TIFF sees a drop in Québécois directors

Perhaps we’ve become spoiled. But it’s hard not to notice that compared to the past couple years, it will be a diminished contingent of Quebec directors bringing features to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.

New films by Philippe Falardeau, André Turpin, Anne Émond, Guy Édoin and Geneviève Dulude-De Celles will join Jean-Marc Vallée’s fest-opening Demolition and Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario to bring the total of Québécois-directed features at TIFF to seven, which is a significant drop from the dozen or so per year in 2013 and 2014.

Quebec sent 10 features to TIFF in 2011, and seven in 2012, so it’s all part of the ebb and flow of things. It’s about quality, not quantity, right?

There’s good reason to be excited for Falardeau’s new film Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre (screening at TIFF with English subtitles as My Internship In Canada). Set in Northern Quebec, the political satire stars Patrick Huard (Starbuck) and Suzanne Clément (Mommy) and marks a return to the French language for the director. The film is produced by Luc Déry and Kim McCraw of micro_ scope (who also produced Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar and Villeneuve’s Incendies, both Oscar nominees).

Cinematographer Turpin has his first feature since 2001’s Un crabe dans la tête with Endorphine. He spent the last several years shooting movies for Xavier Dolan (Mommy, Tom à la ferme), Villeneuve (Incendies) and Falardeau (C’est pas moi, je le jure!, Congorama). Also produced by micro_scope, Endorphine follows three women named Simone at different emotional turning points.

Émond earned a Special Mention from TIFF’s Canada First! jury in 2011 for her directorial debut Nuit #1, a racy, stylistically adventurous film. She’s back with Les êtres chers (Our Loved Ones), a family drama set in rural Quebec.

Édoin was also at TIFF in 2011 with his debut Marécages, a harsh coming-of-age story set on a farm, featuring Pascale Bussières and Luc Picard. His new film Ville-Marie boasts the resurgent star power of Monica Bellucci. In Ville-Marie, she plays a French actress shooting a film in Montreal, who attempts to reconnect with her son.

Dulude-De Celles’s La coupe won the Grand Jury Prize for international short films at Sundance in 2014. She’ll be at TIFF with her first feature, the documentary Bienvenue à FL (Welcome to FL), the result of interviews with students at Fernand-Lefebvre high school in Sorel-Tracy.

Several Quebec directors have short films screening at TIFF, among them: Denis Côté’s Nous nous assoupissions (May We Sleep Soundly); Godspeed You! Black Emperor collaborators David Bryant and Karl Lemieux’s Ondes de silence (Quiet Zone); and Mark Slutsky’s Never Happened.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 10 to 20. For more information, visit tiff.net.