The 24th edition of north western Canada's Available Light Film Festival has announced its full line up. Running over 10 days during February, in Whitehorse, Yukon, one of the coldest parts of Canada (and in the running world-wide). The festival offers an extensive offering of Canadian and international cinema, across it's two venues, along with a sizeable gathering of Industry professionals, pitch sessions and panel discussions.
ALFF is focused on emerging and established Indigenous voices and other talent across the northern territories, as well as a broad cross-section of domestic Canadian work, including documentaries and the off the beaten path genre cinema we love discovering on the festival circuit. But also brings some of the stand out international arthouse features to be seen on the big screen, locally.
The festival is opening with Brendan Langelle's Tracy and Martina: Goin’ Out West, a which blows up the podcast and TV adventures of the eponymous Cape Breton duo as they tour Western Canada and things begin to fall apart quickly in Alberta.
Showcased is Jessica Hall's Beyond the Left Hand Path, an 'arthouse documentary' about the journey of James C. Kirby, priest of Set, who transforms bone, stone, metal, and himself is strange Yukon journey.
Rituals (1977) A restoration of Peter Carter's Deliverance inflected wilderness survival horror where a group of doctors are stalked by crazed killers. Starring a spry Hal Holbrook, Rituals is being presented in all its glory with a live score.
Saints and Warriors, follows the All Native Basketball Tournament and the battle for Indigenous sovereignty, where the Skidegate Saints are fighting for more than a championship — they’re fighting for spirit of the Haida Gwaii.
Palestine 36, In in the early rumbling of World War II, Palestinian villages revolt against British colonial rule amidst escalating unrest and a pivotal moment for the British Empire, in Annemarie Jacir's epic action film.
Zacharias Kunuk's science fiction fairy tale, Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara) is set at the dawn of time, After a mysterious death, Kaujak and Sapa are separated despite being promised to each other at birth.
Animated feature, The Last Whale Singer, When a monstrous creature escapes from a melting iceberg, a self-doubting teenage humpback whale must discover a mystical song that can save the oceans from destruction.
As well as short films foregrounding local stories, including My Knitting Circle, wherein director Alexandra Knowles copes with the dark, isolating Yukon winter conditions by joining local knitting circle, and Back to The Sun, where White River First Nation members, long term residents, contractors and newcomers work towards energy sovereignty in Canada's most westerly community
A sampling of contemporary Canadian features, from the surrealist 16mm shot Winnipeg head-scratcher, Levers, to the delightful global-anxiety driven romance Peak Everything (Amour Apocalypse), Grave digging sex comedy, Dead Lover, Toronto's own love letter to Toronto, cinema, and clever craziness, Nirvanna the Band, The Show, The Movie. Nicole Bazuin's hybrid doc on sex workers, Modern Whore, and Montreal music hipster romance, Mile-End Kicks. Also, Sk+te’kmujue’kati (At The Place Of Ghosts) a Mi'kmaq produced visually stunning and emotionally raw tale that explores how love, even when repressed, can become the fiercest weapon against trauma. And Sophy Romvari's gorgeous and intimate 1990s portrait of eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocating to a new home on Vancouver Island.
Lastly, a chance to catch some of the highlights across world cinema, including Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, Gus Van Sant's Dead Man’s Wire, It Was Just an Accident from Jafar Panahi, Jim Jarmusch's Venice Golden Lion winner, Father Mother Brother Sister, Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vagues, Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice, Kleber Mendonça Filho's Brazilian-spy period epic, The Secret Agent, Petra Biondina Volpe's experimental doc, Late Shift and bonkers cryptocurrency cringe-comedy, $Positions.
Canadian Territories' Available Light Film Festival Announces 2026 Line Up