Lineup finalized, celebrity visitors set for Toronto film fest
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | 6:09 PM ET
CBC News
U.S. actor Brad Pitt, shown May 15 in Cannes, France, with then-expecting Angelina Jolie, is one of the celebrities expected at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Associated Press) The newest Coen Brothers film and visits from international stars like Peter O'Toole, Brad Pitt and Youssou N'Dour were among the final Toronto film festival programming announcements unveiled on Tuesday.
Burn After Reading, Joel and Ethan Coen's dark comedy about a CIA agent's misplaced memoir, joins several dozen last-minute additions to the lineup of the annual festival, set to unspool Sept. 4-13.
As usual, organizers expect to welcome more than 500 special guests, including famous faces from Hollywood (Jennifer Aniston, Alec Baldwin, Charlize Theron, Spike Lee) as well as internationally renowned stars (Ricky Gervais, Preity Zinta, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Wong Kar Wai).
This year's event will see 312 films from 64 countries screened in Toronto, nearly three-quarters of which are world, international or North American premieres.
Filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Julian Schnabel, actors Matt Damon and Josh Brolin and painter Chuck Close will take part in the festival's Mavericks program, while Deepa Mehta and Terence Davies join others in presenting and discussing films that influenced them in Dialogues.
The festival will extend outside to the city's popular Yonge-Dundas Square, which will host free outdoor programming, performances and events related to films screening this year. Highlights include appearances by N'Dour, cast members of the musical revival A Chorus Line and NBA star LeBron James.
The Toronto International Film Festival opens with Canadian actor-filmmaker Paul Gross's First World War drama Passchendaele on Sept. 4.
It closes on Sept. 13 with the gala screening of Charles Martin Smith's Scottish heist drama, Stone of Destiny.
