TIFF 09 lineup shows Canada's got talent

A cacophonous crowd filled the Imperial Room at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto Tuesday afternoon, eagerly awaiting word on which Canadian films would be added to the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival - a sure sign that homegrown films are on par with their typically more high-profile international cohorts.

Returning favourites and new faces are among Canada's contribution to the 34th film fest, including Atom Egoyan's latest and the follow-up to French-Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2005 favourite C.R.A.Z.Y. Egoyan’s Chloe, the Toronto-filmed drama starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried, gets the Gala treatment and Vallée's The Young Victoria has been honoured as the closing night film. Starring Emily Blunt in the title role, Victoria presents a starkly different image of the notorious would-be queen and judging by the trailer that was screened for the eager crowd, this is a version few have seen. Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson and Paul Bettany co-star in Vallée's reflection on the early years of Victoria's reign and the notion of instant celebrity.

First-time filmmaker Dilip Mehta’s Cooking with Stella will also receive a Gala screening and stars fest fave Don McKellar as a chef who moves to New Delhi with his wife (Lisa Ray) and ends up under the wing of wily cook Stella (Seema Biswis). Terry Gilliam’s much-buzzed The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus makes its North American debut as a TIFF Gala and will no doubt draw a sizable crowd thanks to Heath Ledger’s last performance and the curiosity surrounding casting Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to fill out the role that the late Aussie never completed. Xavier Dolan, the 20-year-old writer-director-star of J'ai tué ma mère brings his film to the festival for its English Canada premiere when it screens as a Special Presentation and promises to impress.

Former MuchMusic VJ and current CBC host, actress, writer and director Sook-Yin Lee opens the Canada First programme with Year of the Carnivore based on her own experiences as a clumsy adolescent who lacks a sense of sexual confidence.

Also announced at the bustling press conference were the films that make up the Vanguard programme (Carcasses and Leslie, My Name is Evil, directed by Denis Côté and Reginald Harkema respectively) and documentaries that will be part of Reel to Reel portion of the festival.

In total, 29 features were announced, 17 of which are world premieres, in what promises to be a stellar showing of domestic cinematic efforts.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10-19, 2009.