The Toronto International Film Festival​ has added another 19 new titles to its 2018 festival lineup, comprised entirely of features directed by Canadian filmmakers. Each year, TIFF highlights the films that hail from its own shores in a standalone announcement, and this year it includes nine new films from female directors, six debut features, a number of titles from fixtures of the Canadian film scene, and the world premiere of three films that showcase some of the country’s Indigenous talent.

The festival will also play home to a special event world premiere and tribute dedicated to the late filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart, centered around his final film, “Sharkwater Extinction.” Stewart passed away in 2017 while working on the film, a followup to his 2006 documentary “Sharkwater.”

“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,” said Steve Gravestock, TIFF Senior Programmer, in an official statement. “Ranging from science fiction to fantasy, myth to documentary, and romance to a dystopic vision of our neighbours to the south, this year’s Canadian films come from every region in the country, stretching from east to west and north to south.”

The festival will debut new films centered around Indigenous talent, including Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s “E​dge of the Knife,” the first feature-length film made in Haida (classified by UNESCO as an endangered language), plus Darlene Naponse’s “F​alls Around Her​,​” starring renowned Métis actor Tantoo Cardinal and Miranda de Pencier’s feature directorial debut “The Grizzlies,​” made by Inuit producers Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald.

Beloved Canadian filmmakers like Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Ron Mann, Barry Avrich, and Edward Burtynsky will also screen films, alongside debut works from newbies like Edenshaw, Haig-Brown, de Pencier, Akash Sherman, Jasmin Mozaffari, Andrea Bussmann, Zach Lipovsky, and Adam Stein.