From rap battles to the Cinesphere getting its groove back, here's what's new at TIFF '17

As with every year at the Toronto International Film Festival,you can expect an impressivecelebrity roster but along with the glitz and glamour, there will also be a good helping of nostalgia, female empowerment and Canadiana.

Get your CanCon on

Through a collaboration between TIFF, Library and Archives Canada, the Cinmathque Qubcoise and Cinematheque in Vancouver, all year, thebest in Canadian animation, commercials and documentaries have been availableat your fingertips to click throughon TIFF's Canada On Screen digital catalogue.

And it's not over yet.

The Canada On Screen programme culminates atthe film festival with free screenings of acclaimedCanadian films including Rude,by Jamaican-born, Toronto-raised filmmaker Clement Virgo, Picture of Light,which is about the trials of capturing the aurora borealis on camera andI've Heard the Mermaids Singing,which has been described as a "watershed moment" in Canadian film.

• 10 TIFF '17 movies that are 'secretly Canadian'

The 1971 film"North Of Superior" will make a homecoming appearance atCinespherewith a free screening 46 years after it premiered on that very IMAX screen.

A full list of the 150 Canadian features is available on the TIFF website.

Cinespheremakes a comeback

Cinesphere makes a comeback

7 years ago

Duration 2:09

Aside from the odd private screening, the retro, spherical IMAX theatre at the old Ontario Place grounds has sat empty since 2012 when the park officially closed. After five years sitting mostly idle, the cavernous cinema is being re-opened this year for TIFF.

Aside from the odd private screening, the retro, spherical IMAX theatre at the old Ontario Place grounds has sat empty since 2012 when the park officially closed.

After five years sitting mostly idle,the cavernouscinemawas looking a little rough.

When Jesse Wente, CBC contributor and head of TIFF Cinematheque, sat with other festivalofficials in the Cinespherethis winter, they felt "the breeze flow through," he said.

But when North of Superiorwas included in the screening lineup this year, he thought the old spacewas the film's only worthy showcase.

"There arevery few purpose-built theatres that were built specifically for IMAX globally." said the self-proclaimed movie-geek.

The film's aerial footage shot on IMAXcameras propels the viewingaudience overtop sprawling wilderness with the same flying sensation it first didalmost 50 years ago.

Although North of Superiorhas since been digitized, Wentesaid it was important to screen it in theoriginal 70 mm format.

"It'll have celluloid running before bulb, projecting light through it and showing it up on the big screen," he said.

"With North of Superior I would love for [the audience]to see the dawn of wide-screen formatfilmmaking."

But nostalgia is only part of the experience. Wentesays Sunday's screening is also anopportunity to celebrate the Indigenous land not only in the film, but the very land Cinespherestands on.

"When we take these films from the past, I think it's interesting to reframe themin terms of the current climate and acknowledge the land and the peoples in ways we wouldn't have when these movies were originally made."

Shuttle buseswill take movie-goers to the free Cinespherescreenings, which will include performances byIndigenous artists and a question and answer period with the filmmaker on the last day of the festival.

Rap battle on King Street

A stretch of King StreetWest shuts down again this year so it can be transformed into an interactive TIFF experience chock-full of food vendors, entertainment and, yes, plenty of selfieopportunities.

But the focal point this year will be the stage at the corner ofJohn Street and Wellington Street.which will be the sceneof an epic rap battle between Toronto's own Alex Larsen, aka Kid Twist, and Americanbattle rapper Madness.

The lyrical showdown kicks off the premier of Bodied,described as "asatirical exploration of the world's most artistically brutal sport battle rapping."

Larsen wrote the screenplay for the film, which is directed bymusic video visionary Joseph Kahn, and produced by rapper Eminem.

It all goes down on Thursday, Sept.7ahead of the Midnight Madness debut at Ryerson Theatre.

Focus on female filmmakers

Every year, a star-studdedfundraiser calledthe TIFF Soiree is held to raise money for future programming and exhibitions.

This year the proceeds from the swanky$350-$750 per-ticket event go toward the Share Her Journey campaign, aimed at boosting the careers of women filmmakers.

ActorPriyanka Chopra will be the night's guest of honour and will head an on-stage discussion about her career and philanthropy.

• TIFF launches initiative to nurture emerging female filmmakers

The goal is to eventually raise $3 million for the Share Her Journey campaign, which will provide production, networking and residency programsfor emergingfilmmakers.

Half of the films in this year's competitive lineup have female directors.

Fewer films, venues

TIFFdownsized its lineup by 20 per cent this year and, unlike previous years, there won't beany screenings at the HotDocsTed Rogers Cinema andthe Isabel Bader Theatre.

"Everything is a lot more concentrated in the King Street, Yonge Street corridors," explained Kerri Craddock, the festival's director of programming.

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"A piece of feedback we constantly heard from the international trade media, also our partners in the industry, was that there was often too much choice," she said.

Among their criticism,Craddock said, was that it the festival was hard to get around.

"It gives the films and filmmakers that are here a better experience in terms of finding their audience."