Interest: Classics
Jésus de Montréal (Jesus of Montreal)
Combining religion and some unconventional theories about Jesus, the troupe’s work begins to ruffle some feathers in the Catholic church, even as the life of main actor Daniel (Bluteau) starts to mirror the Messiah’s journey in unexpected and poignant ways.
Told with sharp humour and heart, the film received critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including the Genie for Best Picture and the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Director
Denys Arcand
A Companion of the Order of Canada and a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec, Arcand is an icon of Canadian and Québécois cinema, and his work has earned him four Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Foreign Language Film for Les invasions barbares. Le déclin de l'empire américain became the highest grossing film in Quebec, and his iconic Jésus de Montréal won 12 Genie Awards. His other films include Réjeanne Padovani, La chute de l'empire américain, and Testament.
Writer
Denys Arcand
Cast
Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard, Gilles Pelletier
Producers
Roger Frappier, Pierre Gendron
Genre
Drama
Interests
Arts and Culture, Classics
Original Language
French
Scanners
Scanners are social outcasts, the by-product of a failed experimental drug given to their mothers during pregnancy, and possess the unusual ability to read and control minds.
Security firm ConSec wants to harness these telekinetics and turn them into a powerful new weapon; however, Revok (Ironside) is hellbent on destroying ConSec and taking over the world. The only man who may be able to stop him is the stoic but equally powerful Vale (Lack).
Chaos reigns as the duo face off in a series of dramatic duels featuring some of cinema’s most jaw-dropping practical effects.
Busting heads and box-office numbers when it opened in 1981, Scanners demonstrates Cronenberg’s talent for accessible, fun and truly awesome science fiction.
Director
David Cronenberg
A Companion of the Order of Canada, Cronenberg is a legendary filmmaker and pioneer of the body horror genre. His directing credits include iconic films such as Scanners, Dead Ringers, Videodrome, and Crash, for which he won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed eXistenZ, Crimes of the Future, The Shrouds, and others. He has won over 80 awards, including the Golden Coach at Cannes, and lifetime achievement awards from TIFF and the DGC.
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, Patrick McGoohan
Producers
Pierre David, Claude Héroux, Victor Solnicki
Genres
Action/Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Interests
Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Mon oncle Antoine (My Uncle Antoine)
Orphaned 14-year-old Benoît (Gagnon) arrives to live with a foster family and becomes a part of the exploits of village life, both comic and tragic. In the film’s set piece, Benoît goes with his uncle Antoine (Duceppe), the town undertaker, to collect the remains of a young lad, who must be buried despite an unrelenting snowstorm. Gagnon gives a hauntingly realistic portrayal of a young boy discovering life’s funny and tragic turns.
Often chosen as the finest Canadian film of all time, Mon Oncle Antoine won eight Canadian Film Awards, including Best Film, Director, and Actor.
“In the loneliness and grandeur of the midnight journey of Benoît and Antoine, there is a haunting beauty.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Director
Claude Jutra
A prolific filmmaker, Jutra directed more than 30 productions, including Kamouraska, Surfacing (based on Margaret Atwood’s novel by the same name), and By Design. Mon oncle Antoine currently ranks second on the Toronto International Film Festival’s list of the Top Ten Canadian Films of All Time.
Writers
Claude Jutra, Clément Perron
Cast
Jacques Gagnon, Jean Duceppe, Claude Jutra, Lyne Champagne, Olivette Thibault
Producer
Marc Beaudet
Genre
Drama
Interests
Classics, Family Relationships
Original Language
French
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
“I am not surprised that The Fast Runner has been a box office hit in its opening engagements. It is unlike anything most audiences will have ever seen, and yet it tells a universal story.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Director
Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.
Writer
Paul Apak Angilirq (Inuk)
Cast
Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq (Inuk), Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk), Natar Ungalaaq (Inuk), Sylvia Ivalu (Inuk)
Producers
Paul Apak Angilirq (Inuk), Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Germaine Ying Gee Wong
Genre
Drama
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Classics, Family Relationships, Indigenous Filmmaker
Original Language
Inuktitut
Meatballs
Everyone, including Tripper, is sick and tired of perennially losing the Camp Olympics. It’s only by encouraging all campers to try their hardest — including young Rudy (Makepeace), who has self-esteem issues — that Tripper and his troops can hope to emerge triumphant. Full of wacky pranks, lively high jinks and a lot of touching moments, Meatballs is sure to entertain audiences of all ages.
Meatballs won the Genie Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Lynch), as well as the Golden Reel Award, given to the film with the biggest box office gross of the year.
Director
Ivan Reitman
Writers
Harold Ramis, Janis Allen, Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum
Cast
Jack Blum, Chris Makepeace, Kate Lynch, Harvey Atkin, Bill Murray
Producers
André Link, Daniel Goldberg, John Dunning
Genre
Comedy
Interests
Bullying, Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema, ESL
Original Language
English
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
As his business ventures backfire in different ways, Duddy must come to terms with the fact that he’s attaining his goals at the expense of something more important — friendship and love. Both funny and touching, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a true Canadian classic.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won Film of the Year at the Canadian Film Awards.
Director
Ted Kotcheff
Toronto-born Kotcheff has produced and directed films in Australia, the UK, the US, and Canada, including Fun with Dick and Jane, Joshua Then and Now, First Blood, and Weekend at Bernie’s. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has won Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Directors Guild of Canada and the CSAs.
Writers
Lionel Chetwynd, Mordecai Richler
Cast
Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid
Producer
John Kemeny
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Interests
Classics, ESL, Family Relationships, Literary Adaptation
Original Language
English
When naïve barber Pokey Jones (McKellar) meets Jackie Bangs (Buhagiar), a flamboyant roadie on the run, it doesn’t take her long to persuade him to leave Thunder Bay for New Orleans. Jones f inds himself taking not only Jackie, but also a frozen corpse he found in his backyard, which she claims is her brother. Meanwhile, in hot pursuit of the fleeing couple is Mr. Skin (Pastko), a bizarre and deluded character who thinks of himself as the Devil. As the three travel south, sparks fly and romance blooms between Pokey and Jackie.
“The triumphant return of two talents firing on all cylinders.” — Festival of Festivals
Director
Bruce McDonald
McDonald directed the cult hits Highway 61, Roadkill, Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments, starring Elliot Page, Pontypool, and the award-winning series Twitch City, episodes of Degrassi and Heartland. He has also directed the features Trigger, The Husband, Hellions, Weirdos and Dreamland, and episodes of Creeped Out and Malory Towers.
Writers
Allan Magee, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar
Cast
Valerie Buhagiar, Earl Pastko, Don McKellar
Producers
Colin Brunton, Bruce McDonald
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Interests
Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
Les ordres (Orders)
The most political film by legendary Canadian director Michel Brault, Les ordres is a clear, vivid docudrama depiction of the October Crisis, the 1970 event that saw martial law invoked after the abduction of Quebec’s labour minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross by members of the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ).
Following five individuals over those harrowing days, the film uses colour and black-and-white cinematography to blur the lines between fact and fiction. Brault’s masterful film treats the difficult subject with sensitivity and care.
This film won Brault the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Director prize and he remains the only Canadian filmmaker to achieve that distinction.
Director
Michel Brault
An Officer of the National Order of Quebec, Brault was a legendary cinematographer and filmmaker, and the only Canadian to win the Best Director Award at Cannes, for Les Ordres. He also directed Les noces de papier, Mon amie Max, and many other features, along with over 80 credits as a cinematographer, including some of Canada’s most iconic films, such as Pour la suite du monde (which he co-directed), Mon oncle Antoine, and Les Bons débarras. He passed away in 2013.
Writer
Michel Brault
Cast
Hélène Loiselle, Jean Lapointe, Guy Provost, Louise Forestier, Claude Gauthier
Producer
Bernard Lalonde
Genre
Drama
Interests
Classics, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
French
Skip Tracer
Director
Zale Dalen
Writer
Zale Dalen
Cast
David Petersen, John Lazarus, Rudy Szabo
Producer
Laara Dalen
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interest
Classics
Original Language
English
2026 Spotlight
Own Voice
2023 - All You Can Watch Buffet
2022 - Celebrating Indigenous Voices
2020 - World on Fire
2020 - 20+20 Films
2019 - 100 Years of Snow and Sass
2018 - Women: Take on the World
2017 - 150 Canadian Films
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
This powerful documentary takes you right to the heart of the action, painting a sensitive and deeply affecting portrait of the people behind the barricades.
Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Best Canadian Feature Film prize.
Director
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Legendary Abenaki filmmaker Obomsawin has made over 50 documentaries on issues affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Trick or Treaty?, Is the Crown at War with Us?, Our People Will Be Healed, and Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger. Her most recent film is the short documentary Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair. Next, she is set to appear in an episode of Marie Clements' Bones of Crows: The Series.
Writer
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Producers
Wolf Koenig, Colin Neale, Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Classics, Environment, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English