A sex-work comedy, a Tragically Hip documentary and a wartime family drama are among the Canadian titles premiering at the 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival.
After Hollywood strikes dampened last year’s event, the festival returns Thursday with 59 homegrown films from established and emerging directors.
The Canadian Press caught up with five directors bound for the movie marathon taking place Sept. 5 to 15.
SOOK-YIN LEE, director, “Paying For It”
Lee says she “really loved” her ex-boyfriend Chester Brown’s 2011 comic strip memoir “Paying For It,” about his experiences with Toronto sex workers after their real-life breakup. So much so that she adapted it for the big screen, resulting in a dramatized look at how they navigated their complicated relationship in turn-of-the-millennium Toronto.
On turning her breakup into a film: “We loved each other and the idea of breaking up was inconceivable. So, as I began to look for love and connection through dating — …