Antigone lands on TIFF's top 10 list of Canadian films

The organization behind the Toronto International Film Festival has released its annual top 10 list of the year's best Canadian features and shorts, half of which are directed or co-directed by women.

Among the 10 features on the 2019 TIFF list is the drama Antigone by Quebec writer-director Sophie Deraspe, which is Canada's entry in the 2020 Oscar race for best international feature.

Also there is Matthias et Maxime, a French-language independent drama from Quebec's Xavier Dolan, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Organizers say three of the top 10 features are directorial debuts and four are by Indigenous filmmakers.

TIFF's programming team compiled the features list, in collaboration with the Vancouver Film Critics Circle and the Association québ​écoise des critiques de cinéma.

The list of features also includes:

• And the Birds Rained Down (Il pleuvait des oiseaux) by Louise Archambault.
• Anne at 13,000 ft by Kazik Radwanski.
• Black Conflux from Nicole Dorsey.
• The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open by Elle-Maija Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn.
• Murmur by Heather Young.
• One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk by Zacharias Kunuk.
• The Twentieth Century by Matthew Rankin.
• White Lie by Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis.

Here's the list of top 10 Canadian shorts of 2019, which will screen at TIFF Bell Lightbox in a programme format on Jan. 26:

• Acadiana by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau, and Yannick Nolin.
• Cityscape by Michael Snow.
• Delphine by Chloe Robichaud.
• Docking by Trevor Anderson.
• I Am in the World as Free and Slender as a Deer on a Plain by Sofia Banzhaf.
• Jarvik by Emilie Mannering.
• No Crying At The Dinner Table by Carol Nguyen.
• The Physics of Sorrow (Physique de la tristesse) by Theodore Ushev.
• Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You by Brandon Cronenberg.
• Throat Singing in Kangirsuk (Katatjatuuk Kangirsumi) by Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland.