Canadian film festival season is officially in high gear from coast to coast. Montreal’s World Film Festival is already underway, while the Atlantic and Vancouver events are ramping up for their kickoffs Sept. 17 and 23, respectively. But it is the 29th Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 9-18) that commands the most attention from the local film community and abroad.

The year is 2000 and American Beauty has just taken Oscars for best picture, best actor and best original screenplay. Among the Hollywood elite attending the coveted after-party, one very talented and very Canadian Don McKellar is seen schmoozing in the crowd. Taking a breath at the bar, he meets one very young and very American actor named Haley Joel Osment. McKellar is completely unfazed by the fact that he’s engaged in industry banter with an 11-year-old who should seem completely out of place, alone at a bar so many hours past his bedtime. But this quintessential child star, who came to fame in 1999’s The Sixth Sense, is not out of place nor out of context, which is what strikes McKellar as so fascinating.

As far as TIFF newcomer Michael McGowan is concerned, his feature Saint Ralph is in a perfect position.

In the weeks leading up to the 29th Toronto International Film Festival, Playback caught up with new festival codirector Noah Cowan. Cowan officially joined TIFF Group CEO Piers Handling as codirector Jan. 1, overseeing programming and administration for TIFF 2004.

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Wilby Wonderful, an Ontario/Nova Scotia coproduction making its world premiere at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, marks the second time Halifax-based Palpable Productions’ Camelia Frieberg and Canadian theater maverick and director Daniel MacIvor have worked together. The film, coproduced with Toronto’s da da kamera pictures, is set on a fictitious Maritime island where the lives of residents intertwine, and stars a talented ensemble cast including Paul Gross and Jim Allodi.

Quebec continues to prove it’s a distinct society, especially in filmmaking, as the province’s entries in TIFF 2004, including the works of one notable veteran and three TIFF rookies, defy easy categorization.

Three years ago, Randy Manis didn’t pay much attention to documentaries screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. But for the senior VP of acquisitions and business affairs at Toronto-based distributor ThinkFilm, TIFF 2004 is all about docs.

TIFF 2004 sees the launch of Canada First!, the new program featuring works by rookie Canuck feature directors as well as those making their TIFF debuts. Despite the thematic differences among this year’s Canada First! entries, all the directors Playback spoke with have one thing in common – they are all coming to the fest in search of sales.