The high­ly antic­i­pat­ed 23^rd annu­al Gim­li Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val (GIFF) is set to enchant audi­ences once again with a cap­ti­vat­ing line­up of films, mark­ing a return to the fes­ti­val’s pre-pan­dem­ic glo­ry. Tak­ing place in the scenic Inter­lake sur­round­ings of Gim­li, Man­i­to­ba, this year’s fes­ti­val promis­es a very rich pro­gram run­ning July 26 – 30.

One of the fes­ti­val’s high­lights is the spot­light on short films, cham­pi­oning the immense tal­ent and inno­va­tion of emerg­ing film­mak­ers. These curat­ed short film pro­grams are sure to cap­ti­vate audi­ences with their brevi­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty, show­cas­ing com­pelling nar­ra­tives and dis­tinct artis­tic voices.

GIFF is proud to col­lab­o­rate with mul­ti­ple nation­al-lev­el orga­ni­za­tions, bring­ing even more depth and excite­ment to the fes­ti­val. These part­ner­ships demon­strate the fes­ti­val’s com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion with­in the Cana­di­an film indus­try, while also pro­vid­ing a plat­form for film­mak­ers to show­case their work to a broad­er audience.

Fiction Feature Films

Fic­tion fea­ture films will amaze audi­ences, high­light­ing the unique visions of their cre­ators includ­ing com­pelling works from local film­mak­ers. ​“Dias­po­ra” by Deco Daw­son and ​“Aruti­nae” by Erin Buelow show­case the excep­tion­al tal­ent with­in Man­i­to­ba’s film­mak­ing com­mu­ni­ty. Audi­ences can also look for­ward to cap­ti­vat­ing inter­na­tion­al films like ​“Beau­ti­ful Beings” from Ice­land, ​“Pam­fir” from Ukraine, and ​“Hel­lo Dank­ness” from Aus­tralia and USA, trans­port­ing view­ers into sto­ry­telling worlds both near and far. Anoth­er film gar­ner­ing well-deserved atten­tion is Cana­di­an envi­ron­men­tal-physo­log­i­cal dra­ma ​“Until Branch­es Bend”, by Sophie Jarvis.

Documentaries

This year’s strong line­up boasts engag­ing and thought-pro­vok­ing doc­u­men­taries that delve into a wide range of sub­jects. ​“Twice Col­o­nized” takes audi­ences on a pow­er­ful jour­ney, fol­low­ing the Green­landic lnuk lawyer and activist as she defends the rights of Indige­nous peo­ples in the Arc­tic. The doc­u­men­tary ​“Sovi­et Bar­bara” offers a satir­i­cal explo­ration of artist Rag­nar Kjar­tansson’s life in Moscow, delv­ing into a com­plex tale of artistry and polit­i­cal ten­sion. Addi­tion­al­ly, local film­mak­ers Ian Bawa and Quan Luong present ​“Seek­ing Fire,” an adjec­tive doc­u­men­tary that takes view­ers on a glob­al explo­ration, exam­in­ing the rela­tion­ship between finan­cial inde­pen­dence and passion.

RBC Sun­set Screenings:

GIFF is thrilled to bring back its famous RBC Sun­set Screen­ings on Gim­li Beach, fea­tur­ing a line­up of films cen­tered around the theme ​“stars in your eyes.”

Wednes­day, July 26 — 10pm — ​“Cham­pi­ons”: RBC Sun­set Screen­ings begin with the Man­i­to­ba-shot sports com­e­dy ​“Cham­pi­ons,” star­ring Woody Harrelson.

Thurs­day, July 27 — 10pm — ​“Song of the Sea”: Fam­i­ly night on the beach fea­tures the mes­mer­iz­ing world of the ani­mat­ed film ​“Song of the Sea”.

Fri­day, July 28 — 10pm — ​“The Great­est Show­man”: An orig­i­nal musi­cal that cel­e­brates the birth of show busi­ness & tells of a vision­ary who rose from noth­ing to cre­ate a spec­ta­cle that became a world­wide sen­sa­tion. Star­ring Hugh Jackman.

Sat­ur­day, July 29 – 10pm — ​“Top Gun”: Relive the thrilling action and icon­ic moments of the clas­sic film ​“Top Gun,” tak­ing view­ers on a high-fly­ing adventure.

Sun­day, July 30 — 9pm — ​“Buffy Ste. Marie: Car­ry it On”: The fes­ti­val’s grand finale will be the cap­ti­vat­ing musi­cal doc­u­men­tary ​“Buffy Ste. Marie: Car­ry it On,” direct­ed by local film­mak­er and Fes­ti­val alum­ni, Madi­son Thomas, offer­ing a pro­found and inspir­ing jour­ney through music and storytelling.

Additional Programing

In addi­tion to the 90+ films pro­grammed, GIFF is proud to present a craft­ed selec­tion of oth­er excit­ing events through the dura­tion of the five days.

An inte­gral part of this year’s fes­ti­val is the spe­cial recog­ni­tion of Eliz­a­beth Klinck, a dis­tin­guished pro­duc­er, researcher, and clear­ance spe­cial­ist. Eliz­a­beth’s con­tri­bu­tions to award-win­ning doc­u­men­tary films and inter­ac­tive projects have earned her acclaim from renowned broad­cast­ers world­wide. GIFF is hon­oured to present Eliz­a­beth as the Fes­ti­val Guest of Hon­our and recip­i­ent of the Alda Award.

The mini ret­ro­spec­tive of Guy Maddin’s films serves as a trib­ute to his unique style and homage to ear­ly cin­e­ma. Maddin’s work has gar­nered crit­i­cal acclaim inter­na­tion­al­ly, and this ret­ro­spec­tive offers audi­ences an oppor­tu­ni­ty to revis­it his excep­tion­al sto­ry­telling and visu­al artistry.

In addi­tion to film screen­ings, GIFF presents 11 Indus­try Ses­sions tai­lored for film­mak­ers and enthu­si­asts, pro­vid­ing invalu­able knowl­edge and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. The fes­ti­val will also host var­i­ous spe­cial film screen­ings, including:

Young Film­mak­ers Pro­gram –A screen­ing of short films by stu­dents in select­ed high school film & video pro­duc­tion pro­grams from across Manitoba.

Winnipeg Indige­nous Film­mak­ing Col­lec­tive Screen­ing - A screen­ing of short films by mem­bers of the WIFC. This is a com­pet­i­tive pro­gram with a prize going to the winner.

Best of Man­i­to­ba Fes­ti­vals Pro­gram — A screen­ing of award-win­ning short films from the many niche film fes­ti­vals in Man­i­to­ba! See what has been mak­ing an impact in those com­mu­ni­ties, as fes­ti­val orga­niz­ers gath­er to net­work and pro­mote their events.

48 Hour Film Com­pe­ti­tion Screen­ing — A screen­ing of the entrants into this excit­ing con­test orga­nized by the 48 Hour Film Com­pe­ti­tion. Win­ners for var­i­ous awards will be announced.

RBC 10K Pitch Competition

Final­ly, On Screen Man­i­to­ba, RBC, and Gim­li Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val are pleased to announce the final­ists for the 12^th Annu­al RBC $10,000 Emerg­ing Film­mak­er Pitch Com­pe­ti­tion. This year, the com­pe­ti­tion received a record-break­ing num­ber of 33 sub­mis­sions from emerg­ing film­mak­ers in Manitoba.

2023 Final­ists:

1. Cather­ine Dulude ​“Petit mol­lusque”

2. Sarah Luby- ​“Night Terrors”

3. Reed Makayev ​“Inter­lop­er”

4. Far­rah Mur­dock ​“Regalia”

5. Ethan Stark ​“Hair­cut”

Don’t miss the chance to see these tal­ent­ed film­mak­ers pitch their ideas and vie for prizes such as pro­duc­tion funds, men­tor­ship, equip­ment grants, and more. An inde­pen­dent pre-selec­tion jury select­ed five projects to move on to the live pitch com­pe­ti­tion, which will be held on Sat­ur­day, July 29 at The Gim­li The­atre dur­ing the GIFF.

The full fes­ti­val sched­ule is now live on gim​li​film​.com. Vis­it the Gim­li Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val’s web­site for all fes­ti­val news and tick­et sales. Expe­ri­ence the pow­er of cin­e­ma and join us at GIFF, bring­ing togeth­er film­mak­ers, enthu­si­asts, and audi­ences alike. Pre­pare to be inspired, enter­tained, and trans­port­ed to new realms of imag­i­na­tion. Don’t miss out on this unfor­get­table cel­e­bra­tion of the art of cinema.

Gimli Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val (GIFF) is Man­i­to­ba​’s premier film fes­ti­val and the largest rur­al film fes­ti­val in all of Cana­da. Since 2001, GIFF has wel­comed thou­sands to the shores of Lake Win­nipeg for its var­i­ous film screen­ings of local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al fea­ture films, doc­u­men­taries, short films, and media art. The fes­ti­val’s pre­mier event, the Beach Screen­ings, which take place every night of the five- day fes­ti­val, have drawn peo­ple from all over the world to take in one of Man­i­to­ba’s most unique sum­mer experiences