The TIFF 2017 list of Canadian films features a lot of first-time directors at the helm of about a third of the Canadian films in the festival. One of those feature debuts includes A Worthy Companion from Carlos Sanchez and Jason Sanchez. Evan Rachel Wood appears in another Canadian film after Into the Forest. Wood's character embarks on an intimate relationship with a teenage pianist, played by Julia Sarah Stone.
The TV adaptation of Alias Grace will make its debut with Sarah Gadon, Anna Paquin, and Paul Gross. Sarah Polley wrote and produced the miniseries based on the Margaret Atwood novel. Alias Grace debuts September 25 on CBC and will eventually run on Netflix outside Canada.
Sandra Oh reunites with Mina Shum in the dramedy Meditation Park with Liane Balaban and Don McKellar. Shum directed Oh in Double Happiness.
A pair of Canadian films will run in the Gala category. Long Time Running, a documentary on the final tour for The Tragically Hip, will be part of the Gala category at TIFF 2017. The documentary comes from Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. The Breadwinner is an adaptation from the young adult novel by Canadian author Deborah Ellis by Anita Doron.
Don't Talk to Irene from Pat Mills features an overweight teenage girl who wants to be a cheerleader. The film features Scott Thompson of the Kids in the Hall and Geena Davis.
Daniel Doheny, Russell Peters, and Judy Greer are in Public Schooled from Kyle Rideout. Doheny plays a home-schooled teen who switches gears to public school.
Kim Nguyen is back with Eye on Juliet, a love story with a pipeline guardian and a young woman from the Middle East. Doesn't seem like much of Canada visible in this film.
Cory Bowles from Trailer Park Boys makes his directorial debut with Black Cop, a satire on police-community relations.
Mary Goes Round has some intriguing potential about a substance abuse counselor who gets a DUI arrest. Writer-director Molly McGlynn brings her back to her hometown of Niagara Falls with her estranged father dying of cancer. The protagonist also wants her to form a bond with her teenaged half-sister who she hasn't met.
Slovakian-Canadian director Ingrid Veninger intrigued and befuddled us in 2011 with i am a good person/i am a bad person. Veninger returns with Porcupine Lake with two teenage young women enjoying summertime adventures before adulthood arrives.
Pyewacket takes us into the world of a failed occult ritual attempt that leads to an awakening in the woods from director Adam MacDonald.
2016 TIFF Canadian film wrapup
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
I still haven't seen Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Ceux qui font les revolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau) but Simon Lavoie is back with The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes). This film explore the lives of two children after their father’s death who reflect on how they were raised.
His previous film won the best Canadian feature film in TIFF 2016.
On the documentary front, Alanis Obomsawin's newest work is Our People Will Be Healed about an innovative school in a remote Cree community north of Winnipeg. The Carter Effect from Sean Menard explores the impact that NBA all-star Vince Carter made on Toronto while he was with the Raptors.
Denis Côté is back with Ta peau si lisse (A Skin so Soft) about the livelihoods of six high-level bodybuilders. I had issues with Vic and Flo Saw a Bear and my friend really hated his last film. He might be your kind of filmmaker.
There has been no news about The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan from Xavier Dolan. Despite the American cast, Dolan's work still counts as Canadian.
We don't talk enough about short films, but Bird is worth mentioning since the film was written and directed by Molly Parker, one of our favourite Canadian actresses. Amanda Plummer plays a woman struggling with her ailing parents and the escape of a beloved pet. Bird made it debut at Cannes this past spring.
The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7-17. For more of the Canadian and other films, click here for more information from TIFF.
TIFF 2016 Canadian film preview
In case you don't know much about the 2017 TIFF Rising Stars, films from this year's festival will help you out.
The 2017 TIFF Rising Stars are Daniel Doheny, Mary Galloway, Théodore Pellerin, and Ellen Wong.
We mentioned earlier that Doheny is in Public Schooled. Galloway and Pellerin are in Never Steady, Never Still about a woman with advanced Parkinson's disease who must cope with her husband who suffers a heart attack. You might remember Wong from her breakout role in Scott Pilgrim Saves the World.
The program has showcased some amazing young talent, including Sophie Nélisse (2016); Tatiana Maslany (2012); Stephan James (2015); Connor Jessup (2012); Julia Sarah Stone (2014); Evelyne Brochu (2013); and Sarah Gadon (2011).
photo credit: TIFF
Comments