The National Directors Division (NDD) of the Directors Guild of Canada is proud to announce selections for the NDD Market Accelerator Delegation at the European Film Market (EFM) 2026 running from February 13 - 15
These projects are in advanced stages of development and are actively seeking international partners.
Anna Fahr (ON): BEIRUT IN BETWEEN (Drama, Feature) - Leila, an ambitious Iranian medical student bound for Canada, becomes stranded in Beirut — a city pulsing with chaos, uncertainty, and unexpected freedom. Caught between her past and future, and navigating a budding romance with a Syrian photographer, she begins to question her pursuit of the immigrant dream.
Elza Kephart (QC): THE GREAT CANADA DAY MASSACRE (Horror/Comedy, Feature) - Back home to sabotage Canada Day, Becca, an environmental activist, uncovers a plot to sell the town’s forest and a killer targeting those responsible, including her own mother!
Kathleen Hepburn (BC): CANYON (Drama, Feature) - In the wake of her mother’s death and a traumatic birth, an open-hearted olfactory artist works to complete a scent in her mother’s honour, forging an unlikely bond with her reclusive mother-in-law as both women reckon with grief, identity, and the relentless passage of time.
Tarique Qayumi (BC): OVER THE NEXT HILL (Drama/War, Feature) - Fleeing Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, a fiercely protective mother and her son undertake a deadly journey where each step toward freedom forces them to confront the one thing they fear most: losing each other.
Dylan Pearce (AB): LEGENDS OF CONQUEST 3D (Family/Coming of Age, Feature) - LEGENDS OF CONQUEST is a theatrical, coming-of-age adventure where three teenagers enter a prestigious video-game tournament only to discover their greatest challenge is having to compete on the same team as their parents. A blockbuster family film filled with heart, humor, and high-stakes competition.
Gail Maurice (ON): EAT DIRT (Dystopian, Feature) - Set in the near future, EAT DIRT follows Lynx, Pisim, and T—three young, scrappy, poor but fearless Indigenous women, fighting to stay in control of their lives, bodies, and minds in a world where the ruling class controls them through surveillance, sterilization, and psychological warfare.
Noam Gonick (MB): THE FRUIT MACHINE (Historical Drama/LGBT, Feature) - A 1960’s purge of homosexuals from the civil service nets ambassador Hayward, his roomie Titi Galore - Queen of the Ottawa underworld - and the married British engineer tasked with building the Fruit Machine; a psi-op test for queerness.
Vanessa Magic (ON): ECHINO (Sci-fi/Horror, Feature) - After her husband vanishes at sea, Mae, a pregnant marine biologist, has her hopes turned to horror when he returns changed by a mysterious force, compelling her to face the deadly cost of loving what should have stayed lost.
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