TORONTO-
Stories about youth and queer culture are standing out in the Canadian lineup at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and some filmmakers say the inspirational themes come at a much-needed time.
Gail Maurice, director of “Rosie,” the story of two drag queens raising a young indigenous orphan, said she believes a vibrant generation is emerging in the wake of a period of “dark and uncertain times” marked by a global pandemic.
“We need hope, we need to show our power and our resilience to survive,” he said after a press event at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
“We’ve had this quiet time to reflect and be with ourselves. We’re finally saying, ‘I’m telling the story I want to tell.'”
Maurice’s comedy-drama was one of numerous films in the full Canadian TIFF program presented on Wednesday that explored quirkiness or indigeneity. Theirs tackled both themes, with a mostly female and LGBTQ cast and crew behind the scenes.
Luis De Filippis, writer and director of the transgender coming-of-age film “Something You Said Last Night,” said Canadian cinema is in the midst of a pivotal movement for queer filmmakers.
It is also a significant moment personally for De Filippis, who 10 years ago worked at the TIFF cinema as an usher.
“I think we are working our way to the front,” De Filippis said.
“The girls say, ‘We’re here and we’re sick of other people telling our stories wrong.’ He feels correct. He feels like this is a moment. A new wave is happening.”
Kelly Boutsalis, associate programmer for Canadian features at TIFF, said she saw a rush of coming-of-age tales submitted for consideration at this year’s festival.
“It’s gotten to the point where we can’t do this ‘every teen, every time’ thing at TIFF,” he said.
“The interesting thing that comes out of COVID is that a lot of people focus on that moment.”
He added, “People are telling their own stories and they’re telling them authentically. I’d be remiss if we didn’t have those stories at the festival because they’re everywhere, they’re relatable and we need to have them.”
“Brother” director Clement Virgo said returning to TIFF with his first feature film in more than a decade, a story set in the Toronto hip-hop scene, gave him a new perspective.
“My first movie, ‘Rude,’ was shown at TIFF in 1995 and it feels like it’s come full circle,” he said.
“As a younger filmmaker, you take it for granted. But as a filmmaker who’s been making movies for over 20 years…I’m very grateful, I’m honored.”
Darlene Naponse, an Anishinaabe filmmaker who won TIFF’s 2018 Air Canada Audience Choice Award for “Falls Around Her,” returns this year with “Stellar.” The film stars Elle-Ma╠üija╠ü Tailfeathers and Braeden Clarke as star-crossed lovers who share a cosmic encounter at a bar in Northern Ontario.
Some Canadian artists are offering snippets of their own lives through documentaries: Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq tells her story in the documentary “Ever Deadly,” co-directed by Chelsea McMullan, while “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On” is about the life of the legendary artist and activist Cree.
Other cover documentaries include Babak Payami’s “752 Is Not a Number” about the 2020 shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in Tehran that killed 176 passengers, many of whom were Canadian.
TIFF’s closing night selection, “Daliland,” comes from Ontario-raised director Mary Harron. The film stars Ben Kingsley as Salvador Dalí, with beleaguered actor Ezra Miller playing the surrealist artist in his youth. Miller was not named in the TIFF announcement, which coincided with the star’s indictment for felony burglary in Vermont earlier this week, adding to mounting legal problems and reports of erratic behavior from him.
As in-person events return, many of the films appear to be primed for the theatrical experience, including “The Swearing Jar,” a Lindsay McKay musical that appeared at the festival in 2014 with her debut film “Wet Bum.”
“We did our final mix of the film in a theater, and because it has a musical element, hearing it in that space is very important,” he said.
“It’s an experience you want to hear out loud… having it in a big room with a big audience is so much more exciting.”
However, television was not forgotten in TIFF’s lineup, with plans to premiere several small-screen projects on the big screen throughout the festival.
The season finale episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” filmed in Ontario, will mark its debut, while Tegan and Sara’s autobiography is reimagined in the series “High School,” co-directed by Clea DuVall and filmed in Tegan’s hometown. the twin sisters, Calgary.
And Colombian-Canadian musician and artist Lido Pimienta is bringing her talents to the small screen with “Lido TV,” which CBC bills as a “variety show with a mission: to help people cope with life in a world that’s Sometimes it feels like you’re falling. besides.”
Other Canadian films announced include “The Maiden,” from Edmonton-born filmmaker Graham Foy, about a trio of teenagers whose summer fun takes a turn toward the surreal, and Toronto-raised director Nisha Pahuja’s documentary “To Kill a Tiger,” about a farmer in India fighting for justice in the gang rape of his 13-year-old daughter.
Katherine Jerkovic, who won Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF in 2018 for her feature debut, “Roads in February,” returns to the festival with “Coyote,” about a cook turned cleaner in Montreal whose hopes of returning The kitchen is ruined when she is asked to take care of her grandson.
Also Wednesday, the federal government announced it will invest $10 million to support the return of TIFF as an in-person movie attraction.
The funding will help TIFF regain some of its pre-pandemic shine and lost revenue after COVID-19 forced the festival to go digital, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said in a statement.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 10, 2022.