Daily TIFF Riff: Preparing for the final weekend
CBC News
Posted: Sep 16, 2011 9:22 AM ET
Last Updated: Sep 16, 2011 9:17 AM ET
Starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard, Winnie paints a vivid portrait of South African democracy activist Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela. (TIFF)
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Full disclosure: we at CBC News are exhausted. But then TIFF does that to you. Chasing after actors, chatting up directors, documenting their bon (and not so-bon) mots, watching countless films… OK, it’s not a hardship, exactly, but it’s taxing nonetheless.
We’re moving into the last weekend of the fest, which offers a final surge of cinematic excitement.
Friday features the premiere of Winnie, the contentious biopic about South African political icon Winnie Mandela. Directed by Darrell J. Roodt (Cry, the Beloved Country), Winnie stars Jennifer Hudson in the lead role, with Terrence Howard as her celebrated husband, Nelson Mandela. No film could hope to fully capture Winnie and Nelson’s heartrending, heroic lives, but Winnie has the potential to be gripping fare.
Screening on Saturday is this year's closing film: Page Eight, a cracking-good spy thriller from David Hare (The Reader). Bill Nighy — who so rarely gets a starring role — plays an grizzled veteran of MI5 who faces treachery and danger with the emergence of a secret document alleging torture and other misdeeds approved at the highest level of the British government.
On Sunday, we reach the climax of TIFF, the presentation of the People's Choice Awards. Though eight different prizes are presented at the final-day awards luncheon, eyes are on the main People's Choice Award since it's the one reflecting the audience's favourite picture of the fest and has become an awards season bellwether.
Spy thiller Page Eight stars Bill Nighy as a long-serving M15 officer who receives an inexplicable file that threatens the stability of the organization. TIFF
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