Atlantic International Film Festival celebrates Maritime storytelling for the 45th year

The Atlantic International Film Festival (AIFF) spotlights Maritime culture through storytelling this September, as the festival returns to Halifax for its 45th year.

The festival, running from Sept. 10 to 17, will showcase 108 feature and short films by Maritime filmmakers at Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane.

Halifax native Lisa Haller, the festival’s director of programming, is excited to bring a new fleet of films to the city.

“I love being back in Halifax and showcasing films that I think will be exciting for the audiences here, and, in particular, supporting and championing Atlantic filmmaking talent. 

“We’ve got a lot of really talented film teams from the East Coast, and we try to represent that across the entire program,” Haller says.

Representing Newfoundland at this year’s festival is filmmaker Justin Oakey, premiering his film Hangashore. 

Set in Newfoundland, the film follows an artist from Iceland who is haunted by visions of her father, a fisherman who disappeared off Newfoundland’s coast. Oakey describes the film as “moody,” using the isolated setting as a tool of storytelling.

“I treated landscapes as characters. The landscapes are very oppressive; they surround the characters,” he says. “I was trying to make the landscape very imposing.”

Growing up in Newfoundland, Oakey was raised on stories told by his family members. He knew from an early age that he wanted to make a career out of storytelling. 

“It’s something that permeates most of the Maritimes, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Oakley. “Storytelling is a big part of folk culture. I think it comes with having such strong ties to folklore and having our own language in many ways, our own dialect.”

Oakey has been working with the AIFF since he screened his first short film there in 2013. 

“They’ve been very supportive of me over the years, and the AIFF has probably fostered my career in some ways because they’ve always given me an opportunity to screen and given me a platform,” says Oakey. 

Other Maritime filmmakers showcasing their films this year include director Andy Hines with Little Lorraine and Bretten Hannam with SK+TE’KMUJUE’KATIK (At the Place of Ghosts). 

The festival features programming from a range of genres and showcases films from across the world alongside Maritime highlights.

“Some have received big awards already at festivals like Cannes and Berlin, and some will be coming straight off world premieres in Toronto,” Haller says. “We’re trying to have a tightly curated selection that makes it easy to discover films.” 

This year, the festival is also offering free screenings and three days of industry programming, including panels and events.