TIFF’s Canada Top Ten
It’s been a tradition since 2001. Every year the TIFF folks roll out the ten best Canadian films, as selected by an august panel of savants, and put them up for display in January. This year the mini-festival runs Jan. 8 to 17 in Toronto and gets simulcast in Montreal and Vancouver as well.
It’s an interesting mix but full credit for limiting the kowtowing to celebrity as some of the more well-known Canadian filmmakers that released new features didn’t make the cut. Given that Deepa Mehta’s Beeba Boys should probably never be mentioned again, and Paul Gross’s Hyena Road was just alright, that may not have been a very tough call this year.
Here’s the top ten…
Closet Monster (dir. Stephen Dunn)
The Demons (Les démons – dir. Philippe Lesage)
Les êtres chers (Our Loved Ones – dir. Anne Émond)
The Forbidden Room (dir. Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson)
Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr (dir. Patrick Reed and Michelle Shephard)
HURT (dir. Alan Zweig)
Into the Forest (dir. Patricia Rozema)
My Internship in Canada (Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre – dir. Philippe Falardeau)
Ninth Floor (dir. Mina Shum)
Sleeping Giant (Le géant endormi – dir. Andrew Cividino)
There will be more details on exact screening times as the festival comes up on us. We do know that actor Kiefer Sutherland will do an In Conversation With… Jan. 16 as part of this whole shebang.
Holiday Screening Watch
TIFF’s X(mas)-Rated Edition of the Holiday Classics programme has some pretty cool offerings this week. The original Bob Clark Black Christmas is being introduced by cast member Keir Dullea Dec. 15 at 9 p.m. (which also nets us a 6:15 p.m. screening of 1973’s Paperback Hero about a minor league hockey player turning to crime).
This Monday (Dec. 14) and Thursday (Dec. 17) The Royal has a Dickensian double feature of A Christmas Carol (7 p.m.) and Scrooged (9 p.m.). I will thank you to let that misuse of "Dickensian" slide…
Screening Roundup
One of my favourite running programmes is The Revue’s Silent Revue. This month is another inspired choice as we get the braintrust behind Metropolis, Fritz Lang and his then-wife (and later, I’m afraid, a full-on Nazi…) Thea von Harbou reteaming for another sci-fi film. Woman in the Moon is not a masterpiece but its rocket-ship imagery has been used time and time again throughout 20th-century science fiction. There are cuts of this film that are more than three-hours long but the Revue is using the 112 minute version. Sunday Dec. 13 at 4:15 p.m.
Toronto Screengrab of the Week
Hedwig and the Angry Inch was last week. This time out, more dancing than singing…
