At Halifax’s Atlantic International Film Festival, opening night mixes tragedy and hope

At Halifax’s Atlantic International Film Festival, opening night mixes tragedy and hope BARRY HERTZ PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO Open this photo in gallery: Mauro Mueller's new film, 111 Echoes from Halifax, dramatizes the aftermath of the Swissair crash off the coast of Nova Scotia. ELEVATION PICTURES/SUPPLIED COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Going into filming his new feature, director Mauro Mueller knew that there was only one film festival that he could hope to premiere the project: Halifax. “It is such a special place, for me and for this story,” he says. “We realized this very, very quickly into production.” On Wednesday, the latest edition of the Atlantic International Film Festival (AIFF) will open with the world premiere of Mueller’s 111 Echoes from Halifax, a dramatization of the aftermath of the 1998 Swissair crash off the coast of Nova Scotia. Instead of focusing on the plane’s journey and the passengers’ final moments, though, Mueller’s film takes a Babel- or Traffic-like approach to the tragedy, the story following an intersecting series of characters (Canadian, American, Swiss) who either lost family members in the crash or were profoundly changed by the accident’s aftermath. Ahead of the film’s AIFF premiere, The Globe and Mail spoke to the Swiss-Mexican director Mueller about honouring a community. Open this photo in gallery: Ursina Lardi in 111 Echoes from Halifax. ELEVATION PICTURES/SUPPLIED How important was it for you that this movie should debut in Halifax? It was essential to bring it to the community. Even just filming portions of it in Halifax, we heard all the time about people who knew someone who went out to recover the wreckage, or hosted family members who came in the hopes of recovering their loved ones. And as soon as we say that we’re Swiss, they connect us with the Swiss 111 flight. Even so many years later, it’s still the case. How did you come to this uniquely international story? My business partner Björn Hering, who’s also a producer on this film, is the son-in-law of the pilot of the plane, so there’s a very personal connection. I knew the family of the pilot well, and when he first said that maybe there’s a movie here, I was very hesitant. It’s a sensitive topic, and I didn’t want to recreate a kind of disaster film. It took quite a while to understand the angle. The choice not to depict the disaster itself…