Crowds lined up outside the ByTowne Cinema, waiting to kick off the ninth annual Ottawa Canadian Film Festival (OCAN) on Thursday.
Spotlighting less local talent than usual, only two of the 17 films screened throughout the festival’s three nights were from Ottawa, marking a decline from 2024’s three and 2023’s five. Despite this, the local films stood out as favourites.
Night one of the 2025 festival screened the Ottawa premiere of local director Fitch Jean’s It Comes in Waves, and the third night included the short film Daddy’s Boy by Ottawa filmmaker Tom Peters.
“We took in fewer local shorts this year because we had a local feature (length film),” said Ben Bergeron, an OCAN board member.
“The Ottawa focus hasn’t gone away — it’s expanded.”
The variety of films from different regions in Canada shows the festival’s reach, he added. Seven films were by Toronto directors, three were from Montreal, two from Quebec City, and one came from Vancouver.
Each night, audiences could scan a QR code on the back of their programs to vote on their favourite film of the night. On Monday, the festival results went live. Jean’s It Comes in Waves was voted the audience favourite.
Set and shot in Ottawa, his film follows the story of a family fleeing the Rwandan genocide and rebuilding their lives in the nation’s capital while coping with trauma. Before the screening of his film, Jean said he was excited to see how Ottawa audiences would react to a film that was set and shot in the city.
“Director Fitch Jean and his collaborators draw the audience into a realistic, tragic and ultimately sincere tale,” Bergeron said in an OCAN press release.
It Comes in Waves is Jean’s first feature-length film. It currently holds an IMDb rating of 8.7 and won Best Narrative Feature at the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama.
Peters’ Daddy’s Boy didn’t receive OCAN awards, but it received its share of accolades at the East Village New York Film Festival, including best sound design, best picture, best cinematography and best original screenplay.
This year marks a new stage for the festival, according to CBC film columnist Vladimir Jean-Gilles, who was in attendance on Thursday night.
“OCAN has become more recognizable, not just because of the record-breaking opening night (of attendees), but also in elevating the event as a prestigious part of the art scene here,” he said in an interview.
This year’s festival opened with 400 attendees on Thursday night, and a total of 665 for the whole weekend, according to OCAN board member Lorelei E. Miller.
“It was fantastic to see so many come out to support local film,” Bergeron said.
OCAN received more film submissions than ever this year with 268 films, according to jury president Zachary Chabot. The festival previously averaged 200 submissions annually.
“The jury and I had long conversations about various films we liked and fought over our favourites,” Chabot said.
“We had to make some hard decisions.”
As the festival continues to expand, so has the scale of projects from Ottawa filmmakers.
“The word-of-mouth around Fitch’s film has already become international, from Hollywood to Paris, which says a lot about the festival’s reach,” Jean-Gilles said.
With Jean, Peters and other Ottawa filmmakers gaining recognition beyond Canada, Jean-Gilles sees the success as proof of Ottawa’s creative potential.
“Ottawa has some of the most interesting and creative minds in the world,” he said.
“There needs to be events like this that really celebrate what Ottawa has to offer.”
Featured image by Stefanja Ottier/the Charlatan
