Sheila Nortley’s Ghana-set feature film Restful Harbour has joined the Vancouver International Film Festival’s first international co-production slate, placing the film among eight projects selected for the festival’s new industry initiative.
The announcement was made as VIFF unveiled the first lineup of its Business Hub, an expanded industry programme designed to connect filmmakers with international financing, distribution opportunities and production partners.
Restful Harbour is directed by Sheila Nortley and is being produced by Ghanaian production company Dreammark Collective alongside Igodo Films & Media Company and Parkville Pictures. The project is listed as a Nigeria, Ghana and UK co-production.
The film follows a young British-Ghanaian woman who returns to Accra for a final family gathering as her grandfather nears death. Returning home for the first time in a decade, she is forced to confront the things that once drove her away.
Speaking to Variety about the project, Nortley described Restful Harbour as a film concerned with memory, silence and the meaning of home.
“Restful Harbour is a film about memory, silence and the meaning of home. It’s about what happens when someone refuses to carry silence any longer. Ga folklore, especially the story of Anansi and Turtle, gives the film its emotional architecture, and Ghana itself is one of its central characters.”
The film’s inclusion in VIFF’s slate comes as the festival expands its industry programming around international collaboration. According to VIFF, the new initiative is intended to bring Canadian and international producers, financiers and industry decision-makers together around feature-length projects, with opportunities for financing, creative exchange and distribution.
For Restful Harbour, the selection places a Ghana-set story and a Ghanaian production company within an international co-production platform alongside projects from filmmakers working across Canada, Nigeria, Indonesia, Singapore, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Chile and other territories.
The VIFF announcement also identifies Nigerian producer and executive producer Orwi Manny Ameh as part of the Restful Harbour team. Ameh brings producing credits across film and television, including Tainted Canvas, Hello Rain, Aje and Bruja and Payday.
The project is now part of VIFF’s 2026 Co-Production Forum, which takes place during the Vancouver International Film Festival and is built around meetings, panels, case studies and networking with industry professionals seeking international projects.
With the film continuing its development through this international industry platform, Restful Harbour is one we will be keeping tabs on.
ANANSESƐM will continue to follow the project and report as new information becomes available.
