TIFF presents master class with Egoyan

Last Updated: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | 3:24 PM ET

CBC News

Atom Egoyan, pictured here in Toronto last year, returns to TIFF with a new movie and a master class for filmmakers. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Emerging filmmakers at the Toronto International Film Festival are getting a new treat this year — a master class with Canadian director Atom Egoyan.

TIFF, which runs from Sept. 10 to 19th, has a large roster of special events and meetings to help filmmakers.

Egoyan, whose films include Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat and Adoration, will be the subject of a special discussion with Tom Mcsorley, head of the Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa.

Egoyan's latest movie, Chloe, starring Liam Neeson, is also being screened at TIFF.

As well, a group of pre-selected Canadian directors and producers have won admittance to the four-day Talent Lab, benefitting from the advice of those in the business including actor and director Don McKellar, British actor Tilda Swinton, Egoyan and director Ivan Reitman.

Those outside the industry can also have insider encounters through the Maverick series in which actors and directors share their experiences in the world of film.

Those scheduled to speak to the ticketed public access events include actor Michael Caine, directors Peter Berg and Barry Levinson, comedian Chris Rock and documentary helmer Frederick Wiseman.

China, autism doc among new additions

Levinson is at TIFF to present the world premiere of Baltimore, The Band that Wouldn't Die, an hour-long documentary about a football marching band.

Rock is also in town for his non-fiction release, Good Hair, while Berg will present King's Ransom, a film about how Wayne Gretzky's move from Edmonton to L.A. changed the game of hockey.

Caine is starring in the movie Harry Brown, also on the schedule at TIFF.

Organizers also announced another list of documentaries unspooling at the festival:

• Once Upon A Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country by Guo Xiaolu of China explores the experiences of people from different backgrounds living in modern China.
• Stolen by Australia's Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw examines modern-day slavery through refugees living in a camp in Algeria.
• The Sunshine Boy by Fredrik Thor Fredriksson of Iceland is about a mother's quest to understand her son's autism.
• Waking Sleeping Beauty by American Don Hahn chronicles the breakthrough Disney's animation team achieved in the mid-1980s when they began producing big hits.