TIFF News - The Complete List of Canadian Films

Toronto – The Toronto International Film Festival announces a wealth of Canadian features including highly anticipated new works by acclaimed Canadian filmmakers Denis Villeneuve, Bruce McDonald, Xavier Dolan, Jacob Tierney, Louis Bélanger and William D. MacGillivray, Sturla Gunnarsson, Ingrid Veninger, and Carl Bessai and on screen appearances by Molly Parker, Jay Baruchel, Don McKellar, Scott Speedman, Jill Hennessy, David Suzuki, Martha Plimpton, Peter Stormare, Jennifer Beals, Emily Hampshire, Jean Lapointe, Guylaine Tremblay, Harvey Keitel, Jason Jones, Scott Caan, Tricia Helfer and the late Tracy Wright.

“It’s a testament to the creative minds and incredible talent in this country that we have such a diverse and exciting offering of Canadian films across all programmes in this year’s Festival,” says Steve Gravestock, Programmer, Toronto International Film Festival. “It’s an exciting time for Canadian cinema and we’re proud to bring audiences this line-up of films which includes documentaries profiling some of our beloved national figures, powerful and unsettling dramas, thrillers, comedies, romances and a record number of dysfunctional families.”

New this year, the Festival presents The Canadian Pack, a ticket package selected by TIFF programmers that offers film lovers exposure to Canadian talent with a selection of five new Canadian films for $80.

GALAS

A Beginners Guide to Endings Jonathan Sobol, Canada World Premiere
Raucous, charming and very funny, Jonathan Sobol’s comedy A Beginners Guide to Endings follows three sons as they deal with their gambler father’s somewhat complicated legacy. Featuring the legendary Harvey Keitel, the film also stars Scott Caan, Paolo Costanzo, Wendy Crewson, Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, and J.K. Simmons.

Previously announced Canadian Galas include: The Bang Bang Club, Steven Silver; Barney’s Version, Richard J. Lewis; Casino Jack, George Hickenlooper; Score: A Hockey Musical, Mike McGowan.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie Sturla Gunnarsson, Canada World Premiere
At 75 years old, David Suzuki shows no signs of slowing down. In this captivating documentary portrait, the passionate environmentalist’s legacy lecture is entwined with candid interviews in which he reflects on his life and shares deeply personal stories, revealing a side previously unseen.

Good Neighbours Jacob Tierney, Canada World Premiere
Director Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky) returns with an innovative and unsettling thriller about some very strange people living in the same apartment building in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood. The film stars Scott Speedman, Emily Hampshire and Jay Baruchel.

Incendies Denis Villeneuve, Canada North American Premiere After their mother Nawal’s death, twins Simon and Jeanne embark on a journey to the Middle East that shines a disturbing light on their mother’s past and culminates in a shocking revelation. Based on the acclaimed play by Wajdi Mouawad and directed by Genie and Jutra award-winner Denis Villeneuve (Polytechnique).

Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats) Xavier Dolan, Canada English Canadian Premiere
Wunderkind filmmaker Xavier Dolan returns with his second feature – a sophisticated comedy about close friends, Francis and Marie, who pursue their mutual obsession with a young man. As they face off in competition, cracks in their friendship begin to appear with both comic and tragic results.

Repeaters Carl Bessai, Canada World Premiere Veteran director Carl Bessai returns with a tense thriller that follows three young addicts in a rehabilitation centre. Each day they live the same events over and over – a situation each responds to in radically different ways.

Trigger Bruce McDonald, Canada World Premiere
Molly Parker and the late Tracy Wright form a highly dysfunctional yet endearing rock duo reuniting a decade after their band called it quits. Directed by Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, The Tracey Fragments, Hard Core Logo, Highway 61), and written by Daniel MacIvor, the film features Sarah Polley, Don McKellar and Callum Keith Rennie.

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

À l’origine d’un cri Robin Aubert, Canada World Premiere
Three generations of men from the same family drunkenly careen across the Québécois countryside in an emotionally powerful journey through the past from one of Québec’s most intriguing young filmmakers.

MODRA Ingrid Veninger, Canada World Premiere In this authentic portrait of teenaged self-discovery, recently-dumped seventeen-year-old Lina and free spirit Leco travel to visit Lina’s extended family in the quirky town of Modra, Slovakia.

A Night for Dying Tigers Terry Miles, Canada World Premiere The night before Jack goes to prison for five years, his family gets together at their ancestral home for a farewell dinner. What begins as a civil, if not joyful, reunion quickly devolves into a morally questionable whirlwind of regret, reversals, and revelations. The film stars Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows, Kathleen Roberston, Lauren Lee Smith, Tygh Runyon and John Pyper-Ferguson.

Route 132 Louis Bélanger, Canada English Canadian Premiere
A powerful drama directed by acclaimed veteran Louis Bélanger, Route 132 focuses on a man who loses a loved one and embarks on a journey in an attempt to rediscover his roots and come to terms with his grief.

Small Town Murder Songs Ed Gass-Donnelly, Canada World Premiere
Ed Gass-Donnelly’s (This Beautiful City) Small Town Murder Songs mixes sexuality, religion and tradition in a Greek tragedy about repression and mistrust. The film stars Peter Stormare, Jill Hennessy, Aaron Poole and Martha Plimpton.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Midnight Madness Opening Night

Fubar II Michael Dowse, Canada World Premiere
In the sequel to the 2002 cult comedy Fubar, hoser headbangers Terry and Dean are back and hit the road to find wealth, happiness and more beer in the oil fields of Alberta. Special appearance by Tron.

REAL TO REEL

How to Start Your Own Country Jody Shapiro, Canada World Premiere
Shapiro’s documentary about micro-nations, tiny countries seldom recognized by the outside world, mixes comedy and compassion with a serious analysis of the concept of statehood and citizenship.

The Man of a Thousand Songs William D. MacGillivray, Canada World Premiere
Veteran East Coast filmmaker William MacGillivray returns to the Festival with this emotional, intimate and tender documentary about the life of fabled Atlantic songwriter Ron Hynes.

VISIONS

Curling Denis Côté, Canada North American Premiere
Set in a village in Quebec, Denis Côté’s Curling follows inveterate loner Jean-François, a single father, and his isolated 12-year-old daughter Julyvonne. Between his unremarkable jobs, Jean-François devotes an awkward energy to Julyvonne until some unexpected events jeopardize the fragile balance of their relationship.

Trois temps après la mort d’Anna Catherine Martin, Canada English Canadian Premiere
After vibrant young violinist Anna dies, her mother Françoise leaves Montreal and takes refuge at the country home of her maternal ancestors in Kamouraska. She has given up on life, but an old friend labours to revive her desire to live.

CANADIAN OPEN VAULT

A Married Couple Allan King, Canada
A restruck and restored version of master filmmaker Allan King’s classic cinema-verité film, one of the most influential and celebrated Canadian films ever made, A Married Couple records the collapse of a middle class couple’s marriage. The film is being restruck in conjunction with Zoe Druick’s monograph on the film, co-published by the University of Toronto Press and TIFF.

TIFF CELEBRATES THE FRESHEST HOMEGROWN TALENT WITH CANADA FIRST!

Toronto - Continuing its tradition of celebrating new and innovative Canadian works, the 35th Toronto International Film Festival announces six films for its seventh edition of Canada First!, a programme that offers audiences compelling stories from the next wave of homegrown film talent. From existential social commentaries to improvised thrillers, this year’s programme is as diverse as Canada itself, launching with sinister small town happenings in Mike Goldbach’s Daydream Nation.

Daydream Nation Mike Goldbach, BC World Premiere
In this striking and slyly funny debut by filmmaker Mike Goldbach, a young woman (Kat Dennings) is uprooted to a small town where her classmates seem permanently stoned, an industrial fire burns ceaselessly in the background and a killer preys on the unsuspecting populace. The film also stars Andie MacDowell, Josh Lucas, Reece Thompson and Rachel Blanchard.

Amazon Falls Katrin Bowen, BC World Premiere
Characters reveal hidden depths as Katrin Bowen’s first feature tells the tale of a struggling actress named Jana. Delving into the high-stakes world of keeping up appearances for which Los Angeles is infamous, Amazon Falls crafts an intense look at dream-chasers living on the margins of Hollywood.

High Cost of Living Deborah Chow, QC World Premiere
Deborah Chow’s dark drama centres on the burgeoning relationship between an unlikely pair. Nathalie (Isabelle Blais) is expecting her first child and Henry (Zach Braff) is on his way to his next drug deal. Their paths fatefully collide one night in an event that will irrevocably change their lives.

Jaloux Patrick Demers, QC North American Premiere
In this psychological thriller that was improvised during its 16-day shoot, a couple trying to mend their relationship set off for a weekend in the country. When they encounter a friendly neighbour, they are too absorbed in their marital woes to see that he is not who he appears to be.

Oliver Sherman Ryan Redford, ON World Premiere
Tensions arise when Sherman visits the home of Franklin, a fellow soldier who saved his life back in the war. Franklin has long since moved on – to a wife, two children and a reliable job, but the stability he has worked so hard to establish is soon threatened by Sherman’s presence. The film stars Donal Logue, Molly Parker and Garret Dillahunt.

You Are Here Daniel Cockburn, ON North American Premiere
You Are Here is a smartly-crafted commentary on our modern day existence. Comprised of interconnected mini-narratives, the film’s characters find themselves trapped in bizarre social experiments of their own making. The film features Tracy Wright and Nadia Litz