TIFF has announced its lineup of Canadian films for 2016, and it features powerful storytelling, bold politics and special world premieres. If you're planning on hitting the TIFF scene, be sure to catch a movie by a Canadian filmmaker - you won't regret it! Here's a short list of a few that we can't wait to see.
If you're looking to be moved (and possibly unsettled), check out these Canadian dramas: Two Lovers and a Bear, Below Her Mouth which is about two who women share a powerful and immediate connection that inevitably derails both of their lives. And It's Only the End of the World which tells the story of a writer returning to his hometown after being away for 12 years.
Documentary selections include Giants of Africa, in which Masai Ujiri, the first and only African-born president of a North American major league sports franchise, runs yearly summer basketball development camps in various African countries and shares the amazing physical and emotional journey of the young men who attend them; Black Code, about how the internet is being controlled and manipulated by governments in a bid to control their citizens; And Mostly Sunny, about Sunny Leone growing up in small-town Sarnia and has strict Sikh parents. No one anticipated Leone's transformation into an adult film star, or her next step from there to becoming a huge reality TV star in India and successful Bollywood actress.
If you're into movies with great story telling plots you can check out these films: X Quinientos, from director Juan Andrés Arango, tells three separate but powerful stories of three teenagers who must come to terms with their new reality when they are forced to migrate to different parts of the Americas after the loss of someone they loved. Kevan Funk's latest is Hello Destroyer is a film about a young junior hockey player's life is shattered by an in-game act of violence. Mean Dreams from Nathan Morlando is a tense coming-of-age thriller about a 15-year-old boy who steals a bag of drug money to run off with the girl he loves. And Weirdos is about 15-year-old Kit running away from home with his girlfriend Alice. They hitchhike through the maritime landscape towards a new home and along the way their relationship is tested as Kit approaches a realization that will change his life forever.
That's just a small selection of this year's Canadian features. Check out all the Festival films TIFF has announced so far (including our Galas and Special Presentations), and get excited about another great year for Canadian film.
