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"24 HOUR PSYCHO BACK AND FORTH AND TO AND FRO" (2008 feature film directed by Douglas Gordon)

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:24:55 -0400

A dual-channel video installation which consists of two side-by-side projections of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), film # 68 on The Essential 100. Both projections are slowed down to a duration of twenty-four hours, one playing forwards and the other in reverse so that they meet at one point, with an identical image that lasts for one second. This is the Toronto premiere of the work, an adaptation of the artist's much-celebrated 24 Hour Psycho. Gordon won the Turner Prize in 1996 and has been a leading art world figure ever since. His film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2006. Presented within the Essential Cinema exhibition at TIFF Bell Lightbox's main gallery.

"L'AMOUR FOU" (2010 feature film directed by Pierre Thoretton)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:56:10 -0400

A documentary on the relationship between fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and his lover, Pierre Berge.

"ANOTHER YEAR" (2010 feature film directed by Mike Leigh)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:20:21 -0400

A deeply moving drama starring Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen as a married couple in their 60s whose highs and lows are charted over the course of 12 months. Ruth and Gerri have a son, Joe (Oliver Maltman) and an extended family that includes their friends Mary (Lesley Manville) and Ken (Peter Wight). Their story delicately sweeps through the gamut of human feeling, resulting in a considered movie that expertly spins humour, sadness, friendship, love and joy. Mary is the catalyst for much of Another Year's drama and emotion. She's an effervescent chatterbox, but her outward attitude is a tracing-paper thin cover for a loneliness and longing that lie below the surface. Her marriage didn't work out, so she looks on at Tom and Gerri with envy and even instigates a misguided attempt to start a romantic relationship with Joe.

"THE BANG BANG CLUB" (2010 feature film directed by Steven Silver)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:33:29 -0400

A drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa.

"BARNEY'S VERSION" (2010 feature film directed by Richard J. Lewis)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:41:46 -0400

Take a wild ride through the life and memories of Barney Panofsky, a hard-drinking, cigar smoking, foulmouthed, 65-year old hockeyfanatic and television producer. We accompany the irascible Barney as he reflects on his lifes successes and (numerous) gaffes and failures as the final chapters of his own existence comesharply into focus. Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler.

"BEGINNERS" (2010 feature film directed by Mike Mills)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:58:33 -0400

When his 71-year-old father (Christopher Plummer) comes out of the closet, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) must explore the honesty of his own relationships. From the director of Thumbsucker.

"THE BIG PICTURE" (2010 feature film directed by Eric Lartigau)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:46:19 -0400

Paul Exben is a success story - partner in one of Paris's most exclusive law firms, big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons straight out of a Gap catalog. But when he finds out that Sarah, his wife, is cheating on him with Greg Kremer, a local photographer, a rush of blood provokes Paul into a fatal error. Standing over the corpse of his wife's lover, Paul knows that his perfect life has gone for good. But by assuming the dead man's identity and fleeing for an isolated part of former Yugoslavia on the beautiful Adriatic coast, Paul gets another shot at being himself and, at last, seeing the big picture.

"BIUTIFUL" (2010 feature film directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:26:08 -0400

A man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman.

"BLACK SWAN" (2010 feature film directed by Darren Aronofsky)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:16:59 -0400

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company. Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect.

"BLUE VALENTINE" (2010 feature film directed by Derek Cianfrance)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:28:29 -0400

The film centers on a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.

"BRIGHTON ROCK" (2010 feature film directed by Rowan Joffe)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:35:03 -0400

Charts the headlong fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager with a religious death wish. Based on Graham Greene's classic novel Brighton Rock. The movie will have its world premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The movie's about gangster "Pinkie Brown" (Sam Riley) who becomes involved with a tea shop waitress (Andrea Riseborough) after a vicious murder has been committed on the Brighton seafront. Joffe wrote the screenplay and shifted the story from Greene's setting in the Thirties to the mods and rockers era of 1964, a time of what Joffe termed 'sexual modernity'. Producer Paul Webster added that the year was also the last in which the death penalty was carried out, which in the film gives Pinkie a sense of fearlessness. Andrea Riseborough is currently to be found in front of the camera playing the Duchess Of Windsor in Madonna's film W.E.

"BURIED" (2010 feature film directed by Rodrigo Cortes)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:23:14 -0400

Paul is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

"CASINO JACK" (2010 feature film directed by George Hickenlooper)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:02:05 -0400

A hot shot Washington DC lobbyist and his protege go down hard as their schemes to peddle influence lead to corruption and murder.

"CIRKUS COLUMBIA" (2010 feature film directed by Danis Tanovic)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:06:19 -0400

Circus Columbia is a romantic saga set in the late age of a century which tragically announced the arrival of the new age to the Balkans. With communism fading and democracy rising, Divko arrives to his hometown in Herzegovina after years of absence. Now a rich man, he comes with an expensive Mercedes and a wife, about 40 years his junior, and in a want of small revenges. His first victory was throwing out his former wife and son from the house in which they lived. In the beginning, it appears as if Divko is winning and that money can buy everything.

"THE CONSPIRATOR" (2010 feature film directed by Robert Redford)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:07:15 -0400

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt: her own son.

"CONVICTION" (2010 feature film directed by Tony Goldwyn)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:23:46 -0400

Conviction is the inspirational true story of a sister's unwavering devotion to her brother. When Betty Anne Waters' (two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank) older brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is arrested for murder and sentenced to life in 1983, Betty Anne, a Massachusetts wife and mother of two, dedicates her life to overturning the murder conviction.

"THE DEBT" (2010 feature film directed by John Madden)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:27:45 -0400

Remake of Israeli film "Ha-Hov" (2007). In 1965, three young Israeli Mossad agents on a secret mission capture and kill a notorious Nazi war criminal. Now, thirty years later, a man claiming to be the Nazi has surfaced in Ukraine and one of the former agents must go back undercover to seek out the truth. The film will premiere at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and will be released later this year.

"DHOBI GHAT" (2010 feature film directed by Kiran Rao)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:37:10 -0400

The film is set in Mumbai and revolves around the lives of four characters, whose paths criss-cross at Dhobi Ghat. Aamir Khan plays a painter in the film. Prateik Babbar plays the other lead. Its shot in real locations, with Mohammed Ali Road, Marine Drive and Dhobi Ghat being its famous backdrops.

"EASY A" (2010 feature film directed by Will Gluck)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:24:04 -0400

A clean-cut high school student relies on the school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.

"FIRE OF CONSCIENCE" (2010 feature film directed by Dante Lam)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:35:59 -0400

Two cops investigating separate cases involving a murdered prostitute and gun smugglers uncover an explosive web of corruption, malice and disgrace in this high octane action thriller from Hong Kong.

"HEAVENHELL" (2009 feature film directed by Chris Chong Chan Fui, Yasuhiro Morinaga)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:53:02 -0400

Akira Kurosawa - director of two films on the Essential 100 list - was unable to shoot the slum scene on the infamous brothel streets of Koganecho, Yokohama for his film High and Low (1963), as it was considered much too dangerous for his cast and crew. Heavenhell is a six-channel audio-video installation, commissioned by NPO Koganecho Area Management Center in Yokohama, that restages the stylized scene in the location Kurosawa originally intended. Recruiting local youth in the now cleaned-up neighbourhood, Chris Chong Chan Fui and Yasuhiro Morinaga (who have previously collaborated on award-winning films Block B and Karaoke) create a suspenseful conflation triptych where the present exhumes the past. Akira Kurosawa is represented by two films on the Essential 100 list, Rashomon, film # 14 on the list, and Seven Samurai, film # 6 on the list. Chris Chong Chan Fui is an award-winning Malaysian-Canadian filmmaker and media artist, who has recently exhibited work at the Cannes International Film Festival, le Centre Pompidou and the Hirshhorn Museum. Yasuhiro Morinaga is a Tokyo-based sound artist. Curated by Andrea Picard. Presented in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, 952 Queen Street West.

"HENRY'S CRIME" (2010 feature film directed by Malcolm Venville)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:38:53 -0400

After serving three years in prison for a bank robbery he did not commit, an amiable but aimless man decides to rob the bank for real. His plan involves infiltrating a local theatre company, but his scheme gets complicated when he falls for the company's lead actress.

"THE HOUSEMAID" (2010 feature film directed by Sang-soo Im)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:17:59 -0400

In this erotic thriller, the housemaid of an upper-class family becomes entangled in a dangerous tryst. A satirical look at class structure, reminiscent of the work of Claude Chabrol, this sexy soap opera is a story of revenge and retribution.

"I SAW THE DEVIL" (2010 feature film directed by Kim Jee-woon)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:25:03 -0400

A secret agent tracks a serial killer who murdered his fiancee. A hard-boiled thriller from Korean master Kim Jee-woon, I Saw the Devil is a tale of bloody vengeance against a dangerous psychopath who has committed a gruesome series of murders.

"THE ILLUSIONIST" (2010 animated feature film directed by Sylvain Chomet)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:24:27 -0400

The Illusionist is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafes. However, whilst performing in a village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever. Watching his performance to the excited villagers who are celebrating the arrival of electricity to their remote island, Alice becomes awestruck by our hero and believes his tricks are real magic. Following him to Edinburgh, she keeps his home while he goes to work in a small local theatre. Enchanted by her enthusiasm for his act, he rewards her with increasingly lavish gifts he has 'conjured' into existence. Desperate not to disappoint her, he cannot bring himself to reveal that magic does not exist and that buying these gifts is driving him to ruin. [At the end of the final credits, there's a short extra scene.]

"IN A BETTER WORLD" (2010 feature film directed by Susanne Bier)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:47:57 -0400

A drama about a Holocaust survivor who meets his twin sister he thought died in the in the concentration camps.

"IN LOVE FOR THE MOOD" (2009 feature film directed by Ming Wong)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:22:40 -0400

Originally commissioned for the 2009 Venice Biennale for the artist's solo exhibition Life of Imitation at the Singapore Pavilion, In Love for the Mood is inspired by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai's meditation on love and infidelity In the Mood for Love (2000), film # 52 on The Essential 100 list. A Caucasian actress plays both the leading man and woman and attempts to deliver the lines in Cantonese. These are recorded in three loops, played simultaneously on three screens. Curator Russell Storer writes of the piece, "Despite Ming's distancing techniques, and even though it is known that the actress can't understand the language she is speaking, the scenes are still remarkably poignant, proving the power of cinema to draw the audience into its affective realm." Award-winning Singaporean artist Ming Wong explores the performative veneers of language and identity, through his own interpretation of world cinema. Presented in the RBC Learning Studio.

"IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY" (2010 feature film directed by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:35:41 -0400

A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.

"JACK GOES BOATING" (2010 feature film directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:27:18 -0400

A limo driver's blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples. 'Phillip Seymour Hoffman' reprises the role he originated on stage.

"JANIE JONES" (2010 feature film directed by David M. Rosenthal)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:51:14 -0400

A young girl who has been abandoned by her former-groupie mother informs a fading rock star that she is his daughter.

"JEANNE" (2003 feature film directed by Martin Arnold)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:35:30 -0400

Austrian artist Martin Arnold presents a digital manipulation of the trial scene from the # 1 film on The Essential 100 list, Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). The piece stitches together close-up shots of actress Renee Falconetti to create a seamless, never-ending portrait of human suffering. Arnold's work with found footage in cinema has been presented in galleries and museums worldwide. Presented within the Essential Cinema exhibition at TIFF Bell Lightbox's main gallery.

"JOURNEY TO THE MOON" (2003 feature film directed by William Kentridge)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:24:08 -0400

Using Georges Melies' A Trip to the Moon (1902) as a point of departure, Kentridge masterfully combines live action and stop motion in homage to the beginning of filmmaking and to Melies' magical experimentations. Kentridge performs for the camera, playing the scientist/artist who dreams of worlds afar and encounters a muse, but ultimately cannot escape. Journey to the Moon was presented at the 2005 Venice Biennale. A Trip to the Moon is film # 49 on The Essential 100 list. William Kentridge is an acclaimed South African draughtsman, filmmaker and sculptor whose work combines the political with the poetic. Presented in collaboration with Gallery TPW, 56 Ossington Avenue.

"THE KING'S SPEECH" (2010 feature film directed by Tom Hooper)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:52:19 -0400

Starring Colin Firth, the film focuses on how the current Queen's father overcame his nervous stammer, with the assistance of speech therapist, before ascending the throne more than 70 years ago. Colin Firth plays Bertie, a shy prince who was expecting to lead a quiet life until his older brother, after being crowned Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. At that point, it became urgent for Bertie, about to ascend the throne as George VI, to get rid of his stammer. Enter an unorthodox speech therapist from Australia named Lionel Logue -- played in the movie by Geoffrey Rush. Thanks to Logue's miraculous intervention, Bertie acquired the confidence to be regal and lead his country into World War II. The starry cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie's wife, Elizabeth (later much beloved as the Queen Mother), Michael Gambon as George V, Guy Pearce as Edward VIII and Derek Jacobi as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"KLATSASSIN" (2006 feature film directed by Stan Douglas, Steffen Mennekes, Yee Jee Tso, Alex Zahara)

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:59:14 -0400

Klatsassin refashions Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), a tale of murder with a narrative told from four different viewpoints, as a western rooted in the historical context of the Gold Rush and the annexation of land along Canada's west coast. Named after the Tsilhqot'in Chief who stood accused of leading an insurrection in 1864, which led to the deaths of ten road-builders and the so-called Chilcotin War, the film comprises twenty-seven scenes looped together in various random combinations on an ongoing basis. As it can run without repetition for more than seventy hours, with each character telling his version of events, Klatsassin presents an endless array of possibilities, destroying conventional senses of time, memory, perspective and truth. Rashomon is the # 14 film onThe Essential 100 list. Internationally recognized Canadian artist Stan Douglas is renowned for deconstructing linear narratives into complex, loop-like structures. Presented in collaboration with Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen Street West.

"L.A. ZOMBIE" (2010 feature film directed by Bruce La Bruce)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:01:39 -0400

L.A. Zombie, the latest offering from Canadian provocateur Bruce LaBruce. Zombies don't often come as fully-ripped as porn star Francois Sagat - except in Bruce LaBruce's L.A. Zombie. Our anti-hero is convinced he's an alien zombie sent to earth, where he roams the streets of Los Angeles in search of dead bodies and gay sex - an activity that reveals his 'special gift' of shagging the deceased back to life. Conceived as a more hardcore companion piece to Otto, and featuring minimal dialogue but maximum soundtrack, L.A. Zombie raises the stakes with LaBruce's infamous 'schlock' tactics - promising plenty of wound-shagging and more penises than you can shake a stick at. "Contains scenes that will offend." Banned from screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It is the first film to be banned from the festival circuit since Larry Clark's Ken Park in 2003.

"LEGEND OF THE FIST" (2010 feature film directed by Andrew Lau)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:39:59 -0400

Seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible for his teacher's death (Huo Yuanjia) in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. A mysterious stranger arrives from overseas and befriends a local mafia boss. That man is a disguised Chen Zhen, who intends to infiltrate the mob when they form an alliance with the Japanese. Disguising himself as a caped fighter by night, Chen intends to take out everyone involved as well as get his hands on an assassination list prepared by the Japanese.

"LITTLE WHITE LIES" (2010 feature film directed by Guillaume Canet)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:02:30 -0400

Despite a traumatic event, a group of friends decides to go ahead with their annual beach vacation. Their relationships, convictions, sense of guilt and friendship are sorely tested. They are finally forced to own up to the little white lies they have been telling each other.

"LOPE" (2010 feature film directed by Andrucha Waddington)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:40:15 -0400

Andrucha Waddington brings famed Spanish playwright Lope de Vega's passionate life to the screen. The young poet returns to Madrid from war and gets his foot in the door of Madrid's most important theatre troupe - quickly charming his boss's daughter. His childhood friend, Isabel de Urbina, also falls under the spell of his poems. So much seduction eventually brings misfortune and he must flee Madrid.

"LOVE CRIME" (2010 feature film directed by Alain Corneau)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:35:17 -0400

Dangerous Liaisons meets Working Girl in this deliciously caustic tale of office politics. Starring Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as mentor and ingenue respectively, Crime d'Amour is a remorseless clash of two competing egos.

"MADE IN DAGENHAM" (2010 feature film directed by Nigel Cole)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:11:02 -0400

A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.

"MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: THE GLOBAL REMAKE" (2007 feature film directed by Perry Bard)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:21:36 -0400

Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake is a participatory video shot by people around the world who are invited to record images that re-interpret Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera (1929), film # 9 on The Essential 100 list. After recording an image, participants upload them to Bard's website, and then Bard's custom software archives, sequences and streams the submissions as a linear film. Anyone can upload footage and each contribution becomes part of a worldwide montage - in Vertov's words the "decoding of life as it is". Perry Bard is a public art, video, and installation artist originally from Quebec and now based in New York City. She works individually and collaboratively on interdisciplinary projects for public space. Presented in collaboration with The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West.

"MIRAL" (2010 feature film directed by Julian Schnabel)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:51:47 -0400

The story of a woman who grew up in an orphanage for Palestinian children founded just after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The director is Tom Hooper, whose credits include the soccer movie The Damned United and the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries John Adams. Based on a novel by Rula Jebreal. Schnabel's new movie stars Freida Pinto (of Slumdog Millionaire) as a Palestinian woman named Miral who spent her childhood in the Jerusalem orphanage founded by Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), and absorbed his philosophy that education is the path to peace. The cast also includes Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave. Harvey Weinstein: "This is the first film I am involved in that shows the 'other side' of the Israel/Palestine conflict. As a staunch supporter of Israel, I thought this would be a movie I would have a hard time wrapping my head around. However, meeting Rula moved me to open my heart and mind, and I hope we can do that with audiences worldwide." World premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

"MYSTERIES OF LISBON" (2010 feature film directed by Raoul Ruiz)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:14:04 -0400

From one of te masters of cinema of our time comes a suptuous adaptation of Camilo Castelo Branco's classic Portuguese romantic novel. An epic tale of passion intrigue, jealousy and murder, set in the Lisbon of the 19th century, and with sets that have been majestically recreated for this big moment in Portuguese cinema!

"NEVER LET ME GO" (2010 feature film directed by Mark Romanek)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:17:19 -0400

As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

"NORWEGIAN WOOD" (2010 feature film directed by Anh Hung Tran)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:42:04 -0400

The melancholy tune and sentiment of this classic Beatles song seems to have taken the life of Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), who is similarly uncertain as to how he should view his relationships. At heart, a quiet and serious young Tokyo college student in 1969, Watanabe, is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their mutual passion is made by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. On the night of Naokos 20th birthday, they finally made love to each other. However, shortly thereafter Naoko decided to quit college and become a recluse. It is at that time Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) a girl who is everything that Naoko is not !X outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident marches into Watanabe!|s life and he has to choose between his future and his past. Based on the novel by Haruki Murakami.

"OTOLITH III" (2009 feature film directed by Otolith Group)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:05:04 -0400

A 48-minute single-screen projection, Otolith III takes as its point of departure The Alien (1967), the unrealized sci-fi screenplay by the legendary Bengali auteur Satyajit Ray about a friendly alien visiting a rural Bengal village. Filmed in London, Otolith III is an experiment in temporal and geographical displacement that its makers call a "premake", a remake of a film before the original that proposes an alternative trajectory. Satyajit Ray directed Pather Panchali (1955), film # 7 on The Essential 100 list. The Otolith Group (named after the structure in the inner ear that gives us a sense of gravity and orientation) was formed in 2000 by London-based artists Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. They have been nominated for the 2010 Turner Prize. Presented in collaboration with The Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay West.

"OUTSIDE THE LAW" (2010 feature film directed by Rachid Bouchareb)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:42:23 -0400

After losing their family home in Algeria, three brothers and their mother are scattered across the globe. Messaoud joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement in France and Said moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle. Gradually, their interconnecting destinies reunite them in the French capital, where freedom is a battle to be fought and won.

"PEEP WORLD" (2010 feature film directed by Barry W. Blaustein)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:24:16 -0400

On the day of their Father's 70th birthday party, four siblings come to terms with the publication of a novel written by the youngest sibling, that exposes the family's most intimate secrets.

"POTICHE" (2010 feature film directed by Francois Ozon)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:42:07 -0400

A bourgeois housewife (Catherine Deneuve) takes on a rough union leader (Gerard Depardieu) in Francois Ozon's sparkling comic war between the sexes, and the classes.

"RABBIT HOLE" (2010 feature film directed by John Cameron Mitchell)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:54:29 -0400

Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident. A family navigates the deepest form of loss in John Cameron Mitchell's screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart deliver captivating performances as a husband and wife who fight to save their marriage in the life that begins again after tragedy.

"SCORE: A HOCKEY MUSICAL" (2010 feature film directed by Michael McGowan)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:28:36 -0400

The Toronto International Film Festival opens September 9 with the world premiere Gala Presentation of Score: A Hockey Musical, written and directed by Michael McGowan (One Week, Saint Ralph). The film tells the story of a teenage hockey phenom who lives the quintessential Canadian dream of being discovered on the ice and goes from obscurity to fame overnight. The film stars musical icon Olivia Newton-John (Grease, Glee), singer/songwriter Marc Jordan, newcomers Noah Reid and Allie MacDonald, and features cameos from an impressive lineup of Canadian music, broadcast and hockey stars. In the film, seventeen-year old Farley has led a sheltered life. Much to the dismay of his parents (Newton-John, Jordan), Farley loves to play shinny with the local rink rats. To their even greater dismay, Farley is signed to a hockey league, where he achieves instant stardom, throwing him into a world of hype. Farley soon finds that hockey fame comes with a price. The film co-stars Stephen McHattie (Watchmen, The Rocket), John Pyper-Ferguson (Hard Core Logo, Brothers & Sisters) and Brandon Firla (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Billable Hours), and features cameos by music artists Nelly Furtado, Hawksley Workman and John McDermott, journalists George Stroumboulopoulos and Evan Solomon, sports anchor Steve Kouleas, hockey dad Walter Gretzky and hockey star Theo Fleury. Score: A Hockey Musical features 19 original songs with lyrics written by McGowan, and featuring music from Barenaked Ladies, Olivia Newton-John, Amy Sky and Marc Jordan, and five songs on which Hawksley Workman contributed. (The DVD release will contain extra scenes of Margaret Atwood, Eddie Shack, and Dan Hill.)

"A SCREAMING MAN" (2010 feature film directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:30:14 -0400

Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son.

"SLIDELENGTH" (2010 presentation)

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:59:58 -0400

Michael Snow's projection-based work comprises eighty 35mm colour slides projected at 15-second intervals. This project is related to Snow's own Wavelength, film # 73 on the Essential 100 list. Snow was recently the subject of a significant career retrospective at The Power Plant, Toronto. Presented within the Essential Cinema exhibition at TIFF Bell Lightbox's main gallery.

"SOFT RAINS #6: SUBURBAN HORROR (PART 1)" (2003 feature film directed by Jennifer McCoy, Kevin McCoy)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:05:28 -0400

The Soft Rains series consist of miniature robotic film sets that recreate familiar cinema archetypes and genres. For this work, the McCoys created a tiny diorama of an unsettling suburban idyll inspired by David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), film # 92 on The Essential 100 list. Live video cameras trained on this diorama create an endlessly looping video sequence, presented on a nearby projection screen. Jennifer and Kevin McCoy are a Brooklyn-based couple who work with interactive media, film, performance and installation to explore personal experience in relation to new technology, the mass media, and global commerce. Presented in collaboration with The Royal Ontario Museum's Institute for Contemporary Culture, 100 Queen's Park.

"STONE" (2010 feature film directed by John Curran)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:32:06 -0400

A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path. The prison scenes were filmed at the State Prison of Southern Michigan. The prison scenes were filmed at the State Prison of Southern Michigan. At one time this was the world's largest walled prison. Since its closure the site has become a popular filming venue, having also served as the prison location for 'Hillary Swank''s Conviction (2010/II).

"SUBMARINE" (2010 feature film directed by Richard Ayoade)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:33:24 -0400

A comedy which follows a 15-year-old boy with two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to stop his mother from leaving his father for her dance teacher. Director Ayoade is most famous in the U.K. for his perfs in cult TV skeins "The IT Crowd" and "The Mighty Boosh." This will be his feature directing debut.

"TAMARA DREWE" (2010 feature film directed by Stephen Frears)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:43:03 -0400

A young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale.

"THE TEMPEST" (2010 feature film directed by Julie Taymor)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:01:25 -0400

In Julie Taymor's version of 'The Tempest,' the gender of Prospero has been switched to Prospera. Going back to the 16th or 17th century, women practicing the magical arts of alchemy were often convicted of witchcraft. In Taymor's version, Prospera is usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it's a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda. This leads to the power struggle and balance between Caliban and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect.

"THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS" (2010 feature film directed by Anurag Kashyap)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:43:35 -0400

It's a thriller, and features Kalki Koechlin with Prashant Prakash (from the play "The Skeleton Woman"), Gulshan devaiyah, Pooja Swaroop, Kumud Mishra, Shiv Subramanyam, Divya Jagdale, Thani and Naseeruddin Shah. Music by debutante Naren Chandavarkar.

"THE TOWN" (2010 feature film directed by Ben Affleck)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:21:28 -0400

As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down. The book ("Thieves") won the 2005 Hammett Prize for excellence in crime writing.

"THE TRIP" (2010 feature film directed by Michael Winterbottom)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:00:36 -0400

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play two friends ("loose versions of ourselves," according to Brydon) who embark on a restaurant tour of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

"TRUST" (2010 feature film directed by David Schwimmer)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:02:06 -0400

David Schwimmer departs from his comedic roots in this harrowing drama that examines the build-up and aftermath of a teenager's (Liana Liberato) seduction by an online sexual predator. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener are perfectly cast as the grieving parents, but relative newcomer Liberato's slow-burning self-realization and climactic breakdown is undeniably heartrending.

"VANISHING ON 7TH STREET" (2010 feature film directed by Brad Anderson)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:31:26 -0400

In the film a mysterious and seemingly global blackout causes countless populations to simply vanish, leaving only their clothes and possessions behind. A small handful of survivors band together in a dimly-lit tavern on 7th Street, struggling to combat the apocalyptic horror. Realizing they may in fact be the last people on earth, the darkness hones in on them alone. John Leguizamo will be at this year's Toronto International Film Festival to premiere "Vanishing on 7th Street," in which he plays a film projectionist who finds people starting to disappear all around him.

"THE WAY" (2010 feature film directed by Emilio Estevez)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:01:05 -0400

An American father travels to France to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the Route Napoleon.

"WEST IS WEST" (2010 feature film directed by Andy DeEmmony)

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:05:19 -0400

Manchester, North of England, 1975. The now much diminished, but still claustrophobic and dysfunctional, Khan family continues to struggle for survival. Sajid, the youngest Khan, the runt of the litter, is deep in pubescent crisis under heavy assault both from his father's tyrannical insistence on Pakistani tradition, and from the fierce bullies in the schoolyard. So, in a last, desperate attempt to 'sort him out', his father decides to pack him off to Mrs Khan No 1 and family in the Punjab, the wife and daughters he had abandoned 35 years earlier. It is not long before Ella Khan (Mrs Khan No2) with a small entourage from Salford, England, swiftly follows to sort out the mess, past and present. Follows "East Is East" (1999) also written by Ayub Khan-Din (screenplay).

"YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER" (2010 feature film directed by Woody Allen)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:43:21 -0400

After Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) leaves Helena (Gemma Jones) to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl named Charmaine (Lucy Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally (Naomi Watts) develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Antonio Banderas), while Roy (Josh Brolin), a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Freida Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window.