2018 TIFF Canadian film wrapup

The top Canadian film prizes for the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival went to a pair of quiet films.

The Best Canadian Feature Film went to The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparution des lucioles) from director Sébastien Pilote. This puts the film in strong contention for Canada's entry for Best Foreign Language Film that should be announced soon. Pilote once again takes us into rural Quebec. Karelle Tremblay stars in the film where she falls for an older guy in an small industrial town.

The Best Canadian First Feature Film went to Roads in February from director Katherine Jerkovic. While the film starts out in Montréal, the majority of the scenery is in Uruguay. Sarah (below) has just lost her father and visits her paternal grandmother in Uruguay.

"The only thing left to do now is learn from what people will see and say. I've come to a point where I need to share the film with the world." — Xavier Dolan on letting people see The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, which debuted last week at 2018 TIFF.

There will be no spoilers. The film has made its world premiere. Hopefully, I will see the film in Windsor and hoping for a halfway decent U.S. run.

Natalie Portman and Thandie Newton are both featured in the Xavier Dolan film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Portman and Newton were both interviewed by Tom Power on Q. Newton's interview covered a few topics including the Dolan film. The Portman interview talked about Vox Lux, but not the Dolan film. We know that happens sometimes: Ellen Page had 3 films in the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. But Q could have mentioned the Dolan film in that interview even at the end.

2018 TIFF preview

2018 TIFF Canadian film preview

2018 TIFF Rising Stars

Xavier Dolan is not giving up on Quebec for future films

Jerkovic was part of the 35% of filmmakers at TIFF 2018 who are female. TIFF has a goal of 50/50 for female filmmakers by 2020.

Geena Davis suggested the problem of onscreen inequality should start with kids content. Davis spoke at a Time's Up rally during TIFF's Share Her Journey. "Onscreen representation is the most urgent — why are we training kids to have unconscious gender bias at an early age, when we know it's so hard to get rid of?"

Davis was in Don't Talk to Irene, a Canadian film that played at TIFF 2017.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Drake normally represents Toronto on a massive scale but cancelled at the last minute for the opening night premiere of Monsters and Men, for which Drake is an executive producer.

Some films that aren't Canadian have some Canadian roots. A good example is The Sisters Brothers based on the novel from Canadian author Patrick deWitt.

TIFF Rising Stars

We profiled the 2018 class of TIFF Rising Stars here. Here is the list from all the years.

2011 Sarah Allen, Katie Boland, Sarah Gadon, Keon Mohajeri

2012 Tatiana Maslany, Connor Jessup, Charlotte Sullivan, Charlie Carrick

2013 Megan Park, Johnathan Sousa, Evelyne Brochu, Cara Gee

2014 Shannon Kook, Sophie Desmarais, Alexandre Landry, Julia Sarah Stone

2015 Deragh Campbell, Stephan James, Aliocha Schneider, Karelle Tremblay

2016 Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki, Mylène Mackay, Sophie Nélisse

2017 Daniel Doheny, Mary Galloway, Théodore Pellerin, Ellen Wong

2018 Devery Jacobs, Lamar Johnson, Michaela Kurimsky, Jess Salgueiro

Best Canadian Feature Film

I have seen a few of these films, including Closet Monster.

Best Canadian Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2018	The Fireflies Are Gone	Sebastien Pilote
2017	Les Affamés	Robin Aubert
2016	Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves	Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
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

Haven't seen too many of these films: exceptions being Sleeping Giant, Marion Bridge, and Last Night. Finally saw Old Stone. Some of those titles are quite enticing.

Best Canadian First Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2018	Roads in February	Katherine Jerkovic
2017	Luk' Luk'l	Wayne Wapeemukwa
2016	Old Stone	Johnny Ma
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.

video credit: YouTube/TIFF Trailers
photo credit: TIFF