Deepa Mehta

Funny Boy, Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of the 1994 bestselling novel by Shyam Selvadurai, is a mostly successful drama that works well when at its best, but occasionally delivers too light of a touch.

Between the two Toronto International Film Festival press conferences each year, announcing all the excitement and the celebrities and the hoopla that comes with the action packed ten September days of the fest–this year from the 8th through the 18th–I always find the press conference devoted exclusively to the Canadian films and documentaries to be the most vibrant. That’s because a number of the filmmakers and actors and writers and producers are right there mingling with the crowd of press and publicists in the ballroom at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Ready for 10 days of movies, parties, celebrities, events and as little sleep as you can survive on? Well, the Toronto International Film Festival Group announced their plans today for the Canadian film portion of the festival, naming Gary Burns‘ A Problem With Fear as the Opening Night film for Perspective Canada.