TIFF’s Canadian projects include Ellen Page doc, Jeff Barnaby thriller

An Ellen Page documentary on environmental racism in Nova Scotia and a Jeff Barnaby-directed zombie thriller centring on an Indigenous community are among the Canadian features headed for the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Organizers have announced all the homegrown films in the lineup for the September film fest. The list also includes a dark comedy directed by actress Amy Jo Johnson and starring Felicity Huffman and an Albert Shin psychological thriller starring director David Cronenberg.

Other highlights include a dramatic comedy starring Heather Graham and directed by AfterMeToo co-founder Aisling Chin-Yee, a Joey Klein-directed opioid crisis drama starring Neve Campbell, and new projects from veteran Indigenous filmmakers Alanis Obomsawin and Zacharias Kunuk.

The Oscar-nominated, Halifax-born Juno star focuses the film on women at the forefront of some of Nova Scotia’s most urgent environmental crises, as well as affected Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities.

There’s Something in the Water is also the name of a book by Nova Scotian author and activist Ingrid Waldron, which Page tweeted out a recommendation for last December.