TIFF kicks off the eleventh annual Canada’s Top Ten on January 5, 2012 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The event offers public screenings of feature and short films on the Top Ten list, introductions and Q&A sessions with filmmakers – including Guy Maddin, Philippe Falardeau, Jean-Marc Vallée and Nathan Morlando – and a panel featuring Canada’s Top Ten filmmakers discussing the gangster/crime genre in Canadian film. Canada’s Top Ten will run to January 15. Select films will tour theatres across the country in early 2012, including Vancouver’s Pacific Cinematheque, Edmonton’s Metro Cinema and Ottawa’s ByTowne Cinema. Established in 2001, Canada’s Top Ten celebrates excellence in Canadian cinema and raises public awareness of Canadian achievements in film.
Canada’s Top Ten screening schedule (guests in attendance noted below)
Thursday, January 5
8 PM
Monsieur Lazhar (dir. Philippe Falardeau)
Friday, January 6
4 PM
Monsieur Lazhar (dir. Philippe Falardeau)
7 PM
Keyhole (dir. Guy Maddin and producer Jody Shapiro)
9:30 PM
Edwin Boyd (dir. Nathan Morlando and producer Allison Black)
Saturday, January 7
4 PM
Keyhole (dir. Guy Maddin)
7 PM
Panel Discussion – A Canadian Gangster (Guy Maddin, Keyhole; Nathan Morlando, Edwin Boyd; and Jason Eisener, Hobo With a Shotgun)
9 PM
Hobo With a Shotgun (dir. Jason Eisener)
Sunday, January 8
7 PM
Canada’s Top Ten Shorts Programme A:
Ora (dir. Philippe Baylaucq)
Hope (actor Lucas Silveira)
We Ate the Children Last (dir. Andrew Cividino)
Choke (dir. Michelle Latimer)
Doubles With Slight Pepper
8:30 PM
Canada’s Top Ten Shorts Programme B:
No Words Came Down (dir. Ryan Flowers and actor Andrew Gillingham)
Rhonda’s Party (dir. Ashley McKenzie)
The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar (dir. Igor Drljaca)
La Ronde (dir. Sophie Goyette and producer Elaine Hébert)
Trotteur (dir. Arnaud Brisebois)
Tuesday, January 10
4 PM
Hobo With a Shotgun (dir. Jason Eisener)
7 PM
Starbuck
Wednesday, January 11
3 PM
Starbuck
7 PM
Marécages
Thursday, January 12
3 PM
Marécages
7:00 PM
A Dangerous Method (actor Sarah Gadon)
Friday, January 13
3 PM
Starbuck
9 PM
Café de flore (dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)
Saturday, January 14
6 PM
Le Vendeur (dir. Sébastien Pilote)
9 PM
Take This Waltz (actor Luke Kirby)
Sunday, January 15
12 PM
Le Vendeur (dir. Sébastien Pilote
3 PM
Take This Waltz
5:30 PM
Café de flore
Canada’s Top Ten films are chosen from features, shorts, documentaries, animation and experimental films. Each film must have premiered at a major film festival or obtained a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2011. The filmmaker must be a Canadian citizen or resident, and have a history of working in Canada or on Canadian-financed films.
Canada’s Top Ten features (in alphabetical order)
Café de Flore — Jean-Marc Vallée (Alliance Films)
A Dangerous Method — David Cronenberg (Entertainment One)
Edwin Boyd — Nathan Morlando (Entertainment One)
Hobo With a Shotgun — Jason Eisener (Alliance Films)
Keyhole — Guy Maddin (Entertainment One)
Marécages — Guy Édoin (Mongrel Media)
Monsieur Lazhar — Philippe Falardeau (Entertainment One)
Starbuck — Ken Scott (Entertainment One)
Take This Waltz — Sarah Polley (Mongrel Media)
Le Vendeur — Sébastien Pilote (Entertainment One)
Canada’s Top Ten short films (in alphabetical order):
Choke — Michelle Latimer
Doubles With Slight Pepper — Ian Harnarine
The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar — Igor Drljaca
Hope — Pedro Pires (Phi Group)
No Words Came Down — Ryan Flowers &Lisa Pham
Ora — Philippe Baylaucq (National Film Board of Canada)
Rhonda’s Party — Ashley McKenzie
La Ronde — Sophie Goyette (Locomotion Films)
Trotteur — Arnaud Brisebois &Francis Leclerc (Phi Group and Cirrus Communications)
We Ate the Children Last — Andrew Cividino