Palm Springs International Film Fest celebrates Canadian cinema

The 25th Palm Springs International Film Festival, which will take place Jan. 3-13, announced a new program Thursday spotlighting Canadian cinema. It also revealed the films selected to compete for the FIPRESCI Award in the Awards Buzz section and unveiled the lineup for the Modern Masters showcase.

“We’ve selected Canadian films for a special focus at this year’s festival for many reasons, not the least of which is the wealth of talent emerging from its relatively small, indigenous film industry, and the depth and richness of story and character portrayal its films exemplify,” festival director Darryl Macdonald said in a statement.

The Spotlight on Canadian Cinema features 12 movies: “The Auction,” “Empire of Dirt,” “Enemy” (with Jake Gyllenhaal), “Gabrielle,” “Gerontophilia,” “The Grand Seduction” (with Brendan Gleeson), “The Manor,” “Patch Town,” “Siddharth,” “Stay” and “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear.”

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Among the films included in the Awards Buzz section, which features 45 of the 76 official submissions for consideration in the Academy Awards’ foreign language film category, are “The Great Beauty,” “The German Doctor,” “The Rocket,” “Gloria,” “Wadjda,” “The Past,” “White Lies,” “Omar” and “Stalingrad.”

A jury of international film critics will vote on these films for the FIPRESCI Award for best foreign language film, actor and actress.

The Modern Masters showcase presents 10 films from international directors “who set the standards for contemporary cinema.” Among the directors featured are Agnieszka Holland (“Burning Bush”), Claude Lanzmann (“The Last of the Unjust”), Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Like Father, Like Son”) and Errol Morris (“The Unknown Known”).

Additional film programs will be announced in the coming weeks.

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