Toronto film fest Canadian lineup includes Xavier Dolan, Deepa Mehta

TORONTO – Montreal director Xavier Dolan’s Cannes prize winner “It’s Only the End of the World” is headed to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, along with titles from Canadian filmmakers including Deepa Mehta and Bruce McDonald.

The Canuck lineup unveiled Wednesday includes the North American premiere of Dolan’s drama, which won the prestigious Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard star in the story of a dying author.

Another homegrown Cannes debut making its North American premiere in Toronto is the North Pole drama “Two Lovers and a Bear” by Montreal’s Kim Nguyen, starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. Nguyen’s last feature film, “Rebelle,” got an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film in 2013.

“The industry is absolutely healthy,” said Magali Simard, film programs manager at TIFF.

“We see more (Canadian) films every single year than the year before and this year is no exception. We saw something like 270 feature films coming out of Canada.”

Making its world premiere is Mehta’s “Anatomy of Violence,” loosely based on the true story of a young woman who was gang-raped by six men inside a moving bus in New Delhi. The film is a fictional dramatization of the lives of the rapists.

“She literally went into New Delhi with a tiny camera and two people and did the film she wanted to make — never asked for funding,” said Simard.

“This was a movie kind of made off the grid and to me, that speaks to the health of an industry — to know that this type of filmmaker, if they feel like it, they can do that.”

Mehta is one of many female filmmakers who are well represented at this year’s fest.

“Women, it’s nearly at parity for us and it’s not even like we tried to do that,” said Simard.

“We’re conscious of these things, obviously, year after year. This year it came so extremely naturally…. It’s actually probably one of our strongest years for women in many years.”

In McDonald’s black and white “Weirdos,” also a world premiere, a 15-year-old hitchhikes through the Maritimes with his girlfriend in 1976. The cast includes Dylan Authors, Julia Sarah Stone, Molly Parker and Allan Hawco.

Teen lovers on the run are also the focus of the coming-of-age thriller “Mean Dreams” by Toronto’s Nathan Morlando, which was also at Cannes. It stars Josh Wiggins and Sophie Nelisse, who is one of this year’s TIFF Rising Stars (the others are Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki and Mylene Mackay).

Documentaries on the docket include “The River of My Dreams” by Academy Award winner Brigitte Berman, which profiles the life of actor-writer-director Gordon Pinsent. He is also seen in Nguyen’s film.

Esteemed First Nations documentary maker Alanis Obomsawin will premiere “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake,” about a landmark discrimination complaint against Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada concerning aboriginal children.

“It’s one of the most powerful and affecting movies I’ve seen all year, or in the last couple of years, really,” said Steve Gravestock, senior programmer at TIFF.

“I really think it might be her masterpiece.”

There’s also an animated film in the Canuck lineup: “Window Horses” by Ann Marie Fleming, a story of a poet featuring the voices of Sandra Oh and Don McKellar.

The fest runs Sept. 8 to 18.

Other world premieres include:

— Chloe Robichaud’s “Boundaries,” starring Emily VanCamp in a story of three women whose paths cross in a small isolated island.

— “Nelly” by Anne Emond, which is inspired by the life and work of late writer Nelly Arcan.

— “Below Her Mouth” by April Mullen, about a passionate weekend affair between two women — one a roofer, the other a fashion editor.

— “ARQ,” by “Orphan Black” writer Tony Elliott, stars Robbie Amell and Rachael Taylor in a futuristic story of a global energy battle.

— “Hello Destroyer” by Kevan Funk, about a young junior hockey player caught up in an act of violence.

— “Nirvanna The Band The Show” by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, about a fledgling musical act.

Other docs include:

—”Mostly Sunny” by Dilip Mehta, about former adult film star Sunny Leone, who grew up in Sarnia, Ont., with strict Sikh parents.

— The basketball story “Giants of Africa” by Hubert Davis, featuring Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri.

— “All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and The Spirit of I.F. Stone” by journalist Fred Peabody.

— And Nicholas de Pencier’s “Black Code,” which looks at government control over the Internet.