We normally tease the start of the Toronto International Film Festival knowing that Canadian films don't start until Day 2 on Friday. For the first time in 9 years, a Canadian film is featured on opening night: Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band from director Daniel Roher. The film is the first Canadian documentary to open the Toronto International Film Festival.
We got a hint in Women Who Act that Ellen Page would get more involved behind the scenes in film. Page is on both sides of the camera on There's Something In The Water, a documentary about environmental racism with the Indigenous and African communities in Nova Scotia. Page and Ian Daniel, her partner on the Gaycation series, co-directed the film.
The Canadian film at the top of my list at TIFF 2019 is a documentary. No offence to Robbie Robertson and his Band mates, but the Ellen Page documentary raises my curiosity level. I realise my love for Nova Scotia is higher than my knowledge, especially for visible minorities in the province. I am intrigued to learn more about Ellen Page's storytelling technique in a non-fiction approach.
2019 TIFF Canadian film preview
2019 TIFF Rising Stars
Heather Graham and Sophie Nélisse as mother and daughter sounds intriguing in The Rest Of Us from Aisling Chin-Yee. Antigone from Sophie Deraspe was recommended by TIFF as part of its personal recommendations.
There are a few other Canadian films on my list of intrigue. Murmur from Heather Young shows Shan MacDonald as a troubled Halifax woman assigned to community service at an animal shelter. Raf from Harry Cepka features Grace Glowicki and Jesse Stanley as two women who change each other's lives. The Last Porno Show from Kire Paputts features a struggling actor who inherits his late father's porn theatre.
How Mister Rogers got his start on camera in Canada on the CBC
One non-Canadian film of note is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood from director Marielle Heller where Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers. The Mister Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? completely left out Rogers' time in Canada with the CBC. I will bet you the price of 2 tickets for this film and a large popcorn that the feature film will also ignore the Canadian history of Mister Rogers Neighbourhood. The feature runs in the Gala Presentations category.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
We have links to some outside coverage, such as Now Toronto 10 must-see Canadian films playing at TIFF 2019, a Canadian Press piece on 7 Canadian films to see in the festival, and CBC's TIFF 2019: CBC Indigenous lists 5 films to watch.
You can check out the details for all the Canadian films in the festival. The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival runs today through September 15.
photos credit: Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band film; There's Something in the Water film; The Rest Of Us film
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