World premieres of SarahPolley's feature debut Away From Her andGuy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain!will be among the Canadian offerings at this year's Toronto International FilmFestival.

Starring Julie Christie andGordon Pinsent, Polley's highly-anticipated production has been given a covetedGala spot. The Maddin picture, screening as a Special Presentation, istypically idiosyncratic: a feature-length silent film, it will be screened withlive musical and foley accompaniment.

The competitive Canada First!program has eight world premieres, including Andrew Currie's zombie comedy Fido, starring Carrie Ann Moss and Billy Connolly, andPaul Fox's Everything's Gone Green,for which novelist Douglas Coupland wrote the screenplay.

Other world premiere titles inCanada First! are Carolyn Combs' Acts Of Imagination, Jean Cheteauvert's La Coupure, Maurice Devereaux's End Of The Line, Mazdak Taebi's Mercy, CameliaFrieberg's A Stone's Throw, andNoel Mitrani's Sur La Trace D'igorRizzi. The other Canada First! title is Patrice Sauve's Cheech, a Toronto Premiere.

Philippe Falardeau's Cannestitle Congorama will have its NorthAmerican premiere as a Special Presentation, joining Jennifer Baichwal's ManufacturedLandscapes, a collaboration with PeterMettler, the subject of this year's Canadian Retrospective and TheBest Of Norman McLaren, a programme featuringthe most influential work of the legendary filmmaker.

Three Canadian films receivingworld premieres are featured in Contemporary World Cinema. They are: MichaelMabbott's Citizen Duane, ReginaldHarkema's Monkey Warfare, andTerrence Odette's Sleeping Dogs.

CWC also includes the CanadianPremiere of Carl Bessai's Unnatural And Accidental and the Toronto Premiere of Robert Favreau's UnDimanche A Kigali.

Catherine Martin's Dans LesVilles, starring Helene Florent and RobertLepage, has its world premiere in the Visions programme while her L'espritDes Lieux has its world premiere in theReal to Reel documentary strand.

Other Canadian filmmakers withworld premiering documentaries are: Jim Brown and Gary Burns with RadiantCity, and Martin Lavut with RememberingArthur.

Canadian documentary masterAllan King will screen the world premiere of his latest film, EMPz 4 Life, in the Masters section.

As previously announced, TheJournals Of Knud Rasmussen by ZachariasKunuk and Norman Cohn will open 31st annual TIFF on September 7.