Whistler Film Festival announces B.C. highlights, including Chris Carter’s Queens for a Day and Vic Sarin’s The Lightkeeper
Event’s 26th edition runs December 2 to 6, with X-Files creator hosting master class at Content Summit
Director Chris Carter
Queens for a Day
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE as the Whistler Film Festival reveals its first slate of programming tonight—including prominent X-Files creator Chris Carter.
The director’s Queens for a Day was among the B.C. premieres announced during the first look at the lineup for the fest that runs December 2 to 6. Carter’s self-financed feature involved much of the local X-Files crew, and was written by Carter’s wife, Dori Carter. The film follows a right-wing newscaster who pines for the “good old days” when gender roles were traditional. But when she’s transported back into 1950s Queens, New York, she’s forced to live her own mother’s suffocating life in what’s being described as a time-travel horror-fable. It stars Erin Boyes, Andres Joseph, Kelli Ogmundson, and Greyston Holt. Carter will also host a master class at the fest’s Content Summit.
“Chris Carter is a massive get for this festival, and this masterclass isn’t just for industry—it’s for anyone who grew up believing the truth was out there,” said WFF executive director Josh Epstein said in the announcement. “He’s spent decades hiring and championing B.C. crews, and Queens for a Day brings that same community back together on his own terms.”
Elsewhere, the fest announced it will host the Canadian premiere of Vic Sarin’s The Lightkeeper, an Ireland-Canada coproduction that’s a romantic drama starring Dominic Cooper, Sarah Bolger, Sarah Gadon, Emily Beecham, and Aidan Quinn, as part of the fest’s Borsos Competition. The period piece, shot in Donegal, is the poetic story of a heartbroken lighthouse keeper whose elaborate rituals keep the outside world at a distance, until three unexpected people change the course of his isolated life.
The new documentary Ceremony, directed and produced by Indigenous B.C. filmmaker Banchi Hanuse, will see its premiere amid WFF’s World Documentary program. It follows the Nuxalk Nation as they trace the disappearance of the “ooligan” fish from Bella Coola, in an exploration of cultural survival.
And three B.C.-made short films will have their world premiere at the event: “El Lazo de Petra (Petra’s Lasso)”, an iPhone-shot work about a Mexican abuela telling the story of the legendary Petra to her granddaughter; “Split Ends”, about a woman’s choice between embracing her curls and wearing a wig; and “The Last Caller”, a Crazy8s find that’s a mockumentary about a bingo caller with inflamed vocal nodes.
Other announcements included guests at the Content Summit that runs December 2 to 5. In addition to Chris and Dori Carter, writer-producer and showrunner Anthony Q. Farrell (Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story, The Office, Overlord and the Underwoods) and AMI-tv media executive Cara Nye (Pretty Blind, We Were Broncos, Crip Trip, and Underdog Inc.) are among the confirmed industry speakers.
You can find more details, plus ticket packs, ticket priority access, and film and industry passes, here.
Watch Stir for the full lineup when it is announced November 3, ahead of general ticket sales on November 4. 
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