Canada’s young talent is on display at TIFF
The negative impression of Canadian film — certainly not helped by Score: A Hockey Musical, the Toronto International Film Festival’s infamous 2010 opening night movie — can be a difficult one to overcome. Over the last few years, however, TIFF has done more than just about any entity to put Canadian cinema in a more positive light.
The festival’s efforts seem to have finally bore fruit in the form of this year’s Canadian cinema program. The selection features legends such as Atom Egoyan and Alanis Obomsawin, but its strength comes from a focus on fresh and innovative young voices.
This year’s program includes seven feature debuts and five films directed or co-directed by Indigenous filmmakers. Other highlights include Anne at 13,000 ft, which features a remarkable performance from Deragh Campbell; Joey Klein’s Castle in the Ground which tackles the opioid crisis in Canada; and Antigone from Quebec filmmaker Sophie Deraspe, a refugee story loosely based on the Sophocles tragedy.
Three years ago, director Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche) caused a stir when he turned TIFF down in favour of Sundance. He explained his motivation at the time by saying that Canadian films are not treated with the same respect as international projects. From his perspective, the inclusion of certain legacy filmmakers — those who make movies guaranteed to receive much sought-after funding — cheapened the entire selection.
Instead of getting defensive about its selection policies and showcasing strategies, the festival introduced a new initiative: Breakfast at TIFF was intended to bridge the gap between the local creative community and the industry gatekeepers. The first event, hosted by TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey, tackled the issues headon. Attendees were animated in their discussions over funding and brought up concerns with the current model, questioning its ability to actually help first-time filmmakers.
Again, instead of running away from these challenges, TIFF embraced the debate. The festival continues to host breakfast conferences and has introduced new programs to cultivate new Canadian talent. As a result, Canadian programming has only grown stronger.
“There’s definitely youthful energy this year,” says Ravi Srinivasan over the phone. “We’re seeing a new wave of young filmmakers.” Srinivasan has been working at TIFF as a programming associate since 2013. This year, he took on the role of an international programmer for Canada, working alongside Steve Gravestock.
From his perspective, the youthful energy comes from an increased depth that’s occurred in the Canadian talent pool. Srinivasan points to the TIFF Filmmaker Lab (formerly known as Talent Lab) specifically as an excellent resource for finding and fostering new Canadian talent. The program offers young and emerging filmmakers accreditation to the festival, access to industry events and mentorship with experts from around the world.
As enthusiastic as Srinivasan is about this year’s program, he does acknowledge that Canadian cinema is still searching for an audience outside of big cities. The problem is less about TIFF, though, and more about the industry at large.
For Canadians to be interested in our national cinema, they have to be able to see it, he argues. If radio and television in Canada have to commit airtime to Canadian content, movie theatres should as well. “I can’t see any other way how young folks are going to discover new voices that are coming out of our own country,” says Srinivasan.
While the festival continues to do what it can to promote Canadian film, it seems like a stretch to put the onus on TIFF to enhance coverage of the movies that our country is producing. Awards chatter and fawning over celebrities is the stuff that tends to appeal to general audiences.
Relying on the festival to change the public’s preferences is maybe asking a bit too much — at least for those changes to happen overnight.
There’s definitely youthful energy this year. We’re seeing a new wave of young filmmakers.