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| Ingrid Veninger's Porcupine Lake debuts at TIFF Courtesy of TIFF |
There were three recurring questions at today’s TIFF press conference
for Canadian films screening at this year’s festival:
1) Where’s the Dolan?
2) What about opening night?
3) Which of these people have you heard of?
Let’s unpack the #tiff17 interrogation in a game of bon
cop/bad cop.
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| Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan Shane Laverdière / Les Films Seville |
Question the first: it was widely assumed that Xavier Dolan’s
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
would be the major addition to this year’s Canadian programming at TIFF. The
new film from one of Canada’s hottest directors is just about as big as
Canadian films can get. Dolan’s first English-language film stars red carpet
friendly Jessica Chastain, Natalie Portman, Kit Harrington, Susan Sarandon,
Jacob Tremblay, Kathy Bates, and Adele, among others. After rebounding at TIFF
last year following a toxic Cannes reception, Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World finished impeccably on the artistic
front, scoring Screenies, Jutras, and Césars galore in addition to being one of
nine films shortlisted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Everything made sense for Dolan to be here, including a
recent blip on the marketing front with character posters teasing the film’s
release, but it wasn’t. Ask around and theories abound. Friends in the industry
and media side of things report a relatively consistent, if speculative, story
that says Dolan was unhappy with the berth TIFF offered him: A respectable red
carpet affair, but not opening night or a slot in the prestigious Masters
programme, which would’ve stroked the ego and capitalised on the event. One
member of TIFF’s Canadian programming team, however, says it simply wasn’t
ready. I’m inclined to believe the latter, unless Dolan simply found a better
offer from Sundance or Berlin.
On to question two. A few people previously thought that
Dolan’s film might have been the opener when neither it nor the opening night
Gala were announced at the first major press conference two weeks ago. That
film turned out to be the Shia LaBeef brodown Borg vs. McEnroe, if for no other reason than that the Emma
Stone/Steve Carell tennis title Battle of
the Sexes wanted to go to Telluride first. The latter film would have been
a much better fit for the festival’s #shareherstory campaign to promote women
filmmakers and talent.
On the other hand, a few conversations corroborated
speculation that a hipper Canadian film was tossed around as the opener and TIFF’s choice to have
directors/partners Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier speak at the
conference somewhat validated this assumption. The festival generally pairs the
speeches with a newcomer and a veteran, and the Long Time Running duo took the stage despite having their film
announced two weeks ago. One might have guessed Platform winner Alan Zweig or,
more likely, Alanis Obomsawin would have been the right choice for veteran
talent announced today. But that’s all speculation, theories, and talk over
poutine.
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| Alanis Obomsawin's Our People Will Be Healed Courtesy of TIFF |
Finally, the most frequent question of the day was one of name
recognition. In this case, however, the consensus was one of excitement. It was
a thrill to see such a wave of discoveries on the horizon.
Aside from veteran filmmakers Obomsawin, Zweig, and DenisCôté representing documentary at the festival, there weren’t many recognisable
names announced. (Check back at POV
for an interview with Côté on his doc closer to the festival.) There’s Kim Nguyen with Eye on Juliet and Ingrid Veninger with the terrific looking Porcupine
Lake, plus Mina Shum with her fourth dramatic feature Meditation Park, but familiarity wasn’t the name of the game today.
Discovery was.
Many TIFF announcements and events have been heavily
embroiled with identity politics and today’s announcement was no exception.
However, the Canadian team made a fair effort to promote new artists while
emphasising the originality of vision and freshness of the voices on display at
the festival this year, which was important in terms of advancing the
conversation for promoting talent from all backgrounds.
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| Molly Parker's Bird Courtesy of TIFF |
This year’s Canadian line-up unveiled a lot of features from
emerging talents with Guidance’s Pat
Mills and Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves’ Simon Lavoie returning to the festival with Don’t Talk to Irene and The Little Girl Who Played with Matches offering
intriguing comedy and art film fodder, respectively, while Backcountry’s Adam MacDonald offers more genre fare with Pyewacket as does zombie flick director
Robin Aubert. Equally promising was the short film front with a new doc from
Michelle Latimer produced by Laura Poitras, the directorial debut of actress
Molly Parker, and a new short from actor/up and coming director Connor Jessup. Filmmakers
making the jump from shorts to features include Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Around), Wayne Wapeemukwa (Luk'Luk'I),
and Grayson Moore and Aidan Shipley (Cardinals),
who’ve had some of the stronger shorts at recent festivals.
Whatever happened with the Dolan and the potential opening
night, however, is their loss and our gain.
Canadian films at TIFF are:
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Eye on Juliet
Kim Nguyen, Canada | North American Premiere
MASTERS
Our People Will Be Healed
Alanis Obomsawin, Canada | World Premiere
TIFF DOCS
The Carter Effect
Sean Menard, Canada/USA | World Premiere
Living Proof
Matt Embry, Canada | World
Premiere
There is a House Here
Alan Zweig, Canada | World Premiere
DISCOVERY
A Worthy Companion
Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez, Canada | World Premiere
All You Can Eat Buddha
Ian Lagarde, Canada | World Premiere
AVA
Sadaf Foroughi, Iran/Canada/Qatar | World Premiere
Black Cop
Cory Bowles, Canada | World Premiere
Cardinals
Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, Canada | World Premiere
Luk'Luk'I
Wayne Wapeemukwa, Canada | World Premiere
Mary Goes Round
Molly McGlynn, Canada } World Premiere
Never Steady, Never Still
Kathleen Hepburn, Canada | World Premiere
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
BLACK KITE
Tarique Qayumi, Canada/Afghanistan | World Premiere
Don't Talk to Irene
Pat Mills, Canada | World Premiere
Les Affamés
Robin Aubert, France/Canada | World Premiere
Meditation Park
Mina Shum, Canada | World Premiere
Porcupine Lake
Ingrid Veninger, Canada | World Premiere
Public Schooled
Kyle Rideout, Canada | World Premiere
Pyewacket
Adam MacDonald, Canada | World Premiere
The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille
qui aimait trop les allumettes)
Simon Lavoie, Canada | World Premiere
PRIMETIME
Alias Grace
Mary Harron, Canada/USA | World Premiere
WAVELENGTHS
PROTOTYPE
Blake Williams, Canada | North American Premiere
Ta peau si
lisse (A Skin so Soft)
Denis Côté, Canada/Switzerland | North American Premiere
TIFF runs Sept. 7-17.
TIFF runs Sept. 7-17.
