Perspective Canada programmers for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival have put together what they call the fest’s most startling and controversial Canadian series to date. The slate of 15 features, 27 shorts and one gala includes 10 directorial debuts and 11 world premieres chosen from 303 submissions.

David McIntosh, program co-ordinator for Perspective Canada, says this year’s selection is ‘the most diverse and compelling yet,’ particularly in light of the government cutbacks which have plagued the industry. He notes, however, that the quality and quantity of work increased this year as it has in each year previous.

David Wellington’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which is set for release by Cineplex Odeon Sept. 13 in Toronto and Sept. 20 in Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal, will be one of the gala presentations. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage work by Eugene O’Neill, the film, which unfolds over a single day, listens in as four members of a 1912 Connecticut family tell their secrets. Producers were Daniel Iron and Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media.

Deepa Mehta’s Fire, a portrait of change in contemporary India, will have its world premiere as the opening night film of the Perspective Canada series on Sept. 6. Produced, written and directed by Mehta (Sam & Me, Camilla), the film was produced by Bobby Bedi and executive produced by Suresh Bhalla and David Hamilton.

The 14 other features, representing the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, are: Ileana Pietrobruno’s surreal feminist film Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks!, Michael McNamara’s adaptation The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati, Denis Langlois’ first feature, L’Escorte, Bruce La Bruce and Rick Castro’s Hustler White, first-time filmmaker Lynne Stopkewich’s Kissed, veteran John Greyson’s Lilies, Robin Schlaht’s documentary Moscow Summer, Pierre Hebert’s meditative picture La Plante Humaine, Magnus Isacsson’s Power, Peter Lynch’s Project Grizzly, Colin Strayer’s portrait Rod Serling: Writer, Colleen Murphy’s subtle drama Shoemaker, Pierre Gang’s first feature, Sous-Sol, and Paul DiStefano’s Gen-X noir film Trouble.

According to McIntosh, no other Canadian galas have been programmed at this time, but there are still films in negotiation.

The 27 short films selected represent directors from seven provinces and include, from Ontario, Can I Get A Witness from Kris Lefcoe, Carnival 3 and Letters From Home from Mike Hoolboom, BBQ Muslims from Saskatchewan’s Zarqa Nawaz, Soft Like Me from Manitoba’s Jeffrey Erbach, and Not Kokura from b.c.’s Steven Haworth.

One of the threads through this year’s Canadian program is adaptation, so much so that the Perspective Canada Symposium will debate the issue of adaptation and whether Canadian film is turning away from auteurs and ‘personal cinema.’ Confirmed panelists include Stopkewich, Greyson, Mehta and Michel Marc Bouchard (writer and co-adaptor of Lilies). The Symposium takes place Sept. 11.

‘Someone asked me if this surge of adaptation means filmmakers don’t have any ideas anymore,’ says McIntosh, commenting on the trend in this year’s program, ‘but not in the least. In many ways, it takes an incredible spirit of generosity and co-operation, and it sometimes requires more skill than writing something original.’

Cash awards for winning films from the program will be returning again this year. Citytv and the City of Toronto are again teaming to award the $25,000 Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film.