Films by Guy Maddin, DenysArcand and Robert Lepage as well as a Spanish-Canadian coproduction wereamongst the films judged as the ten best Canadian films of 2003 yesterday.

Organised by the TorontoInternational Film Festival Group, the top ten list is intended to celebrateexcellence in Canadian film and present a platform for home-grown cinema in ableak distribution environment.

The selection was chosen byan independent 10-member national panel of industry professionals, includingfilmmakers Patricia Rozema and Jeremy Podeswa and Screen Internationalcontributing editor Denis Seguin.

In true Canadian style theten titles so honoured were presented in alphabetical order to prevent anyfurther incursion of meritocracy.

The films selected are:
20h17, Rue Darling, dir. BernardEmond
The Corporation, dir. MarkAchbar, Jennifer Abbott
Dying At Grace, dir. Allan King
The Far Side Of The Moon, dir.Robert Lepage
Falling Angels, dir. Scott Smith
The Barbarian Invasions, dir.Denys Arcand
My Life Without Me, dir. IsabelCoixet
Love, Sex And Eating The Bones,dir. Sudz Sutherland
On The Corner, dir. Nathaniel Geary
The Saddest Music In The World,dir. Guy Maddin

All of the films screened atthe 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, although this was not part of thecriteria. Two of the films, Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music In The World and Mark Achbar's and Jennifer Abbott'sdocumentary The Corporation, willbe screening at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Arcand's The BarbarianInvasions is Canada's official entryfor the 2004 Academy Award for best foreign-language film.

For the first time since itsinception in 2001, Canada's Top Ten will be screened to the public withintroductions and Q&As by filmmakers, and panel discussions featuring TopTen directors and their creative collaborators from January 20 to 29, 2004.