Madam Speaker, I am honoured to speak in the House today to recognize the Windsor International Film Festival. WIFF is the largest volunteer-run film festival in Canada. Last year, it sold 42,000 tickets and showcased 165 movies over 10 days.
WIFF also screens the most Francophonie films of any festival in Canada, while at the same time serving as a champion of indigenous and LGBTQ2 pieces, helping spark important community conversations in Windsor—Tecumseh.
Under the bold leadership of Vincent Georgie, WIFF quickly adapted to COVID, transforming Festival Plaza on the Detroit River into WIFF Under the Stars, the only drive-in movie theatre in the world on an international border. Eighteen hundred vehicles and 4,000 film lovers and families took in the movies.
The Windsor International Film Festival is the premier film festival of the Great Lakes region. I congratulate WIFF and thank the 300 volunteers who make it a huge success.