Here Are 5 Canadian Films From The Sundance Film Festival You Need To See

This is the film that bagged Montreal-based filmmakers Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana a pretty prestigious award as this year's fest. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World explores the often-overlooked contributions of native Americans in popular music and was the recipient of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling at Sundance. In the film, indigenous artists are acknowledged as influences by some of history's biggest performers, from Tony Bennett to funk father George Clinton; and from Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash to punk legend Iggy Pop. Rumble is set to air on The Movie Network later this year.

Rise is not really a film, but an upcoming VICELAND TV series, three episodes of which made their debut at Sundance in the Special Events category. Written and directed by Toronto’s Michelle Latimer, "Apache Stronghold," "Sacred Water" and "Red Power" are part of the series that “explores the front of lines of indigenous resistance” and will also “examine factors that threaten indigenous liberation in the 21st century,” according to a press release for the series. Latimer is a Métis/Algonquin filmmaker, actor, and curator, and when she is not making her own films she does programming for Toronto’s ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival and for Hot Docs.

Rememory is a mysterious sci-fi drama directed and co-written by Toronto’s Mark Palansky. The film tells the story of the widow of a professor who stumbles upon one of his inventions: a device that is able to record and play a person's unfiltered memories. The movie features a number of high-profile stars including Peter Dinklage, Julia Ormond and Catherine O'Hara, and is notable for featuring one of the last screen performances by Anton Yelchin before his untimely and accidental death last summer.  

Co-produced by British and Canadian companies, Tokyo Idols explores the creepy and disturbing world of super fandom in the Japanese Idol scene. With J-Pop taking over much of Asia, its a good time to expose one of the more sinister sides of this rumored one-billion-dollar industry. J-Pop stars are often young women dressed in anime or school girl outfits, performing in clubs for middle-aged men between the ages of 35 and 50. The film follows some of the superfans, most of whom spend a good chunk of their salaries on their fandom, and some even quitting their jobs to devote their lives to it. Weird is an understatement. 

Two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple is American, but the subject of her latest film is none other than transgender YouTube beauty vlogger and model Gigi Lazzarato, better known as Gigi Gorgeous. Gigi may live in Los Angeles now but was born and raised in Montreal, and also spent time living in Toronto. She started her popular YouTube channel back in 2008 before her transition and when she identified as a gay male, before announcing she was a transgender woman in December 2013. The film uses never-before-seen personal footage as well as numerous interviews to tell Gigi's story. It will premiere on YouTube Red on February 8th.