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Exclusive: Veteran Canadian actor and writer Jackie Torrens has begun production in Nova Scotia on her narrative directorial debut, Baby.

The film’s official synopsis reads: Following the untimely death of her parents, Baby Bagnell struggles to find her place in the world–that is, aside from the local roller rink, hell on wheels.

Baby is a frequent visitor to a quiet bucolic graveyard where her parents rest, while unrequitedly hungry for love and guidance. Finding herself in a potentially disastrous relationship with an older man, the teenage Baby dreams of finding her way out of her circumstances by any means necessary. After all, living with a drunk step-mom, being bullied at school, and failing all her classes isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

Baby is produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, with the assistance of the Government of Nova Scotia Film Incentive Fund, the Screen Nova Scotia Content Creator Fund,...

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.

The festival runs from January 27-February 7.

Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.

World Premieres

A Better You, USA

Directed by Matt Walsh

Cast: Brian Huskey,...

A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...

Heartbeat

Written and directed by Andrea Dorfman

Canada, 2014

The struggle to find oneself is painfully real. Such pilgrimages of discovery are made more difficult by uncertainty, anxiety, imposing friends, and lingering exes. You can find yourself stuck in a habit that isn’t quite unbearable, that teeters so near comfortable complacence that you don’t realize you’re suffering silently. We latch onto troubling relationships to avoid the reality of our trepidation, and fail to grasp the very real benefits of solitude.

Andrea Dorfman’s latest film, Heartbeat, beautifully discusses all these anxieties as they apply to our heroine, Justine, played by the enchanting Tanya Davis. In a manner that feels innately Canadian, Heartbeat combines Halifax’s charm, and beautiful nature, with Davis’ soulful poetry, to form a touching dialogue on the nature of loneliness, and the rewards of truly living.

Davis takes center stage as protagonist Justine Porter. Literally.