The Canada’s Top Ten feature films list for the year that was 2022 is something of a landmark. For the first time, the selection is evenly split between veterans and first-time directors. Among the veterans: Stéphane Lafleur, with his idiosyncratic take on the sci-fi movie, Viking, is both poignant and humorous; Nisha Pahuja, whose TIFF Best Canadian Feature prizewinner, To Kill a Tiger, is her second film to make Canada’s Top Ten (after 2012’s The World Before Her); and Hubert Davis, whose Black Ice is a searing and essential study of racism in organized hockey. Also on the list are groundbreaking Toronto filmmakers Clement Virgo and David Cronenberg, with new works that rank among their best (Brother and Crimes of the Future, respectively). The newcomers include Chandler Levack, with her ode to teenage angst and cinephilia, I Like Movies; Gail Maurice, and the touching drama ROSIE; Miryam Charles, with the profoundly affecting international success Cette Maison; Luis de Filippis, whose beautiful, contemplative Something You Said Last Night won TIFF’s Shawn Mendes Changemaker Award; and Anthony Shim with the assured and heartbreaking Riceboy Sleeps, one of the biggest hits of the festival season.
The shorts list includes returning Canada’s Top Ten filmmakers Matthew Rankin (Municipal Relaxation Module); the legendary Alanis Obomsawin (Bill Reid Remembers); Carol Nguyen (Nanitic); and Guillame Fournier, Samuel Matteau, and Yannick Nolin (Belle River). Along with the revered animation team of Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (The Flying Sailor), the shorts list also features exciting emerging filmmakers in Lloyd Lee Choi (Same Old), Claire Sanford (Violet Gave Willingly), Aziz Zoromba (Simo); Marilyn Cooke (No Ghost in the Morgue), and David Findlay (Lay Me by the Shore).
Together the lists represent the most diverse and engaging Canada’s Top Ten slates to date. Join us in January for screenings of the selected titles with many of the filmmakers in attendance.
STEVE GRAVESTOCK
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