TIFF unveils Canadian lineup
McDonald, Maddin, Falardeau, Rozema among film luminaries
Many of Canada’s biggest directors are heeding the siren call of Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a continent’s worth of homegrown talent to celebrate at the Toronto International Film Festival. On Wednesday TIFF announced the bulk of its Canadian lineup — 72 shorts, features and documentaries from such luminaries as Bruce McDonald, Guy Maddin, Don McKellar, Philippe Falardeau, Patrick Reed, Denis Cote, Patricia Rozema and Barry Avrich.
In addition to the already announced opening-night film directed by Quebec’s Jean-Marc Vallee — Demolition, starring Jake Gyllenhaal — Canadians are well represented throughout the festival’s many programming streams.
Special presentations announced Wednesday include Robert Budreau’s Born to Be Blue, a reimagining of the life of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, starring Ethan Hawke and Carmen Ejogo; Patricia Rozema’s Into the Forest, starring Ellen Page (also at the festival with Freeheld) and Evan Rachel Wood in a near-future dystopia; and Guy Edoin’s Ville-Marie, set in a Quebec hospital.
This year, critics are getting behind the camera with films of their own. Katherine Monk, who used to write for the Postmedia chain of papers, presents the world premiere of her short film Rock the Box, about Vancouver-raised DJ Rhiannon Rozier and her efforts to succeed in the male-dominated world of electronic dance music.
And Brian Johnson, a former film critic for Maclean’s magazine, brings to the festival Al Purdy Was Here, a documentary that brings together musicians, writers and artists to celebrate the Canadian poet who died aged 81 at the turn of the century.
Other documentaries include Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr, a first-person perspective on the former U.S. prisoner, directed by Patrick Reed and Michelle Shephard; Ninth Floor, a look back at the 1969 Sir George Williams Riot, by Mina Shum; This Changes Everything, based on Naomi Klein’s book on climate change, directed by Avi Lewis; and Welcome to F.L., about students at a small-town Quebec high school, by Genevieve Dulude-De Celles.
Among the big names with short films at TIFF: Don McKellar, presenting It’s Not You, a film about breakups starring the graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada; Barry Avrich with The Man Who Shot Hollywood, a portrait of unknown celebrity photographer Jack Pashkovsky; and Denis Cote’s May We Sleep Soundly, set in a wintry landscape.
Also in the lineup this year: My Internship in Canada, by Philippe Falardeau, about a independent member of Parliament in northern Quebec who must decide whether Canada goes to war; Hellions, by Bruce McDonald, a horror film set on All Hallows’ Eve; and The Forbidden Room, directed by Evan Johnson and Guy Maddin, and as easy to describe in 10 words as anything Maddin does.
The Winnipeg auteur is represented twice at TIFF, having co-directed with Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson the most Canadian title of the year, Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton, a behind-the-scenes look at Paul Gross’s new film Hyena Road. Bring Me the Head will screen for free as part of the festival’s Wavelengths program.