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A comedy about sex work, a Tragically Hip documentary and a family drama set in wartime are among the Canadian titles premiering at the 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival.
After last year’s event was marred by Hollywood strikes, the festival returns on Thursday with 59 films from established and emerging directors.
The Canadian Press spoke with five directors participating in the film marathon, which will take place from September 5 to 15.
SOOK-YIN LEE, director, “Paying For It”
Lee says she “really loved” her ex-boyfriend Chester Brown’s 2011 comic memoir, “Paying For It,” about his experiences with sex workers in Toronto after their real-life breakup. So much so that she adapted it for the big screen, resulting in a dramatized look at how they navigated their complicated relationship in turn-of-the-century Toronto.
On turning her breakup into a film: “We loved each other, and the idea of breaking up was unthinkable. So when I started looking for love and connection through dating — the culturally accepted way to do it — he started exploring the world of paying for sex. The key to making it into a film was to focus on the relationship between Chester and I, and our separate quests to find love and connection.”
On recreating Y2K-era Toronto: “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. All cities change. They gentrify. I knew I wanted to create a grungier, grittier feel to Toronto. I didn’t want to show a touristy Toronto that was completely blinded. I didn’t have a lot of money. So I thought, ‘We’re going to shoot it in the house where the real events took place.'”
Release Dates: Premieres at TIFF on Thursday; hits theaters early 2025.
ARSHILE EGOYAN, director, “Before They Joined Us”
For his second short film, Atom Egoyan’s son chose to share the journey of his mother, Arsinée Khanjian, who emigrated to Canada from war-torn Lebanon in the 1970s. The 30-year-old only learned the details of the “Exotica” actress’s story a few years ago. “It’s this crazy series of events that she went through that I couldn’t believe she’d never talked about before,” he says.
On what made his mother’s story so compelling: “She went to live with her aunts, who believed that Armageddon was coming upon them at the end of that calendar year. So, after fleeing the horrors of the Lebanese civil war, she found herself in this psychological space where the world was going to end. It just gets worse. With immigrant stories, we like to think that people find a new life and everything is fine, but this is an example of how it’s the other way around.”
On whether his father gave him notes: “He’s a fantastic father. He’s an incredible mentor to me. But I think when it’s time for me to be in my creative space, he knows to pull back. Unless I want to ask him for something, he really gives me the space to go on my own journey. That said, he’s very excited when he sees the work that I do, and sharing the film with him and my mom was really special for all three of us.”
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Release Dates: Premieres at TIFF on September 11.
MIKE DOWNIE, director, “The Tragically Hip: Not a Dress Rehearsal”
Decades of documentary filmmaking and a side job directing the Hip’s “Poets” music video qualifies Downie for this four-hour dive into one of Canada’s most beloved bands. He also has unparalleled access to the band as the brother of late frontman Gord Downie.
On telling Hip’s story: “As a brother, I wanted to cement his legacy in the minds of Canadians and music fans around the world. And when I say my brother, I mean the band. For me, my way in is through my brother. (When) I was in the band all these years, Gord was always the gateway.”
On the target audience: “We thought about people on the other side of the world who were like, ‘I don’t know much about Canada and I don’t know anything about this band. What if I start here?’ We wanted people like that to get sucked into the story.”
Release Dates: Premieres Thursday at TIFF and streams September 20 on Prime Video.
ALI WEINSTEIN, director, “Your Tomorrow”
After “rediscovering” Ontario Place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Weinstein says she became obsessed with researching its history and architecture. In 2021, when Premier Doug Ford’s government announced plans to redevelop Toronto’s waterfront area into a massive spa and indoor water park, she began work on a documentary.
On the communities she captured: “I saw people on the beach and birders who knew each other, who had formed this community at Ontario Place. I thought, what is so special about this place as it is now, as a public park, that draws so many people? My goal was to capture this very unique moment in the life cycle of Ontario Place, after its heyday. That’s what kept me going for almost 100 days of shooting.”
On why it’s a universal story: “Even though it’s a very local story in its details, I think the themes will resonate around the world. I hope audiences see (the film) because it’s such a timely topic. I was excited to get it out quickly while the conversation is still going on about what should happen.”
Release Dates: Premieres at TIFF on September 12; hits theaters in late 2024.
ARIANNA MARTINEZ, Director, “Do I Know You From Somewhere?”
A couple’s happy relationship is turned upside down when the little pieces of their universe unexpectedly shift, changing their romantic history and everything around them. The Fredericton-based filmmaker describes the screenplay, which she co-wrote with her husband Gordon Mihan, as a story set in “the alternate reality of a missed connection.”
On drawing from their lives: “At a certain point in our relationship, it was a question of, do we want to make movies or do we want to have a family? (The film) plays with the idea of something we’ve all asked ourselves at some point: What would my life have been like if I had made a different choice?”
On cinematic inspirations: “We love Korean cinema — (writer-directors) Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho — just how fun those films are. They’re not selective in how they play with genres and can cram so many different genres into one story. We tried to do that with our storytelling to give the audience a little taste of everything.”
On filming in New Brunswick: “Most of our cast and crew were New Brunswickers. People we’ve been making short films with for 10 years, we’re finally making this big project together. It feels like a labor of love from the entire community.”
Release dates: Premieres at TIFF on Friday, screening at Atlantic International Film Festival on September 14.
— Interviews have been edited and shortened for clarity.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
Kalina Laframboise
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