On a particularly warm, sunny and smokeless afternoon in late July, both Brian Owens, CIFF artistic director, and I are a little disappointed that we have to conduct a Zoom meeting instead of absorbing some vitamin D.
“I’m used to not enjoying summer weather,” he tells me with a chuckle.
Indeed, Owens is usually busy this time of year leading up to the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF), where he’s been artistic director since 2018 after a decade with the Nashville Film Festival. He founded what is now Indy Film Festival in 2004 in Indianapolis, as an alternative to the decidedly more mainstream (and, at the time, much more conservative) Heartland Film Festival.
“Let’s just say, at the time, [Park Chan-wook’s action thriller] Oldboy never would have played Heartland,” he says. “So that’s why I started [Indy], because I wanted to see the darker films.”
Especially when it comes to the dark stuff, CIFF “competes” with the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) as one of Calgary’s two large multigenre film festivals, though Owens insists any rivalry is friendly.
“We do have different target audiences,” he says, “but a lot of their attendees attend ours, and vice versa.” He notes that sometimes, whether a certain film plays at one or the other depends on what time of year it happens to be released; CUFF takes place in spring, while CIFF is in autumn.
“We support them, they support us, you’ll see that crossover all the way through.”
Regardless of who gets what, CIFF holds out the promise that attendees will be among the first Calgarians to see next year’s most talked-about original films. In 2025, the festival hosted the Alberta premieres of Oscar contender If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and the viral cult comedy hit Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, eventual winner of six Canadian Screen Awards including Best Motion Picture and Best Visual Effects. This year’s lineup promises many such gems.
It’s not all about the awards and prestige, though; one of CIFF’s primary focuses is still showcasing local talent.
“Sometimes Alberta films will premiere at Venice or TIFF,” says Owens, “but still we’ll highlight them and give them the audience that they deserve.”
Indigenous programming is also a hallmark of the festival. “There’s usually two to three [Indigenous films] per year in the documentary competition, and two to three a year in the narrative competition. It can ebb and flow based on what’s available in any given year for sure, but those films will always find a home with us.”
“We do have some guides that we occasionally consult with,” he continues. “The best example is, I spoke with [Tsuut’ina filmmaker] Kevin Littlelight a couple of years ago, and he said it’s always important to tell the stories about the residential schools, it’s always important to tell those stories about how addiction can attack our First Nations communities. But he’s like, ‘we also want to have a good time. We also want to see positive representation.’ And we took that to heart.”
When asked about what he looks forward to screening in 2026, Owens is particularly excited about Wild Horse Nine, a dark comedy about a group of CIA operatives shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup by Irish auteur Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, The Banshees of Inishirin). It stars John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Tom Waits, and Owens predicts it will be nominated for several Oscars: “It’s that kind of movie.”
In a time where it seems as though audiovisual entertainment is dominated by streaming, Owens is optimistic about what the in-theatre experience offers, even to younger audiences.
“In general, you’re seeing Gen Z audiences show up for movies in numbers much higher than Millennials did, and much higher than I think even my own Gen X did,” Owens says.
“They’re really the first generation to hold a screen in their hand from birth, and I think what they’re discovering is, laughing is even more fun when you’re in a room with a couple hundred other people. Being scared is more fun when you’re in a room with a couple hundred more people… Emotions are heightened when they’re shared with others.”
CIFF runs September 24 to October 4. For tickets and more information, visit ciffcalgary.ca.
