Crave Brings the Laughs to the Kingston Canadian Film Festival

We’re All Gonna Die’s Jay Baruchel captured in conversation at KCFF25 –
– Alan Cumming stars in Michael Clowater’s DRIVE BACK HOME, supported by Crave –
I Have Nothing’s Carolyn Taylor chats about award-winning career and Letterkenny and Shoresy writers Allie Pearse and Olivia Stadler perform live at The Broom Factory –
– Stand-up star Jeremy Hotz celebrates 10th national tour at Kingston Grand Theatre –

KINGSTON, ON (Jan. 28, 2025) – Crave delivers a comedy lineup like no other at the 25th anniversary edition of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (KCFF25), it was announced today. As KCFF’s premiere media partner, Crave presents live discussions, stand-up comedy, and film and TV screenings, headlined by Jay Baruchel, host of the Crave Original series, We’re All Gonna Die. KCFF25’s comedy programming lineup features additional talent from Crave Originals I Have Nothing (Carolyn Taylor), Letterkenny and Shoresy (Allie Pearse and Olivia Stadler), along with Crave stand-up legend Jeremy Hotz. The world’s largest all-Canadian film and cultural festival runs February 26 – March 2. KCFF25’s full festival lineup is announced January 31.

“I’m honoured and excited to finally get to come to KCFF,” said Baruchel. “This festival has been very kind to me and my films have screened here since basically the beginning. I can’t wait to hang in one of my favourite cities, in February no less, for a chat on Canadian film and TV, and maybe Les Canadiens aussi.”

Crave @ KCFF25:

DRIVE BACK HOME (February 27)

Supported in part by Crave, this poignant yet often very funny film inspired by a true story in the family of writer-director Michael Clowater, is an audience prizewinner at the Calgary International Film Festival. DRIVE BACK HOME takes place in a time and place when LGBTQ+ people had precious little opportunity to live their truth. To be more specific, that setting is small-town New Brunswick circa 1970, which is where a grouchy plumber named Weldon (Charlie Creed-Miles) receives a call from the Toronto police to come collect his long-estranged brother Perley (Alan Cumming, seen in Crave’s The Traitors), lest he face the full consequences of being caught having sex with another man in a public park. What ensues is an uncommonly good-natured kind of road movie as the brothers seek a new understanding of each other, and of the traumatic history they share. The slow-building rapport between Creed-Miles and the always great Cumming is just one of the reasons Clowater’s first feature is so endearing and moving.

ALLIE PEARSE & OLIVIA STADLER (February 28)

Allie Pearse and Olivia Stadler are veteran writers for Crave Originals Letterkenny and Shoresy, as well as veteran stand-up comedians. The duo come to KCFF to perform back-to-back sets of dark, sharp, and unforgettable stand-up comedy. In addition to Letterkenny, Pearse and Stadler have appeared on CTV Comedy Channel’s Roast Battle Canada and toured nationally with Letterkenny Presents: A Night of Standup Comedy. Stadler was named Breakout Comic of the Year in 2020 and while Canadian Screen Award-nominated Pearse was a JFL New Faces artist in 2022.

JEREMY HOTZ – TRÈS MISÉRABLES (February 28)

Veteran stand-up, actor and star of Jeremy Hotz and Friends on Crave, Jeremy Hotz invites you to join him and his renowned dog Shack as they celebrate his 10th national tour, TRÈS MISÉRABLES. It’s a brand-new show filled with Jeremy’s iconic miserable jokes and mishaps. “I’ve always liked Les Misérables, but it just didn’t sound miserable enough,” says Hotz. “So I hired an interpreter and fixed it! Hopefully I got the accents right!”

IN CONVERSATION: JAY BARUCHEL (March 1)

Host of the Crave Original We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel), KCFF favourite Jay Baruchel marks his first visit to the festival with an in-depth conversation with CBC Radio’s (and Kingston native) Elamin Abdelmahmoud about Canadian film, television, and hockey. Many of Baruchel’s films have screened at KCFF, including THE TROTSKY, which won the People’s Choice Award in 2010. Most recently Baruchel had a lead role as BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis in the award-winning BlackBerry (2023, also seen on Crave), for which he won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film. Upcoming, Baruchel appears in Mile End Kicks and is also set to play Ken Carter in The Stunt Driver, a comedy about the Canadian stunt driver’s exploits. 

IN CONVERSATION: CAROLYN TAYLOR (March 1)

Award-winning comedian, actor, writer, showrunner, and Queen’s alumnus Carolyn Taylor created and starred in the hit quixotic figure-skating docu-comedy and Crave Original I Have Nothing. Now, Taylor appears at KCFF25 for a screening of an episode of the series, for which she received a 2024 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Performer in a Comedy, followed by an in-depth conversation regarding her work. Taylor honed her skills in improvisation and social satire at The Second City in Toronto before achieving renown as one of the creators, executive producers, and stars of the hit comedy Baroness Von Sketch Show (CBC, IFC). Upcoming projects include an appearance in Mae Martin’s thriller Tall Pines (Netflix) and the comedy Children Ruin Everything (CTV, Crave), as well as the release of her experimental queer pop album, The Untitled Carolyn Taylor Project.

In addition to exclusively Canadian films, KCFF25 boasts non-stop Q&As, music, comedy, workshops, industry panels, and parties at venues including the historic Kingston Grand Theatre, the architecturally spectacular Isabel Bader Centre, local cinema treasure The Screening Room, and vibrant arts hub the Broom Factory, as well as multiple downtown bars and restaurants.

The 2025 Kingston Canadian Film Festival is presented by TD and Tourism Kingston. Major supporters also include Cogeco, Downtown Kingston BIA, ACFOMI, the Slaight Family Foundation, and The Norman and Margaret Jewison Foundation. Join the KCFF Circle of Supporters here or donate here.

About the Kingston Canadian Film Festival

The Kingston Canadian Film Festival is the largest festival in the world dedicated exclusively to Canadian film. Founded in 2001, KCFF is a charitable cultural organization that provides access to Canadian film in a dynamic festival setting. Transforming traditional and unconventional venues across Kingston’s historic downtown, KCFF is an annual whirlwind of movies and special events that spark curiosity, ignite discussion, and provide a fresh experience of Canadian film. Each year, long-time festival goers and first-time enthusiasts can explore screenings, Q+As, parties, workshops, networking events, live music, stand-up comedy, and exhibitions.

Previous visiting filmmakers include Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Alanis Obomsawin, Don McKellar, Mina Shum, Matt Johnson, Brigitte Berman, Jeff Barnaby, and many more. Past performers attending KCFF include Gerry Dee, Cathy Jones, Bif Naked, Gordon Pinsent, and casts from BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, LETTERKENNY, MR. D, TRAILER PARK BOYS, KIDS IN THE HALL, and THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, among others. 

About Crave
Delivering more Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning programming than any other service, Crave is Canada’s prestige entertainment offering, with HBO, HBO Max Originals, STARZ, Hollywood-hit movies, is the exclusive Canadian streaming home of FRIENDS, and boasts a robust slate of English and French original series. Crave is a major supporter of Canada’s production industry, helping to fund numerous film projects, and features acclaimed selections from some of Canada’s prestigious film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, HOT DOCS, ImagineNATIVE, Inside Out Film Festival, and Kingston Canadian Film Festival.

Crave is a bilingual TV and streaming service with thousands of hours of exclusive French-language content. Crave is available directly to all Canadians with access to the Internet at Crave.ca, via iOS and Android, and other platforms such as Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, select LG Smart TVs, PlayStation, Roku, select Samsung Smart TVs, and Xbox One. It’s also available through participating service providers across ten 24-hour High Definition linear and on demand channels. Crave is from Bell Media, Canada’s leading content company, providing Canada’s most-watched and most-acclaimed television programming on network, specialty, pay and digital platforms. Visit our website at Crave.ca.

– KCFF –

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