Hyena Road

Depicting an embattled Canadian- American initiative to increase safe transport across Afghanistan, Hyena Road is a group portrait of men and women at work in a dangerous and often confounding conflict zone. We meet a sniper (Rossif Sutherland, also appearing at the Festival in Hellions and River) who becomes precariously implicated in the life of one of his targets — as well as the life of an alluring colleague (Christine Horne). There's an intelligence officer (Gross, also appearing at the Festival in Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys) whose customary world-weary wisecracks — "Even the dirt is hostile" — veil a fundamental belief in the ethics of war. And the film introduces us to a legendary former mujahid known as The Ghost (Neamat Arghandabi) who, for mysterious reasons, is lured back into the battle zone to assist the Canadian forces. (Toronto International Film Festival)