [Clement Virgo, Belgium/Canada, 2025]
Fanny (Angourie Rice), a naïve teenager, starts her journey to adulthood when Cécile (Mallori Johnson), a mysterious refugee, is taken in by her charitable family. As the two girls develop an intense and obsessive bond, Fanny becomes captivated by Cécile’s way of navigating life, leading to an awakening of desire and jealousy. Gradually, both girls realize that the benevolent world they inhabit is not what it appears. Director Clement Virgo’s previous film Brother screened at Cinéfest Sudbury 2022 and won 12 awards at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards.
Features Canada
Gagne ton ciel (The Cost of Heaven) [Mathieu Denis, Canada, 2025]
Over the years, Nacer Belkacem (Samir Guesmi) has built himself an enviable position in the eyes of all: a loving family man, a happy husband, a model employee, and a respected citizen in his community. But beneath this seemingly perfect surface, the veneer is cracking. Nacer has racked up expenses and made questionable investments. He's drowning in debt. On the brink of ruin, he devises a desperate plan to try to pull himself out of the water. You only have one life to earn your way to heaven...
Hangashore [Justin Oakey, Canada, 2025]
Haunted by nightmares, artist Vera (Hilmar) abandons her life in Iceland to chase the ghost of her father to the coast of Newfoundland. After settling in a remote fishing village, she finds herself drawn to Jack (James Frecheville), a seal hunter leaving town with his failing boat and superstitious crew. Their trip turns violent when they are hurled into disorienting weather, after finding a stowaway on board.
Cinema Indigenized / Nishnaabek Dbaajmawaat
Free Leonard Peltier [Jesse Short Bull & David France, USA, 2025]
In the early 1970s, the United States was roiled by protest: Vietnam, women's rights, gay rights, black power, and, rising at the forefront, the American Indian Movement (or AIM). Leonard Peltier was a young mechanic when he joined AIM to advocate for his people and quickly found himself swept up in a war between activists and the US government. Free Leonard Peltier revisits the turbulent era of AIM, bringing alive the occupations, arrests, demands, and assassinations and culminating in the FBI's descent onto the compound on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where Peltier was staying. After two FBI agents are killed in the ensuing shootout, Peltier is arrested, tried, convicted of their murder and sentenced to two life terms in prison in one of the most notorious and discredited legal judgments in modern America. Now, fifty years later, with Peltier still in jail, Free Leonard Peltier arrives to revisit his case in a new era and to advocate for just what its title suggests.
World Cinema
Le répondeur (Guess Who’s Calling!) [Fabienne Godet, France, 2025]
Baptiste (Salif Cissé), a talented imitator, is unable to make a living from his art. One day, he is approached by Pierre Chozène (Denis Podalydès), a famous but discreet novelist, constantly disturbed by incessant calls from his publisher, his daughter, his ex-wife... Pierre, who needs peace and quiet to write his most ambitious text, then suggests that Baptiste become his “answering machine” by pretending to be him on the phone... Little by little, Baptiste does not just imitate the writer: he develops his character!
Stormskerry Maja (Myrskyluodon Maija) [Tiina Lymi, Finland, 2024]
Maja (Amanda Jansson) and her husband Janne (Linus Troedsson) move their family to a barren and remote island of Stormskerry. Their everyday life on the island is relentless hard work for survival. Maja, who has grown in a world of old values, becomes aware of the advent of a new era: a woman can have agency instead of being a mere bystander. Stormskerry Maja is a life story of an extraordinary woman who experiences the kind of love that every human being should have. A love that transcends the boundaries of death.
Visit www.cinefest.com for further details, including ticket information and more. The festival’s full lineup is set to be announced at a press conference on August 21.
Anyone interested in volunteering this year is encouraged to fill out an application form at www.cinefest.com/get-involved today.
The 37th edition of Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival will run September 13-21, at SilverCity Sudbury.