Cinefest Sudbury announces most of its 2020 film lineup

Tammy Frick on this year's Cinefest Sudbury Watch Tony Ryma's interview with Cinefest Sudbury's Tammy Frick about this year's international film festival.

Sudbury — Cinefest officials announced 80 per cent of their film lineup Thursday, movies that will be airing at this year's event, including the all-important night offerings.

“We’re excited to announce the opening night film, which is ‘Percy,’" said Cinefest executive director Tammy Frick. "It’s a wonderful Canadian story set in Manitoba (and tells) the story of Percy Schemiser who takes on a big GMO company. I know our audience will absolutely love it.”

“We have a lot of great Canadian films that we are announcing today," she added. "Viggo Mortensen has a new film called ‘Falling.’”

There are also a number of films showing at the festival that were shot here in northern Ontario.

Films shot in northern Ontario

“One of them is ‘Spare Parts,’" said Cinefest's Patrick O'Hearn. "This looks at an all female band that’s kidnapped and put in an arena to fight against each other and against other people.”

The other northern film announced is ‘Girl,’ which stars Bella Thorne and Mickey Rourke, also shot in Greater Sudbury.

"A lot of the crew are going to take a lot of pride in the actual storytelling and the way they were able to convey the film,” O'Hearn said.

This year, a total of 55 films will be airing, including 30 on the big screen along with documentaries.

“In the past we’ve gone up to about 90 screenings at times, including the short programs up to 120 films," O'Hearn said. "So definitely a bit more limited, which really just means we’ve been able to cherry-pick and we really thrilled about the films that we’re bringing to the audience.”

Because of the pandemic, this year will be quite different compared to previous years.

“It is a hybrid version -- we’ll have some in cinema and some, of course, the online platform, as well,” said Frick.

Officials with Cinefest say they are in need of roughly 70 volunteers for this year's event.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 26. For more information you can visit the Cinefest website.