CANADIAN FILMS AT THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2003 This year's TIFF left me more optimistic than previously about the future of Canadian films. So many of the Canadian productions I saw have escaped the bondage of former years when I've often felt that too many Canadian filmmakers have been trying too hard to be Hollywood rather than to make movies that are distinctly Canadian, yet accessible to audiences. To me "way out" conception and execution of a film is no substitute for true cinematic communication. The indigenous films I liked at this year's festival show Canadian backgrounds from Winnipeg in the Depression to the seedy Hochelaga quarter in Montreal, to suburban Toronto, to the Arctic barrens. I recall being at a luncheon, in 1982 at Rome's Cinecittà, following the awards of the Circolo Stampa Estera. The buzz was all about Australian films and their surprising vitality. What of...
