For two decades, Canadian Film Fest has championed our country’s filmmakers, bringing bold, creative, and homegrown stories to Canadian audiences. CFF will mark its 20th anniversary this month with its annual festival, running from March 24-29 at Scotiabank Theatre. 

The festival will screen 16 features and 40 shorts made by Canadians, with 50% of the titles created by women or nonbinary filmmakers. This year’s theme is “Eyeballs Up”— a rallying call for audiences to recognize the power of Canadian film.

“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, it feels like an especially proud moment to champion Canadian film and the artists who define it,” said Ashleigh Rains, Festival Director and Head Programmer, Canadian Film Fest. “CFF has always been committed to spotlighting homegrown storytellers, and this year’s programme reflects the boldness, diversity and creative ambition that shape Canadian cinema today.”

CFF always delivers when it comes to innovative storytelling. Every spring, there’s a fresh roster of Canadian-made films for us to explore, and this year is no exception. Ahead of the festival, we wanted to highlight some of the women-led films in this year’s lineup that we think you should keep on your radar. 

Plan C

The festival will open with Plan C, a gritty crime thriller starring Vivica A. Fox, and the feature directorial debut from Scott Anthony Cavalheiro. After a robbery gone wrong, siblings Clare and Danny are on the run. The film follows the duo’s perilous journey full of high-speed pursuits, moral dilemmas, and shocking twists, as Clare holds a plastic surgery clinic hostage to save her brother’s life. See it at CFF on March 24. 

Nesting

This psychological thriller explores the horrors of sleep deprivation as a new mother, and is partially inspired by director Chloé Cinq-Mars’ experience with postpartum depression. After witnessing a harrowing robbery, painful memories are reawakened for Pénélope, a new mother struggling with insomnia. As her grip on reality begins to weaken, she descends into paranoia, pursuing an affair with her ex-lover and eventually neglecting her child. See it at CFF on March 26. 

What Comes Next

In this intergenerational coming-of-age story directed by Alex Caulfield, 18-year-old Tanya enters into a relationship with an older family friend, who, unbeknownst to her, had an affair with her mother Laura many years ago. Over the course of a single summer, secrets are revealed that result in repercussions for the entire family, including a transformation of Tanya and Laura’s mother-daughter relationship. See it at CFF on March 27. 

Lucid

This 90s surrealist comedy follows art student Mia Sunshine, who is struggling with a crucial assignment at school. Desperate to overcome her creative block, she turns to a magical lucid dreaming elixir. But the potion unleashes dark memories from her subconscious, and soon she finds herself trapped in a nightmare-fuelled dreamscape, where she’s forced to confront the monsters from her past. See it at CFF on March 27. 

Akashi

Mayumi Yoshida directs this quiet reflection on identity, memory, and the choices that shape who we become. When Kana, a struggling artist living in Vancouver, returns to Japan for her grandmother’s funeral, she’s reunited with an old love and uncovers a family secret that forces her to confront her own choices in love and career. Past and present collide as Kana is pulled between the life she chose and the life she left behind. See it at CFF on March 28. 

The Bearded Girl

Closing out the festival is Jody Wilson’s coming-of-age story about a young girl on the brink of becoming The Bearded Woman. Cleo’s overbearing mother wants her to follow their family’s legacy of sword swallowing and become the matriarchal leader of their carnival sideshow. Seeking romance, adventure, and freedom from the expectations placed on her, Cleo defies her mother, running away to a tiny town farm and attempting to conceal her past until the truth of who she is can no longer be hidden. See it at CFF on March 29. 

The full lineup of films is available on the Canadian Film Fest website.