Big surprises at the Toronto International Film Festival as usual. Forget the popular titles such as ‘The Danish Girl’, ‘Spotlight’, ‘The Martian’ and ‘Equals’. Films that won the big awards at TIFF this year have barely got a marquee. ‘Room’, ‘Desierto’, ‘Hurt’ and ‘Closet Monster’ took home the awards. Last year Elevation Pictures had the People’s Choice winning picture ‘The Imitation Game’ which went on to win screenwriter Graham Moore an Academy Award for his first screenplay. ‘Room’ and ‘Closet Monster’ are both Elevation Picture films and have scooped up two coveted TIFF awards: ‘Room’ the Irish-Canadian feature won The Grolsch People’s Choice Award; and ‘Closet Monster’, a debut feature from Canadian writer/director Stephen Dunn, won Best Canadian Feature. The big films will continue to gather attention, but the refreshing thing about film festivals like Venice and Tiff is that you can always expect the unexpected. Film gems will be discovered that without the hype of a festival such as TIFF would have much more difficulty getting noticed. We had 80 titles on our TIFF15 watch list this year, a testament to the high calibre of films and filmmakers given attention over the eleven days of the festival. Hats off to independent filmmaking.

People’s Choice Award 2015

‘Room’ is based on the internationally acclaimed novel by Irish-Canadian Emma Donoghue who also adapted screenplay. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Frank, 2014), this tense, often claustrophobia inducing film takes a magical view of the world told from the viewpoint of young Jack’s (Jacob Tremblay) eyes. It is a love story that perserveres even under the most gruelling circumstances. ‘Room’ stars Brie Larson, Joan Allen, William H. Macy and young Jacob Tremblay. Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack have been held in captivity for five years, Jack’s entire young life. Uniquely filmed from the tender young eyes of Jack the film follows his introduction to the real world once Ma manages to escape. The real star of the movie is Jacob Tremblay who delivers a truly remarkable performance. The film has also been nominated for the Best Pic at the London Film Festival. Look for it in theatres Oct.16th.

Lenny Abrahamson is an Irish filmmaker who’s touching comedy ‘Frank’, about a shy, young musician starring Michael Fassbender, who spends most of the movie with a large fake head on and Domhnall Gleeson, was featured on Netflix. ‘Frank’ showed Abrahamson’s extraordinary talent for a unique approach to storytelling with an unusual perspective.

FIPRESCI Prize Special Presentations

Desierto is a tense thriller directed by Jonás Cuarón, co-writer of Academy award winning film ‘Gravity‘. The film co-wrtten by Cuarón and Mateo Garcia and set in the Sonoran Desert is a harrowing story that follows the unexpected trials of a group of Mexican immigrants trying to illegally cross the border. A fairly simple journey becomes a nightmare as they become locked in the cross hairs of border guard Sam’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) shotgun. Sam has his loyal Belgian Malinois dog by his side and is unrelenting in his single minded determination to hunt down and kill every last illegal migrant. Sam knows the terrain of the desert in his sleep and holds all the cards when it comes to winning this gruelling man hunt. Moises (Gael García Bernal) must use all his cunning and pray for some incredible luck in order to survive and escape.

Award winning cinematographer Damián García (El Narco (2010), Güeros (2014), La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas (2012) provides a spectacular canvas of the desert revealing its expansive natural theatre as well as the tiny details so vital to survival or as clues for the trackers. Toronto Platform Prize

‘Hurt’ is the story of Steve Fonyo, who at 18 years old did what Terri Fox tried to do but in the end could not. Like Terri Fox, Steve lost a leg to cancer and decided to run across the country to raise funds and awareness for cancer research and the victims it harms or kills. The film looks at what happened to Steve Fonyo since this heroic deed in 1984 and 1985. Its a great wakeup call to the easy way in which cancer fundraising efforts are focused on getting the money out of people’s pockets and what happens in the aftermath. Steve Fonyo was awarded the Order of Canada for his efforts but then when things got tough, his life became marginalized and he sunk into drug abuse and petty crime. The Federal Government stripped his medal from him — no helping hand was offered. The film finds him living on the outskirts of society in Whalley, BC, down on his luck but still with that spark not yet extinguished that galvanized him to run across Canada in the first place.

Alan Zweig won Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival for ‘When Jews Were Funny’, the Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary for ‘A Hard Name’ (2009), I, Curmudgeon received a Silver Hugo at the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival. He often focuses the camera on the subject he knows best, his own life experience.

Best Canadian Feature Film (Canada Goose)

Closet Monster, a coming-of-age story with a few dramatic twists, is the feature debut for Stephen Dunn who has written and directed the film. It stars Connor Jessup (Blackbird, Boy), Aaron Abrams, Joanne Kelly, Aliocha Schneider, Sofia Banzhaf, Jack Fulton, Mary Walsh and the voice of Isabella Rossellini.

Oscar Madly (Connor Jessup), a high school student from a small town in New Foundland, is an aspiring special-effects makeup artist. He is not only wrestling with questions of his own sexuallity, but is fearful of the social restrictions imposed by this small town. He suddenly finds he is overwhelmed with an attraction for handsome Wilder (Aliocha Schneider) whose carefree hedonistic, rebellious character is irresistible. Oscar is terribly inhibited by the memory of a brutal hate crime he witnessed as a small boy that has left an indelible mark on him and by his repressive parents. He struggles to come to grips with how to escape his narrow minded parents (Aaron Abrams, Joanne Kelly), the small New Foundland town and his repressive school environments. Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) is his closest friend along with his hampster (voiced by Isabella Rossellini).

Elevation Pictures, founded by Teddy Schwarzian in 2013 is now a leading Canadian film and television distribution companies premiered 8 films at TIFF15 Room, Hyena Road, Closet Monster, Into The Forest, Legend, River, The Witch and Zoom.

Look for full updates on Tiff and Venice on @TheAwardsBuzz

Moira Romano

This was a high profile year once again for Canadian films and filmmakers at the Oscars. Canadian director Jean-Mark Vallée’s drama “Dallas Buyers Club” stole the limelight receiving 6 nominations across the board, including the prized Best Picture nomination and the high profile, hotly contended Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations. Vallée who also received a co-nomination for editing, was not the only Canadian to receive recognition at the Academy Awards.

Canadians honored with nominations included; musician Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy) for his work with William Butler (Arcade Fire) on Best Original Score for “Her”, Michael Pensa was co-nominated for his Editing on “Dallas Buyers Club”. A big win went to the Canadian-UK co-production “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” for the Best Documentary Short.

A lesser known fact about “Dallas Buyers Club”: it was originally set to be a Canadian production once Jean-Marc Vallée was attached. However, the production was moved south when Government funding was denied because of the lack of domestic talent. This subsequently caused the other Canadian investors to back out last min and sent Vallée, and writers Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack on a last minute scramble to secure new financing in 3 days. Better luck next time Canada.

To hear more about the producer who saved the day on “Dallas Buyers Club” see The Texas Businessman Who Saved Dallas Buyers Club.

– Astrid Handling

RELATED POSTS

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards recognize cinematic accomplishment over the past year in Britain, and around the world. Held at the Royal Opera House in London, the BAFTA winners will be announced February 16th. See the categories, winners and nominees below: 

Adapted Screenplay in 2014

The winner is: Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope

Nominees:

12 Years A Slave, John Ridley

Behind The Candelabra, Richard LaGravenese

Captain Phillips, Billy Ray

Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope

The Wolf Of Wall Street, Terence Winter

Animated Film in 2014

The winner is: Frozen

Nominees:

Despicable Me 2, Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin

Frozen, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Monsters University, Dan Scanlon

British Short Animation in 2014

The winner is: Sleeping With The Fishes

Nominees:

Everything I Can See From Here, Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor

I Am Tom Moody, Ainslie Henderson

Sleeping With The Fishes, James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa

British Short Film in 2014

The winner is: Room 8

Nominees:

Island Queen, Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema, Emma Hughes

Keeping Up With The Joneses, Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim

Orbit Ever After, Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles

Room 8, James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner

Sea View, Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot

Cinematography in 2014

The winner is: Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki

Nominees:

12 Years A Slave, Sean Bobbitt

Captain Phillips, Barry Ackroyd

Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki

Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel

Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael

Costume Design in 2014

The winner is: The Great Gatsby,  Catherine Martin

Nominees:

American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson

Behind The Candelabra, Ellen Mirojnick

The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin

The Invisible Woman, Michael O’Connor

Saving Mr. Banks, Daniel Orlandi

Film | Director in 2014

The winner is: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Nominees:

Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf Of Wall Street

Documentary in 2014

The winner is: The Act Of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer

Nominees:

The Act Of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer

The Armstrong Lie, Alex Gibney

Blackfish, Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Tim’s Vermeer, Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler

We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks, Alex Gibney

On December 19th, Xbox Entertainment Studios announced an original documentary series that will debut exclusively on Xbox in 2014. It seems like the thin line between Technology and Media has evaporated to the point where there is no longer a discernible divide at all. Last year we saw media giants like Netflix producing original content like House of Cards (13 episodes – cost 100M) that skipped traditional broadcast channels to reach the consumer directly. This proved phenomenally successful and Netflix will release House of Cards season 2 in February 2014.

Now the gaming devices, which already act as portals to over the top services like Netflix, are getting involved in original television production. Microsoft has already announced plans to populate Xbox Live with original TV series, including a Halo series executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Also, two-time Academy Award-winning producer Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man and Man on Wire), Emmy-winning producer Jonathan Chinn (American High), and writer Zak Penn (The Avengers, X-Men 2, The Incredible Hulk) have signed a deal to create a documentary series “Digital Evolution” for Xbox.

The trend is on. Tech companies are looking to draw attention and consumer subscription dollars by providing quality original content. Ask any teenager what TV shows he or she likes and you’ll see where the trend is going. You’ll likely get a list of favorites watched on Netflix, AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) or HBO (Game of Thrones). There is a growing thirst for innovative, top quality shows and with the ever increasing number of ways to view content, the cream is rising to the top.

At the end of the day this should be good news for TV enthusiasts. More content creators jumping on board means more variety of programming to choose from, but it’s yet to be seen what level these new shows will be on. Television programming is quickly becoming the new Film. Why watch a two-hour long blockbuster like Titanic, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean’s, or Avatar, when you can watch characters and their stories truly unfold in a 10 to 12 hours long series. No wonder Microsoft, Xbox, AMC, HBO, Netflix are in for the take.

More on:

Netflix and House of Cards

Searching for Sugar Man

Breaking Bad

Game of Thrones: Top 10 Scenes Season 2, Season 2 Synopsis, Season 1 Recap

Christophe Chanel

Canadian Screen Awards: And the nominees are:

The 2014 Canadian Screen Award nominee announcements mark a very exciting year for Canadian film, television and digital media. Besides honoring some of the biggest talents in Canadian media, 2014 is a record-breaking year for number of submissions across each category. “…This reflects a robust level of activity in the screen-based industries in Canada.” says Academy Chair Martin Katz “…Which we will celebrate during Canadian Screen Week, March 3rd-9th.”

This ‘robust’ activity is a reflection of a rapidly expanding Canadian screen industry that has caught fire over the past couple of years. Taking center stage is the Canadian Film Industry, which has been super charged as of late. Major film festivals such as TIFF and HotDocs have reported record attendance numbers each year, new film studios are popping up and others such as Pinewood Toronto Studios are expanding. Major productions including José Padilha’s RoboCop, Len Wiseman’s ‘Total Recall’, Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’ and Don Carmody’s ‘Pompeii’ were all recently shot in Toronto. A number of Canadian films in competition this year have already received international recognition from Venice to Palm Desert, and at our own homegrown Toronto International Film Festival.This year outstanding documentaries include ‘Watermark’ and ‘Stories We Tell’ for which Sarah Polley has just received a DGA nomination. Don Carmody is an Oscar winning producer, winning for ‘Chicago’. Carmody won the 2014 Golden Reel Award for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

With all this buzz we couldn’t help but get excited over this year’s Canadian Screen Award Nominees. Check out the nominees in some of the year’s biggest categories and follow along with #CdnScreenawards14. Click on the links to read full reviews.

Best Motion Picture

Sponsored by Willian F. White International and Comweb Group

Le Demantelment/The Dismantlement

Empire of Dirt

Enemy

The F-Word

Gabrielle

The Grand Seduction

Maina

Tom a la ferme/ Tom At the Farm

Achievement in Direction

Sponsored by Pinewood Toronto Studios

Sebastien Pilote – Le Demantelement/ The Dismantlement

Denis Villeneuve – Enemy

Michael Dowse – The F-Word

Xavier Dolan – Tom a la ferme/ Tom at the Farm. See our interview with Xavier Dolan at the Venice Film Festival here.

Pedro Pires, Robert Lepage – Triptyque

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Gabriel Arcand – Le Demantelement/ The Dismantlement

Jake Gyllenhall – Enemy

Daniel Radcliffe – The F Word

Brendan Gleeson – The Grand Seduction

Rajesh Tailang – Siddharth

LGBT

Valentine Road

D: Marta Cunningham, 87 min

In 2008, an eighth grader shot and killed his classmate, an LGBTQ youth, at point blank range for asking him to be his Valentine. This heartbreaking film explores the tragedy and the shocking aftermath.

Sat, Apr 27,4:00 PM, TBLB

Sun, Apr 28, 9:00 PM, TBLB

Sat, May 4, 8:00 PM, TBLB

Continental

D: Malcolm Ingram, 95 min

Continental is the stylish portrait of the legendary NYC gay bathhouse that became a force for a sexual revolution, where Bette Midler honed her chops and straight celebs rubbed shoulders with hunky men in towels.

Sun, Apr 28, 9:15 PM, Bloor

Tue, Apr 30, 4:00 PM, Scotia

Sun, May 5, 8:00 PM, Scotia

God Loves Uganda

D: Roger Ross Williams, 83 min

Uganda has become a battleground between human rights groups and the American evangelical movement, which uses money and fabrications to promote anti-homosexuality laws, many of which carry mandatory death sentences and create a modern theocracy.

Thu, May 2, 6:00 PM, TBLB

Fri, May 3, 1:30 PM, Bader,

Sun, May 5, 4:30 PM, TBLB