Toronto 2014 top brass unveil Canadian line-up

“These are filmmakers at the top of their craft, bringing fresh perspectives to traditional genres like comedies and less traditionally Canadian genres, such as musicals,” said Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) senior programmer Steve Gravestock. “This year’s slate truly showcases the diversity of talent in our country, featuring films from coast to coast.”

“We are inspired by the number of exceptional debut features from Canadian directors, reflecting the depth of talent in this country,” said TIFF’s Canadian features programmer Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo.

“Extremely exciting is also the fact that female-driven narratives play a significant part in this year’s programming, highlighting the strong, rich tapestry of our storytelling.”

The Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film is up for grabs, as is the City Of Toronto Award for the best Canadian debut feature.

This year’s Canadian awards jury includes The F Word director Michael Dowse, The Animal Project director Ingrid Veninger, Gerontophilia producer Jennifer Jonas and film critic Jason Anderson.

TIFF organisers also unveiled the Talent Lab participants, projects in the Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programme and the four TIFF Rising Stars.

Key: WP = world premiere, CP = Canadian premiere, TP = Toronto premiere.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

An Eye For Beauty (Le Règne De La Beauté), Denys Arcand TP

The Elephant Song, Charles Binane WP

Mommy (pictured), Xavier Dolan TP

October Gale, Ruba Nadda WP

Preggoland, Jacob Tierney WP

TIFF DOCS

Monsoon, Sturla Gunnarsson WP

The Price We Pay (La Face Cachée De L’impôt), Harold Crooks WP

The Wanted 18 (Canada-Palestine-France), Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan WP

DISCOVERY

Backcountry, Adam MacDonald WP

Bang Bang Baby, Jeffrey St Jules WP

Big Muddy, Jefferson Moneo WP

Corbo, Mathieu Denis WP

Guidance, Pat Mills WP

In Her Place (Canada-South Korea), Albert Shin WP

Songs She Wrote About People She Knows, Kris Elgstrand WP

The Valley Below, Kyle Thomas WP

We Were Wolves, Jordan Canning WP

Wet Bum, Lindsay Mackay WP

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

Félix And Meira, Maxime Giroux WP

Heartbeat, Andrea Dorfman WP

Love In The Time Of Civil War (L’amour Au Temps De La Guerre Civile), Rodrigue Jean WP

Teen Lust, Blaine Thurier WP

Tu dors Nicole, Stéphane Lafleur TP

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

The Editor, Matthew Kennedy and Adam Brooks WP

MASTERS

Trick Or Treaty? Alanis Obomsawin WP

TIFF CINEMATHEQUE

Speaking Parts,Atom Egoyan

Crime Wave, John Paizs

WAVELENGTHS

The following short films will screen as part of the Wavelengths programme:

brouillard - passage #14, Alexandre Larose WP

The Innocents, Jean-Paul Kelly WP

Red Capriccio, Blake Williams WP

Lunar Almanac (Canada-Chile), Malena Szlam TP

FUTURE PROJECTIONS

Anna And The Tower, Lynne Marsh WP

David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars was previously announced in the Gala programme.

SHORT CUTS

The Short Cuts Canada programme encompasses 42 films from the likes of Norman McLaren to Amanda Strong and Yassmina Karajah. For the full line-up click here.

TALENT LAB / TELEFILM CANADA PITCH THIS!

The 2014 Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! editions have been announced.

TALENT LAB

Now in its 11th year, the participants are:  

Canada: Andrew Cividino,
Benjamin Schuetze,
Elisia Mirabelli,
Danilo Baracho,
Deanne Foley,
Dylan Reibling,
Genevieve Dulude-De Celles, Kate Melville, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos and Remi St-Michel.

International: Alireza Khatami (US),
Aneta Kopacz (Poland),
Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia),
Fabio Mollo (Italy),
Joan Chemla (France),
Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten (Sweden), Mattie Do (Laos),
Siam (Mohamed), Mahmoud (Egypt),
Tomasz Wasilewski (Poland)
and Vera Sölvadóttir (Iceland).

The governors include Jim Stark, Claire Denis, Sandra Oh and Ramin Bahrani.

TELEFILM CANADA PITCH THIS!

Now in its 15th year, the finallists are:

A Tomb With A View (Hugh Gibson and Ryan Noth); Dog Beach, Florida (Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart); Lake 239 (Karen Harnisch and Sarag Goodman); Ten Thousand Happiness (Johnny Ma and Sarah Stallard); Trance (Jason DaSilva, Leigh DaSilva and Alice Cook); and X Quinientos (Yanick Létourneau and Juan Andres Arango).

TIFF RISING STARS

The selections are: Sophie Desmarais, Shannon Kook, Alexandre Landry and Julia Sarah Stone.

“The 2014 Rising Stars are a diverse group of actors, each carving his or her own path in the industry with unique projects,” said TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey. “We are thrilled to welcome them to the programme and look forward to charting their trajectory in the Canadian industry and abroad.”

The four Rising Stars will take part in a special programme organised by the TIFF Industry Office that includes media training, seminars with international casting directors, one-on-one meetings with filmmakers and networking opportunities.

TIFF will take place from September 4-14.