Toronto International Film Festival: Canadian Features

Vanessa Paradis Dept: This year, TIFF boasts 336 films, including 268 features and 68 shorts. And while the festival welcomes the likes of Madonna with her second directorial outing, W.E. , George Clooney and U2 the subject of the documentary From the Sky Down, the fest's opening film , it also showcases 34 Canadian features, 10 of which hail from La Belle Province, according to Montreal Gazette. Another high-profile event is the North American premiere of Caf de flore, directed by Jean-Marc Vall e C.R.A.Z.Y., The Young Victoria . Billed as an epic love story between a man and a woman, and a mother and son, the film stars Vanessa Paradis and Kevin Parent. It opens in Montreal on Sept. 16, but offers fest-goers a sneak preview at a special screening Monday night and quebec will be well represented at the Toronto International Film Festival. Our province's film community is sending an array of productions down the 401 over the next 11 days, each hoping to catch a bit of the pixie dust of the most important annual movie industry event in North America, and one of the top in the world. Leading the pack is Ken Scott's Starbuck, about a 42-year-old semen donor Patrick Huard who discovers he is the biological father of 533 children. The film opened in Quebec this year, but will have its "North American premiere" in the form of a red-carpet gala screening on Wednesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.