Toronto Adds Slate of Canadian Films

Harvey Keitel, Jay Baruchel, Zach Braff among the stars of 32 new Canadian films

The Toronto International Film Festival has international as part of its name, but for now the fest is looking close to home.

Festival organizers on Tuesday announced the addition of 32 features and 40 short films to this year’s lineup, all of them Canadian films.

New selections include Jonathan Sobol’s comedy “A Beginners Guide to Endings,” with Harvey Keitel and Scott Caan; Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” a Middle East-set drama based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad; “Les amours imaginaries” (“Heartbeats”), the second feature from “I Killed My Mother” director Xavier Dolan (photo below); Bruce McDonald’s “Trigger,” in which Molly Parker and the late Tracy Wright play a rock duo reuniting after a decade apart; and “Good Neighbors,” a thriller about a serial killer loose in Montreal, directed by Jacob Tierney and starring Scott Speedman and Jay Baruchel.

HeartbeatsThe festival will also screen a restored copy of director Allan King’s “A Married Couple,” which the TIFF press release calls “one of the most influential and celebrated Canadian films ever made.”

In the Canada First! Section, the festival will screen six films from up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers, including Mike Goldblach’s “Daydream Nation,” with Kat Dennings and Andie MacDowell; Deborah Chow’s “High Cost of Living,” with Isabelle Blais and Zach Braff; and Ryan Redford’s “Oliver Sherman,” with Donal Logue, Molly Parker and Garret Dilahunt.

A lineup of 40 short films make up the Short Cuts Canada program. The full list is available at the TIFF website.

From the press releases:

GALAS

A Beginners Guide to Endings, Jonathan Sobol
World Premiere

With Harvey Keitel, Scott Caan, Paolo Costanzo, Wendy Crewson, Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, and J.K. Simmons.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie,  Sturla Gunnarsson
World Premiere 

Documentary about environmentalist David Suzuki

Good Neighbours, Jacob Tierney
World Premiere

With Scott Speedman, Emily Hampshire and Jay Baruchel.

Incendies, Denis Villeneuve
North American Premiere
Based on the play by Wajdi Mouawad.



Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats), Xavier Dolan
English Canadian Premiere


Repeaters, Carl Bessai
World Premiere


Trigger, Bruce McDonald
World Premiere

With Molly Parker, Tracy Wright, Sarah Polley, Don McKellar and Callum Keith Rennie.

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

À l’origine d’un cri, Robin Aubert
World Premiere 


MODRA, Ingrid Veninger
World Premiere

A Night for Dying Tigers, Terry Miles 

World Premiere

With Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows, Kathleen Roberston, Lauren Lee Smith, Tygh Runyon and John Pyper-Ferguson.

Route 132,  Louis Bélanger
English Canadian Premiere


Small Town Murder Songs, Ed Gass-Donnelly
World Premiere 

With Peter Stormare, Jill Hennessy, Aaron Poole and Martha Plimpton.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Fubar II, Michael Dowse
World Premiere  



REAL TO REEL

How to Start Your Own Country, Jody Shapiro
World Premiere


The Man of a Thousand Songs, William D. MacGillivray
World Premiere


VISIONS

Curling, Denis Côté
North American Premiere 


Trois temps après la mort d'Anna, Catherine Martin
English Canadian Premiere 


CANADIAN OPEN VAULT

A Married Couple, Allan King

CANADA FIRST!

Daydream Nation, Mike Goldblach

Amazon Falls.  Katrin Bowen

High Cost of Living, Deborah Chow

Jalouz, Patrick Demers

Oliver Sherman, Ryan Redford

You Are Here, Daniel Cockburn

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