Alias Grace Leads TIFF 2017 Canadian Offerings

The Toronto International Film Festival is officially underway!

The highly-anticipated miniseries Alias Grace, pioneering Indigenous documentarian Alanis Obomsawin’s Our People Will Be Healed and Oscar-nominated director Kim Nguyen’s Eye on Juliet are among the 26 Canadian offerings as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s slate of home-grown flicks.

Both Alias Grace, based on the Margaret Atwood novel, directed by Mary Harron and written by Sarah Polley, starring Sarah Gadon, Anna Paquin and Paul Gross, and Obomsawin’s Our People Will Be Healed, in which the 85-year-old explores a Cree children’s education centre in rural Manitoba, make their world premieres at TIFF 2017. Alias Grace heads to CBC on Sept. 25 for a six-part airing following the fest.

Nguyen, meanwhile, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for his 2012 war feature Rebelle (War Witch), sees Eye on Juliet, a love story that crosses continents and political lines, make its North American Premiere at TIFF.

Simon Lavoie’s Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves took home the prize for Best Canadian Film at last year’s festival, and he returns this year with the world premiere of the family drama The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes), based on the novel by Canuck author Gaétan Soucy, which competed in the French version of the 2004 Canada Reads contest; documentary filmmaker Alan Zweig, whose films have wracked up honours and accolades at past TIFF’s, offers up his latest, There is a House Here; and Sean Menard explores how NBA All-Star Vince Carter impacted Toronto during his years as the Raptors’ franchise player in The Carter Effect.

As well, a number of first-time feature directors make their TIFF debuts this year, including Ian Lagarde’s Cuban resort-set comedy All You Can Eat Buddha, Molly McGlynn’s Mary Goes Round, which follows an addiction counsellor’s struggles with substances and family tragedy and Black Cop, a police satire from Trailer Park Boys actor Cory Bowles.

Other Canadian offerings for TIFF 2017 that were announced earlier in the year include the gala presentation of Long Time Running, a documentary about the Tragically Hip’s final tour in the summer of 2016 by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, and The Crescent, a Midnight Madness selection from Seth A. Smith.

The full Canadian slate, courtesy of TIFF, is as follows:

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Eye on Juliet, dir. Kim Nguyen, Canada
North American Premiere

MASTERS

Our People Will Be Healed, dir. Alanis Obomsawin, Canada
World Premiere

TIFF DOCS

The Carter Effect, dir. Sean Menard, Canada/USA
World Premiere

Living Proof, dir. Matt Embry, Canada
World Premiere

There is a House Here, dir. Alan Zweig, Canada
World Premiere

DISCOVERY

A Worthy Companion, dir. Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez, Canada
World Premiere

All You Can Eat Buddha, dir. Ian Lagarde, Canada
World Premiere

AVA, dir. Sadaf Foroughi, Iran/Canada/Qatar
World Premiere

Black Cop, dir. Cory Bowles, Canada
World Premiere

Cardinals, dir. Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, Canada
World Premiere

Luk’Luk’I, dir. Wayne Wapeemukwa, Canada
World Premiere

Mary Goes Round, dir. Molly McGlynn, Canada
World Premiere

Never Steady, Never Still, dir. Kathleen Hepburn, Canada
World Premiere

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

BLACK KITE, dir. Tarique Qayumi, Canada/Afghanistan
World Premiere

Don’t Talk to Irene, dir. Pat Mills, Canada
World Premiere

Les Affamés, dir. Robin Aubert, France/Canada
World Premiere

Meditation Park, dir. Mina Shum, Canada
World Premiere

Porcupine Lake, dir. Ingrid Veninger, Canada\
World Premiere

Public Schooled, dir. Kyle Rideout, Canada
World Premiere

Pyewacket, dir. Adam MacDonald, Canada
World Premiere

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes), dir. Simon Lavoie, Canada
World Premiere

PRIMETIME

Alias Grace, dir. Mary Harron, Canada/USA
World Premiere

WAVELENGTHS

PROTOTYPE, dir. Blake Williams, Canada
North American Premiere

Ta peau si lisse (A Skin so Soft), dir. Denis Côté, Canada/Switzerland
North American Premiere

TIFF 2017 runs from Sept. 7-17. Click here for more information on film synopsis and times.