Canadian Films (2011)

Canada First

• Amy George -- Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas, ON
• Leave It On The Floor -- Sheldon Larry, ON
• Nuit #1 -- Anne Emond, QC
• The Odds -- Simon Davidson, BC
• The Patron Saints -- Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky, QC
• Romeo Eleven (Roméo onze) -- Ivan Grbovic, QC
• Wetlands (Marécages) -- Guy Édoin, QC

Open Vault

• Hard Core Logo -- Bruce McDonald, 1996

Canadian Films (2008)

Blue = latest additions.

Canadian Open Vault

• 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) by François Girard

Canada First!

• Borderline Lyne Charlebois, Canada
• Edison and Leo Neil Burns, BC
• Before Tomorrow Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu, QC/Nunavut
• Control Alt Delete Cameron Labine, BC
• Cooper's Camera Warren Sonada, ON
• Down to the Dirt Justin Simms, NF
• Nurse. Fighter. Boy Charles Officer, ON
• Only Ingrid Veninger and Simon Reynolds, ON
• Real Time Randall Cole, ON
• When Life Was Good Terry Miles, BC

Michel Brault (2007)

(by Girish.)

Just a quick note to point out that one of Canadian film history's greatest figures, the director/cinematographer Michel Brault, is being honored with a retrospective at TIFF this year. (For more on Brault, here's a post I did on Quebecois cinema a few months ago.)

Over the years I've seen most of the films in this program, so I thought I'd make some recommendations.

There are at least three unmissables:

-- Chronicle of a Summer (Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin, 1961), the seminal French "Direct Cinema" film on which Brault served as cinematographer, bringing innovations in camera equipment and technique learned from his years at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

-- Pour la Suite du Monde (Pierre Perrault & Michel Brault, 1963), a documentary about age-old whale-hunting practices in rural Quebec. Probably the single most famous Canadian documentary, and the first Canadian film to compete at Cannes.

-- Les Bons Debarras (Francis Mankiewicz, 1980), a brilliant rural-Gothic mother-daughter drama, is often cited in polls of the best Canadian films ever made. It was shot by Brault and is the "Canadian Open Vault" film at TIFF this year.

In addition, let me recommend Brault's excellent Les Ordres (1974, winner of Best Director at Cannes) and Entre la Mer et L'eau Douce (1967, his first feature, with Genevieve Bujold).

Honestly, after TIFF '07 is over and done, I suspect many of the above films will be among the strongest that end up playing there. Which is why I wanted to make sure I put in a little word for them.

Personally, I'll be looking forward to seeing his shorts, which I've never been able to catch so far.

Canadian Films (2007)

Yesterday's batch of news releases focused on TIFF's wide-ranging lineup of Canadian films. Rather than creating separate posts for Canadian Open Vault, Canadian Retrospective, Short Cuts Canada, and Canada First!, I'll list them all here. Also, several interesting Canadian films have been added to Contemporary World Cinema, Real to Reel, Gala Presentations, and Special Presentations, including the latest from Denys Arcand, David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin, and Francois Girard.

Canadian Open Vault

• LES BONS DÉBARRAS (1980) Francis Mankiewicz
  

Canadian Retrospective: Michel Brault

• L'ACADIE, L'ACADIE?!? (1971)
• CHRONIQUE D'UN ÉTÉ (1961)
• ENTRE LA MER ET L'EAU DOUCE (1967)
• GENEVIÈVE (1964)
• LA LUTTE (1961)
• LES NOCES DE PAPIER (1989)
• LES ORDRES (1974)
• POUR LA SUITE DU MONDE (1963)
• LES RAQUETTEURS (1958)

Canada First!

• YOUNG PEOPLE F*CKING Martin Gero, ON
• AMAL Richie Mehta, ON
• LE CÈDRE PENCHÉ Rafaël Ouellet, QC
• CONTINENTAL, UN FILM SANS FUSIL Stéphane Lafleur, QC
• JUST BURIED Chaz Thorne, BC/NS
• THEY WAIT Ernie Barbarash, BC
• THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY Ed Gass-Donnelly, ON
• WALK ALL OVER ME Robert Cuffley, AB/BC

Short Cuts Canada

• See the complete list of shorts