One Week

Director Michael McGowan
Year 2008
Run Time 94min
Genre Drama
Ben Tyler (Jackson) is a young guy with a comfortable life, a good job as an English teacher and a sensible fiancée, Samantha (Balaban). When his doctor unexpectedly tells him he has cancer and “maybe two years, maybe one week” to live, Ben’s only chance is to start treatment immediately. Instead, he decides to buy a motorcycle and head out west.

A classic road trip movie featuring lots of Canadian icons (like Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip), One Week follows Ben’s journey from Toronto to Tofino. Along the way, Ben makes new friends and re-evaluates his life, his job and his upcoming marriage. As his fiancée and family back home struggle to understand his decision, Ben rediscovers himself, reawakens his old passion for writing and ultimately learns to appreciate life.

Director

Michael McGowan

McGowan made his film debut as a writer, director and producer with My Dog Vincent, and directed Saint Ralph, One Week, Score: A Hockey Musical and Still Mine, which was named by TIFF as one of Canada’s Top 10 films in 2012. He recently directed TV shows Reign and Between and wrote the film The Etruscan Smile. His most recent film, All My Puny Sorrows, premiered at TIFF 2021.

Writer

Michael McGowan

Cast

Joshua Jackson, Liane Balaban, Campbell Scott, Fiona Reid

Producers

Nicholas de Pencier, Jane Tattersall, Michael McGowan

Genre

Drama

Interests

ESL, Family Relationships

Original Language

English

Birth of a Family

Director Tasha Hubbard (Cree)
Year 2016
Run Time 79min
Genre Documentary
Four siblings, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, meet for the first time in this deeply moving documentary. 

Between 1955 and 1985, the federal and provincial governments in Canada took an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children from their homes and placed them in the child welfare system. Often referred to as the Sixties Scoop, this policy was part of the same trend of forced assimilation as residential schools.

Betty Ann was one of these children, and over several decades has worked tirelessly to track down her three siblings. As the foursome piece together their shared history, their family begins to take shape. 

This film tackles grief, redemption and discovery as it chronicles the family’s emotional reunion and captures an event that remains painfully elusive for many Indigenous people.
 
 

Director

Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Hubbard is an award-winning filmmaker and an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of English. Her writing-directing project Two Worlds Colliding won a Gemini and a Golden Sheaf Award. She has also directed the short film 7 Minutes, and the feature docs Birth of a Family and nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, which won Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs and at the CSAs. She is currently directing the feature doc Singing Back the Buffalo.

Writers

Betty Ann Adam (Dene), Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Producer

Bonnie Thompson

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Biography, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, ESL, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

waydowntown

Director Gary Burns
Year 2000
Run Time 87min
Genre Comedy
In the maze-like downtown core of Calgary, four young office workers inhabit a world full of interconnected skywalks between offices, apartment buildings, food courts and malls – making it possible, or perhaps even easy, to never go outside.

But when the pals decide to make a bet about who can stay indoors the longest, they each start reaching their breaking points in increasingly funny and unexpected ways.

As the bet unravels, the desire for a breath of fresh air brings loyalties, values and relationships under highly comic scrutiny.

Waydowntown won Best Canadian Film at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for four Canadian Comedy Awards.

“A smart, sardonic satire.” – Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Director

Gary Burns

Calgary-born writer and director Burns’ film credits include Kitchen Party, featuring Scott Speedman in his first starring role, The Suburbanators and Radiant City, which won the Genie Award for Best Documentary. Burns co-directed The Future is Now!, and most recently wrote and directed Man Running, and produced Circle of Steel.

Writers

Gary Burns, James Martin

Cast

Fab Filippo, Don McKellar, Marya Delver, Gordon Currie

Producers

Gary Burns, Shirley Vercruysse

Genre

Comedy

Interest

Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

Remember

Director Atom Egoyan
Year 2015
Run Time 94min
Genre Drama, Thriller
Thrilling yet emotionally powerful, Remember follows retired veteran Zev Guttman (Plummer), who is asked to fulfill his friend’s dying wish: to hunt down a Nazi that has escaped capture for decades following World War II, and thus close their painful, personal chapter of the Holocaust. But as Guttman suffers from memory loss, shining light on this history reveals secrets even darker than he could have expected.

A riveting journey that will keep you guessing until the very end, Remember’s engrossing twists and incredible performances are simply unforgettable.

“This is one of those rare mainstream releases that gets everything right, right down to its knockout ending.”
— Scott Marks, San Diego Reader

Director

Atom Egoyan

Egoyan received the Governor General’s award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He was the first-ever Canadian director to earn two Oscar nominations (for The Sweet Hereafter). His award-winning films include Exotica, Ararat and The Captive. His most recent film, Guest of Honour, premiered at TIFF 2019.

Writer

Benjamin August

Cast

Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Henry Czerny, Bruno Ganz

Producers

Ari Lantos, Robert Lantos

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Interests

Discrimination, ESL, Family Relationships, History

Original Language

English

Fubar

Director Michael Dowse
Year 2002
Run Time 76min
Genre Comedy
Are you ready to just give’r? This hilarious mockumentary is based on the lives of lifelong friends and headbangers Terry (Spence) and Dean (Lawrence), who've devoted their lives to the important arts of beer, heavy metal, and, well, breaking stuff.

These two mullet-sporting, beer-chugging Alberta-based headbangers are the subject of a fictional documentary by Ferral Mitchner (Skilling), a filmmaker who follows Terry and Dean as they explore the depths of their friendship through a series of unexpected twists and turns. A fun, hilarious, and unforgettable trip into the minds of two of Canada’s most beloved comic rogues.

Director

Michael Dowse

Dowse’s credits include the cult classics Fubar, Fubar II and It’s All Gone Pete Tong. His film Goon was a huge critical and box-office success. The F Word won the CSA for Best Adapted Screenplay. Dowse also directed episodes of Man Seeking Woman, starring Jay Baruchel, the feature film Stuber, 8 Bit Christmas, and Coffee and Kareem. He is currently set to direct the film adaptation of the video game Just Cause and is developing a series about the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

Writers

Michael Dowse, David Lawrence, Paul Spence

Cast

Paul Spence, David Lawrence

Producers

Michael Dowse, Bryan Gliserman, David Lawrence, Mark Slone, Paul Spence

Genre

Comedy

Interest

Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

Wedding in White

Director William Fruet
Year 1972
Run Time 103min
Genre Drama

A harsh and note-perfect portrayal of small-town Ontario during World War II. Naive and withdrawn, teenage Jeannie (Kane) is utterly inexperienced with men until she meets Billy (McGrath), a soldier friend of her brother’s, when they come home on furlough. The sexual assault that ensues – and its tragic consequences – throw the family into turmoil as they navigate the mores of the times and their community.


Driven by incredible performances and direction, this acclaimed Canadian classic claimed three Canadian Film Awards including Best Feature Film.


“One of the most merciless, strangely touching portraits of character I’ve ever seen in a movie.” – Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

Director

William Fruet

Writer

William Fruet

Cast

Donald Pleasence, Carol Kane

Genre

Drama

Interests

Classics, History, Literary Adaptation

Original Language

English

Fubar II

Director Michael Dowse
Year 2010
Run Time 85min
Genre Comedy
Years after the original Fubar, best friends and headbangers Terry (Spence) and Dean (Lawrence) are tired of barely scraping by. When they hear of the lucrative opportunity to head up north to Fort McMurray to find jobs in the oil industry, the mullet-sporting buds jump at the chance to strike it rich.

But life in “Fort Mac” is more complicated than the duo anticipated. While they’re blowing their earnings at the pub, Terry meets a woman and is soon reorganizing his life’s priorities, but risks leaving his best friend Dean behind.

What will become of Night Seeker, the duo’s band (that Dean is confident will make the big time)? And what will happen to this legendary friendship? If you’re ready to give’r once again, Fubar II will shock and delight with its comic hijinks and surprising emotional depth.

Director

Michael Dowse

Dowse’s credits include the cult classics Fubar, Fubar II and It’s All Gone Pete Tong. His film Goon was a huge critical and box-office success. The F Word won the CSA for Best Adapted Screenplay. Dowse also directed episodes of Man Seeking Woman, starring Jay Baruchel, the feature film Stuber, 8 Bit Christmas, and Coffee and Kareem. He is currently set to direct the film adaptation of the video game Just Cause and is developing a series about the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

Writers

Michael Dowse, David Lawrence, Paul Spence

Cast

David Lawrence, Terra Hazelton, Paul Spence

Producers

George Baptist, Michael Dowse, Jennifer Wilson, Shirley Vercruysse

Genre

Comedy

Interest

Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

Why Shoot the Teacher?

Director Silvio Narizzano
Year 1977
Run Time 100min
Genre Comedy, Drama
A young man from the East Coast struggles with life as a teacher in a one-room prairie schoolhouse in the 1930s.

Director

Silvio Narizzano

Writer

James Defelice

Cast

Bud Cort, Samantha Eggar, Michael J. Reynolds

Producer

Lawrence T Hertzog

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Interests

Classics, Literary Adaptation

Original Language

English

Back to God’s Country

Director David Hartford
Year 1919
Run Time 73min
Genre Action/Adventure

The first (and earliest surviving) feature film made in Canada by Canadians, Back to God’s Country tells the story of Delores LeBeau, who goes on a treacherous journey to the Arctic with her husband on a vessel captained secretly by the man who murdered her father. In a tense and action-packed sequence, Delores must save her husband from the malicious Rydal and survive in the unfamiliar Arctic conditions.


Written and starring female filmmaking pioneer and creative powerhouse of the silent era, Nell Shipman, this is also the most successful silent film in Canadian history and is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019.

Director

David Hartford

Writers

Nell Shipman, James Oliver Curwood

Cast

Nell Shipman, Charles Arling, Wheeler Oakman, Wellington A. Playter

Producers

James Oliver Curwood, Ernest Shipman

Genre

Action/Adventure

Interests

Classics, History, Literary Adaptation

Original Languages

English, French

Totem: The Return of the G’psgolox Pole

Director Gil Gardinal (Métis)
Year 2003
Run Time 70min
Genre Documentary

In 1929, the Haisla people of British Columbia returned from a fishing trip to find their tribe’s nine-metre mortuary pole — otherwise known as the G’psgolox — missing, severed at the base. The pole’s fate was a mystery for over 60 years until it surfaced in a Stockholm museum, where members of the Haisla Nation journeyed to in order to get it back in 1991.

Mixing interviews, location photography and awesome footage of Haisla carvers, this unique documentary takes an incredible story and weaves in important commentary on the issue of cultural appropriation and art history.

Director

Gil Gardinal (Métis)

Writer

Gil Gardinal (Métis)

Producers

Jerry Krepakevich, Graydon McCrea, Bonnie Thompson

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Environment, Global Experiences, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English