TIFF'08 - Short Cuts Canada, Canada Open Vault & Jury Members

More news on the Canadian front of TIFF'08 including Canadian Film Awards, Jury Members, Canada Open Vault selection and Short Cuts Canada programme titles.

TIFF Canadian Film Awards And 2008 Jury Members

City of Toronto Citytv Award for Best Canadian Feature Film. This award includes a cash prize of $30,000 to a Canadian filmmaker. The 2007 winner was Guy Maddin for My Winnipeg.

The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. This award includes a cash prize of $15,000 to a Canadian filmmaker for an exemplary first feature. The 2007 winner was Stéphane Lafleur for Continental, un film sans fusil.

Best Canadian Short includes a $10,000 cash prize. The 2007 winner was Chris Chong Chan Fui for Pool.

2008 Jury Members for feature films are: Sarah Polley, Ann Marie Fleming and Michael Burns (feature films) and for short films are: Min Sook Lee, Louise Archambault and a third jury member is tba.

Awards will be presented at the Festival's Awards Reception on Saturday, September 13, 2008.

The 2008 selection for Canadian Open Vault is a spectacular choice of a quintessentially Canadian film:

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
Dir: François Girard (The Red Violin, Silk)
Cast: Colm Feore, Don McKellar, Gerry Quigley, David Hughes, Bruno Monsaingeon, Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Millard, Carlo Rota, Katya Ladan, Gale Garnett

The TIFF'08 announcement for the Short Cuts Canada programme brings 38 titles of short films to the festival for 2008. These films are eligible for the Award for Best Canadian Short Film which has a $10,000 cash prize.

Short Cuts Canada

106
Dir: Candice Day
6 minutes

The Amendment
Dir: Kevin Papatie
4 minutes

Baghdad Twist
Dir: Joe Balass
33 minutes

La Battue
Dir:Guy Édoin
19 minutes

Bedroom
Dir: Jordan Canning
16 minutes

Belonging
Dir: Elizabeth Lazebnik
5 minutes

The Catsitter
Dir: Tim Hamilton
10 minutes

Cattle Call
Dirs: Mike Maryniuk and Matthew Rankin
4 minutes

The Earring
Dirs: Nicholas Pye and Sheila Pye
8 minutes

Forty Men for the Yukon
Dir: Tony Massil
19 minutes

Gilles
Dir: Constant Mentzas
13 minutes

Green Door
Dir: Semi Chellas
13 minutes

Hers at Last
Dir: Helen Lee
18 minutes

How Are You?
Dirs: Martha Burns and Susan Coyne
18 minutes

Hungu
Dir: Nicolas Brault
9 minutes

Lobotomobile
Dir: Sara St. Onge
5 minutes

Machine with Wishbone
Dir: Randall Okita
6 minutes
See review for Machine with Wishbone here

Next Floor
Dir: Denis Villeneuve
12 minutes

Night Vision
Dir: Philip Barker
24 minutes

Noon
Dir: Dan Popa
6 minutes

Passage
Dir: Karl Lemieux
15 minutes

Passages
Dir: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
24 minutes

Pat's First Kiss
Dir: Pat Mills
4 minutes

Pierce, Crush, Escape: Notes on the Boreal
Dir: Susan Turcot
9 minutes

Princess Margaret Blvd.
Dir: Kazik Radwanski
13 minutes

Pudge
Dir: Annie Bradley
17 minutes

Rosa Rosa
Dir: Félix Dufour-Laperrière
8 minutes

Running (Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit)
Dir: Ann Marie Fleming
4 minutes

A Small Thing
Dir: Adam Garnet Jones
15 minutes

Spoiled
Dir: Sherry White
16 minutes

Sunday
Dir: Jamie M. Dagg
13 minutes

Synthesizer
Dir: Sarah Fortin
11 minutes

Uniform Material
Dir: Chris McCarroll
15 minutes

Us Chickens
Dir: Mark Van de Ven
20 minutes

Mon Nom est Victor Gazon
Dir: Patrick Gazé
10 minutes

The Workout
Dir: Sami Khan
11 minutes

What I've Lost
Dir: Duraid Munajim
11 minutes

Whitmore Park
Dir: Brian Stockton
9 minutes

The Toronto International Film Festival 2008 runs from September 4-13/08 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

23 Canadian Feature Titles Added to TIFF'08 line up!

A wide array of Canadian films have been announced as a part of the TIFF'08 line up. Heavy hitters include Blindness (dir: Fernando Meirelles), Heaven and Earth (dir: Deepa Mehta), Fifty Dead Men Walking (Dir: Kari Skogland) and Pontypool (Dir: Bruce McDonald). The line up includes two English Canadian Premieres: Maman est chez le coiffeur (Dir: Léa Pool) and Un Été sans point ni coup sûr (Dir: Francis Leclerc).

I'm really looking forward to the documentary on the National Film Board of Canada and Canadian Film La Mémoire des anges (Dir: Luc Bourdon) as well as the Toronto focused multiple director film Toronto Stories (Dirs: Sook-Yin Lee, Sudz Sutherland, David Weaver, Aaron Woodley).

It's always exciting to see what the Canada First! programme brings, as it features filmmakers with their first festival appearance. This year is no exception starting off with a stop-motion animated feature Edison and Leo (Dir: Neil Burns). The programme also includes a selection of comedies with Control Alt Delete (Dir: Cameron Labine) and Cooper's Camera (Dir: Warren Sonada). The theme of love is explored in Only (Dirs: Ingrid Veninger and Simon Reynolds) and Nurse. Fighter. Boy (Dir: Charles Officer). For those looking for a more visceral experience we have the Real Time (Dir: Randall Cole) which plays out in real time and Down to the Dirt (Dir: Justin Simms).

See TIFF'08 press releases for more information on program specific line ups: Canada First!, Contemporary World Cinema, Gala & Special Presentations, Vanguard & Real to Reel

Canada First!

Before Tomorrow
Dirs: Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu
Canada

Control Alt Delete
Dir: Cameron Labine
Cast: Tyler Labine, Sonja Bennett
Canada

Cooper's Camera
Dir: Warren Sonada
Cast: Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Peter Keleghan, Mike Beaver
Canada

Down to the Dirt
Dir: Justin Simms
Cast: Joel Thomas Hynes
Canada

Edison and Leo
Dir: Neil Burns
Cast: Powers Boothe, Carly Pope, Gregory Smith
Canada

Nurse. Fighter. Boy
Dir: Charles Officer
Cast: Karen LeBlanc, Daniel J. Gordon, Clark Johnson
Canada

Only
Dirs: Ingrid Veninger and Simon Reynolds
Cast: Jacob Switzer, Elena Hudgins Lyle
Canada

Real Time
Dir: Randall Cole
Cast: Randy Quaid, Jay Baruchel
Canada

When Life Was Good
Dir: Terry Miles
Cast: Kristine Cofsky
Canada

Contemporary World Cinema

Un Été sans point ni coup sûr
Dir: Francis Leclerc
Cast: Patrice Robitaille, Pier-Luc Funk, Jacinthe Laguë, Roy Dupuis
Canada

Lost Song
Dir: Rodrigue Jean
Cast: Suzie Leblanc, Patrick Goyette
Canada

Maman est chez le coiffeur
Dir: Léa Pool,
Cast: Marianne Fortier, Céline Bonnier
Canada

Mothers&Daughters
Dir: Carl Bessai
Cast: Tantoo Cardinal, Gabrielle Rose, Babz Chula
Canada

Toronto Stories
Dirs: Sook-Yin Lee, Sudz Sutherland, David Weaver, Aaron Woodley
Canada

Gala

Fifty Dead Men Walking
Dir: Kari Skogland
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Sir Ben Kingsley, Rose McGowan, Kevin Zegers
Canada/UK

One Week
Dir: Michael McGowan (Saint Ralph)
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Liane Balaban, Emm Gryner, Campbell Scott, Gord Downie
Canada

Real to Reel

Examined Life
Dir: Astra Taylor
Canada

La Mémoire des anges
Dir: Luc Bourdon
Canada
Documentary on the National Film Board of Canada and Canadian Film

Under Rich Earth
Dir: Malcolm Rogge
Canada

Special Presentations

Blindness
Dir: Fernando Meirelles
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya, Yoshino Kimura, Don McKellar, Maury Chaykin, Danny Glover, Gael García Bernal
Canada/Brazil/Japan

C'est pas moi, je le jure! / It's Not Me, I Swear!
Dir: Philippe Falardeau
Cast: Antoine L'Écuyer, Suzanne Clément, Daniel Brière, Catherine Faucher
Canada

Heaven on Earth
Dir: Deepa Mehta (Water)
Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bhardwaj, Yanna McIntosh
Canada

Vanguard

Derrière moi
Dir: Rafaël Ouellet
Canada

Pontypool
Dir: Bruce McDonald
Cast: Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly
Canada

The Toronto International Film Festival 2008 runs from September 4-13/08 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.