What do you get when you cross 22 emerging Canadian filmmakers with directors John Sayles and Don McKellar and select TIFF guests for four days?

‘Unparalleled artistic development opportunities and an introduction to the global filmmaking community,’ says Kelley Alexander, TIFF director of industry initiatives.

Participants are in for a treat as this year’s high-profile Talent Lab mentors will be joined by music icon and filmmaker Daniel Lanois (Here Is What Is), director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club), filmmaker Santosh Sivan (Before the Rains) and director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), as well as emerging U.K. filmmakers David Alexander and Osbert Parker, and Ishaku Gumut from Nigeria.

One previous participant says the Talent Lab changed her life.

‘It was a completely defining experience in terms of my professional development,’ says Sarah Timmins, producer of Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments (see story, p. 14). ‘It’s about mentoring and building relationships.’

Timmins met her personal filmmaking idol, Jan Chapman, in the lab.

Chapman has umpteen producing credits to her name, but none carry more weight than director Jane Campion’s The Piano, winner of the 1993 Palme d’Or. The Piano still stands as the only top prize that the Cannes festival has lavished upon a woman in its 68-year history.

After their meeting at the Talent Lab, Timmins was able to call up Chapman and talk about Tracey Fragments when the film was in its infancy.

‘I talked about my film and she talked about hers. How amazing is that?’ marvels Timmins.

‘It was such a democratic environment,’ she elaborates. ‘We weren’t split up into directors, writers, producers; we were all together as filmmakers. It wasn’t so much the nuts and bolts, but more about the attitude, the personal strategies, the stories and examples on how to focus on what inspires us and keep on going in this difficult business.’

Now in its fourth year, Alexander says this year’s Talent Lab will host 22 emerging filmmakers — selected by jury — culled from a whopping 132 applicants.

‘Every year, it’s shocking at how many unknown, talented emerging artists appear,’ says Alexander. ‘This year, for the first time, we had a number of entries from Newfoundland. That’s exciting.’

The lab kicks off with a screening of Moto-Film — a composite film created by the 22 participants whose individual video snippets were captured on mobile phones provided by Motorola. Last year, Caroline Martel’s Moto-Film project went to the Pocket film fest in Cannes.

The Talent Lab is run by producers Sandra Cunningham and Brad Fox of Toronto’s Strada Films.

TALENT LAB ALUMNI SCREENINGS

Canada First!

• Producer Sarah Timmins (The Tracey Fragments)

• Director Richie Mehta (Amal)

• Filmmaker Ed Gass-Donnelly (This Beautiful City)

Short Cuts Canada

• Mobile Moto-Film Tic Tac Toe by Matthew Swanson

• Congratulations Daisy Graham by Cassandra Nicolaou

• Loudly, Death Unties by Sheila Pye

• The Last Moment by Deco Dawson

• Reorder by Sean Garrity

• Paradise by Jesse Rosensweet