David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, Michael Dowse’s Goon and Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell are among the year’s top 10 best Canadian features, according to the Toronto International Film Festival.

The lists, of the top 10 full-length features and top 10 Canadian shorts,  were unveiled during an industry event Tuesday night at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

“You should be proud of your work, it continues to be provocative, stimulating and engaging,” TIFF CEO Piers Handling told the room of directors, producers, actors and execs.

TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey added that this year’s selections reflect an emerging trend of “Canadian stories becoming global stories.”

Event hosts Don McKellar and Sarah Gadon then took to the stage, with McKellar prefacing the announcements with his own mini-monologue about this year’s films.

“I’d like to address some of the controversies [that have come up over the years]. People always say, ‘Why do we need more lists? Is that what our cultural dialogue has come to?'” he said, before himself listing the reasons industry movers and shakers have given for disliking TIFF’s annual list.

“Every year, producers say the list is a disgrace, that there are things left out,” he continued.

“[This year’s list includes] at least one masterpiece, one pretty good one…and one real dud. You’ll know it when you see it. The rest are pretty darn good,” he said to the laughing crowd, before reminding the room that they were there to celebrate the chosen films.

“I thought I was here to just celebrate Don,” Gadon deadpanned, after a pause.

On the top ten list are several films that had their world or Canadian premieres at TIFF this year, including Xavier Dolan‘s Laurence Anyways, Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, Sean Garrity‘s My Awkward Sexual Adventure and Michael McGowan’s Still.

Canada’s official foreign-language entry bid for the Oscar race, Rebelle, directed by Kim Nguyen, and Nisha Pahuja’s documentary The World Before Her, also made the list.

Both films triumphed in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.

Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis premiered at Cannes in May, while Dowse’s Goon was released in Canadian theatres in February. Goon scribes Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg in September said they were at work on a sequel.

Rounding out the top ten are documentary features The End of Time, directed by Peter Mettler, and Polley’s Stories We Tell.

Following the Toronto International Film Festival, Mettler’s Time was picked up by First Run Features for U.S. distribution, with deals penned with distributors in Poland and Australia.

Polley’s doc, after a turn on the Canadian festival circuit and a limited theatrical run nationally, will travel to Sundance, as announced last week.

Top shorts

A separate jury panel also selected the top ten Canadian shorts, including Patrick Bouchard’s animated Bydlo, which is up for an Annie Award, Chloe Robichaud’s Chef de meute, which competed in the short film competition at Cannes, and Diane Obomsawin’s Kaspar.

The films will be screened from Jan. 4 to 13 at the Lightbox, accompanied by Q&A sessions with filmmakers.

“This 10-day festival offers homegrown talent a dedicated platform to showcase their success, and we couldn’t be more impressed by the caliber of films the industry has produced this year,” TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey said of the films in a statement.

The full lists are as follows:

Top 10 Canadian Feature Films

• Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg (Entertainment One Films)
• The End of Time, Peter Mettler (Mongrel Media, National Film Board)
• Goon, Michael Dowse (Alliance Films)
• Laurence Anyways, Xavier Dolan (Alliance Films)
• Midnight’s Children, Deepa Mehta (Mongrel Media)
• My Awkward Sexual Adventure, Sean Garrity (Phase 4 Films)
• Rebelle, Kim Nguyen (Mongrel Media)
• Still, Michael McGowan (Mongrel Media)
• Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley (Mongrel Media, NFB)
• The World Before Her, Nisha Pahuja (KinoSmith)

Top Ten Canadian Shorts

• Bydlo, Patrick Bouchard (NFB)
• Chef de meute (Herd Leader), Chloé Robichaud (Locomotion Distribution)
• Crackin’ Down Hard, Mike Clattenburg
• Kaspar, Diane Obomsawin (NFB)
• Ne crâne pas sois modeste (Keep a Modest Head), Deco Dawson (Microclimat Films Inc.)
• Lingo, Bahar Noorizadeh
• Malody, Phillip Barker
• Old Growth, Tess Girard
• Reflexions, Martin Thibaudeau (Locomotion Distribution)
• Paparmane (Wintergreen), Joëlle Desjardins Paquette (Locomotion Distribution)

Top photo: Goon

Photos: Sarah Gadon and Don McKellar at the podium; (L-R) Handling, Gadon, Bailey, Steve Gravestock, McKellar. Both photos by Sonia Recchia WireImage/Getty for TIFF