PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FESTIVAL WEBSITE

TORONTO — TIFF® salutes the country’s cinematic superstars tonight, revealing the Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival™ lineup of the top 10 features, shorts and student shorts for 2015. Established in 2001, the festival celebrates and promotes contemporary Canadian cinema and raises awareness of Canadian achievements in film. Running January 8 to 17, 2016 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, the 10-day event presents public screenings of the selected films accompanied by introductions and Q&A sessions with filmmakers, as well as special events, industry panels and free engagements. On January 16, Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award winning Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland will take the stage for an intimate discussion about his fascinating career. The 1985 landmark film My American Cousin rounds out the lineup as the festival’s Canadian Open Vault selection.

New this year, the festival will present a special screening simultaneously in three different cities, which includes a simulcast introduction and interactive Q&A offering audiences in Vancouver’s The Cinematheque and Montreal’s PHI Centre the chance to ask questions of the talent in Toronto. Select screenings from the lineup also return to Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, with added stops in Halifax and Ottawa. Filmgoers in Toronto can once again vote to crown the Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival People’s Choice Award winner. These announcements were made at an industry event in Toronto tonight, hosted by Entertainment City’s Teri Hart.

“From exceptional debut features to veteran filmmakers at the top of their craft, Canadian talent from coast to coast cracked this year’s list,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival. “What better way to escape winter’s icy grip than with a toasty lineup of special guests and homegrown films presented in eight cities across the country.”

“One of our most geographically representative programmes to date, the strength of this year’s lineup is a testament to the diversity and curiosity of our nation’s filmmakers — from Newfoundland to British Columbia,” said Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer, TIFF. “The collaborations from across the country demonstrate the versatility of our filmmaking community, delivering deeply engaging cinema in their exploration of Canadian values.”

Still from The Forbidden Room by Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson

Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival features for 2015 (in alphabetical order).

Closet Monster, Stephen Dunn (Elevation Pictures)
The Demons (Les démons), Philippe Lesage (FunFilm Distribution)
Les êtres chers (Our Loved Ones), Anne Émond (Entertainment One Films)
The Forbidden Room, Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson (Mongrel Media)
Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr, Patrick Reed and Michelle Shephard (White Pine Pictures)
HURT, Alan Zweig (Super Channel/MDF)
Into the Forest, Patricia Rozema (Elevation Pictures)
My Internship in Canada (Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre), Philippe Falardeau (Entertainment One Films)
Ninth Floor, Mina Shum (National Film Board of Canada)
Sleeping Giant (Le géant endormi), Andrew Cividino (D Films Corp)

A special simulcast screening of Into the Forest takes place in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on Saturday, January 9 at 9 p.m. ET, and includes an interactive Q&A with Patricia Rozema.

Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival shorts for 2015 (in alphabetical order).

Bacon & God’s Wrath, Sol Friedman
Balmoral Hotel, Wayne Wapeemukwa
Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton, Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson (Elevation Pictures)
Interview with a Free Man (Entrevue avec un homme libre), Nicolas Lévesque (NFB)
m>The Little Deputy, Trevor Anderson
My Enemy, My Brother, Ann Shin
Never Steady, Never Still, Kathleen Hepburn
NINA, Halima Elkhatabi (Les Films du 3 mars)
o negative, Steven McCarthy
Overpass (Viaduc), Patrice Laliberté (Travelling, les films qui voyagent)

Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival student shorts for 2015 (in alphabetical order).

Still from The Casebook of Nips & Porkington by Melody Wang

Alia, Raghed Charabaty (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design)
The Casebook of Nips & Porkington, Melody Wang (Sheridan College)
Cupid, Maria De Sanctis (York University)
Dysmorphia, Katherine Grubb (Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
ed, Taha Neyestani (Sheridan College)
Menesetung, Kyle McDonnell (Ryerson University)
Michi, Kaho Yoshida (Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
Ms. Liliane (Mme Liliane), Junna Chif (Concordia University)
Pretty Dangerous, Dan Laera (Humber College)
Smoke, Kellen Jackson, Suzanne Friesen and Sasha Tomasky (Simon Fraser University)

Please View Canada’s Top Ten Website For More Info On The Festival & Films

– Originally Posted December 9, 2015.