10 Canadian filmmakers at TIFF share the stories of making their work
As the festival comes to a close, read about the journeys some homegrown talent went through to get there
The Toronto International Film Festival is heading into its final days this weekend, and while the lion's share of attention it has received has been devoted to the Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Steven Spielberg of it all, it's also been an extraordinary moment for homegrown cinema. Dozens of Canadian filmmakers showed audiences just what this country is capable of when it comes to making movies. And part of CBC Arts's Cutaways series, we asked 10 of these filmmakers to tell us the story of getting their film made. You can read each of them below, and check TIFF's website to see which of them you can still see before the festival wraps up on September 18th.
Nisha Pahuja on her deeply challenging journey documenting one Indian family's fight for justice
The teenage girl at the heart of To Kill a Tiger told the filmmaker she wanted to celebrate her own courage after surviving an assault when she was 13. Read her essay here.
Sex, lies and turning 40: How Sean Garrity found the heart in a couple's midlife crisis
Starring Emily Hampshire, Jonas Chernick and Melanie Scrofano, The End of Sex follows a married couple trying to rekindle the magic of their love life. Read his essay here.
These foraged inks travelled from the wilderness to seven countries for a new documentary
Brian D. Johnson's dreamlike film The Colour of Ink uncovers the fascinating history of the form with inkmaker Jason Logan. Read his essay here.
How communities came together to bring the 'heartwork' of queer love story This Place to life
V.T. Nayani turned to her peers, elders, and ancestors for her film about a Tamil woman (Priya Guns) falling in love with an Iranian and Kanien'kehá꞉ka woman (Devery Jacobs). Read her essay here.
We had one night to shoot our film's most important scene. Then it started pouring rain
Embracing the unplanned chaos led to an irreplaceable moment in Luis De Filippis' debut feature Something You Said Last Night. Read her essay here.
Coyote asks what it means to raise a child, as an immigrant, in a splintered society
Exasperated by Quebec cinema's depictions of Latinos, Katherine Jerkovic captured fragments of herself in her new film. Read her essay here.
Rosie is a story of strength and chosen family through the eyes of a child — with a lot of 80s music
Told in French, English and Michif, Gail Maurice's first feature film honours Indigenous children ripped from their families. Read her essay here.
Bones of Crows is a striking cinematic response to Canada's 'reign of terror against Indigenous people'
Marie Clements' new film is the largest production about the residential school experience written, directed, and produced by an Indigenous creator. Read her essay here.
How everything changed for Carly Stone as she became a mother while working on her film North of Normal
The director had no children when she started adapting Sunrise Person's memoir; by the time they filmed, she was pregnant with her second. Read her essay here.
Cinema became a 'new home' for filmmaker Lina Rodríguez to find her place as an immigrant
So Much Tenderness explores the 'Latine-Canadian' experience in Rodriguez's favourite language: Spanglish. Read her essay here.
This year's Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8–18. See all our coverage here.
