TORONTO – While taking to the red-carpet Friday night to promote his new film, The Stunt Driver, Montreal’s Jay Baruchel was asked why most Canadians are more likely to know American daredevil Evil Knievel better than they would know Ken Carter, the Canadian daredevil his new movie is based on. “This is what happens when we grow up in a country where a foreign culture is given priority of real estate on our TV screens,” Baruchel told CTV News Friday. With the backdrop of the U.S. trade war and a growing cultural rift between the two countries, some Canadian movie-goers and movie stars appear to be more vocal in prioritizing and defending Canadian content at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, taking the momentum from the “Buy Canadian” movement and transforming it into a “Watch Canadian” campaign. “I think we should completely support Canadian film, it feels like we’re doing that in every other industry, it feels like a really good movement to become a part of and I support it whore-heartedly,” the Canadian director of The Stunt Driver Michael Dowse told CTV News Friday night from the red carpet. “I think it’s going to be a bumper year with the filmmakers that are out there right now, because they’ve been able to nurture their visions,” added Dowse. “There are so many great Canadian films out there right now.” The Stunt Driver is a Canadian led production about a Canadian daredevil in Carter, who famously attempted to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-powered car. Other Canadian films include a couple of biopics on legendary Canadian athletes, Rick Hansen and Terry Fox, screening at this year’s TIFF. “We’ve been talking about the idea of telling the story of the Man in Motion (The Rick Hansen Story) world tour in a really deep and personal way for a long time, over 13 years… and the timing is right now,” Rick Hansen told CTV News Thursday. “We’re ready to tell the story in a most open and authentic way… That it wasn’t one man in motion, it was many. It was the world coming together, sharing a common vision... and the world needs that now.” The Canadian sports theme continues through several other films, including in Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend which tells the story of Quebec Formula One legal Filles Villeneuve, and has a Quebec production team in its director, writers and actors. This year’s TIFF lineup also features a couple of Canadian Indigenous stories in Smudge the Blades – a film about an Indigenous under-18 hockey team in Northern Alberta, and In the Heart of the South, with a Nunavut-born Inuk filmmaker directing and co-writing this psychological thriller. “The people I talked to are absolutely looking to celebrate Canadians and any way they can, and on-screen is a great way to do so,” film critic Matt Demers told CTV News Friday. “One of the themes when we were going through those movies is highlighting great Canadian people who did extraordinary things.” “I think right now Canadians, they’re looking at each other and they’re looking around and saying, ‘well, what are our stories?’ and there are some pretty great ones,” added Demers. “I absolutely think Canadians are looking to support Canadian film and television.” This year, TIFF may have also found a way to use the surging Canadian patriotism to its advantage in creating a meeting space called “TIFF: The Market,” where Canadian creators can meet and strike up deals to produce more content in Canada. It is described on its website as a way to help “foster strong alliances” and “unlock resources.” “I think that at a time when we’re feeling particularly patriotic in this country… I think that is spilling over to the way that we support Canadian films,” film critic Richard Crouse told CTV News, noting that The Stunt Driver was sold out with no tickets being available to the public, and Run Terry Run had a “huge buzz” behind it. “I think Canadians are finally standing up, embracing and really getting on board with Canadian film and putting it at a priority for themselves when they’re choosing tickets for the film festival, or maybe even when they’re just going to their local movie,” Crouse added. U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media in late August that he would push for more tax incentives to keep movie and TV production in the United States, saying American production companies are moving to “Canada, and other countries.” “We have, in this country, a huge amount of American production because we’ve got great crews, we have soundstages, and we have an agreeable dollar,” said Crouse. “If we look at whatever (U.S. President) Donald Trump is planning on doing, it’s years away, probably… if it happens at all. And frankly, in some states it’s happening already and it hasn’t really put a dent in Canadian production.” Meanwhile, film critic Chris Bumbray believes that although there’s a wave of Canadian creators celebrating Canadian culture and content, the shift to showing Canadian content on screen and not masking it as American content, isn’t happening fast enough. “Canadians should be prouder of their content, but it should be more catered towards (Canadians),” Bumbray told CTV News. “I think we always try and please America with our movies and it never really works, so why not make things for Canadians. And ironically, when you make things very Canadian, they do very well in the U.S.,” added Bumbray, pointing to the success of shows like Heated Rivalry and films like Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.
