Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Full TIFF line-up announced

The complete line-up to the Toronto International Film Festival was posted today, as well as the schedules for the Galas and Special Presentation programs. There were also a number of newly announced titles, many of them rather significant. The festival has also added what they are calling a “screening room” with trailers and clips from a small selection of films. It’s not working for me at the moment, but it may possibly be working by the time you read this. Click here to go check it out.

Below is a summary of today’s announcement from the TIFF press release:

Today's announcements feature six Gala Presentations, including Renny Harlin's CLEANER, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Eva Mendes and Keke Palmer; Richard Attenborough's CLOSING THE RING, starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Neve Campbell, Pete Postlethwaite and David Alpay; Alain Corneau's LE DEUXIÈME SOUFFLE, starring Daniel Auteil, Monica Bellucci, Eric Cantona, Michel Blanc, Jacques Dutronc, and Daniel Duva; Robin Swicord's THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, starring Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Marc Blucas, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Jimmy Smits, Kevin Zegers and Lynn Redgrave; Kenneth Branagh's SLEUTH, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law; and Paul Schrader's THE WALKER, starring Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Willem Defoe, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu and Mary Beth Hurt.

Four enlightening Mavericks presentations will feature appearances by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill Maher, Larry Charles, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Don Cheadle, Mira Nair, Santosh Sivan and more. Eight presentations in Dialogues: Talking with Pictures will feature Max von Sydow, Bell Festival Centre architect Bruce Kuwabara, Ken Loach, Arthur Dong and Nancy Kwan, Peter Bogdanovich, Ellen Burstyn, Sidney Lumet, and Lord Richard Attenborough showcasing films that have inspired them or have marked a significant period in their careers.

For the first time in ten years, Wayne Wang returns to the low-budget filmmaking that made him a leader in the American independent cinema movement with A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS and THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA, two tales about the experience of Chinese immigrants in the United States screening as part of Masters. This year's Masters will feature a complete line-up of 20 films.

Thirteen titles have been added to Special Presentations for a complete programme of 50 films. Titles announced today include Sidney Lumet's BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's BILL, Michael Moore's CAPTAIN MIKE ACROSS AMERICA, Gillian Armstrong's DEATH DEFYING ACTS, Vadim Perelman's IN BLOOM, Jason Reitman's JUNO, Ira Sachs' MARRIED LIFE, Jonathan Demme's MAN FROM PLAINS, Alison Eastwood's RAILS & TIES, Brian De Palma's REDACTED, Brad Furman's THE TAKE, Thomas McCarthy's THE VISITOR, and Anand Tucker's WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?

Eight documentaries join Real to Reel for a complete programme featuring 32 of the world's finest non-fiction films. Titles announced today include Paul Crowder/Murray Lerner's AMAZING JOURNEY: THE STORY OF THE WHO, Julian Schnabel's LOU REED'S BERLIN, Ran Tal's CHILDREN OF THE SUN, Philippe Kholy's CALLAS ASSOLUTA, Wang Bing's FENGMING: A CHINESE MEMOIR, Grant Gee's JOY DIVISION, Olga Konskaya and Andreï Nekrasov's REBELLION: THE LITVINENKO CASE, and Jia Zhang-ke's USELESS. A series of conversations with directors and producers exploring the how and why of documentary filmmaking, Doc Talks will be open to the public for the first time this year; previously the series was offered exclusively to the Festival's industry delegates.

The 32nd Toronto International Film Festival is proud to announce a Special Event at which Hollywood great Peter Bogdanovich (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) will be presented with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Award for his contribution to film preservation. He has chosen to screen Jean Renoir's historic gem LA GRANDE ILLUSION (1937) as an example of the importance of film restoration.

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