Canadian films headed to the Toronto International Film Festival this year include a survival tale from Patricia Rozema starring Ellen Page, a political satire from Philippe Falardeau, a horror film from Bruce McDonald, and a reimagining of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker's life, starring Ethan Hawke.
Festival organizers detailed the Canuck lineup at a press conference Tuesday featuring actors Paul Gross and Rossif Sutherland and veteran directors Rozema and Barry Avrich.
Sutherland stars in a Laos-set thriller caled "River," Rozema's film "Into the Forest" stars Page and Evan Rachel Wood as sisters left to fend for themselves, and Gross stars and directs the war film "Hyena Road," which was announced last week.
Organizers also touted two surreal visions from auteur Guy Maddin, shorts from directors Don McKellar and Avrich, and several documentary outings from prominent journalists.
"We're really thrilled by the docs," senior programmer Steve Gravestock said.
"We had a lot of really strong doc submissions and I think it's one of our strongest selections and maybe the most docs we've selected in quite some time. It's a pretty broad range, too."
Former CBC personality and doc maker Avi Lewis hits the festival with "This Changes Everything," inspired by the bestseller written by his partner Naomi Klein; longtime Maclean's film writer Brian D. Johnson directs the documentary "Al Purdy Was Here," about the celebrated poet; Toronto Star investigative journalist Michelle Shephard co-directs "Guantanamo's Child: Omar Khadr;" and former Postmedia film critic Katherine Monk explores the glass ceiling in electronic dance music in "Rock the Box."
Meanwhile, other dramatic titles include Falardeau's political feature "My Internship in Canada;" McDonald's Halloween-set "Hellions;" and Robert Budreau's '60s-era "Born to be Blue," about Baker.
Gravestock was high on the teen film "Sleeping Giant," a first feature from Andrew Cividino.
"'Giant' is I think one of the best feature debuts I've seen since Xavier Dolan's first film. Very Canadian, very English Canadian, very much about the landscape," he said. "It reminded me of summers I had when I was a teenager. (But) I didn't behave nearly as badly as them."
The films join other Canadian features announced last week from Atom Egoyan, Jon Cassar and Deepa Mehta.
Other titles revealed Tuesday include:
- "Ville-Marie," directed by Guy Edoin, which traces four lives at a hospital: an actress who hopes to reconcile with her son, a paramedic haunted by his past, and a nurse trying to keep an emergency room running.
- "Ninth Floor," directed by Mina Shum, about the Sir George Williams Riot of 1969.
- "Closet Monster," directed by Stephen Dunn, which follows a young man unsure of his sexuality and haunted by the memory of a tragic gay bashing he witnessed as a child.
- "Fire Song," directed by Adam Garnet Jones, about a young man torn between responsibilities at home in a remote reserve and the lure of moving to the big city.
- "How Heavy This Hammer," directed by Kazik Radwanski, about a 47-year-old father of two who is consumed by a crude computer game as his marriage collapses.
- "Our Loved Ones," directed by Anne Emond, about a family rocked by a death in the basement of their home.
Homegrown films compete for the best Canadian feature prize and best Canadian first feature prize.
Festival organizers also announced this year's rising stars, a program meant to shine the spotlight on emerging actors: Deragh Campbell, Stephan James, Aliocha Schneider and Karelle Tremblay are featured.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10 to 20.
