Eleven Films to Watch Out For At TIFF

Before Telefilm Canada goes the way of Britain's doomed Film Council, it's time we realized what high-quality films our local movie industry has been producing lately.

After David Cameron’s government recently announced plans to close the U.K.’s Film Council, many of us in Canada’s movie industry felt a chill. In the name of fiscal prudence, Cameron’s bean-counters are making radical changes. There is no reason to believe that a Stephen Harper majority will see it differently. Or at least that’s the fear.

The Film Council, like BBC’s Channel 4 in its heyday, was a hallowed model of alternative movie production. Each defined Britain’s home-grown industry. The Film Council’s equivalent agency here is Telefilm Canada, and it would be just as vulnerable to cost-cutting measures. It certainly seems likely that a Tory majority means we’re in for another political debate on the merit and fiscal prudence of investing public funds in movies.

Before then, it would be good if more Canadians took stock of what our local movie industry produces. Most of us are woefully underexposed to this output. Events such as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – along with Canada’s other fine film festivals – offer the best venue for viewing these movies. And, hey, you never know when you might need a well-formed opinion about what we have or have not achieved as a nation in the realm of cinema.

Depending on your taste and your nationalistic fervency, there’s likely something you’ll enjoy and something you’ll loathe. Of course, that is exactly as it should be at a festival. The good news is that you can usually sniff out what you want to see with a bit of snooping in the festival programs and by cross-referencing a few timely reviews.

For my money, it’s the cohort of younger, up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers that deserve a look at TIFF this year. I would argue this even if David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan were screening their gilded wares. As they aren’t, you might just take the chance to try out some of these new and emerging voices.

Anyone with a taste for off-beat comedy with indie-film sensibilities may appreciate:

Jonathon Sobol’s A Beginner’s Guide to Endings and Michael Goldbach’s Daydream Nation. Both of these are quirky first-time feature films from talented writer-directors who combine charming comic voices with genuine emotional sincerity.

On the raunchier and more satirical side, there’s Michael Dowse’s Fubar II. As a sequel to his breakthrough and seminal mockumentary hit, it will never live up the outlandish original for me. Nonetheless, and as its inclusion in TIFF’s Midnight Madness section suggests, this film looks to be just as much raucous fun.

For the more serious and sober-minded, the following three films are worth exploring:

Ingrid Veninger’s Modra and Ryan Redford’s Oliver Sherman come in the form of more poignantly realized emotional dramas. Fans of character study and quietly observed naturalism will enjoy these choices.

Finally, Lisa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower explores human trafficking, a topical and disturbing international issue. It will be of interest to those who dig political thrillers and/or subjects with broader social and political relevance (no trailer available).