TIFF group names Canada's best movies of 2008
Familiar names, newcomers share space on top 10 lists
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 | 9:42 AM ET
CBC News
Director Madeline Ivalu, left, who also plays Ninioq in Before Tomorrow, reviews the script with co-director Marie-Hélène Cousineau and assistant director Carol Kunnuk during filming. (Arnait Video Productions)An eclectic, cross-country mix of Canadian films — from domestic drama to zombie thriller — have been selected as the year's best by the Toronto International Film Festival Group.
The group unveiled on Tuesday its annual top 10 lists for Canadian feature-length and short films, with this year's tally including familiar names such as Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Léa Pool, as well as acclaimed debut filmmakers such as Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuz Ivalu.
This year's choices are wide ranging and representative of different regions across Canada, said TIFF's Canadian programming director Steve Gravestock.
"They speak, I think, to the health of the industry in a lot of ways, partly because they're kind of all over the map," he said.
"You have domestic dramas, you have films with substantial comic elements, you have thrillers or films that play with that kind of genre."
The group's top 10 Canadian features for 2008 are:
- Adoration, Atom Egoyan.
- Before Tomorrow, Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu.
- Ce qu’il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life), Benoit Pilon.
- C'est pas moi, je le jure! (It’s Not Me, I Swear!), Philippe Falardeau.
- Fifty Dead Men Walking, Kari Skogland.
- Heaven on Earth, Deepa Mehta.
- Lost Song, Rodrigue Jean.
- Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy is at the Hairdresser's), Léa Pool.
- La Mémoire des anges (The Memories of Angels), Luc Bourdon.
- Pontypool, Bruce McDonald.
Though nearly half of the list has yet to hit theatres, films are also eligible if they have premiered at a major Canadian film festival during 2008.
The picks for top 10 Canadian short films for 2008 are:
- La Battue, Guy Édoin.
- Block B, Chris Chong Chan Fui.
- Drux Flux, Theodore Ushev.
- Ghosts and Gravel Roads, Michael Rollo.
- Green Door, Semi Chellas.
- Next Floor, Denis Villeneuve.
- Nikamowin (Song), Kevin Lee Burton.
- Passages, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre.
- Princess Margaret Blvd., Kazik Radwanski.
- Mon nom est Victor Gazon, Patrick Gazé.
Two panels of filmmakers, journalists, programmers and other industry professionals from across the country choose the movies that make each year's cut.
As per tradition, the TIFF group will host screenings of this year's selections as well as two related panel discussions or question-and-answer sessions with the winning filmmakers in the new year, starting at Toronto's Cinematheque Ontario on Jan. 30.
Some of the films will subsequently make their way to Vancouver's Pacific Cinematheque and Ottawa's Canadian Film Institute.
With files from the Canadian Press
