Paul Gross film Hyena Road presented at Calgary International Film Festival

Canadian war film Hyena Road has its Alberta premiere Thursday night at the Calgary International Film Festival.

Named after a highway in Afghanistan built by Canadian forces, the movie was written and directed by Paschendale's Paul Gross.

The main characters are based on interviews Gross did on several trips to Afghanistan

"All of the events from the film come from just talking to soldiers and meeting with Afghans," said Gross, who also stars in the film.

"If Canadians are anything like me, and I think a lot of them are, I was largely ignorant about what we're doing [there]."

He says Canadians were involved in Afghanistan longer than the Korean, Second World War and First World War combined.

"We were there for a very long time. And I think strangely, we are largely unaware of what it was that we were actually up to."

Hyena Road screens at 7 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Theatre Junction Grand.

The opening night of the 12-day film festival was Wednesday evening with the screening of I Saw the Light, a biopic about the late country music icon Hank Williams.