Canadian World War I saga premieres

7:16pm Friday 5th September 2008

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The world premiere of Canadian First World War saga Passchendaele has taken place at the Toronto Film Festival.

Former Due South actor Paul Gross wrote, directed and starred in the film based on his grandfather's experiences.

Paul - who stars alongside Gil Bellows and Caroline Dharvena in the film - revealed how thrilled he was about opening the Canadian festival.

"It feels fantastic. It's a great festival," he said. "To have the honour of opening the festival is so great for everyone I've worked with over the years, so this feels like a great tribute for all of them. There's just an amazingly talented group of people and I've never worked with a crew as good, actually, and they took possession of the film. They made it their own."

Gil added: "I love the fact that it's a celebration of the thing that I love, which is storytelling from all over the world."

"And when you're a part of it, it sort of legitimises what you're doing. So it's great, it's a thrill."