Cinéfest lineup: Tragically Hip doc, flick about 80s tennis rivalry make cut

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival revealed 19 of the films it will screen at the Sept. 16-24 festival at a Tuesday press conference, including three of its galas.

But with around 125 films at the 29th edition of Cinéfest, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Organizers will reveal the full lineup at another press conference later this month.

“We have so many more wonderful announcements to make,” said Cinéfest executive director Tammy Frick.

She said her team starts watching films in May. Choosing a lineup is a grueling process that involves a lot of overtime. “But when you're watching so many great films and you're seeing the gems out there, that's what makes it all worth it,” she said.

Here's just a few of the films Cinéfest will screen this year:

• Long Time Running (Opening Night Gala) – For the first time, Cinéfest opens with a documentary. This film profiles the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip during their Man Machine Poem Tour of 2016, which followed the band's announcement that lead singer Gord Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
• Call Me by Your Name (Monday Night Gala) – Frick says this English-language, internationally co-produced, coming-of-age drama has Oscar buzz. A 17-year-old named Elio, living in Italy during the 1980s, meets Oliver, a 24-year-old academic who has come to stay at his parents' villa, and a passionate relationship develops between them.
• Borg/McEnroe (Thursday Night Gala) - A film about one of the world's greatest icons, Björn Borg, and his biggest rival, the young and talented John McEnroe, and their legendary duel during a 1980s Wimbledon tournament. It's a story about two men who changed the face of tennis and who became legends and the price they had to pay.
• Loving Vincent - The first fully painted biographical animated film, it tells the story of painter Vincent van Gogh. Each of the film's 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 115 painters.
• The Breadwinner - An Canadian-Irish-Luxembourgian animated drama film by Cartoon Saloon directed by Nora Twomey and executive produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin and Angelina Jolie. It's based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis.

Tickets are now on sale for Cinéfest. Visit the festival's website for tickets and more information.