International film festival returns to Manitoulin Island

Weengushk International Film Festival returns to in-person events this coming weekend. The festival will highlight stories and voices of Indigenous women.

This year's theme is 'Write From the Womb.'

The focus is on sharing the stories and voices of Indigenous women.

“Woman who are filmmakers, change-makers, musicians and creative types,” said Adam Moffatt, the festival's executive director.

"The biggest difference is we’re really showing films that aren’t shown at a lot of festivals. We have a lot of exclusives. We have films that are really from young exciting films makers that are really excited to show the public their films."

More than 30 films will be screening this year.

“The vast majority of our films -- I believe 90 per cent -- are from Indigenous women,” said Moffatt.

“They touch on subjects all over, from environmental issues, to social issues, to social change, to horror films -- we have a little bit of everything going on throughout the whole day.”

The festival runs July 8-10. The closing night gala will be a black tie affair with some special performances.

“Our big red carpet gala, which includes our awards show, it includes another performance by Rastak and then we close off the festival with Tom Cochrane, which we’re very excited for,” said Moffatt.

Tickets can be purchased either online or in person at the festival.