The Borsos Award winner for Best Screenplay, THE BURNING SEASON, tells the story of a years-long, summers only affair between two people haunted by a dark secret. Sharing it draws them together, but keeping it tears them apart. What makes The Burning Season particularly poignant is that the story is broken up into distinct chapters presented in reverse order.

Director Sean Garrity is a frequent participant in our Borsos competitions. In 2012, he had two films competing at the same time (MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE and BLOOD PRESSURE, both starring Jonas Chernick), AFTER THE BALL screened at WFF in 2015, followed by THE END OF SEX in 2022. Jonas Chernick may be the one actor who has appeared in the most WFF selections over the last ten years, including such WFF films as BOY CITY (2022), Best Picture winner CINEMA OF SLEEP (2021), JAMES VS. HIS FUTURE SELF (2019) and HOW TO PLAN AN ORGY IN A SMALL TOWN (2015). Let’s just say that the Whistler Film Festival finds the combination of Jonas Chernick and Sean Garrity irresistible. THE BURNING SEASON also features another WFF favourite, Sara Canning, who has graced our screens with her presence in I PUT A HIT ON YOU in 2014. It is gratifying to note how well Canning and Chernick play so effectively off each other, through good seasons and bad, as the anatomy of a periodic but long-term relationship is exposed in all its rawness and heartache. THE BURNING SEASON is a moving, bittersweet love story for adults that is not to be missed.