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.
The 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
