C.R.A.Z.Y. scored big at TIFF – selling in 25 territories and taking the Toronto-City prize for best Canadian feature and $30,000 for its ‘standout acting… and extraordinary visual inventiveness.’

It takes a lot of you-know-what to open a self-distributed, no-star, low-budget picture opposite TIFF – but that didn’t stop Aaron Sorensen and his Hank Williams First Nation, which made its Toronto debut on five screens on Sept. 9, day two of the festival.

The Canadian Film Centre itself was arguably the biggest winner during this year’s TIFF, thanks to a $10-million cheque from the Ontario government, earmarked for its training programs. Officials announced the investment during CFC’s big annual barbecue on Sept. 11.

A special roundup of TIFF reviews from the national and local press. See page 8 for more festival coverage.

* Louis Fournier is now president of GalaKids, the new children’s entertainment arm of Galafilm. Fournier was previously president of the youth and animation unit at TVA International, and was head of distribution at Cinar.

Media careers will be front and center at this year’s Innoversity Creative Summit. The diversity-in-media conference has beefed up its Career Fair in hopes of matching more talented up-and-comers with broadcast and film outlets.

Carey Singer, CPA, heads up the Sports and Entertainment industry team at Mintz & Partners LLP in Toronto.

Canuck broadcasters are all a-tingle about their entertainment news shows. Timed to launch around the celebrity-laden Toronto International Film Festival, Global, CHUM and Toronto’s SunTV have all jumped in the pool to see if they can grab viewers away from CTV’s eTalk Daily.

Montreal: La Belle bête, the first adaptation of a novel by acclaimed Quebec writer Marie-Claire Blais, has wrapped in Montreal. The film, also written by Blais, centers on a mother who favors her son while rejecting her daughter.
Appearing are Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls), David La Haye (La Vie avec mon père) and Marc-André Grondin (C.R.A.Z.Y. and one of Playback’s 2005 10 to Watch), with Karim Hussain (Subconscious Cruelty) directing.

Montreal – Filmmaker Joshua Dorsey has gathered 30 youths, between the ages 12 and 19, to appear in his latest film, The Point, which shoots until late September.

Teletoon signs seven

Vancouver: Alice, I Think, a new 13 x 30 comedy series for CTV and The Comedy Network, is underway in Vancouver, with local girl Carly McKillip in the leading role.
An Ontario/B.C. coproduction between Slanted Wheel Entertainment and Omni Film Productions, Alice is about a teenaged outsider and her kooky family in Smithers, BC.