TORONTO - David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin, Jean-Marc Vallee, Philippe Falardeau and Sarah Polley are among the directors whose movies have made the Toronto International Film Festival's annual list of best homegrown films.
The top pictures include Cronenberg's look at the turbulent relationship between Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud in "A Dangerous Method," Maddin's surreal gangsters-meets-ghost story "Keyhole," Polley's study of a marriage in decline in "Take This Waltz" and Canada's Oscar submission for the best foreign-language category, Falardeau's "Monsieur Lazhar."
Debut filmmakers include Jason Eisener with his grindhouse flick "Hobo With a Shotgun," Sebastien Pilote with his portrait of a used car salesman in "Le Vendeur" and Nathan Morlando's period piece "Edwin Boyd," which won the festival's best Canadian first feature film prize earlier this year.
The short film selections include Michelle Latimer's "Choke," which earned an honourable mention at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, the National Film Board of Canada dance film "Ora" and Ian Harnarine's "Doubles With Slight Pepper," which won the festival's best Canadian short film prize earlier this year.
The picks were announced Tuesday in Toronto, with TIFF programmer Steve Gravestock touting a "wide scope of innovative talent."
"The most unusual aspect of the list is that there's three crime or gangster movies on it which is an unusual genre for a Canadian filmmaker to be working in," Gravestock said, referring to "Keyhole," "Edwin Boyd" and "Hobo With a Shotgun."
The Top Ten film selections also include Vallee's "Cafe de flore," Guy Edoin's "Marecages" and Ken Scott's "Starbuck." The feature picks were determined by a panel including director Patricia Rozema and programmers from the Calgary International Film Festival and Atlantic Film Festival.
Other short film selections are: Igor Drljaca's "The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar," Pedro Pires' "Hope," Ryan Flowers and Lisa Pham's "No Words Came Down," Ashley McKenzie's "Rhonda's Party," Sophie Goyette's "La Ronde," Arnaud Brisebois and Francis Leclerc's "Trotteur" and Andrew Cividino's "We Ate the Children Last."
All of the top films and shorts will screen in Toronto from Jan. 5 to 15 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, with a selection touring major cities including Ottawa, Vancouver and Edmonton.
The 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.
