Paul Skrudland

Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding) directs this keenly observed and wickedly funny media satire about a self-absorbed sports-radio shock jock whose controversial social-media missive makes him the target of network scrutiny.

Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding) returns to the Festival with this neo-noir police procedural — set against the backdrop of economic hard times — about a failed real estate agent (Nicholas Lea, in a bravura performance) whose recent attempt to turn things around makes him a suspect in a criminal investigation. (TIFF)

Leslie is a single woman, approaching middle age, who lives with her best friend in the world, John, an Australian Shepherd. She has a strained relationship with her mother, Staci, with whom she has to bargain with in order to take care of John one afternoon. After hearing some mysterious sounds coming from the basement suite, Leslie discovers that her deadbeat ex-husband, Keith, has moved in "to lie low for a while". Keith refuses to leave until he gets what he feels is owed to him: half the value of the house that he never put a cent into. When he kidnaps John, Leslie is driven to do the unthinkable. It's Staci, drawing from her obsession with true crime podcasts, who cleans up the mess, and helps her daughter get back on her feet.

A thirty-something single man is afraid his latest romance will be over before it starts in this independent comedy from writer and director Bruce Sweeney. Eight years after his marriage ended in divorce, Kevin is doing well in his career as the owner of a successful golf course, but his personal life is another matter altogether. Kevin hasn't been on a date since he became single again, and his overbearing mother makes no secret of her concern that she'll never become a grandmother. Kevin's slacker brother Randy decides to step in and help, setting Kevin up on a date with Hayaam. To Kevin's surprise, Hayaam turns out to be attractive and fun to be with, and they quickly bond with one another. However, things become problematic when they move their relationship to the next level -- Kevin's nerves cause him to finish far too quickly in the bedroom, and though Hayaam wants to help, she's only willing to deal with his problem for so long.

A single car mechanic's suspicions that her sister-in-law is having an affair prompts their small circle of family and friends to confront their own stalled routes to romance.

In the quiet corners of the globe, four strangers – a cynical American programmer, an aging Japanese priest, a troubled Arabic mercenary and a mysterious Fijian girl – receive a series of chilling apocalyptic visions. Desperate to understand their frightening visions of the future, these four troubled souls are simultaneously drawn to a dark city in the West where their fates – and the fate of the world – are revealed to be linked together and somehow part of a global conspiracy. Amidst an epic struggle of man, machine and otherworldly fear, these reluctant heroes must be willing to sacrifice everything…in order to know the truth and save us all!