Here's a look at what happened for 2021. Please check back again for more information on the 2022 event.
Film Festival Overview
December 1 – 5, 2021: In Person in Whistler
Enjoy up to 40 feature films and six short film programmes in-theatre in Whistler, including Oscar-contenders, breakthrough Canadian films and award-winning stories from around the globe. Select films will premiere exclusively in-theatre. The in-person festival will also feature filmmaker après events, conversations with top talent at WFF’s Signature Series, networking opportunities and time to explore.
December 1 – 31, 2021: Online Across Canada
Audiences across Canada can stream up to 100 films from Canada and around the world, access filmmaker Q&As, and attend a virtual Awards Celebration in true Whistler style. Access is via WFF’s online screening platforms.
Film Highlights
In 2021, the Whistler Film Festival hosts in-theatre presentations of some of the most acclaimed films of the year, The Power of the Dog, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Hand of God (E stata la mano di Dio), Italy's Academy Awards submission, and The Card Counter directed by Paul Schrader, starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish and Willem Dafoe.
The festival opens on December 1 with The Lost Daughter, a brilliant first-time feature, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, and Ed Harris.
Experience the power of the mountains with Buried, a gripping tale of the 1981 avalanche that hit Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, or relive the magic of the 1976 Winter Olympics with our closing night film, Chasing the Line. A crowd-pleasing and sometimes hard-to-believe, true story of champion downhill skier, Franz Klammer.
World Premieres
In addition, the following World Premiere titles will be presented for the first time ever at the Whistler Film Festival this year:
- Altar Boy | Canada | World Premiere | Directed by Serville Poblete, with Mark Bacolcol, Shai Barcia and Emily Beattie
- Carmen | Canada, Malta | World Premiere | Directed by Valerie Buhagiar, with Natascha McElhone and Richard Clarkin
- Confessions of a Hitman | Canada | World Premiere | Directed by and starring Luc Picard, with David La Haye and Sandrine Bisson
- Evelyne| Canada | World Premiere| Directed by Carl Bessai, with Rumbie Muzofa and Carl Bessai
- Inès | Canada | World Premiere | Directed by Renée Beaulieu, with Roy Dupuis and Rosalie Bonenfant
- The Secret Society | Canada | World Premiere | Directed by Rebecca Campbell
About the Whistler Film Festival Society
The Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS) is a charitable cultural organization dedicated to furthering the art and business of film by providing programs that focus on the discovery, development and promotion of new talent culminating with a must-attend festival for artists, industry and audiences. WFFS fulfills its mission by producing a highly respected and recognized international film festival (WFF) and industry summit that draw industry, audiences and global exposure for Canadian talent; delivering a robust slate of talent programs for Canadian artists including screenwriters, producers, directors, actors and musicians; and through year-round film and event programming that enriches community life beyond the festival. In all its programs, WFF strives for gender parity, inclusivity and diversity.
The Whistler Film Festival Society acknowledges that the land on which their office and venues are located are within the unceded territories of the Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh (Squamish) and Lil̓wat7úl (Lil'wat Nations).