Those Other Movies is bringing the biggest, all new films you can’t find anywhere else to Haliburton International Film Festival (HIFF).
This year’s festival is returning from Friday, November 1st to Sunday, November 3rd with seven feature film screenings and special guest talks at the Northern Lights Performing Arts Pavilion, a 226-seat professional theatre located in Haliburton Highlands Secondary School.
“Once you’ve HIFF-ed you should be a better person,” says Tammy Rea, a volunteer committee member with Those Other Movies. “You should know more human stories, you should be more empathetic, you should understand something you didn’t understand before, and you might look at something in a little bit of a different way.”
The whole community is showing excitement for the annual festival as moviegoers can access discounts at the Lakeview Motel, while restaurants will be anticipating a busy weekend and be prepared to serve quick meals. The Haliburton and District Lions Club will also be present at the Pavilion, serving up drinks, popcorn, and other snacks with all donations going back to the Lions Club.
“Usually they’re helping to raise money for somebody else, and we thought we just want to raise money for them and all the great programs they do,” Rea says.
Those Other Movies is a non-profit volunteer-run division of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Film Circuit, which allows more than 170 communities across Canada to bring international films to their residents. Launched 18 years ago, Those Other Movies has been holding the annual international film festival since 2007.
VIDEO: “Home Free” trailer
This year, Rea and other organizers travelled to TIFF and Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival to curate the festival, watching more than 50 films from around the world.
“A lot of them don’t know yet when or if they will be released,” Rea says, noting HIFF is focused on showcasing the films that are not as likely to get picked up. “For many of the films, it will be only the second or third time they’re shown in Canada.”
Coming from Italy, France, Germany, Latvia, Belgium, and beyond, the films cover a range of genres, inviting to those who enjoy family dramas, sci-fi, animation, and adventure to be part of the festivities.
“We want to always make sure we’re going around the world, but we’re also now going through different genres and different time periods to see the stories that connect us all,” Rea says. “The order we’re showing them really matters to us, so we try to really balance things out, and it’s a lot of fun.”
For some Canadian content, there will be the screening of Home Free, which Rea labels as a “very personal story.” Starring Tara Spencer-Nairn of Corner Gas, the film follows a father who refuses to get treatment for a brain tumour and instead wishes to have one last weekend getting to know his three daughters and trying to clear the air between them.
Director, writer, and producer Avi Federgreen and select cast members will be in conversation at HIFF, sharing all about how a movie is made and brought to the big screen.
“I think our audience has learned to appreciate how hard it is to make a movie — from getting the money, to getting it to the screen, and getting a deal so that you can afford it,” Rea says. “He’s going to talk about that which it great.”
Another speaker during the weekend will be Kate Campbell, a director and actress who grew up in Haliburton and made a short film called Boundless about the untold women pilots of World War II, inspired by her grandmother.
The award-winning short stars Canadian television and radio host Dini Petty, the first female traffic reporter to pilot her own helicopter. The short will be screened at HIFF for the second year in a row, after which Campbell will give updates on where she is in the process of turning it into a full-length film.
“It’s brilliant,” Rea says of the film. “It’s so good and has played at festivals all around the world. She’s been trying to get this story told.”
Another Canadian film on the HIFF lineup is Drive Back Home, which will close out the festival. Inspired by a journey taken by director Michael Clowate’s grandfather and great uncle, the film follows a small-town plumber from New Brunswick who has never left his hometown but drives to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail.
“It’s just an unbelievable touching, funny story — and horrific in terms of what happened to gay people in the ’70s,” Rea says. “The ’70s footage of Toronto is so great and the way they incorporate it.”
Another film that Rea is excited to share with the community and shows exactly what the festival is all about, Can I Get a Witness? is screening on Saturday afternoon. Starring Sandra Oh (Killing Eve, Grey’s Anatomy) and combining live action and animation, the film depicts a world 30 years in the future devastated by climate change where technology and travel are almost completly banned and, by collective agreement, nobody is allowed to live beyond the age of 50.
“I’ve seen dystopian movies about what happens after climate change, but I’ve never seen a movie about a positive solution,” Rea says. “It’s interesting, so we talked about this movie nonstop for weeks afterwards — it’s just such an interesting take.”
VIDEO: “Can I Get a Witness?” trailer
Rea notes the aim of HIFF is always to “leave the audience with hope,” as the majority of the films are exactly that — hopeful.
“Our goal at HIFF is to take a journey together. The connections we can make by seeing these people’s stories, whether it’s told from the 1700s or 30 years in the future, the humanity of things — the problems, the challenges, the love, the community of humans — it doesn’t change.”
“You can feel when no one in the audience is breathing, and the laughter when 200 or 300 people laugh is amazing. It’s just such an amazing journey to take together, and you come out of there feeling like you’re friends with everyone in the audience as well, so it’s great.”
Those Other Movies offers other scheduled programming throughout the year, including the Doc(k) Day which has just been announced will take place on Saturday, April 5, 2025, with four documentary screenings throughout the afternoon.
“We really feel now that documentaries are also amazing well-told stories, and over the last 20 years, they’ve really become their own version of storytelling,” Rea says. “We’re really looking for balanced stories and we’re looking for local connections, because it’s all about the connections through storytelling. The connections are fantastic.”
Tickets cost $10 at the door for individual films, or $65 for a VIP pass for all the films. Moviegoers who want to buy tickets for individual films only have to line up once to stock up on tickets for all the films they want to see over for the weekend.
For the full Haliburton International Film Festival schedule and to purchase a VIP pass, visit www.thoseothermovies.com.
