{"id":174500,"date":"2018-08-01T22:51:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T02:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=174500"},"modified":"2018-08-01T22:51:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T02:51:32","slug":"dolan-premiere-star-studded-english-language-debut-toronto-film-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/01\/dolan-premiere-star-studded-english-language-debut-toronto-film-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolan to premiere star studded English language debut at Toronto film fest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Jacob Tremblay in a scene from Xavier Dolan’s \u201cThe Death and Life of John F. Donovan\u201d (Photo:<\/a> John F. Donovan\/Twitter)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO -Xavier Dolan’s star-studded \u201cThe Death and Life of John F. Donovan\u201d will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

The movie is the Quebec phenom’s English-language directorial debut starring Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Thandie Newton, as well as Canadians Jacob Tremblay and Sarah Gadon.<\/p>\n

\u201cXavier has had a long-standing relationship with TIFF and we’re absolutely thrilled to bring his latest masterpiece to Toronto audiences,\u201d senior programmer Steve Gravestock said Wednesday onstage as he announced the lineup at a press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s safe to say that this is one of the most widely anticipated films of the festival and we’re ecstatic to show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contemporary anxieties and Indigenous issues are among the themes in the rest of the Canadian lineup for this year’s movie marathon, which also includes works by directors Denys Arcand and Jennifer Baichwal.<\/p>\n

A total of 20 Canadian features were announced on Wednesday, including Arcand’s \u201cThe Fall of the American Empire,\u201d which has already screened in French in the Oscar winner’s home province of Quebec.<\/p>\n

Alexandre Landry stars as a lonely man who finds two bags filled with money after witnessing a deadly armed robbery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s one of his more pointed political films in quite some time,\u201d Gravestock said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a weird way, even though it looks at all sorts of corruption, it’s also quite hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baichwal explores environmental issues with \u201cAnthropocene,\u201d the final title in a trilogy with producer Nicholas de Pencier and photographer Edward Burtynsky after \u201cManufactured Landscapes\u201d and \u201cWatermark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s quite stunning to look at but also I think, in some ways, this is quite painful to watch because it is very much about extinction, what we’re doing to animals,\u201d said Gravestock, who worked on the lineup with Danis Goulet, the TIFF Canadian features programmer.<\/p>\n

Other docs exploring a feeling of unease include Astra Taylor’s \u201cWhat is Democracy?\u201d Starting in Greece, it looks at the history of democracy and the dangers facing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharkwater Extinction\u201d is the final work by the late filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart, and Barry Avrich’s \u201cProsecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz\u201d is about the United States’ chief prosecutor during the Nuremberg trials.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ron Mann looks at gentrification in the documentary \u201cCarmine Street Guitars,\u201d about a Greenwich Village shop that makes custom guitars out of material from historic sites and torn-down buildings.<\/p>\n

The lineup also has world premieres of three films that showcase Indigenous talent, including Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s \u201cEdge of the Knife.\u201d It’s billed as the first feature-length film made in Haida, which is classified by UNESCO as an endangered language.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, renowned Metis actor Tantoo Cardinal stars in Darlene Naponse’s \u201cFalls Around Her.\u201d<\/p>\n

And \u201cAnne with an E\u201d executive producer Miranda de Pencier makes her feature directorial debut with \u201cThe Grizzlies,\u201d a creative collaboration between herself and Inuit producers Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald.<\/p>\n

The lineup also has the sci-fi drama \u201cClara\u201d by Akash Sherman, starring Patrick J. Adams of \u201cSuits\u201d fame as a depressed astronomer who gets a new outlook on life after meeting a woman.<\/p>\n

Emile Hirsch stars in the sci-fi thriller \u201cFreaks\u201d by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, playing a father who locks his daughter in a dilapidated house, warning of her of dangers outside.<\/p>\n

Supernatural tales are found in \u201cThe Great Darkened Days\u201d by Maxime Giroux, \u201cFausto\u201d by Andrea Bussmann, and \u201cThe Stone Speakers\u201d by Igor Drljaca.<\/p>\n

Stories featuring teens and young adults include Keith Behrman’s \u201cGiant Little Ones,\u201d Thom Fitzgerald’s \u201cSplinters,\u201d \u201cFirecrackers\u201d by Jasmin Mozaffari, and Sebastien Pilote’s \u201cThe Fireflies Are Gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

TIFF says 40 per cent of the Canadian film slate this year is directed by women.<\/p>\n

Previously announced Canadian features include \u201cGiant Little Ones\u201d as well as Kim Nguyen’s \u201cThe Hummingbird Project,\u201d Patricia Rozema’s \u201cMouthpiece,\u201d and Don McKellar’s \u201cThrough Black Spruce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of films that we have this year that don’t shy away from difficulties that people are facing -and even in some cases, some tragic circumstances -but really look at people’s resiliency,\u201d Gravestock said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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