With works from new talents as well as from Canada’s accomplished veteran directors, this series will transport you from the Arctic Circle to western Asia, from downtown Montreal to small town Nova Scotia. And yes, there will be hockey. See what’s now and what’s next in those cinematic lights in the northern North American skies with four nights of the best new Canadian films - almost all of them Los Angeles premieres.

Several filmmaker will speak about their latest work in post-screening discussions. Writer-director Anne Emond appears in person with NELLY, her powerhouse drama based on the explosive biography of former sex worker-turned-bestselling novelist Nelly Arcan. Bruce McDonald has been a key figure in Canadian film for over three decades; he joins us with WEIRDOS, his offbeat and endearing coming-of-age story of teenagers in small town Nova Scotia in 1976. Directors Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie put their fingers on the pulse of contemporary radicalism with THOSE WHO MAKE REVOLUTION HALFWAY ONLY DIG THEIR OWN GRAVES, and follow the Quebec-set epic with a Q&A.

The latest from writer-director Zacharias Kunuk (THE FAST RUNNER), SEARCHERS is an Inuit reworking and relocating of John Ford’s signature Western. Kevan Funk’s startling debut feature, HELLO DESTROYER, an elegant film about the inelegant realities of being an ice hockey enforcer. A matinee screening introduces audiences to Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana’s RUMBLE: THE INDIANS WHO ROCKED THE WORLD, a documentary of Native American music’s influence on rock, blues and jazz.

Though it's not part of our series, you can see the wonderful animated film WINDOW HORSES on Sunday, April 30 at CGV Cinemas as part of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. For more info, visit http://festival.vconline.org/2017/films/window-horses/

You can view the trailer to our Canada Now series here.

Series compiled by Gwen Deglise and Tom McSorley. Program notes by Tom McSorley with additional notes by John Hagelston.