2015 TIFF Canadian film wrapup

We asked for a quiet Canadian film to sneak up on us and that film also ended up taking the title of Best Canadian Film at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

Closet Monster is also a debut film, written and directed by Stephen Dunn, about a sexually confused teenager (Connor Jessup) who escapes into a fantasy world featuring a talking hamster (voice of Isabella Rossellini).

The film was shot in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The trailer doesn't feature any dialogue so we don't have a sense of script, yet our curiosity is piqued.

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A film that was on our radar did get an honourable mention for Best Canadian Film. My Internship in Canada from Philippe Falardeau excelled "for its dexterous intelligence and cinematic wit," according to the jury.

My Internship in Canada is a political satire film with Patrick Huard as an independent MP from Northern Quebec who holds the decisive vote over going to war.

TIFF 2015 announces Canadian film lineup

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Sleeping Giant is the full-length debut from Andrew Cividino, though the film is based on his short that finished in TIFF's Canada's Top Ten short films of 2014.

Summertime sees 3 friends by chance in Ontario cottage country with their friendship tested by a young woman. The jury remarked, "For its sophisticated plotting, indelible characters and insightful critique of masculinity through a fateful rite of passage on the north shore of Lake Superior," noted the jury.

The film looks intense based on the trailer. We'll see if Windsor offers one or both of the winners.

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Irish-Canadian film Room took the People’s Choice Award. Irish-born Canadian citizen Emma Donoghue wrote the screenplay and the novel for which the film was made.

The story is about a mother and young son who live in a 10x10 foot space and the adventure once they finally get out. Canadian actor Jacob Tremblay plays the young boy.

Brie Larson plays the mother while Joan Allen and William H. Macy are the grandparents.

The film does seem to getting quite a bit of buzz, even outside Toronto. Something to keep our eye on.

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We know U.S. filmgoers will have an easy time finding Freeheld, one of 2 Ellen Page films at TIFF 15. The good news is that Into the Forest from Patricia Rozema is in negotiations with an international distributor. Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood play two sisters living in a futuristic forest setting.

No deal is official until it is, but that is a very nice sign. Hopefully, this will be on the Windsor list as well.

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If you made it to the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and you saw a film that you loved (ideally Canadian film) or didn't like, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

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The award winners have been updated to reflect the 2015 winners. You can use this as a trusted resource in case you run out of current Canadian films to watch this winter.

Best Canadian Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2015	Closet Monster	Stephen Dunn
2014	Felix and Meira	Maxime Giroux
2013	When Jews Were Funny	Alan Zweig
2012	Laurence Anyways	Xavier Dolan
2011	Monsieur Lazhar	Philippe Falardeau
2010	Incendies	Denis Villeneuve
2009	Cairo Time	Ruba Nadda
2008	Lost Song	Rodrigue Jean
2007	My Winnipeg	Guy Maddin
2006	Manufactured Landscapes	Jennifer Baichwal
2005	C.R.A.Z.Y.	Jean-Marc Vallée
2004	It's All Gone Pete Tong	Michael Dowse
2003	Les Invasions Barbares	Denys Arcand
2002	Spider	David Cronenberg
2001	Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)	Zacharias Kunuk
2000	Waydowntown	Gary Burns
1999	The Five Senses	Jeremy Podeswa
1998	Nô	Robert Lepage
1997	The Sweet Hereafter	Atom Egoyan
	The Hanging Garden	Thom Fitzgerald
1996	Long's Day Journey Into The Night	David Wellington
1995	Live Bait	Bruce Sweeney
1994	Exotica	Atom Egoyan
1993	Kanehsatake: 270 Years Of Resistance	Alanis Obomsawin
1992	Requiem Pour Un Beau Sans-Coeur	Robert Morin
1991	The Adjuster	Atom Egoyan
1990	H	Darrell Wasyk
1989	Roadkill	Bruce McDonald
1988	The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick	Allan Goldstein
1987	Family Viewing	Atom Egoyan
1986	Le Déclin De L'empire Américain	Denys Arcand
1985	Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga Of Hal C. Banks	Donald Brittain
1984	La Femme De L'hôtel	Léa Pool
Best Canadian Feature Film (1991-present); Excellence in Canadian Production (1984-1990).

 

Best Canadian First Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2015	Sleeping Giant	Andrew Cividino
2014	Bang Bang Baby	Jeffrey St. Jules
2013	Asphalt Watches	Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver
2012	Antiviral	Brandon Cronenberg
	Blackbird	Jason Buxton
2011	Edwin Boyd	Nathan Morlando
2010	The High Cost of Living	Deborah Chow
2009	The Wild Hunt	Alexandre Franchi
2008	Before Tomorrow	Marie-Hélène Cousineau
		Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
2007	Un Film Sans Fusil Continental	Stéphane Lafleur
2006	Sur La Trace D'igor Rizzi	Nöel Mitrani
2005	The Life And Hard Times Of Guy Terrifico	Louise Archambault, Michael Mabbott
2004	La Peau Blanche	Daniel Roby
2003	Love, Sex and Eating The Bones	Sudz Sutherland
2002	Marion Bridge	Wiebke Von Carolsfeld
2001	Inertia	Sean Garrity
2000	La Moitié Gauche Du Frigo	Philippe Falardeau
1999	Just Watch Me:	Catherine Annau
	Trudeau and The 70's Generation
1998	Last Night	Don McKellar
1997	Cube	Vincenzo Natali
As determined by the Toronto International Film Festival.

videos credit: YouTube/TIFF // YouTube/Zurich Film Festival