Friends, mothers, and monsters – these are the kind of compelling protagonists we see in this year’s Canadian Film Fest.

First up is Franie-Éléonore Bernier’s Ghislaine’s Place, capturing the life of the titular Quebecois neighbourhood matriarch (France Pilotte). What sets her apart is her side hustle of selling stolen food, a steady business for her. This steady business, though, comes with one complication. Things get literally sticky as her grandson Francis (Anthony Bouchard) brings in a freezer that can contain more contraband. Bernier really makes viewers yearn for a summer where demand for ice cream is high, regardless of the source. The sound aspects are mixed though, the soundtrack doing too much but the sound design helps with world building.

The festival stays within Quebec but goes from city to country in Le Huard / The Loon from director Paula Bourgie. Bourgie shows us two best friends, Dodo and Clara (Éléonore Loiselle and Marguerite d’Amour). Clara tends to Dodo after the latter deliberately jumps on a lake even if her left hand is on a cast. While doing this, they discuss their neighbour Jules Lajeunesse (Thomas Delorme), Clara unsure of him. Dodo knows that Jules wants to stay for dinner and ingratiate himself, or at least Dodo thinks he’s intruding. I’m one of the few gay people who dislikes cottages, but the camerawork adds to the tragicomic tension here. Someone on Letterboxd described Dodo as a lady loser, and you know what, as a male loser, same. As an aside, Marguerite d’Amour, giving neuro typical Rachel Sennott, has a name deserving of fame. My favourite of the programme.

The same goes for Loiselle, who plays a feral Young Woman in triple thread Daniel Duranleau’s Winkie. The Young Woman find a tent and discovering her is a communicative Older Woman (Marie-France Marcotte). What that Older Woman doesn’t know is that the younger woman is under the care of a Monster (Martin Dubreuil). Prior to present day, the Monster kills the Young Woman’s parents and raises her as his own into adulthood. The Older Woman’s presence makes the Monster’s violent side resurface and makes the Young Woman rethink things. The story here feels ambiguous but I like the aesthetic here that’s reminiscent of silent film, able to capture its character’s emotions.

Film lovers can catch Canadian Film Fest’s first Homegrown Shorts programme at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto.