Polley, Trailer Park Boys make the cut for year’s top Canadian films
The latest from filmmaking duo Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, Sarah Polley’s debut as a feature film director and Trailer Park Boys: The Movie have all turned up on a list of the year’s best Canadian films.
The Toronto International Film Festival Group announced its annual Canada’s Top Ten list of homegrown films at an industry event hosted by actors Sylvie Moreau and Dave Foley in Toronto Tuesday evening.
In addition to Mike Clattenburg’s Canadian box office hit Trailer Park Boys, the cross-country, 10-member jury panel selected Kunuk and Cohn’s The Journals of Knud Rasmussen ó which opened this year’s Toronto International Film Festival ó and Away From Her, Polley’s poignant adaptation of the Alice Munro short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain.
Rounding out the unranked Top Ten list are:
– Congorama, directed by Philippe Falardeau.
– Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
– Monkey Warfare, directed by Reginald Harkema.
– Radiant City, directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown.
– Sharkwater, directed by Rob Stewart.
– Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi, directed by NoÎl Mitrani.
– Un dimanche ‡ Kigali, directed by Robert Favreau.
Diverse nature praised
Piers Handling, director and CEO of the film festival group, praised the diverse genres and subjects explored in this year’s films, which range from expansive documentary to laugh-out-loud comedy.
“These films give audiences a chance to experience the stories our filmmakers are telling, challenge our notions of cinema and can even change the way we view the world,” Handling said in a statement.
Organizers will screen all 10 films at Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4.
As per tradition, some of the screenings will include introductions or Q&A sessions with the filmmakers.
Festival organizers have also organized three themed panel sessions: a documentary panel with Burns, Brown and Baichwal; a discussion about Quebec cinema with Falardeau, Favreau and Mitrani; and an in-depth analysis of how the low-budget Monkey Warfare was made, featuring the lead cast and creative crew of the indie film.
Established in 2001, Canada’s Top Ten recognizes and celebrates the best in Canadian cinema over the past year.
To be considered for the annual list, a film must have premiered at a major Canadian film festival or had a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2006. Features, shorts, documentaries, animation and experimental films that have premiered are all eligible.
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