Canadian Crossing: 2023 TIFF wrapup

The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival is over. The mainstream film journalism sources are obsessed with the People's Choice Award (we'll get to that soon). We like to recognize the Canadian films that win awards at TIFF 2023.

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe from director Robert McCallum won the People's Choice Documentary Award. Easy to say Ernie Coombs aka Mr. Dressup is the Canadian version of Mister Rogers. As you can see in the above photo, the two of them worked together. Rogers created Mister Rogers Neighbourhood in Canada before bringing the show to the United States.

Every American movie on Rogers ignores his time in Canada with the CBC. Watch this documentary to see what you have been missing.

Announcing the winner of the #TIFFPeoplesChoiceAward for Documentary: MR. DRESSUP: THE MAGIC OF MAKE-BELIEVE dir. Robert McCallum #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/1EK0B4haqG
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 17, 2023

Kanaval might be our unofficial Canadian film winner of TIFF 2023. The film directed by Henri Pardo won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian Feature. Kanaval also won Honourable Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film, which these days is better than winning the award (more on that later).

Tautuktavuk from directors Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature. We applaud that this category has an overall winner and rewards first-time feature filmmakers. We just want the Best Canadian First Feature Film award back for Canadian films overall.

Announcing the winner of the #TIFF23 Best Canadian Feature Film Award: SOLO dir. Sophie Dupuis pic.twitter.com/EGqAMKzpmH
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 17, 2023

Solo from Sophie Dupuis won the Best Canadian Feature Film award. Unfortunately, this heralded award has lost a lot of its credibility in the last 3 years. Much better films win Honourable Mention.

We haven't seen Underground, Dupuis' second film. Her debut film — Chien de Garde — was one of the worst Canadian films we've seen. Hopefully, Dupuis has improved as a filmmaker. She does have the good sense to cast Théodore Pellerin in her 3 films.

Ste. Anne and To Kill a Tiger, the previous 2 winners, were also not the "best" Canadian film in the festival.

Announcing the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize: SEAGRASS dir. Meredith Hama-Brown. #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/29Zsql0KD0
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 17, 2023

The FIPRESCI Prize is given by international critics and a Canadian film rarely wins this award. I knew nothing about Seagrass from Meredith Hama-Brown before our TIFF Canadian film preview. The plot intrigued me for a lot of personal reasons.

This feels more significant this year than the actual Best Canadian Feature Film award.

Motherland from director Jasmin Mozaffari won the Best Canadian Short. Damon D’Oliveira won the Amplify Voices BIPOC Canadian Trailblazer Award.

Summer Qamp from director Jen Markowitz was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Documentary Award.

Hell of a Summer from directors Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk, technically a Canada co-production, won second runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

Spike Lee interviewing Talking Heads (David Byrne on far left) after very cool 40th Anniversary IMAX screening of Stop Making Sense… #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/i8Tpe15qLB
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) September 11, 2023

Nothing can stop Ethan Hawke from coming to #TIFF23 ❤️

The actor-director talks about taking a bus to Toronto to attend the World Premiere of his new film, WILDCAT. Captured with the @canoncanada PowerShot V10. pic.twitter.com/j9s3wwGYt0
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 12, 2023

We interrupt the Canadian film portion of our TIFF 2023 coverage to talk about things not Canadian. American Fiction from director Cord Jefferson won the People’s Choice Award. Sounds like the film has some things in common with Black Cop, the great Canadian film from a few years ago.

For the first time in recent memory, a Canadian film did not get a runner up spot in this award.

There wasn't as much of a "celebrity factor" because of the writers and actors strike. Getting David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz together again is worth a trip across the border. The Talking Heads reunited for an updated version of their amazing concert film Stop Making Sense. Too bad director Jonathan Demme has passed away, making a true reunion impossible.

Ethan Hawke, who has been in Canadian films such as Maudie and Born to Be Blue, has a great travel adventure of taking a bus from New York City to Toronto to attend TIFF 2023. Hawke directed his daughter Maya in Wildcat.

Announcing the winner of the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian Feature, presented by @canadagoose: KANAVAL dir. Henri Pardo. #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/mg08H3Bqnv
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 17, 2023

Tom Power and Q normally have extensive TIFF coverage, some of that related to Canadian film. Often, the segments run after the festival. The closest we get to Canadian film is an interview with Emma Seligman. Her new film is called Bottoms and definitely not a Canadian film.

The Current with Matt Galloway has some interviews with Canadian filmmakers.

Announcing the winner of the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature, presented by @canadagoose: TAUTUKTAVUK (WHAT WE SEE) dirs. Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk. #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/miTWfbytBz
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 17, 2023

We already have the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival Canadian Film nominees. 5 of the 10 films played at TIFF 2023.

Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize)
Irena's Vow (Louise Archambault)
The Nature Of Love (Monia Chokri)
Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan)
Solo (Sophie Dupuis)

We will have a lot more on this closer to WIFF 2023.

The video comes from TIFF 2023 celebrating Canadian film, which we do appreciate.

2023 TIFF leftovers

2023 TIFF preview

2023 TIFF Rising Stars

2023 TIFF Canadian film preview

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

TIFF Rising Stars

We profiled the 2023 class of TIFF Rising Stars. 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

2019 Kacey Rohl, Mikhail Ahooja, Nahéma Ricci, Shamier Anderson

2020 Madeleine Sims-Fewer

2021 Arooj Azeem, Emma Ferreira, Phillip Lewitski, Thomas Antony Olajide

2022 Natalia Aranguren, Isaiah Lehtinen, Carmen Madonia, Joshua Odjick

2023 Amrit Kaur, Cody Lightning, Kudakwashe Rutendo, Mark Clennon

Best Canadian Feature Film

Best Canadian Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2023	Solo	Sophie Dupuis
2022	To Kill A Tiger	Nisha Pahuja
2021	Ste. Anne	Rhayne Vermette
2020	Inconvenient Indian	Michelle Latimer
2019	Antigone	Sophie Deraspe
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

Best Canadian First Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2019	The Twentieth Century	Matthew Rankin
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.

Twitter captures: @TIFF_NET (x3); @MattBelloni; @TIFF_NET (x3)
photo credits: Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe; Kanaval
video credit: Toronto International Film Festival

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Canadian Crossing

Bienvenue and welcome to the Canadian Crossing. I am a U.S. citizen and a fan of things Canadian.
I am also a working journalist who wants Americans to better understand Canada. So here is my take on things Canadian.

September 18, 2023

2023 TIFF wrapup

2023 TIFF leftovers

2023 TIFF preview

2023 TIFF Rising Stars

2023 TIFF Canadian film preview