Atom Egoyan’s controversial thriller Where the Truth Lies was overshadowed at the Canadian box office over its opening week of Oct. 7, when Les Voleurs d’enfance, a Quebec documentary about abused children, grossed nearly $850,000 – more than double Truth’s take, while playing on fewer screens.

Les Voleurs, from journalist Paul Arcand and producer Denise Robert (Les Invasions barbares), deals with children suffering through Quebec’s foster care system, and debuted in 68 theaters to a per-theater average of nearly $12,500. According to distrib ThinkFilm, Truth grossed $367,000 – averaging about $3,900 per theater. Over the weekend of Oct. 14, Les Voleurs garnered another $316,000 on 70 screens, bringing its 10-day cumulative to nearly $1.2 million.

According to Patrick Roy, SVP of Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, the disturbing documentary was a ‘big gamble’ for the distributor. Vivafilm invested about $800,000 in its acquisition and promotion.

‘Now we can say it was a good gamble to make, but it was risky from day one,’ says Roy. ‘We’re trying to look at ways to do something special with part of the profits because the cause is important to us and we’d like to find a way to help the people [depicted in the film].’

Egoyan’s sexy period thriller Truth brought in $102,000 on 83 screens in the major Canadian markets over the weekend of Oct. 14, for a cumulative $469,000.

‘We’re pleased with the performance of the film,’ says ThinkFilm’s SVP of Canadian distribution Andrew Austin. ‘Certainly there is an awareness of the picture, and as a result I feel the ancillaries will be very, very strong.’

Where the Truth Lies opened in New York and L.A. on Oct. 14, and grossed almost US$38,000, despite being tagged with an NC-17 rating for a racy threesome scene. It opens nationally in the U.S. on Oct. 28.

Thriller Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés, from Christal Films and writer/director Robin Aubert, about a journalist sent on assignment to a creepy town only to have his photographer mysteriously disappear, opened on Oct. 14 to about $86,300 on 25 screens in Quebec.

Jean-Marc Vallée’s wildly successful Quebec drama C.R.A.Z.Y. opened in two theaters in Toronto on Oct. 14, generating about $25,000 for the weekend. The TVA release had made more than $5.8 million in Quebec as of Oct. 17.