A new TV adaptation of a Margaret Atwood novel, a high school comedy starring Judy Greer and Daniel Doheny, and a documentary about basketball star Vince Carter are among the Canadian films added to the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday.
TIFF organizers announced almost three dozen Canadian features and shorts spread out across the entire festival, along with additional programs that will feature homegrown filmmakers and actors.
Mary Harron‘s “Alias Grace,” a miniseries which stars Anna Paquin and was adapted by Sarah Polley from the Margaret Atwood novel about an 1843 murder, will be part of the Primetime section, which is devoted to television projects.
Kyle Rideout’s “Public Schooled,” starring Greer and Doheny, will screen in the Contemporary World Cinema section. And Sean Menard’s documentary “The Carter Effect,” about the Toronto Raptors star, will be part of the TIFF Docs program.
The Toronto Film Festival’s Special Presentations section will include “Eye on Juliet” by Kim Nguyen, whose 2012 drama “War Witch” was nominated for an Oscar; the Masters section will include Alanis Obomsawin’s “Our People Will Be Healed.” And TIFF Docs will also include Matt Embry’s “Living Proof” and Alan Zweig’s “There Is a House Here.”
Among the other Canadian filmmakers represented in the selection are Denis Côté (“A Skin So Soft”), Simon Lavoie (“The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches”) and Adam MacDonald (“Pyewacket”).
Most of the films are world premieres, and almost a third of them are by first-time directors.
TIFF also announced that this year’s TIFF Rising Stars program will feature four young Canadian actors: Daniel Doheny, Mary Galloway, Théodore Pellerin and Ellen Wong. In addition, Montreal-based filmmaker Anne Émond will be the 2017 Len Blum resident at the festival’s TIFF Bell Lightbox, And the Telefilm Canada PITCH THIS! competition will return for its 18th year, with six teams of young Canadian filmmakers making six-minute pitches in front of a live audience and the winning team taking home $15,000.
The full list of films, including Canadian shorts, can be found at tiff.net.
The feature film additions:
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
“Eye on Juliet,” Kim Nguyen
MASTERS
“Our People Will Be Healed,” Alanis Obomsawin
TIFF DOCS
“The Carter Effect,” Sean Menard
“Living Proof,” Matt Embry
“There is a House Here,” Alan Zweig
DISCOVERY
“A Worthy Companion,” Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez
“All You Can Eat Buddha,” Ian Lagarde
“AVA,” Sadaf Foroughi
“Black Cop,” Cory Bowles
“Cardinals Grayson Moore,” Aidan Shipley
“Luk’Luk’I,” Wayne Wapeemukwa
“Mary Goes Round,” Molly McGlynn
“Never Steady, Never Still,” Kathleen Hepbur
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
“Black Kite,” Tarique Qayumi
“Don’t Talk to Irene,” Pat Mills
“Les Affamés,” Robin Aubert
“Meditation Park,” Mina Shum
“Porcupine Lake,” Ingrid Veninger
“Public Schooled,” Kyle Rideout
“Pyewacket,” Adam MacDonald
“The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches” (“La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes”), Simon Lavoie
PRIMETIME
“Alias Grace,” Mary Harron
WAVELENGTHS
“Prototype,” Blake Williams
“Ta peau si lisse” (“A Skin so Soft”), Denis Côté
TIFF CINEMATHEQUE
“I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” Patricia Rozema
“Picture of Light,” Peter Mettler
“Rude,” Clement Virgo
“North of Superior,” Graeme Ferguson