CBCnews
Story Tools: EMAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK | Bookmark and Share

Toronto film fest offers something for everyone

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 3, 2008 | 4:31 PM ET

Brad Pitt, seen in Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading, is one of the famous faces expected on TIFF's red carpet this year.Brad Pitt, seen in Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading, is one of the famous faces expected on TIFF's red carpet this year. (Macall Polay/Focus Features/Alliance Films)With more than 300 films slated to unspool in downtown Toronto theatres over the next 10 days, organizers of the city's annual film festival hope to satisfy the desires of cinephiles across the city.

Though the 312 titles screening at the 33rd annual Toronto International Film Festival is slightly less than last year's tally, the films are typically more international in scope than other similar events — so it's not surprising that the last 10 foreign language film Oscar-winners appeared at past editions.

"We're looking for artistic merit above all," festival co-director and longtime programmer Cameron Bailey told CBC News. "We always want a mix" of films.

"We're passionate about movies. We want to respond to people's own passion about movies. Sometimes people are just passionate about movie stars. You want to see Brad Pitt, you want to see your favourite stars. You want to see them on the red carpet, you want to see them up on screen," Bailey said.

Gross scores festival opening slot

Paul Gross, one of Canada's most recognizable stars, officially gets the ball rolling with his First World War drama Passchendaele, screening in the coveted opening-night gala slot on Thursday evening and "easily the biggest Canadian movie of the year," said TIFF Canadian programmer and CBC Radio film correspondent Jesse Wente.

Paul Gross wrote, directed, co-produced and stars in Passchendaele, which opens the festival.Paul Gross wrote, directed, co-produced and stars in Passchendaele, which opens the festival. (Chris Large/Rhombus Media/Alliance Films)Written, directed, co-produced by and starring Gross (who drew inspiration from tales his soldier grandfather recounted to him), Passchendaele is "treated in the way we don't often see Canadian history treated on the big screen, which is in an epic, war-movie sort of fashion," Wente said.

"It is wholly Canadian. This is a big-budget movie," Wente said of the $20 million film. "Funded entirely in Canada, produced in Alberta, about Canadians. We don't often see that — even opening up the festival in Toronto."

Several other high-profile premieres also centre on war experiences, including Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, focusing on an African-American troop fighting in Italy during the Second World War, and The Lucky Ones, about a trio of Iraq War veterans returning home.

The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading, a dark but madcap espionage-themed comedy, Steven Soderbergh's lengthy, two-part biopic Che and Larry Charles and Bill Maher's documentary Religulous are also anticipated offerings at TIFF.

Aside from Gross, other acclaimed Canadian filmmakers screening new films in Toronto include Atom Egoyan (Adoration), Deepa Mehta (Heaven on Earth), Bruce McDonald (Pontypool) and Philippe Falardeau (C'est pas moi, je le jure!).

Scores of international celebrities are expected to descend on Toronto to promote their latest films, including Adrien Brody (The Brothers Bloom), Gerard Butler (RocknRolla), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Gael Garcia Bernal (Blindness), Akshay Kumar (Singh is Kinng), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Charlize Theron (The Burning Plain) and Ben Kingsley (50 Dead Men Walking).

Sleeper hit Whale Rider, starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, won acclaim at the 2002 TIFF before later scoring an Oscar nomination.Sleeper hit Whale Rider, starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, won acclaim at the 2002 TIFF before later scoring an Oscar nomination. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Programmers scout for gems

Aside from all the famous names and faces, however, TIFF programmers have packed the various film lineups with acclaimed or promising titles scouted out during globe-trotting trips they've taken over the course of the year — with some movies having been selected "as they're shot or as they're being edited," Bailey said.

The hope is "that the audience will seek something out that they might have heard nothing about," he said, pointing to past "sleeper" hits like New Zealand film Whale Rider.

"Many films that come to Toronto don't have a huge box office career ahead of them, but some do come out of the pack and they end up getting an audience and that's what we're looking for."

  •  
Story Tools: EMAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK | Bookmark and Share

Related

Video

CBC's Nancy Wilson interviews Cameron Bailey, co-director and programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (Runs: 5:08)
Play: Real Media »
Play: QuickTime »

More TIFF Headlines

Precious wins TIFF People's Choice Award Video
Having already won backing from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and filmmaker Tyler Perry, director Lee Daniel's harrowing coming-of-age story Precious has now captured the Toronto International Film Festival's prestigious People's Choice Award.
Stylish doc follows White Stripes on cross-Canada tour
Capturing authentic, honest moments with the eccentric — and private — White Stripes during the rock duo's landmark 2007 Canadian tour was the goal of White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, the documentary's director said ahead of its world premiere in Toronto on Friday.
Ed Norton plays wildly different twins in Leaves of Grass
Ed Norton wasn't looking for a job when the script for Leaves of Grass was put in his hands. The star of such films as Fight Club and The Incredible Hulk said he was doing some writing of his own and was 'determined to keep the doors closed against invitation into someone else's head space.'
Egyptian film pulled from TIFF amid ongoing protest
The Toronto International Film Festival is winding down to its finale Saturday, but controversy over its spotlight on Tel Aviv continues.
France picks A Prophet as Oscar contender
France has chosen Un prophète (A Prophet), Jacques Audiard's prison film about a French-Arab man who becomes a mafia kingpin, as its Oscar contender in the foreign-language film category.

More Arts Headlines

Jackson’s glove fetches $350,000 US
Michael Jackson's iconic rhinestone-studded glove got the white-glove treatment on Saturday, bringing $350,000 US on the auction block in New York.
Pope builds friendships with artists Video
Pope Benedict XVI met in Rome with more than 250 artists from around the world to foster dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the arts.
Driver dies in Miley Cyrus tour bus accident
The driver of a bus on Miley Cyrus's concert tour died on Friday when the bus struck an embankment and overturned in Virginia.
Jackson's fatal drug bought in Vegas
Michael Jackson's personal physician bought the powerful anesthetic propofol in Las Vegas and had it shipped to Los Angeles, according to search warrant records released over objections from the L.A. police.
Travolta family back in the spotlight
John Travolta, his wife Kelly Preston and their daughter Ella Bleu raised $37,500 US for charity at the Friday sneak preview of the Disney comedy Old Dogs in their hometown, Ocala, Fla.

People who read this also read …

Top CBCNews.ca Headlines

Headlines

Vancouver Island evacuation order lifted Video
An evacuation order has been lifted for hundreds of south Vancouver Island residents forced from their homes by flooding.
U.S. health-care bill clears Senate hurdle
Democrats united Saturday night to narrowly push historic health-care legislation past a key U.S. Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.
Disgraced N.S. bishop's replacement named Video
The Roman Catholic Church has appointed a replacement for Bishop Raymond Lahey, of the Diocese of Antigonish, N.S., who is facing child pornography charges.
McCain argues against Afghanistan exit date Video
U.S. Senator John McCain says military exit dates and exit strategies in Afghanistan should not even be discussed until NATO gets the upper hand in its fight against Taliban militants.
Rocket hits luxury hotel in Afghan capital
At least two people were hurt when a rocket struck a wall of the heavily guarded Serena Hotel in Kabul, the Interior Ministry says.