Popular character actor Ray Wise bolsters support for Canuck helmer’s debut feature

Output deals may not grow on trees, but anything can happen in a Canadian distribution marketplace controlled by three main players.

Canadian film distributors and exporters have half the films in TIFF that they did last year – approximately 40 instead of 80 — because of soaring costs to launch pictures during Toronto’s red-carpet extravaganza.

Ricky, Julian and Bubbles will be back on home turf when Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day opens the Atlantic Film Festival. The follow-up to the TPB movie of 2006, itself spun off from the long-running Showcase series, will make its world premiere at the Halifax festival on Sept. 17, say organizers.

‘Intense’ is the word that Piers Handling chooses to summarize the ‘international complexion’ for this year’s TIFF, which unspools 335 films from 64 countries over 10 intense days, Sept. 10-20.

When Ivan Reitman saw Natalie at TIFF in 2003, he didn’t care for the movie but he wanted to acquire the remake rights. ‘It seemed like a great idea that wasn’t realized.’

For internationally acclaimed photojournalist Dilip Mehta, directing his first feature film, Cooking with Stella, wasn’t so daunting.

Hugh Hefner’s image in the public mind is practically indelible. He’s the aging Lothario of the Playboy empire, an enterprise built on Bunnies, booze and the hedonistic lifestyle of the ’60s.

With his comedy The Trotsky, which premieres at TIFF, 29-year-old director Jacob Tierney provides a glimpse of a little-known piece of Canada’s cultural mosaic: English Montreal

Now that Xavier Dolan’s J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother) was the surprise hit of this year’s Cannes film festival and racked up $800,000 at the box office in its native Quebec, its distributor plans to use TIFF to gauge the boutique film’s potential in English Canada.

First-time feature director Peter Stebbings can surely thank star Woody Harrelson for landing a premium Special Presentations screening at TIFF, since most novice helmers see their films slotted in the Canada First! program.

Though Cairo Time is her first feature at TIFF, Ruba Nadda is no neophyte. Sabah, the 36-year-old director’s drama starring Arsinée Khanjian and produced by Atom Egoyan, had a successful international festival run.