The Toronto International Film Festival celebrates its 30th birthday this year. In its three decades, TIFF has risen to the top class of world film fests, stirring up an annual fervor among moviegoers who have been more than happy to queue up for hours to ensure advance seats for films selected from a far-reaching menu of international fare. That experience proved so overwhelming to all that cinéastes are now asked to drop off a form with their selections days in advance, and customers are served in order based on a random draw.

Like most Canadian feature films, Water is the product of one filmmaker’s unshakeable will. But Deepa Mehta’s will being rattled by marauding Hindu extremists in India rather than muddled bureaucrats or meddling producers makes Water a most improbable Canadian film.

Where the Truth Lies, directed by Atom Egoyan and produced by Robert Lantos, is, at press time, facing a potentially harsh ratings decision from the Motion Picture Association of America. The sexy thriller, which premiered at Cannes and will launch in North America as a TIFF gala, could see its commercial hopes seriously undermined in the U.S. if the MPAA sticks to its plan to slap the film with an NC-17 rating (no one 17-and-under admitted). If that happens, distributor ThinkFilm would launch an appeal. Canadian audiences, however, will be able to see the director’s cut at TIFF and in its commercial R-rated release, set for Oct. 7.

By now, a gala screening of the latest David Cronenberg movie at the Toronto International Film Festival is par for the course. Where his new film, A History of Violence, breaks with tradition lies in the fact that, this time, TIFF audiences won’t be weirded out.

Filmmaker Clement Virgo expects that his new feature, Lie with Me, will stir up at least one debate.

‘Is it porn – is it not porn?’ he says, and then offers his own view. ‘To me, porn doesn’t have a Hitchcockian element in it, which is suspense.’

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!!Director: Sturla Gunnarsson

Director/writer: Thom Fitzgerald

‘For me, directing is the payoff,’ says Montreal filmmaker Louise Archambault,whose debut feature Familia is set to open the Canada First! program at TIFF. (The showcase, now in its second year, spotlights movies from first-time Canadian feature filmmakers, as well as those making their first appearance at TIFF.)

The pyrotechnics of human relationships is the underlying theme in TIFF 2005’s Canada First! program.

Those thinking that Quebec’s cinematic winning streak will have to abate at some point will have to wait for at least another year. The region has provided TIFF with solid commercial and critical hits in recent years, from La Grande seduction (Seducing Doctor Lewis) to Oscar winner Les Invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions), and this year’s contingent arrives bolstered by awards from international film festivals and box-office success back home.

Four Canadian feature documentaries are making their world premieres at TIFF 2005, and they are all looking for an international audience. The lineup includes Allan King’s Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company (in the Masters program; see sidebar right); Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, from Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Jessica Joy-Wise (Midnight Madness); Souvenir of Canada by Robin Neinstein; and Astra Taylor’s Zizek! (Real to Reel).