Canada's Top Ten Film Festival Celebrates Homegrown Talent

TIFF taps the nation's leading filmmakers for its 16th annual Canada's Top Ten Film Festival lineup, showcasing the top 10 features, shorts and student shorts for 2016. Established in 2001, the festival celebrates and promotes contemporary Canadian cinema to raise awareness of Canadian achievements in film. Running January 13 to 26, 2017 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, the expanded 14-day event presents public screenings of the selected films accompanied by introductions and Q&A sessions with directors, as well as special events and industry panels. To commemorate Canada's upcoming Sesquicentennial in 2017, the festival offers audiences free screenings and events tied to TIFF's Canada on Screen series which features a curated selection of classic titles from the country's rich cinematic history. Filmgoers in Toronto will once again vote to crown the Canada's Top Ten Film Festival People's Choice Award winner.

"Canada continues to deliver superb film talent to the world," said Cameron Bailey, TIFF's Artistic Director. "This year's Canada's Top Ten lineup ranges from British Columbia to Nunavut to NOVA Scotia, telling stories that show Canadians who we are. Smart, emotional and provocative, these films showcase both world-renowned names such as Xavier Dolan and impressive newcomers like Ashley McKenzie and Johnny Ma. To open this year's Canada's Top Ten, we are honoured to present a remarkable new film by one of our most important and most influential directors working today, Zacharias Kunuk's Maliglutit (Searchers)."

"This year's lineup boasts a daring selection of edgy independent works from an exceptional group of directors taking serious and significant risks in their approach to filmmaking," said Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer, TIFF. "We are truly proud to celebrate our industry's achievements with a coast-to-coast showcase of these films, bringing them to savvy audiences in 10 cities across the country."

The Canada's Top Ten Film Festival tours select films to major cities across the country including stops at Vancouver's The Cinematheque (January 13 to 22), Calgary's Globe Cinema (January 13 to 22), Montreal's PHI Centre (January 14 to 31), Regina's RPL Film Theatre (January 19 to 22), Edmonton's Metro Cinema (January 20 to 29), Saskatoon's Paved Arts in collaboration with the Roxy Theatre (January 26), Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque (March 2017), Halifax's Atlantic Film Festival & Art Gallery of NOVA Scotia at the Windsor Foundation Lecture Theatre (May 1 to 8), and Ottawa's National Gallery of Canada (dates TBA).