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Exclusive: T A P E Collective has picked up Canadian filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get A Witness? for UK-Ireland release.

The film will be released theatrically on September 19, marking the film’s UK premiere, after playing last year at Toronto International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights. New York-based Visit Films represents sales.

The eco-thriller is set in the not-too-distant future. Climate change is mitigated, global poverty is eradicated, and all species on the planet can live in relative peace and equality. The world has rejected consumption and technology with smaller carbon footprints. All this is made...

Exclusive: Ryan Kampe’s Visit Films heads to Cannes with a sales slate of completed titles including upcoming Tribeca Festival world premiere Our Hero, Balthazar, and SXSW selections The Dutchman, Fantasy Life, Baby Doe, and Brother Verses Brother.

Oscar Boyson’s satire Our Hero, Balthazar will screen privately for buyers ahead of its Tribeca slot and follows a wealthy New York teenager who posts on social media calling for stricter gun control in the hopes that his activist-minded crush will notice. When an online troll comments on his video and messages Balthazar, he becomes convinced that he is communicating with...

Two big questions often follow us through our lives on this planet: how long will we be here, and will anyone remember us when we're gone. Much of philosophy and art is devoted to understanding the importance of these questions in our lives, though naturally most of us would like to be alive as long as we can. How, and if, we will be remembered, is another. And one that has more relevance in a world that humans are irreparably damaging, and lives lived increasingly alone. Ann Marie Fleming grapples with these large questions in Can I Get a Witness? A fable of the future, it's a quietly moving and intimate portrait of a changed world where peace and a future have been obtained, though...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez hit the red carpet at the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival held at The Arlington Theatre on Sunday evening (February 9) in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The two actresses, who star in two heavily nominated movies across awards season, are among this year’s Virtuosos Award honorees.

Also in attendance were fellow honorees Mikey Madison, Clarence Maclin, John Magara, Fernanda Torres, Monica Barbaro, Sebastian Stan, as well as Jane Lynch and Sandra Oh, who posed with filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming.

The Virtuosos Award recognizes “a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in films this season has propelled them into the forefront of national cinematic conversation,” per Variety.

Kieran Culkin, Harris Dickinson and Karla Sofia Gascon are also among this year’s honorees. Kieran is currently rehearsing for his upcoming Broadway show, and Karla is not attending any events following her recent controversy.

Fyi: Ariana is wearing a Giorgio Armani Privé gown.

Filmmakers have particularly been instrumental and relentless in the campaign against global warming. Through skillful storytelling, they've raised awareness and advocated for policy changes, warning of the existential threats around the globe. The latest to lend her voice to this great cause is Canadian-Japanese filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, who presents her submission in the form of a utopian sci-fi fable titled, Can I Get A Witness? The film reunites her with Killing Eve and Grey's Anatomy alum, Sandra Oh, with whom she previously collaborated on the animated feature Window Horses. Can I Get A Witness? which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, is now headed for US theaters, and ahead of its imminent arrival comes a trailer.

"We're not here to judge, Kiah, we're here to witness." An intriguing official trailer is available for a peculiar little indie sci-if film called Can I Get a Witness, the latest film from filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming. This premiered at TIFF 2024 last fall, and should be out in theaters soon. It's more of a utopian sci-fi feature about a future world where humanity seems to have made everyone equal without any class division – but at the cost of people over 50 required to pass on in order to control the population. This is a bit like Logan's Run, of course, but seems more ethereal and charming in its depiction of this possible future. Blending live action & animation, the film is set in a world in which travel & technology are virtually banned, and people who reach the age of 50 have to submit to required death – while young people are tasked with artistically documenting their final moments.

The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced its entire program which includes 32 World Premieres and 74 U.S. Premieres from 60 countries. The fest will open on February 4, 2025 with the US premiere of Jane Austin Wrecked My Life and will close on February 15 with the US premiere of A Missing Part. Considering the ongoing tragedy of the Los Angeles wildfires this year’s festival is dedicated to L.A. to raise funds in partnership with Direct Relief.

“As the tragic events in our sister city of Los Angeles were unfolding, we debated about moving forward with Sbiff,” said Roger Durling, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “Film has always been a conduit for comfort and renewal, and film festivals play a vital role in fostering a sense of connection. Festivals build community, and create an outlet for the process of feelings. In light of this, it became...

The 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 40th anniversary event, with 52 percent of the films directed by women. The 12-day extravaganza will raise funds for Los Angeles wildfire relief to help the community that has been devastated by the deadly infernos.

Sbiff will run from Feb. 4 to Feb. 15 — that’s one day longer than usual in honor of its four-decade mark. The festival will showcase movies from 60 different countries, including 33 world premieres and 74 United States premieres, and a majority come from female directors. In addition, there will be tributes to talented artisans, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs.

“As the tragic events in our sister city of Los Angeles were unfolding, we debated about moving forward with Sbiff,” said Roger Durling, Sbiff executive director. “Film has always been a conduit for comfort and renewal, and film festivals play a vital role in fostering a sense of connection.

Visit Films has acquired international sales rights excluding Canada for “Can I Get a Witness?,” a poetic and satirical sci-fi fable written and directed by Canadian auteur Ann Marie Fleming.

The film had its world premiere at Toronto and has been selected to play in competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Mongrel Media will be releasing the film Canada.

The film is set in the not-too-distant future where we’ve solved all the world’s problems: mitigated climate change, eradicated poverty, and achieved true trans-species equality. There’s just one catch… humans have to end life at 50 and teenage artists have to document it, and it’s Kiah’s first day on the job.

“Can I Get a Witness?” stars Keira Jang, in her feature debut, alongside Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”) and Joel Oulette (“Trickster”). The film is produced by Ann Marie Fleming, Raymond Massey, Ruth Vincent and executive produced by Haydn Wazelle,...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected a further 14 features, including 11 world premieres, to complete the lineup of its Official Selection Competition.

The new titles include the world premiere of Serhii Kastornykh’s Ukrainian feature The Mousetrap. Shot during a break between Kastornykh’s military service periods, the film follows a soldier trapped alone in a bunker on the frontline of the Russian war.

Scroll down for the full list of Poff Official Selection Competition titles

Also selected is the world premiere of Juris Kursietis’ third feature The Exalted, in which a world-renowned German organist uncovers her Latvian husband...

Ann Marie Fleming poses a provocative thought experiment about what we would be willing to sacrifice for the environment's protection through the dystopian world built in Can I Get a Witness? Set in the near future, this environmental science fiction film depicts a world that is recovering from overpopulation and a lack of resources. Their solution is to prohibit and limit the use of technology and also disallow anyone from living over the age of 50. In this introspective mix of live-action and animation, Kiah, played by Keira Jang, starts her job as a "Documenter," where her artistic skills are used to capture the "dying ceremony." Alongside Joel Oulette and actress and producer Sandra Oh, Jang gives a mesmerizing performance as she demonstrates Kiah's struggle to cope with the moral implications of her job and her world.

Sandra Oh has doubled her donation to the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival for prize-giving to $100,000.

During a reception at the Toronto Film Festival, the Killing Eve star added another $50,000 to make her overall contribution to the festival’s Reel Asian Fire Horse Award $100,000 over five years.

Oh, a longtime activist for Asian storytelling, told the reception: “Even though there is a place and a space for us now, it’s so important that we develop people, and this is the place where we can do it.” After wrapping her run playing Dr. Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Oh has championed stories that explore the Asian American identity.

The Korean Canadian actor was in Toronto this week as the honorary co-chair of the TIFF Tribute Awards held on Sunday evening. Oh also attended the 30th anniversary screening at TIFF of Mina Shum’s Double Happiness, in which she starred,...

The notion that humanity would be better off if there were just less of us isn't a new one, and science-fiction has been toying with that notion at least as far back as William F. Nolan and George Clayton's novel Logan's Run (and subsequent 1976 movie adaptation), which offered up a futuristic world where equilibrium is achieved simply by culling the population with mandatory killings dictated by age. Canadian writer/director Ann Marie Fleming's new film Can I Get a Witness? takes that basic plot device and runs in the opposite direction from its "hard sci-fi" trappings. Instead, her movie, identified up front as a "fable," is a character-first piece that serves as both a meditation on death and a raging environmental diatribe. It's also unfortunately light on drama, turning away from the hard questions the film's premise raises to tell a simple, almost poetic tale about how drastic...

The time has come for the annual presentation of the Toronto International Film Festival. The festivities will include many premieres of titles, whether it be their big world premiere, their North American premiere, or even just their Canadian premiere. Deadline has unveiled a number of upcoming films that attendees are expected to see this year.

Among those premiering are some star-studded affairs, such as the war drama Without Blood, which stars Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir and is directed by Angelina Jolie. The film is based on the Alessandro Baricco novel. Hard Truths from Mike Leigh stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste. That film is being described as an “Ongoing exploration of the contemporary world with a tragicomic study of human strengths and weaknesses.”

The Last Showgirl will premiere. The movie follows a seasoned stage dancer who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run and stars Dave Bautista,...

The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival have unveiled their lineup of 63 films from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. Notable titles include the world premieres of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths and The Last Showgirl, the North American premieres of Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest and Justin Kurzel’s The Order, the Canadian premiere of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End, along with many favorites from this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Check out the lineup below.

Galas 2024 (in alphabetical order)

*Previously announced

Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe Cosima Spender | UK

World Premiere

Better Man Michael Gracey | USA

Canadian Premiere

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight Embeth Davidtz | South Africa

Canadian Premiere

Sales Title

*Eden Ron Howard | USA

World Premiere

Sales Title

*Elton John: Never Too Late R.J. Cutler, David Furnish | USA

World Premiere

*Harbin Woo Min-ho | South Korea

World Premiere

Meet the Barbarians...

The Toronto Film Festival has turned up the star power for its 49th edition, having added the latest movies from Alicia Vikander, Lupita Nyong’o, Steve Coogan, Ralph Fiennes, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Lily James and Riz Ahmed.

For the Gala section at Roy Thomson Hall, there’s world bows for two music specials: the Andrea Bocelli biopic Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe, a doc about the Italian tenor by director Cosima Spender; and Thom Zimny’s Bruce Springsteen doc for Disney+ and Hulu, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Zimny was in Toronto last year with his Sylvester Stallone documentary Sly for Netflix.

TIFF will also give a first look to Uberto Pasolini’s historical epic The Return, with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche reteaming after The English Patient. And there’s gala world premieres for Peter Cattaneo’s The Penguin Lessons, toplined by Steve Coogan and...

World premieres from Angelina Jolie, Mike Leigh, David Mackenzie, Edward Burns, Uberto Pasolini, Peter Cattaneo, and Rachel Morrison among the Gala and Special Presentation titles unveiled by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) today (July 22).

Hard Truths is a rare TIFF premiere for Leigh after the UK auteur’s last film Peterloo debuted in Venice in 2018, while Mr. Turner in 2014 and Another Year in 2010 both premiered in Cannes. Cornerstone represents sales and Bleecker Street will handle US distributon on the film, which stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste from Secrets And Lies.

Pasolini’s The Return marks his follow-up to Venice 2020 entry Nowhere Special...

The 49th Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled a star-studded lineup featuring a slew of highly-anticipated features this awards season.

IndieWire can confirm the Galas and Special Presentations programs that boast 63 films, including new titles from beloved directors like Mike Leigh, Morgan Neville, Jacques Audiard, and Edward Berger, whose papal drama “Conclave” will make its international premiere at the festival. (Meaning this American production will world-premiere at Telluride.)

The Galas program, sponsored by Dyson, includes buzzy Cannes titles like Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” and David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds.” Cronenberg will also be honored with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award during the festival.

The Special Presentations section marks the premiere of Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl” starring Pamela Anderson, as well as Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ “Heretic.”

The Galas and Special Presentations programs for 2024 boast films from 25 countries, including 29 sales titles.

“This Special Presentations section can...

Crime thrillers centered on scams are hard to watch, especially if the con is complicated and many people are affected by it. But The Pregnancy Scheme comes nowhere close to the above-mentioned description. Directed by Ann Marie Fleming and written by Ansley Gordon, The Pregnancy Scheme is about a scam being carried out by two women who are in desperate need of money, until one of them finally develops a conscience.

Spoilers Ahead

Julia’s New Life As A Single Woman

The Pregnancy Scheme begins with an aftermath of a chase where a woman is pleading with another person to consider her unborn child as well. This sets up the tone of the movie, which will have a pregnant woman facing issues and fighting hard to make sure her nine months go smoothly. Julia just broke up with her long-term boyfriend, Drew, and she is trying to make her professional...

Killing Eve star Sandra Oh is set for a reunion with Ann-Marie Fleming. The director has tapped her to star in her new sci-fi thriller Can I Get a Witness, marking the second stint for the two together. Oh was previously one of the stars of Fleming's animated feature Window Horses, lending her voice alongside Elliot Page and Shohreh Aghdashloo. They'll come together for a live-action affair this time which Canada's Mongrel Media is currently pitching to international buyers while AFM develops.

Sandra Oh to star in sci-fi thriller Can I Get A Witness.

Toronto-based Mongrel International arrives at AFM with four sales titles led by Ann-Marie Fleming’s sci-fi thriller Can I Get A Witness to star Sandra Oh, and Kyle Armstrong’s horror thriller Hands That Bind.

Can I Get a Witness takes place in the near future when 50-year-olds are expected to die in order to save the planet while teenage artists are ordered to document their demise. Eric Mussolum and Jayme Pfahl are producing the project, which is in development.

Hands That Bind follows a farmer who struggles...

Killing Eve star Sandra Oh is reuniting with award-winning Canadian director Ann Marie Fleming on sci-fi thriller Can I Get a Witness.

The project, which is in development, is among four new features being launched at the American Film Market this week by Canadian sales outfit Mongrel International, a division of Toronto-based independent film distributor Mongrel Media.

Set in the near future, the film unfolds in a reality where, in order to save the planet, “death is everyone’s job”, with 50-year-olds making the sacrifice, while teenage artists have to document it.

Fleming and Oh previously collaborated on the award-winning 2016 animated feature Window Horses. Producers on the new project are Eric Mussolum and Jayme Pfahl.

Mongrel will also launch sales on two other projects in development: Jason Lapeyre’s crime thriller Stealing Is Bad starring Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) and Kevin Pollak (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel...

Click here to read the full article.

Killing Eve star Sandra Oh is reteaming with director Ann-Marie Fleming for the sci-fi thriller Can I Get a Witness.

Canadian distributor Mongrel Media is shopping the Canadian indie, now in development, at AFM via its Mongrel International banner. Can I Get a Witness, also written by Fleming, is set in the near future in which, to save the planet, death is everyone’s job. And while 50-year-olds make the sacrifice, teenage artists have to document the deaths.

Oh is set to star, while Eric Mussolum and Jayme Pfahl share producer credits.

Canadian-born Oh voiced a key role, Rosie Ming, in Fleming’s 2016 animated feature Window Horses, about a young Canadian Chinese poet discovering her family history in Iran. Elliot Page, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Navid Negahban also voiced roles in the indie feature, which Oh also produced in the wake of her Grey’s Anatomy exit as Dr.

Telefilm Canada has launched Canada Now, a new portal devoted to highlighting Canadian content in the U.S. The site will add new titles each month to its portfolio, which ranges from recent films such as “My Salinger Year” and “Antigone” to Oscar nominees like “Barbarian Invasions” and “Monsieur Lazhar,” as well as some series.

The site, developed in collaboration with Telescope, features close to 5,000 productions available across more than 150 VOD platforms.

Canada Now’s monthly boutique curation will spotlight six different programming sections in addition to the searchable database of productions accessible within the U.S. Every month the site will feature a section on New Arrivals, Classic Films and a spotlight called Indigenous Voices.

For the month of May, it will focus on a celebration of Asian Canadians with films including Sandra Oh starring as a struggling single mother whose daughter decides that Taoist magic will make everything better,...

Chicago – The Asian Pop-Up Cinema (Apuc) series has established a foothold in the Chicago film scene through the last three years and now five seasons. For Spring 2018, Season 6 will open on March 13th with a U.S. Premiere from Japan, “Colors of Wind,” featuring an appearance by hot lead Japanese actor, Yuki Furukawa (click here for details). The series will then unspool 14 more films through May 16th, all facilitated and curated by the Founder of Apuc, veteran film programmer Sophia Wong Boccio.

Sophia Wong Boccio, Founder of the Asian Pop-Up Cinema Series

Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Season Six features a diverse line-up of Asian films, with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India and Hong Kong all represented for the Spring of 2018, all with English subtitles (also Canada and France are listed producers). Screenings occur at the AMC River East 21 in downtown Chicago, with other various locations for...

“The Breadwinner” isn’t the only female-driven animated feature directed by a woman inspired by peace and inclusion. In “Window Horses,” the darkest of dark horses in the Oscar race, Asian-Canadian director Ann Marie Fleming propels her Stick Girl avatar into the culturally rich world of Iran via a poetry festival. The fish-out-of-water novice not only attains more wisdom, but also reconnects with her Persian heritage. It’s a curious blend of hand-drawn styles that achieves a striking multi-cultural bridge to imagination and empathy.

“A lot of my life experiences are in there except for the obvious bare bones of the family’s story, which is a compilation of a lot of people,” said Fleming (“The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam”), who financed through Indiegogo and co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada. Actress Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) not only voiced protagonist Rosie Ming, but also executive produced.

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming First Pond Director: Ann Marie Fleming Screenwriter: Ann Marie Fleming Cast: Voices of Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ellen Page Sandra Oh, Navid Negahban, Nancy Kwan, Omid Abtahi Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 12/21/17 Opens: September 29, 2017 If you don’t like poetry because you cannot understand its meanings, […]

The post Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

At the annual New York International Children’s Film Festival, young movie viewers are the target audience, but that doesn’t mean that the festival’s programming leans toward the fluffy and light. Instead, the program delivers films that tackle big questions, often with timely messages, in hopes of both entertaining and educating their youngest ticket-holders.

If the definition of a “kids movie” is too narrow — and so often, movies that appeal to younger viewers, center on stories about kids or just so happen to be told using animation are bucketed into somehow only being for the non-adult set — festivals like Nyicff aim to change that in a major way. This year is no different.

Read More: ‘My Life as a Zucchini’ Exclusive Photos: Charming Stop-Motion Oscar Contender Is All About the Details

Here are five takeaways from this year’s lineup that prove movies for kids don’t need to be simple.

Winners of the 2016 Whistler Film Festival were announced at the Awards Celebration this morning on the final day of the 16h annual Festival.Before The Streets (Avant Les Rues) Canadian director Chloé Leriche’s first feature, won the $15,000 cash prize sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada, British Columbia and the $15,000 post-production prize sponsored by Encore Vancouver in the 13th edition of the coveted Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film. The moving story of Shawnouk, a young First Nations man who banishes himself into exile after committing a horrible crime during a routine break-in at one of the local summer homes. The first feature film ever shot in the Atikamekw language is an accomplished first film by filmmaker Chloé Leriche.

The Borsos Jury chose Before The Streets for the Best Canadian Feature because “this surprising, unexpected film grips you from its powerful, intense opening chant, to well beyond the final credits,...

Programmers at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) announced that Isabelle Huppert, Kunle Afolayan and Genevieve Nnaji and Mark Wahlberg will be among the eight participants in the In Conversation With… series.

Moonlight, festival closing night screening The Edge Of Seventeen, Noces and Handsome Devil take their place in the youth-oriented Next Wave strand, while Discovery selections include The Empty Box, Godless, Hunting Flies and The Red Turtle.

A five-strong roster of virtual reality work brings new work from Canadian superstars Felix & Paul as well as Memesys Culture Lab in India.

Overall 397 films will play at the festival from September 8-18, comprising 296 features and 101 shorts, compared to 287 and 110 last year.

Festival organisers received 6,933 submissions (6,118 in 2015), of which 1,240 came from Canada (1,225) and the 5,693 balance from the rest of the world (4,893).

Festival Street

For the third consecutive year, King Street will close to traffic between Peter and University Streets over opening weekend from September 8-11.

“Festival Street brings great value...

Programmers at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) announced that Isabelle Huppert, Kunle Afolayan and Genevieve Nnaji and Mark Wahlberg will be among the eight participants in the In Conversation With… series.

Moonlight, festival closing night screening The Edge Of Seventeen, Noces and Handsome Devil take their place in the youth-oriented Next Wave strand, while Discovery selections include The Empty Box, Godless, Hunting Flies and The Red Turtle.

A five-strong roster of virtual reality work brings new work from Canadian superstars Felix & Paul as well as Memesys Culture Lab in India.

Overall 397 films will play at the festival from September 8-18, comprising 296 features and 101 shorts, compared to 287 and 110 last year.

Festival organisers received 6,933 submissions (6,118 in 2015), of which 1,240 came from Canada (1,225) and the 5,693 balance from the rest of the world (4,893).

Festival Street

For the third consecutive year, King Street will close to traffic between Peter and University Streets over opening weekend from September 8-11.

“Festival Street brings great value...

Next month’s Toronto International Film Festival has nearly completed its lineup announcements, and each one is more impressive than the last. Today’s Tiff picks feature a number of slate additions for sections as varied as the forward-focused Discovery, their burgeoning Pop Vr section and even a handful of last minute additions to the Tiff Docs list. New titles of note that have just been announced include the Cannes hit “The Red Turtle,” Wayne Roberts’ “Katie Says Goodbye” and the well-regarded “Sand Storm,” all of which will screen as part of Discovery.

Read More: Tiff Lineup: 5 Reasons to Get Excited About the 2016 Program

Both the Next Wave and Tiff Kids section pull titles from other, previously announced sections to create an appealing lineup for the next generation of cinephiles. Standout titles include “Moonlight,” “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea” and “The Eagle Huntress.”

Additionally, the festival has...

A selection of films from the 2016 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with films by Jim Jarmusch, Maren Ade, Tom Ford, Paul Verhoeven, Damien Chazelle, and many more.Opening NIGHTThe Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua)GALASDeepwater HorizonArrival (Denis Villeneuve)Deepwater Horizon (Peter Berg)The Headhunter's Calling (Mark Williams)The Journey Is the Destination (Bronwen Hughes)Jt + The Tennessee Kids (Jonathan Demme)Lbj (Rob Reiner)Lion (Garth Davis)Loving (Jeff Nichols)A Monster Calls (J.A. Bayona)Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski)Queen of Katwe (Mira Nair)The Rolling Stones of Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (Paul Dugdale)The Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan)Snowden (Oliver Stone)Strange Weather (Katherine Dieckmann)Their Finest (Lone Scherfig)A United Kingdom (Amma Astante)Special PRESENTATIONSLa La LandThe Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon)All I See Is You (Marc Forster)American Honey (Andrea Arnold)American Pastoral (Ewan McGregor)Asura: The City of...

After a promising initial line-up, the Toronto International Film Festival has delivered more titles with their full Canadian slate. Among the line-up is Xavier Dolan‘s It’s Only the End of the World, Bruce MacDonald‘s new feature Weirdos, Deepa Mehta‘s Anatomy of Violence, as well as Two Lovers and a Bear, starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan, which we have the first trailer for today.

We said in our review from Cannes, “Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on constant shuffle, unapologetically reveling in a sort of manic unclassifiable genre. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but, for some reason, Nguyen’s scattershot tonal shifts — which hop between a romance on the rocks; a self-serious study of grieving; and a surreal buddy comedy — can prove quite jarring.

A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.

Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.

Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.

Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...

A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.

Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.

Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.

Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced an additional selection of feature picks — all falling under the banner of Canadian-made films, appropriately enough — along with their Tiff Rising Stars group, the recipient of the Len Blum Residency and a selection of Canadian shorts. Major programming standouts including Xavier Dolan’s Cannes Grand Prix winner “It’s Only the End of the World” and Nathan Morlando’s Cannes debut “Mean Dreams.” Other films of note include April Mullen’s “Below Her Mouth” and Kim Nguyen’s Dane DeHaan-starring “Two Lovers and a Bear.”

This year’s Tiff Rising Stars — four Canadian actors who will take part in a series of specialized programming organized by Tiff’s Industry team — include Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki, Mylène Mackay and Sophie Nélisse. Additional international Rising Stars will be announced in the coming weeks.

Screenwriter and filmmaker Andrew Cividino is the 2016 Len Blum Resident. Cividino,...

Festival to open with Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle [pictured]; Guillermo del Toro and Aardman to give masterclasses.

Annecy International Animation Film Festival, running June 13-18 this year, has unveiled its line-up.

New Zealand director Leanne Pooley’s documentary 25 April, about the Battle of Gallipoli; Canadian film-makers Jean-François Pouliot and François Brisson’s 3D hit Snowtime! (La Guerre des Tuques 3D); Claude Barras’s Cannes-screener My Life As A Courgette, and Sundance discovery Nuts! are among the titles in the feature-length competition.

The festival will open with Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle, which will premiere first in Official Selection at Cannes.

Other highlights include a preview screening of Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney’s The Secret Life Of Pets, in the presence of the directors. Andrew Stanton will also attend the festival, accompanying Finding Dory.

First images of Ron Clements and John Musker’s upcoming film Moana and Michael Thurmeier’s [link...

The National Film Board Of Canada (Nfb) has pledged to ensure at least half its productions will be directed by women and half of all production spending will be allocated to films directed by women.

Nfb head Claude Joli-Coeur announced the development at a Vancouver International Women in Film Festival panel on International Women’s Day on Wednesday.

This Nfb commitment will be rolled out over the next three years, during which the public will be able to keep track of its progress through updates on the Nfb’s website.

“The Nfb has always taken a leadership role in women’s filmmaking,” said Claude Joli-Coeur (pictured), government film commissioner and Nfb chairperson.

“In our current fiscal year, films directed by women represent half of our total spending on production. In 2016‒2017, the numbers are projected to be well above that. But numbers can fluctuate. There have been good years and lean years for women’s filmmaking at the...

Currently raising funds on Indiegogo is an ambitious animated feature by filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, Window Horses. With a lead character voiced by Sandra Oh, the film uses the medium of poetry to explore ideas of cross cultural exchange. From their Indiegogo page: In this coming-of-age story, Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all […]...

Currently raising funds on Indiegogo is an ambitious animated feature by filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, Window Horses. With a lead character voiced by Sandra Oh, the film uses the medium of poetry to explore ideas of cross cultural exchange. From their Indiegogo page: In this coming-of-age story, Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all […]...

Sandra Oh has turned to crowdfunding site Indiegogo for a major post-Grey's Anatomy gig: voicing a Canadian animation feature and helping to produce it. Oh and Canadian director Ann Marie Fleming are collaborating on Window Horses, with key backing from crowdfunding. The Hollywood star is asking fans to contribute $130,000 to help animate the coming-of-age story about Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet of Chinese-Persian heritage who travels to Iran to perform at a poetry festival. See more 'Grey's Anatomy' Cast, Creators Say Farewell to Sandra Oh "I have full faith that, when Ann Marie

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Last year I previewed all 33 of the Oscar qualifying animated shorts that were up for consideration for the Academy Awards and this year I have 12 additional shorts to consider and I have found either the full short, a clip, a trailer or an image from all but two of the contending shorts and put them together in this one article. These shorts have all been screened for members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who will soon vote on the ultimate short list that will be in contention for an Oscar nomination. Last year ten films made the list. Take a look over the next eight pages and see which ones stand out to you. There are a few instances where you may have to click a link to watch a clip and, in one instance, to watch the entire film.

This is the list of 45 animated shorts that the Academy is considering in the Best Animated Shorts category (with links to official sites when I could find them). The Animated, Docs, and Shorts Oscar page is going to be updated piecemeal this week as I work on beating all this information into some form of pundited submission.

Until then, the list. Do you ever try to see the nominees in this category?

A Shadow Of Blue (Carlos Lascano)

A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard (Studio Aka) A Shadow of Blue by Carlos Lascano Birdboy by Alberto Vasquez (Abrikim Studio) Chopin’s Drawings by Dorota Kobiela (BreakThru Films) Poland Correspondence by Zach Hyer (Pratt) Daisy Cutter by Enrique Garcia and Rubin Salazar (Silverspace) Dimanche / Sunday by Patrick Doyon (Nfb) El Salon Mexico by Paul Glickman and Tamarind King Enrique Wrecks the World by David Chai *Annie Nominee Last Year* Ente Tod...

The Harold Greenberg Fund, a Canadian private cinematographic patronage program, announced the title of the 26 films that got supported by its script development program. Here are the projects:

Story Optioning

The Flying Troutmans

Four Seasons Productions Inc.

Screenwriters: Miriam Toews & Semi Chellas

The Journal of Mortifying Moments

Marcon Pictures Inc., T.L. Boulton Productions Ltd. & Calder Road Films Inc.

Screenwriters: Jill Girling & Lori Mather-Welch

The Outlander

Strada Films Inc. & Triptych Media Inc.

Screenwriter: Esta Spalding

Sailor Girl

Markham Street Films Inc.

Screenwriter: Johanna Schneller

Treatment to First Draft

Flop House

John Hazlett

Screenwriters: Darren Curtis & John Hazlett

Happy Clean, The Last Chinese Laundry

Picture Plant Ltd.

Screenwriter: William D. MacGillivray

Kill Shakespeare

Anthony Del Col & Conor McCreery

Screenwriters: Anthony Del Col & Conor McCreery

A Royal Day

Conquering Lion Pictures Inc.

Screenwriter: Gerald Wexler

Shanghai Follies

Amf Productions Inc.

Screenwriter: Ann Marie Fleming

First to Second Draft

Cottage Country

Whizbang Films Inc.

Pink Saris directed by Kim Longinotto won the Humanitarian Award for Outstanding Documentary at the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival. The festival that concludes on April 5 declared the winning films for the Asian Digital Competition, Humanitarian Awards for Documentaries, Short Film Competition, Fipresci Prize and Signis Awards.

As stated on the official site of the festival, the jury commented on Pink Saris that the power of the film lies not only in its championing of these women’s struggle for equality, but also in its refusal to shy away from exploring the complexity of the process of change and the flaws of its protagonist.

Pink Saris chronicles the gulabi gang of Uttar Pradesh led by Sampat Pal Devi that helps dalit women fight violence.

In the Asian Digital Competition, the Golden Digital Award went to Old Dog by Pema Tsedan while the Silver Digital Award went to Eternity by...

Every year 'round about this time the Toronto International Film Festival Group announces their selections as Canada's Top Ten Feature Films and Short Films. Selected by a jury of industry professionals it's general a pretty good guide for what's happening here in any given year.

This year's selections were announced today and while I personally consider the absence of Jacob Tierney's Good Neighbours to be a significant omission it's pretty hard to argue with the titles that are actually in there. The films selected will all screen at the Tiff Bell Lightbox beginning in January. Here's the full announcement:

Toronto -- Tiff revealed the top 10 best features and top 10 best short films of 2010 this evening at the 10th annual Canada's Top Ten industry event, hosted by Peter Keleghan and Leah Pinsent. Established in 2001, Canada's Top Ten celebrates excellence in Canadian cinema and raises public awareness of Canadian achievements in film.