We are delighted to present CELEBRATING ALANIS, a special TIFF Cinematheque retrospective of Abenaki artist, filmmaker, singer, writer, and activist Alanis Obomsawin. Curated by @jasonryle and co-presented with @thenfb. #TIFF21 https://t.co/ENOYYYLqBU pic.twitter.com/NEoVNkfnCy
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 11, 2021
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the screening of Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine.
The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival will be significantly larger than the 2020 version but falling short of 2019. This means more Canadian films than the 5 plus co-productions from the 2020 lineup.
TIFF will announce the official film schedule online this morning at 10 am Eastern.
Celebrating Alanis Obomsawin will be in the words of TIFF, "the centrepiece of the 46th Toronto International Film Festival."
Obomsawin has been a legendary Indigenous documentary film director telling stories that otherwise might have been underappreciated or completely ignored outside Indigenous circles.
She is likely best known for her portrayal of the 1990 Oka crisis in Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). You might know Obomsawin from her recent documentaries: We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice (2016); Our People Will Be Healed (2017); and Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger (2019).
"Her voice as a filmmaker, musician, visual artist, and activist has been consistent. She tells the stories of how Indigenous people in Canada have resisted injustice and abuse inflicted by the most powerful authorities a country can have, and how those people have fought back in the streets and in the courts. Most of all, her more than 50 documentaries made with the National Film Board show how Indigenous peoples have drawn on rich, deep traditions going back thousands of years to assert their presence as vital communities determined to continue on for thousands more years into the future." said TIFF in promo information.
Here is a list of full-length Canadian films, including co-productions. All descriptions of films supplied by TIFF.
Contemporary World Cinema
Maria Chapdelaine (Sébastien Pilote) A teen in rural Quebec must decide her future by choosing one of three suitors, in the moving adaptation of Louis Hémon’s 1913 novel.
Kicking Blood (Blaine Thurier) A sultry, perma-stoned, ultra-modern spin on the vampire genre evokes cult-horror figures like George A. Romero and Stuart Gordon.
Discovery
Learn To Swim (Thyrone Tommy) The feature debut from Toronto’s Tommy charts the stormy romance between two very different contemporary jazz musicians.
Quickening (Haya Waseem) The debut feature explores the life of a young woman of colour navigating love, heartbreak, and family turmoil.
Scarborough (Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson) Three kids in a low-income neighbourhood find friendship and community in an unlikely place, in this adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s award-winning book.
Wildhood (Bretten Hannam) Link and his brother flee their abusive father and embark on a journey where Link discovers his sexuality and rediscovers his Mi’kmaw heritage.
2020 TIFF wrapup
2020 TIFF preview
Gala Presentations
Night Raiders (Danis Goulet) Singular thriller draws on Canada’s ugly colonial legacy for a propulsive piece of genre cinema set in a dystopian postwar future.
Lakewood (Phillip Noyce) Naomi Watts stars in a nerve-rattling thriller about a mother struggling to rescue her son from a school shooter.
The Survivor (Barry Levinson) A biographical drama starring Ben Foster as boxer Harry Haft, who looks to carry on after fighting to survive in WWII concentration camp.
Platform
Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres (Ivan Grbovic) A drug-cartel worker runs afoul of his boss and migrates to Canada, in this timely tale of star-crossed love and starting over.
Special Presentations
All My Puny Sorrows (Michael McGowan) Michael McGowan’s touching adaptation of Miriam Toews’ beloved novel about two sisters boasts a fine cast led by Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon.
Charlotte (Tahir Rana, Eric Warin) The remarkable true story of Charlotte Salomon, a German Jewish artist defying incredible odds to create a masterpiece during World War II.
The Middle Man (Bent Hamer) In a town plagued by disaster, one man holds the job of breaking the worst news to its citizens, in director Bent Hamer’s latest oddball comedy.
TIFF Docs
Oscar Peterson: Black + White Picture (Barry Avrich) Director Barry Avrich’s affectionate celebration of Canada’s greatest jazz musician situates the master pianist in the genre’s pantheon.
Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace (Heather Hatch) The many environmental, social, legal and human perils of BC’s controversial Site C hydro dam project are explored in Heather Hatch’s must-watch doc.
Wavelengths
Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette) This stirring debut feature by the Manitoban filmmaker and artist is a formally alluring examination of home by way of places and people.
2020 TIFF Canadian film preview
When TIFF concentrated on Canadian films for the opening night film
2020 TIFF Rising Stars
If we were to focus on a singular film on this list, we would lean toward All My Puny Sorrows. Michael McGowan has a strong track record in our world with films such as Saint Ralph (2004); One Week (2008); and Still Mine (2012). We even forgive him (ha ha) for Score: A Hockey Musical (2010). This is McGowan's first film in 9 years. The major roles in the film, besides the on-screen sisters of Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon (shown above), belong to Amybeth McNulty, Donal Logue, Aly Mawji and American actor Mare Winningham.
Sébastien Pilote is back with Maria Chapdelaine. You might remember his 2018 film The Fireflies Are Gone | La disparition des lucioles.
Scarborough could be a breakthrough. Wildhood might be difficult to watch but worth the watch. Ste. Anne could be a sleeper.
The Middle Man is from an established Norwegian director. Sault Ste. Marie, ON is used for the American Midwest. The cast features some fine Canadian talent such as Paul Gross, Don McKellar, Rossif Sutherland, Kenneth Welsh, Sheila McCarthy, and Bill Lake. Would watch this even if it wasn't a Canadian film.
Oscar Peterson: Black + White Picture and Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace documentaries look promising.
The beauty of film is there will always be pleasant surprises that may not be as obvious.
2021 CBC television upfront preview
TIFF will run 3 episodes of Sort Of, the new CBC comedy from Fab Filippo and Bilal Baig about "a young gender-fluid caregiver, whose life plans are disrupted when tragedy strikes the family they help to maintain." The CBC show runs this fall and has a U.S. deal with HBO Max.
CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage
The Toronto Raptors were not the first NBA franchise in Toronto. The Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in the first NBA game in 1946.
TIFF is celebrating that 75th anniversary with NBA Films For Fans, a collection of 5 short films (one for each player on the court) from Canadian filmmakers and basketball fans Romeo Candido, Shawn Gerrard, Kat Jayme, Thyrone Tommy, and S.M. Turrell.
Canadian power-rock hitmakers @TriumphTheBand revisit their ‘80s heyday and prepare to meet devotees in the World Premiere of the documentary TRIUMPH: ROCK & ROLL MACHINE, from directors Sam Dunn and Marc Ricciardelli. #TIFF21 https://t.co/0Xyn3Sz2Fj pic.twitter.com/6gVRW0ZIq5
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 24, 2021
A last-minute addition covers a Canadian band your humble narrator knows pretty well, even if others have to Google their music. Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine ought to be a fun time.
Oscar nomination should help people find Denis Villeneuve Quebec films
Denis Villeneuve will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award at the 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards. His latest film Dune will premiere at 2021 TIFF. While Villeneuve hasn't written any of his "American films," he co-wrote the screenplay for Dune.
We couldn't help but notice that in the TIFF release, they listed all of his American films and Incendies. They forget about August 32nd on Earth (1998); Maelström (2000); and Polytechnique (2009). The first 2 films were the Canadian entries to what was then the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards.
Sitting through Enemy, your humble narrator was missing the quality of his earlier films.
The 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards will be broadcast on CTV and streamed internationally by Variety.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Mark your calendar.
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 18, 2021
Single tickets for in-person and digital screenings at #TIFF21 go on sale to Members September 4 and to the public September 6: https://t.co/hnoGFEU5XA pic.twitter.com/AS8gawo5gw
Individual tickets for in-person and digital events go on sale to the public at 10am ET on September 6. Obviously, tickets are available sooner to TIFF members. If you are attending in person, you should know the nuances of the COVID-19 policy and how that can and will change.
The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 9-18.
Twitter captures: @tiff_net
photo credit: All My Puny Sorrows film
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