TOfilmfest 2009 film-list

"20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA" (1916 feature film directed by Stuart Paton)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:35:04 -0400

Captain Nemo has built a fantastic submarine for his mission of revenge. He has traveled over 20,000 leagues in search of Charles Denver. Friday, Sept. 11 at 3:00PM Saturday, Sept. 19 at 3:00PM

"25 CARAT" (2009 feature film directed by Patxi Amezcua)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:58:29 -0400

From director Patxi Amezcua comes a fresh action film that delves into the world of thieves, go-getters, swindlers, thugs, mafia members and corrupt police officers in Barcelona.

"5 DYSFUNCTIONAL PEOPLE IN A CAR" (2009 short film directed by Pat Mills)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:32:54 -0400

Five family members crowd into a car to take grandma to a nursing home against her will. An omniscient narrator reveals each person's predicament, divulging their caustic thoughts about each other and the transpiring events. Even the dog has come along for the drive and in the end, gets the last bark. This film screens with A Gun to the Head.

"ACCIDENT" (2009 feature film directed by Soi Cheang)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:06:33 -0400

Gripping and smartly constructed, this unconventional crime thriller/psychological drama, revolves around assassins who commit murder by making perfectly staged crimes look like unfortunate accidents. Produced by Johnnie To.

"THE ADJUSTER" (1991 feature film directed by Atom Egoyan)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:06:19 -0400

Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster is one of the filmmaker's most acclaimed works, and remains one of the most significant contributions to what became known as the Toronto New Wave. The film focuses on Noah, an insurance adjuster (Elias Koteas) with a truly unique approach to his job, a very strange family (including a wife who works as a film censor and a sister-in-law who is addicted to the pornographic tapes Noah's wife brings home) and a perverse couple who stage elaborate sexual fantasies and draw Noah and his family into their web. A stylized and twisted tale of alienation and obsession, The Adjuster was named one of the best Canadian films of all time in a 1994 poll conducted by TIFF. The organization is also co-publishing a monograph on the film in collaboration with the University of Toronto Press, written by Tom McSorley. Tom is the executive director of the Canadian Film Institute, a sessional lecturer in Film Studies at Carleton University, film critic for CBC Radio One's Ottawa Morning and a contributing editor at POV Magazine. The book traces the genesis, production and reception of Egoyan's fourth feature film, placing it in the larger context of Canadian cinema history.

"ADRIFT" (2009 feature film directed by Bui Thac Chuyen)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:00:09 -0400

This is a sensual drama about a newlywed couple, exploring sexual awakening, forbidden lesbian desire and marital infidelity within modern Vietnam.

"L'AFFAIRE FAREWELL" (2009 feature film directed by Christian Carion)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:01:47 -0400

In 1981 Moscow, a KGB colonel, disgusted with what Soviet policy has become, decides to break with the system. With the help of a French engineer he will play a part in one of the key events in world history: the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

"AGORA" (2009 feature film directed by Alejandro Amenabar)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:08:05 -0400

In the fourth century, while Egypt was under the Roman Empire, violent religious upheaval in the streets of Alexandria spills over into the city's famous library. Trapped inside its walls, the brilliant astronomer Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) and her disciples fight to save the wisdom of the ancient world. Among the group are the two men competing for Hypatia's heart: the witty, privileged Orestes and Davus, Hypatia's young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join the unstoppable surge of the Christians.

"AHEAD OF TIME" (2009 feature film directed by Bob Richman)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:03:13 -0400

This directorial debut from acclaimed cinematographer Bob Richman (The September Issue, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) creates a vivid portrait of Ruth Gruber. From the time she became the world's youngest Ph.D. in 1931 at age 20 to her pivotal news coverage of the refugees aboard Exodus 1947, this energetic and inspiring 97-year-old has repeatedly defied tradition through her fearlessness and love of adventure.

"AIR DOLL" (2009 feature film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:10:15 -0400

This compelling tale of a blow-up doll that becomes a real person and abandons her status of mere sex object comes to life with the superb performance of Korean actress Bae Doo-na.

"AJAMI" (2009 feature film directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:04:48 -0400

An original, powerful film in which an accidental murder and a murky drug deal spur uncontrolled violence in a Palestinian community in Jaffa.

"ALL FALL DOWN" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Philip Hoffman)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:05:10 -0400

Local legend Philip Hoffman's formally adventurous and emotionally devastating documentary looks at the tortured last years of Toronto writer George Lachlan Brown, setting the account against a backdrop of regional myths and conspiracies.

"THE ANGEL" (2009 feature film directed by Margreth Olin)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:05:39 -0400

A young mother (played brilliantly by Maria Bonnevie) struggles with a history of drug abuse in this exquisitely rendered and deeply compassionate piece, the first fiction film from one of Norway's most respected documentary filmmakers.

"ANTICHRIST" (2009 feature film directed by Lars von Trier)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:39:48 -0400

Lars von Trier's controversial movie was the talk of Cannes this year with its groundbreaking, deeply disturbing and graphic nightmare vision about men and women and their relationship.

"ANTICHRIST VIDEO CONFERENCE" (2009 presentation)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:34:00 -0400

Lars von Trier rarely travels to film festivals, and will not be coming to Toronto, but he has agreed to participate in a 90-minute video news conference that is being organized Friday, September 11 at 9:00am at Scotiabank theatres.

"THE APE" (2009 feature film directed by Jesper Ganslandt)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:05:09 -0400

A descent into hell, Jesper Ganslandt's disturbing and suspenseful second feature begins with a man waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, only to find the life he knew the day before is gone.

"APPLAUSE" (2009 feature film directed by Martin Pieter Zandvliet)

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:48:46 -0400

Paprika Steen delivers a tour-de-force performance in this devastating drama about an alcoholic actress trying to put her life back together.

"THE ART OF THE STEAL" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Don Argott)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:23:20 -0400

This art-world whodunit investigates what happened to the Barnes collection of Post-Impressionist paintings--valued in the billions--that fell prey to a power struggle after the death of owner Albert Barnes.

"AT THE END OF DAYBREAK" (2009 feature film directed by Ho Yuhang)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:59:54 -0400

Two young people of different classes are bound together by restless ennui. But when the girl is revealed to be underage, lies and blackmail spiral out of control.

"BAARIA" (2009 feature film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:29:07 -0400

From the acclaimed director of Cinema Paradiso comes an epic saga of life and death, love and hatred in a vibrant Sicilian town in the first half of the twentieth century. Following the life of Peppino Torrenuova (Francesco Scianna) from his upbringing as a high-spirited cowherders' son, to his forbidden romance and marriage to the beautiful Mannina (Margareth Made) and culminating in his tumultuous and comical political career and home life, Baaria is a humourous and often heartbreaking tale of small-town family dynamics.

"BACKSTORY" (2009 short documentary film directed by Mark Lewis)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:58:30 -0400

In conjunction with Mark Lewis: In a City, special screenings of Lewis's Backstory (2009) and Cinema Museum (2008) will take place during the Festival. These two documentaries explore the history and culture of cinema, fusing Lewis's curiosity about historical filmmaking techniques with a carefully aestheticized approach to cinema as both a fan-based and industrialized cultural phenomenon. Backstory (2009) explores the personalities and artistry behind rear projection technology in Hollywood. The screenings will take place on Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor. There will also be two collateral events related to Mark Lewis and his work: The Art Gallery of Ontario will feature three recently acquired works by Lewis from September 9 to January 3, 2010 (paid admission). During TIFF Cinematheque's upcoming Fall season, Lewis will present five examples of masterful rear projection filmmaking along with a limited run of Backstory in October, 2009. Details will be available as of September 22 at tiff.net/cinematheque.

"BACKYARD" (2009 feature film directed by Carlos Carrera)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:06:39 -0400

A policewoman investigates the gruesome murders of female assembly-line workers in Ciudad Juarez. This suspense thriller is the first fictionalized account of the real-life events.

"BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS" (2009 feature film directed by Werner Herzog)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:32:41 -0400

Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage), a homicide detective with the New Orleans Police Department, is promoted to Lieutenant after he saves a prisoner from drowning in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, during his heroic act, he severely injures his back and is put on prescription pain medication. A year later, Terence - struggling with his addictions to sex, Vicodin and cocaine - finds himself in the battle to bring down drug dealer Big Fate, who is suspected of massacring an entire family of African immigrants.

"BALIBO" (2009 feature film directed by Robert Connolly)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:06:51 -0400

This is the true story of a war correspondent who goes in search of missing colleagues amid the chaos of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975. Based on the book Cover-Up by Jill Jolliffe

"BAND" (2009 short film directed by Adam Pendleton)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:04:08 -0400

Adam Pendleton's multi-disciplinary and irreverent practice finds fertile ground in his new work, BAND. In a part performance, rock show, installation and film screening, this cutting edge New York artist refashions Sympathy for the Devil, Jean-Luc Godard's 1968 film paean to The Rolling Stones and the Black Panthers, into a contemporary art happening. Celebrated indie art-rock/post-punk band Deerhoof will be at the center of the action. Their own rehearsal footage, shot in Toronto, and images from the original film will be crosscut during a free live concert at Yonge-Dundas Square which will, in turn, be filmed with interventions from Pendleton. Curated by Wayne Baerwaldt and produced in collaboration with the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, The Kitchen, New York and de Appel, Amsterdam. September 17 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Yonge-Dundas Square.

"BARRY LEVINSON PRESENTS THE BAND THAT WOULDN'T DIE" (2009 short documentary film directed by Barry Levinson)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:08:14 -0400

Barry Levinson has covered a lot of ground in his film career - from Southeast Asia in Good Morning, Vietnam to Las Vegas in Rain Man - but he always comes back to Baltimore. In this session, Levinson will present the world premiere of his latest work set in Baltimore, The Band That Wouldn't Die, an hour-long documentary produced for ESPN Film's 30 for 30 project, about a marching band that kept hope alive for the city's football fans.

"BARE ESSENCE OF LIFE" (2009 feature film directed by Satoko Yokohama)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:17:12 -0400

In this original fusion of black comedy, surreal fantasy and feel-good drama about a mentally challenged hero, Japanese heartthrob Kenichi Matsuyama plays a strange farmer who finds an unexpected path to the miracle of love.

"BASSIDJI" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Mehran Tamadon)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:20:26 -0400

For three years, Mehran Tamadon immersed himself into the very heart of the most extremist supporters of the Islamic republic of Iran (the Bassidjis) to understand their ideas.

"BEAUTIFUL KATE" (2009 feature film directed by Rachel Ward)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:22:48 -0400

In order to make peace with his combative, dying father, a writer must return to his childhood home and confront long-suppressed memories of the mysterious deaths of his brother and twin sister.

"BENA" (2009 feature film directed by Niv Klainer)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:57:24 -0400

A Tel Aviv father tries to keep his schizophrenic son out of an institution, but when he takes in a Thai migrant worker, she disrupts the uneasy balance in their home.

"BETWEEN TWO WORLDS" (2009 feature film directed by Vimukthi Jayasundara)

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:26:02 -0400

Rajith, a young man, flees the city in which he lives and where violent confrontations are common. He goes to a village in a valley where the inhabitants seem to be still strongly influenced by an old legend.

"BEYOND THE CIRCLE" (2009 feature film directed by Golam Rabbany Biplob)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:58:41 -0400

In this political fable from Bangladesh's leading filmmaker, a simple village musician gets swept up in the market economy of big city Dhaka.

"BIG DIG" (1969 feature film directed by Efraim Kishon)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:09:10 -0400

One of the best-loved Israeli comedies of its era, Big Dig is a dizzying 1969 farce in which an inspired madman brings Tel Aviv to a halt with a jackhammer.

"BIG EYES" (1974 feature film directed by Uri Zohar)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:09:28 -0400

From one of Israel's most influential filmmakers, this classic depicts a Tel Aviv counterculture that is progressive and blessed with many delights, but also self-critical and perhaps a little exhausted by the push and pull of secularism and orthodoxy. Zohar himself stars as Benny Furman, a womanizing basketball coach forced to decide what he really wants in life.

"BIG HEAD" (2009 short film directed by Dylan Akio Smith)

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:00:32 -0400

Ten-year-old Billy is mercilessly teased at school because he has a large cranium. He learns that one of his classmates has found a way to get a new nose, so he decides to do everything he can to modify his own perceived flaw. This dark comedy rings true for every kid who was bullied for something that was not wrong with them. This film screens with Year of the Carnivore.

"BITCH SLAP" (2009 feature film directed by Rick Jacobson)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:33:30 -0400

In this campy action comedy from the creators of Xena and Hercules, three hot-blooded women try to uncover some booty in the desert using feminine charms, fists and machine guns.

"BLESSED" (2009 feature film directed by Ana Kokkinos)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:01:34 -0400

During the course of one day and night, seven children wander the streets in an urban odyssey. Blessed is a film about mothers and children, about love and beauty, about being lost and finding your way home.

"THE BOYS ARE BACK" (2009 feature film directed by Scott Hicks)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:24:23 -0400

Based on the memoir by Simon Carr, Scott Hicks (Shine) directs The Boys Are Back, inspired by the poignant, comic and uplifting true story of a man who must suddenly raise his two sons alone. After the untimely passing of his second wife, the ill-prepared Joe (Clive Owen), who is dealing with his own loss, is confronted with the daily challenges of parenthood while coping with his young son Artie's expressions of grief. They are soon joined by Harry, Joe's teenage son from his first marriage, who brings his own personal "baggage" into the mix.

"BRAN NUE DAE" (2009 feature film directed by Rachel Perkins)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:07:54 -0400

The renowned Australian stage musical about young love and Aboriginal identity makes its exuberant and fun-filled way to the big screen.

"A BRAND NEW LIFE" (2009 feature film directed by Ounie Lecomte)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:56:37 -0400

An impressive debut by French-Korean filmmaker Ounie Lecomte who, inspired by her childhood, recounts the emotional journey of a little girl abandoned by her father in an orphanage.

"BRIGHT STAR" (2009 feature film directed by Jane Campion)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:09:36 -0400

A drama based on the secret love affair between 23-year-old English poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), an outspoken student of fashion. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, they rode a wave of romantic obsession that deepened as their troubles mounted. Only Keats's illness and untimely death proved insurmountable.

"BROKEN EMBRACES" (2009 feature film directed by Pedro Almodovar)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:06:43 -0400

Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches a point when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years ago, when he was still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie. As the past is revisited, a story of "amour fou" unfolds, dominated by fatality, jealousy, the abuse of power, treachery and a guilt complex.

"THE BUBBLE" (2006 feature film directed by Eytan Fox)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:58:28 -0400

A defining work of recent Tel Aviv cinema, this multi-character story shows the city's free-thinking liberals confronted with harsh political tensions.

"BUNNY & THE BULL" (2009 feature film directed by Paul King)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:39:38 -0400

Shy Stephen and his totally disordered boozehound of a best friend, Bunny, show us how to embark on an adventure-filled road trip without leaving the room.

"THE BUSHER" (1919 feature film directed by Jerome Storm)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:15:26 -0400

A young baseball pitcher in the bush leagues is discovered by a big-league manager and given his chance in the major leagues. But will he be up to the challenge? Monday, Sept. 14 at 3:00PM

"CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD WINNER" (2009 feature film)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:12:58 -0400

The Toronto International Film Festival will present a free screening of the 2009 Cadillac People's Choice Award winning film on the closing night, September 19th. Voted on by Festival audiences, the Cadillac People's Choice Award winner will be announced on the afternoon of September 19, 2009. Previous People's Choice Award winners include Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008), Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007), Bella (Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, 2006), Tsotsi (Gavin Hood, 2005) and Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004). The screening will take place at 9 pm in the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre. Tickets for the free screening of the Cadillac People's Choice Award-winning film will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 7 pm on September 19 at the box office for the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre.

"CAIRO TIME" (2009 feature film directed by Ruba Nadda)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:31:22 -0400

World Premiere Juliette (Patricia Clarkson), a magazine editor, arrives in Cairo to meet her husband Mark (Tom McCamus), a UN official in Gaza. When he is unavoidably delayed, Mark sends his friend and former security officer Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to show her around the city. As she gets used to the customs and rhythm of life in Cairo, Juliette finds herself falling not only for the city's charms, but for Tareq as well.

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Michael Moore)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:41:01 -0400

On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece Roger & Me, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story comes home to the issue he's been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan. From Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan, Michael Moore will once again take film-goers into uncharted territory.

"CARCASSES" (2009 feature film directed by Denis Cote)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:40:50 -0400

Quebec auteur Denis Cote brings us a beautiful story about an elderly man who lives in a junkyard surrounded by the detritus of culture and who is paid a surprise visit by a group of youths.

"CARMEL" (2009 feature film directed by Amos Gitai)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:12:42 -0400

History in the Middle East is a complex mix of the present and the past. Then, there is also the personal and Gitai is uniquely placed to reflect on his own past as a soldier and as the father of a young man caught up in the present conflicts that engulf the region.

"CASTAWAY ON THE MOON" (2009 feature film directed by Lee Hey-jun)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:13:03 -0400

This is a smart and original love story by one of Korea's most promising young filmmakers, Lee Hey-jun. A potential suicide victim becomes a modern Robinson Crusoe on an island in the middle of Seoul's Han River.

"CELL 211" (2009 feature film directed by Daniel Monzon)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:09:58 -0400

A newly hired prison officer finds himself in the midst of a prison riot after an unforeseen turn of events. With the inmates around him unaware of his position, he must pretend to be a prisoner to survive.

"CHLOE" (2009 feature film directed by Atom Egoyan)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:15:45 -0400

Catherine (Julianne Moore), a successful doctor, suspects her husband David (Liam Neeson), a handsome music professor, is cheating on her. To lay her suspicions and fears to rest, she hires an irresistible young woman, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), to test David's fidelity. Chloe's torrid tales of her encounters with David lead Catherine on a journey of sexual and sensual re-discovery. But by opening the door to temptation, she puts her family in great danger.

"CINEMA MUSEUM" (2009 short documentary film directed by Mark Lewis)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:58:41 -0400

In conjunction with Mark Lewis: In a City, special screenings of Lewis's Backstory (2009) and Cinema Museum (2008) will take place during the Festival. These two documentaries explore the history and culture of cinema, fusing Lewis's curiosity about historical filmmaking techniques with a carefully aestheticized approach to cinema as both a fan-based and industrialized cultural phenomenon. Cinema Museum (2008) visits a unique collection of memorabilia in a private collection in London. The screenings will take place on Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor. There will also be two collateral events related to Mark Lewis and his work: The Art Gallery of Ontario will feature three recently acquired works by Lewis from September 9 to January 3, 2010 (paid admission). During TIFF Cinematheque's upcoming Fall season, Lewis will present five examples of masterful rear projection filmmaking along with a limited run of Backstory in October, 2009. Details will be available as of September 22 at tiff.net/cinematheque.

"CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH" (2009 feature film directed by Lu Chuan)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:23:17 -0400

From acclaimed director Lu Chuan comes a devastating and controversial epic film based on the most atrocious holocaust in Chinese history, the Nanjing Massacre. The story unfolds as the Japanese take over the city in 1937 and everyone is struggling to survive in a city where death is easier than life.

"THE SHAPE OF THINGS / CIVILIZATION / THIS TRANSITION..." (2009 short film directed by Marco Brambilla)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:04:18 -0400

Artist and filmmaker Marco Brambilla presents Civilization, a CGI pastiche of film and pop culture moments. Brambilla invites the viewer on a journey from Hell to Heaven in a single tracking shot rendered to look like something between Hieronymus Bosch and a video game. Curated by Noah Cowan. Presented as a kind of audio visual baptism for TIFF Bell Lightbox, it will be projected against the John Street side of the building as a continuous loop each night of the Festival. From September 10 through September 19 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

"CLEANFLIX" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:07 -0400

The Mormon religion preaches against the content of R-rated films, so several Utah-based entrepreneurs started offering "clean" versions of Hollywood movies at specialty DVD stores. But the thriving industry runs into legal problems and its own sex scandal.

"COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY" (2009 feature film directed by Jan Kounen)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:18:12 -0400

Igor Stravinsky premieres The Rite of Spring at the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees, in Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is in attendance and is mesmerized. But the revolutionary work, too modern and too radical, leads to boos and jeers from the enraged audience. Seven years later, now rich, respected and successful, Coco Chanel once again encounters Stravinsky, now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution. The attraction between them is immediate and electric. Following an offer from Coco, Stravinsky moves into her villa in the Garches to work, with his consumptive wife and children in tow. And so begins a passionate and intense love affair between two creative giants.

"COLE" (2009 feature film directed by Carl Bessai)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:55:11 -0400

Cole (Richard de Klerk) wants to write his way out of small-town Lytton, B.C. and his job at the family gas station. A new romance with Serafina (Kandyse McClure), a woman from his writing class, offers a chance for both of them to change their lives in this emotional and intense drama.

"COLLAPSE" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Chris Smith)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:23 -0400

From the acclaimed director of American Movie, this portrait of radical thinker Michael Ruppert explores his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.

"COLONY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:48:28 -0400

Several beekeepers around the U.S. cope with colony collapse disorder - the phenomenon that has caused millions of bees to mysteriously disappear - in this beautifully shot debut from a gifted directing duo.

"COOKING WITH STELLA" (2009 feature film directed by Dilip Mehta)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:28 -0400

A warmhearted social satire about a Canadian diplomat (Lisa Ray) and her chef husband Michael (Don McKellar) who are posted to New Delhi. Upon arrival they inherit a household of Indian servants headed by the charming, totally inspiring - and wily - cook, Stella (Seema Biswas). When Stella agrees to become Michael's cooking guru, to teach him traditional Indian dishes, little does he know that she's cooking up a scheme of her own.

"COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS: THIS IS A SAMPLING SPORT" (2009 short documentary film directed by Benjamin Franzen)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:08:34 -0400

Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money. Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7:00PM

"COVERED" (2009 short film directed by John Greyson)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:50:33 -0400

[NOTE: withdrawn from festival; see below] Activist and award-winning filmmaker John Greyson returns to the Festival with a witty and inspired experimental documentary about the violent closing of the first Queer Sarajevo Festival. Straddling truth and fiction, the film interweaves the courageous story of the four festival organizers with an apocryphal essay by Susan Sontag - about cover versions of "bird" songs - that pushes the limits of liberal solidarity. [NOTE: This short film has been pulled from official selection at Toronto International Film Festival in protest against their Spotlight on Tel Aviv program and in solidarity with the Palestinian call for a boycott against the Israeli government. Read the open letter to TIFF at http://tiny.cc/tiff_open_letter - linked on the right side of this webpage. It will be available online (below) for the duration of the festival, until September 19th, 2009.]

"CRAB TRAP" (2009 feature film directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:19:30 -0400

Treading a fine line between documentary and fiction, Crab Trap is a meditative look at daily life in a remote village on the Pacific coast of Colombia that explores the nuances of social and racial relations in one of the most isolated areas of the country.

"CRACKIE" (2009 feature film directed by Sherry White)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:34:13 -0400

Mitsy (Meghan Greeley) just wants to escape her life in Newfoundland and her overbearing grandmother (Mary Walsh), but a visit from her mother and an affair with the take-out guy (Joel Thomas Hynes) may sidetrack her dreams of becoming a beautician in writer and director Sherry White's emotional and insightful debut Crackie.

"CRACKS" (2009 feature film directed by Jordan Scott)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:08:03 -0400

In an austere and remote girls' boarding school, the most elite clique of girls are the illustrious members of the school's diving team. As they compete for the attention of their glamorous teacher (Eva Green), the arrival of a beautiful Spanish girl disrupts the delicate social balance. In an attempt to put differences aside, a secret midnight party takes place that will change their lives forever. Written for the screen by Caroline Ip and Ben Court, based on the 1999 novel by Sheila Kohler.

"CREATION" (2009 feature film directed by Jon Amiel)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:40 -0400

The film tells the life story of Charles Darwin starring Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code, Wimbledon, A Beautiful Mind) as Darwin and Jennifer Connelly (He's Just Not That Into You, The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Beautiful Mind) as his wife, Emma.

"LIVE FROM ROY THOMSON HALL (OPENING NIGHT: CREATION)" (2009 presentation)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:09:27 -0400

A live satellite feed from the Opening Night Gala at Roy Thomson Hall Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7:00PM

"THE DAMNED UNITED" (2009 feature film directed by Tom Hooper)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:41:56 -0400

Set in 1960's and 1970's England, this is the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough's doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football. Taking the Leeds job without his trusted lieutenant, Peter Taylor, by his side, Clough encounters a changing-room full of players who - in his mind - were still Don's boys. An examination of Clough's belligerence and brilliance, The Damned United stars Michael Sheen, is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) and directed by Tom Hooper (John Adams, Longford).

"LA DANSE - LE BALLET DE L'OPERA DE PARIS" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:55:39 -0400

In this veritable feast of a Mavericks session, documentary master Frederick Wiseman (Public Housing, Ballet, Titicut Follies) will present the North American premiere of his 160-minute film La Danse, followed by an extended conversation about this new work and his career. In La Danse, Wiseman allows us to observe multiple corners of the Paris Opera Ballet, from rehearsal studios to costume rooms to administrative offices. We get extensive access to choreographers as they work with dancers in both classical and modern styles. You needn't be a dance aficionado to marvel at the beauty and athleticism on display.

"THE DAY GOD WALKED AWAY" (2009 feature film directed by Philippe van Leeuw)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:25:40 -0400

Offering a new take on the Rwandan genocide, acclaimed cinematographer van Leeuw's directorial debut recreates the first-person experience of one woman as the horror descends in Rwanda on April 7, 1994.

"THE DAY WILL COME" (2009 feature film directed by Susanne Schneider)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:42:18 -0400

Thirty years after giving her daughter up for adoption to join the terrorist underground in Germany, Judith is tracked down by her now adult daughter Alice to a vineyard in the Alsace where she is living with a new family and a new identity.

"DAYBREAKERS" (2009 feature film directed by Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:56:58 -0400

Sci-fi horror about a future populated by vampires where humans are the minority.

"DEFENDOR" (2009 feature film directed by Peter Stebbings)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:27:33 -0400

Reality intersects with delusion in the mind of Arthur Poppington (Woody Harrelson), a regular man who adopts a superhero persona known as Defendor, and combs the city streets at night in search of his arch-enemy, Captain Industry. In his attempts to combat crime and bring down Captain Industry, a drug and weapons dealer who he mistakenly blames for the death of his mother, Defendor ends up befriending a young prostitute, Katerina Debrofkowitz (Kat Dennings). Armed with unconventional weapons of mass confusion, aided by his new friend, and putting his life on the line, Defendor proves that everyone is capable of making a difference.

"DELIVER US FROM EVIL" (2009 feature film directed by Ole Bornedal)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:21:25 -0400

A Danish variation on Straw Dogs, Deliver Us from Evil is an almost unbearably intense thriller about a young couple who moves to the countryside and encounters xenophobia, psychosis and murder.

"LES DERNIERS JOURS DU MONDE" (2009 feature film directed by Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:43:59 -0400

A global apocalypse is about to destroy all mankind. In a final quest, Robinson (Mathieu Amalric) sets out on a journey from France to Spain, searching for Laetitia, the woman he once loved, even if it means heading back to the centre of the danger zone. But as the world is turning upside down, most people - through their blind panic - have decided to simply enjoy their last days on the planet abandoning themselves to a few final moments of pleasure and lust.

"THE DIRTY SAINTS" (2009 feature film directed by Luis Ortega)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:17:12 -0400

Luis Ortega's apocalyptic third feature follows a group of five survivors as they embark on a journey that will force them to face their fears, dreams and longings in their quest for salvation across the Fijman River.

"THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED" (2009 feature film directed by J. Blakeson)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:34:40 -0400

Two ex-cons kidnap a woman, but the tables turn and turn again in this tight, smart tale. This film is a terrific little thriller starring Eddie Marsan, Martin Compston and Gemma Arterton.

"DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING" (2006 feature documentary film directed by Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:20:41 -0400

A documentary on the Dixie Chicks in the wake of singer Natalie Maines' anti-George W. Bush statement at a 2003 concert. Preceded by shorts: Neighbors, Serena Ryder at the Dakota Tavern and Crickets Friday, Sept. 11 at 12:00PM

"DOGTOOTH" (2009 feature film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:23:21 -0400

Shut off from the outside world by their over-protective parents, three siblings are raised in a manner that their mother and father deem appropriate until the eldest daughter is offered an interesting proposition.

"LA DONATION" (2009 feature film directed by Bernard Emond)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0400

Dr. Rainville, an aging country doctor with a deep attachment to his patients, is about to retire and is looking for a successor. Jeanne Dion, an emergency room doctor from Montreal, agrees to go to Normetal to replace him for a few weeks, with no plans for an extended stay. When Dr. Rainville suddenly dies, Jeanne must decide if she'll take over the job, and its inherent responsibilities, for the long-term.

"DON'T LOOK BACK" (1967 feature documentary film directed by D.A. Pennebaker)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:13:36 -0400

Documentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England. Preceded by shorts: Glenn Gould - On the Record, Jason Collett at Paul's Boutique and Weitzman #10 Friday, Sept. 18 at 12:00PM

"DORIAN GRAY" (2009 feature film directed by Oliver Parker)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:57:46 -0400

In Victorian London, the handsome Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic and cunning Lord Wotton (Colin Firth). Immersed in the hedonistic pleasures of the city, Dorian vows he would give anything to keep his youth and beauty - even his soul. Based on the Oscar Wilde novel, Dorian Gray examines the destructive power of beauty, the blind pursuit of pleasure and the darkness that can result from both.

"THE DOUBLE HOUR" (2009 feature film directed by Giuseppe Capotondi)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:24:54 -0400

When an attractive young Slovenian girl moves to Italy and meets an eligible young man, both of their lives are set to change. They become the victims of a very professional art heist, but in this taut psychological thriller, appearances belie the truth. Or do they?

"DOWN FOR LIFE" (2009 feature film directed by Alan Jacobs)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:42:51 -0400

Based on a New York Times article, this film depicts a single, fateful day in the life of a 15-year-old Latina gang leader. Leaving the gang, she discovers, is more difficult than joining. Shot in South-Central Los Angeles, the film stars local youths in the lead roles.

"EAMON" (2009 feature film directed by Margaret Corkery)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:08:30 -0400

A family holiday brings to a head the destructive love triangle between Eamon, a little boy with behavioural problems, his selfish mother Grace and his sexually frustrated father Daniel.

"ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLOND HAIR GIRL" (2009 feature film directed by Manoel de Oliveira)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:41:50 -0400

Famed filmmaker Oliveira, who celebrates his 101st birthday this year, tells the tale of Macario's obsession with the enticing blond he spies from his window. Little does he know that she will end up stealing much more than his heart.

"ECLECTIC METHOD" (2009 feature film directed by Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar and Geoff Gamlen)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:04:28 -0400

The infectious live, improvised audio visual mash-ups of Eclectic Method, London natives Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar and Geoff Gamlen, feature television, film, music and video game footage sliced and diced into blistering, postmodern dance floor events. Their unique and innovative craftsmanship helped pioneer the emerging art of audiovisual mixing and has pushed the boundaries of club and concert visuals and events around the world. In a free performance at Yonge-Dundas Square on September 19, the renowned trio will thrill film and music lovers with a live video remix set incorporating clips from the films included in The Essential 100, the opening show of TIFF Bell Lightbox. Timed to coincide with the Toronto International Film Festival Closing Night, it will be a night of celebration for all film lovers in Toronto. Special guests include Clyde Stubblefield and others. Curated by Noah Cowan. September 19 from 9 pm to 11 pm at Yonge-Dundas Square.

"AN EDUCATION" (2009 feature film directed by Lone Scherfig)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:24:08 -0400

A coming-of-age story about a teenaged girl in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age. Torn between her parents' dream of going to Oxford University and a more tempting kind of life, she must decide if the new path is one that will trap her or set her free.

"L'ENFER DE HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:42:05 -0400

Film archivist Serge Bromberg uncovers a treasure trove of imagery from an unfinished film called L'Enfer starring Romy Schneider and directed by the French master Henri-Georges Clouzot, known for Wages of Fear and Diabolique.

"ENTER THE VOID" (2009 feature film directed by Gaspar Noe)

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:36:26 -0400

Controversial filmmaker Gaspar Noe (Irreversible) is back with a mind-bending journey that transcends life and death as he follows the exploits of a young American drug dealer living in Japan.

"THE ESSENTIAL 100" (2009 short film directed by Eclectic Method)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:04:35 -0400

The Essential 100 is a list of cinema's greatest as chosen by our own mashup of TIFF expert opinion and a survey filled out by you, our stakeholders. We provided Eclectic Method with various clips from the films selected and let the group loose. The results - almost entirely improvised - will be on display at Yonge-Dundas Square on September 19.

"EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY" (2009 feature film directed by Dima El-Horr)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:44:15 -0400

From Lebanon, this is a striking debut about three women on the road to visit their imprisoned men. Mixing real politics and stark absurdity, El-Horr announces herself as a major new voice in Middle Eastern cinema.

"EXCITED" (2009 feature film directed by Bruce Sweeney)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:36:44 -0400

Writer-director Bruce Sweeney returns with a romantic comedy about a man who may have just met the woman of his dreams, but their romance is complicated by his meddling, officious mother and his inability to confront or discuss his sexual hang-ups.

"EYES WIDE OPEN" (2009 feature film directed by Haim Tabakman)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:34:47 -0400

A gay love story set in the heart of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, where the belief that love conquers all results in societal pressures and threats of violence.

"FACE" (2009 feature film directed by Tsai Ming-liang)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:26:06 -0400

A tableau vivant adorned with Tsai Ming-Liang's signature aesthetic portrays a special homage to the Nouvelle Vague and the Louvre, which co-produced the film and hosted its shooting.

"FISH TANK" (2009 feature film directed by Andrea Arnold)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:26:00 -0400

Andrea Arnold's assured follow-up to Red Road is a taboo-breaking love story about a violent teenaged girl transformed by desire for her mother's new boyfriend. [Aug.20 Cameron Bailey confirmed: "FISH TANK is in!"]

"FIVE HOURS FROM PARIS" (2009 feature film directed by Leon Prudovsky)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:19:56 -0400

In a suburb of Tel Aviv, an Israeli cab driver who longs to fly and a Russian music teacher who is soon to board a plane find out that romance is only a cab ride away.

"FOUND" (2009 short film directed by Paramita Nath)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:37:00 -0400

In 1978, Toronto poet Souvankham Thammavongsa was born in a Lao refugee camp in Thailand. Based on her book of poems inspired by her father's discarded scrapbook, Found documents the fragile beginnings of her life. Interweaving photos, home video and animation with Thammavongsa's compelling poetry, Found is a thoughtful meditation on connecting with one's past and measuring its worth. This film screens with Reel Injun.

"FREE SURPRISE SCREENING" (2009 feature film)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:49:51 -0400

Free Surprise Screening AMC 6 at Yonge and Dundas Saturday, September 12, 6pm-7:40pm Tickets will be distributed on a first-come/first served basis 2 hours before the screening, at 4pm.

"THE FRONT LINE" (2009 feature film directed by Renato De Maria)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:37:02 -0400

Set during a turbulent period in 1970-80s Italy, the plot centres on passionate couple Sergio and Susanna, who have been living as fugitives. Pursuing an uncompromising cause as members of the notorious Prima Linea, they have become increasingly alienated from the real world. Their luck finally runs out when Susanna is captured and thrown in jail. Putting his life on the line, Sergio embarks on a radical plan.

"FUTURE PROJECTIONS: THE ESSENTIAL 100 & FESTIVAL WRAP PARTY" (2009 feature film directed by Eclectic Method)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:15:20 -0400

The infectious live, improvised audio visual mash-ups of Eclectic Method, London natives Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar and Geoff Gamlen, feature television, film, music and video game footage sliced and diced into blistering, postmodern dance floor events. Their unique and innovative craftsmanship helped pioneer the emerging art of audiovisual mixing and has pushed the boundaries of club and concert visuals and events around the world. In a free performance at the Festival Wrap Party at Yonge-Dundas Square on September 19, the renowned trio will thrill film and music lovers with a live video remix set incorporating clips from the films included in The Essential 100, the opening show of TIFF Bell Lightbox. Special guests include Clyde Stubblefield and others. Curated by Noah Cowan. September 19 from 9 pm to 11 pm at Yonge-Dundas Square.

"GAIA" (2009 feature film directed by Jason Lehel)

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:22:46 -0400

A group of Native Americans discover a young woman, left for dead, in the Arizona desert and take her to their reservation. Through her relationship with American Natives she manages to re-connect with her own innocence, but is forced to make a choice between being reborn out of the chaos of her past and dying in the grips of her darkness.

"GENIUS WITHIN: THE INNER LIFE OF GLENN GOULD" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Peter Raymont and Michele Hozer)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:37:41 -0400

An enigmatic musical poet and world-renowned pianist, Glenn Gould continues to captivate international audiences twenty-six years after his early death. An intimate look at the man alongside the myth, Glenn Gould: The Inner Life casts a new light on a genius whose ideas were as controversial, and his private life as passionate as his music.

"GEORGE RYGA'S HUNGRY HILLS" (2009 feature film directed by Rob King)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:43:56 -0400

World Premiere George Ryga's HUNGRY HILLS is a beautifully dark adaptation of the acclaimed Canadian novel about one teenager's struggles to revive the family farm in the foothills of northern Alberta during the Depression.

"GET LOW" (2009 feature film directed by Aaron Schneider)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:30:01 -0400

Inspired by the true story of Felix "Bush" Breazeale, this stately frontier drama stars Robert Duvall as a backwoods eccentric who stages his own funeral--while still alive. Ten thousand people arrive to hear him speak and to learn why this local legend exiled himself 40 years ago to the foothills of Eastern Tennessee. Set in the early 1930s, Get Low is a story of mystery and discovery that speaks of timeless things. Can we know who we are? Should we judge anyone? Is there redemption for those of us lost in the dark catacombs of our past?

"GIGANTE" (2009 feature film directed by Adrian Biniez)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:38:50 -0400

Security guard Jara falls in love as he supervises staff through the closed-circuit cameras at a supermarket. First voyeur, then guardian angel, he protects and pursues the cleaning woman who has unknowingly captured his heart.

"GIULIA DOESN'T DATE AT NIGHT" (2009 feature film directed by Giuseppe Piccioni)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:44:45 -0400

A young novelist is intrigued by his daughter's swimming instructor. When he asks her out, he learns that she doesn't date at night and discovers that she is serving a sentence for a crime of passion. Tentatively they start a relationship that leads both of them in unforeseen directions.

"GLORIOUS 39" (2009 feature film directed by Stephen Poliakoff)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:37:59 -0400

This tense conspiracy thriller set on the eve of World War II and based on disturbing real events, focuses on a young woman who stumbles across evidence of a sinister Nazi appeasement plot. As her close friends begin to die in suspicious circumstances, she finds her own life in danger from an increasingly menacing and powerful enemy.

"GOOD HAIR" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Jeff Stilson)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:00:27 -0400

Rendered speechless by his daughter's question--"Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"--comedian Chris Rock embarks on a quest to understand African American hair culture.

"AN AFTERNOON WITH CHRIS ROCK, FOR GOOD HAIR" (2009 presentation)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:57:16 -0400

Chris Rock brings his comic insights to this Mavericks conversation, sitting down for an interview to highlight his new documentary, Good Hair (part of this year's Festival), and branching out in spontaneous directions. Rock is never short on opinions. In Good Hair he focuses on the commerce and creativity behind African American hairstyles, unpacking a lot of cultural baggage that all of us carry, whether our hair is straight or curly.

"THE GOOD HEART" (2009 feature film directed by Dagur Kari)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:26:40 -0400

A homeless boy Lucas (Paul Dano), meets Jacques (Brian Cox), a grumpy bar-owner, whose unhealthy lifestyle has brought him five heart attacks. Jacques takes Lucas under his wing with the intention of having him continue his legacy. Everything is going according to plan until a drunken stewardess named April enters the bar.

"GOOGLE BABY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Zippi Brand Frank)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:01:51 -0400

In India, the latest form of outsourcing is surrogate mothers who carry embryos for couples who can't have a child. Director Zippi Brand Frank follows an entrepreneur who proposes a new service - baby production for western customers.

"GRANDMA'S BOY" (1922 feature film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:21:41 -0400

Harold plays a backward, awkward, shy boy. After a bully runs him off from the girl that he loves his Grandma tells him about a magic charm his Grandfather used to gain courage. Friday, Sept. 18 at 3:00PM

"GREEN DAYS" (2009 feature film directed by Hana Makhmalbaf)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:28:42 -0400

An Iranian playwright suffers a creative crisis as her country convulses on the eve of this year's election. Features never before seen footage shot on the streets of Tehran.

"GREEN PORNO: BON APPETIT" (2009 short documentary film directed by Isabella Rossellini | Jody Shapiro)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:17:30 -0400

A screening and talk, Green Porno: Bon Appetit, will take place on September 10 with Isabella Rossellini and marine biologist Claudio Campagna at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor. It will emphasize the environmental context of the project and feature world premieres of new Green Pornos and a short documentary about elephant seals and their mating habits.

"GREEN PORNO: SCANDALOUS SEA" (2009 short film directed by Isabella Rossellini, Jody Shapiro, Rick Gilbert, Andy Byers, Claudio Campagna)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:17:54 -0400

Isabella Rossellini adapts her Sundance Channel-produced shorts about sexual hijinks in the great oceans into a sculptural installation. Rossellini will appear in multiple projected episodes, surrounded by delicate and large paper sculptures of crustacean phalluses, demonstrating the mating rituals and ecological travails of the great beasts of the sea. Green Porno: Scandalous Sea is curated by Noah Cowan and Francisco Alvarez, presented in collaboration with the Royal Ontario Museum's Institute for Contemporary Culture. The Spirit House, main floor, ROM 100 Queen's Park. September 10 through September 20, from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

"A GUN TO THE HEAD" (2009 feature film directed by Blaine Thurier)

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:02:07 -0400

A reformed criminal escapes his wife's dinner party for a quick beer with his cousin and former partner in crime. Over the course of one wild night, he's dragged back into a world of drugs, women, guns and gangsters; endangering the lives of those he loves the most.

"HADEWIJCH" (2009 feature film directed by Bruno Dumont)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:17:27 -0400

Hadewijch is a religious novice whose ecstatic, blind faith leads to her expulsion from a convent. Returning to her former life, Hadewijch reverts to being Celine, a Parisienne and daughter of a diplomat. However, her passion for God, rage and encounters with Khaled and Nassir soon lead her down a dangerous path.

"THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD" (2009 feature film directed by Radu Jude)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:43:44 -0400

Family conflict produces comedy in this story of a young girl who wins a car in a lottery and her scheming parents who insist on selling it.

"THE HARDER THEY COME" (1972 feature film directed by Perry Henzell)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:22:48 -0400

Ivanhoe Martin comes to the city to make it big singing Reggae. However, he finds life in the city to be harder than he thought. Preceded by shorts: Getting Started, Devine Brown at The Rex and Bleach Saturday, Sept. 12 at 12:00PM

"HARRY BROWN" (2009 feature film directed by Daniel Barber)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:26:55 -0400

Harry Brown is a provocative and thought-provoking modern urban western featuring a tour-de-force lead performance from two-time Academy Award(R)-winner Michael Caine. Harry Brown has lived to see his community descend into crime and violence, and ruled over by a gang of teenage thugs. After his best friend is brutally murdered and the gang leader responsible walks free, Harry reaches a breaking point and revenge becomes his only aim.

"IN CONVERSATION WITH... MICHAEL CAINE, FOR HARRY BROWN" (2009 presentation)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:00:28 -0400

Sir Michael Caine has described himself as an Everyman. But not every man can match his achievements. In this Mavericks conversation, we'll get a generous helping of the raconteur's talents. The discussion will range freely around his distinguished career, including his latest film, Harry Brown, which premieres at this year's Festival.

"HEIRAN" (2009 feature film directed by Shalizeh Arefpour)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:30:00 -0400

World Premiere A young Iranian girl falls in love with an immigrant student from Afghanistan, causing her family to react with anger.

"HELIOPOLIS" (2009 feature film directed by Ahmad Abdalla)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:03:51 -0400

NOTE: "After much local debate, the producers of HELIOPOLIS decided to withdraw the film from the Toronto International Film Festival. Withdrawing HELIOPOLIS from the festival was a production/distribution decision. It was the director's sincere wish that it would be screened. The world premiere of HELIOPOLIS will be at the Vancouver International Film Festival, October 1-16, 2009" An Egyptian art film with some major stars, Heliopolis weaves together portraits from one of Cairo's most storied neighbourhoods.

"HELP GONE MAD" (2009 feature film directed by Boris Khlebnikov)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:48:32 -0400

Following the whimsical, warm-hearted relationship between two men, Help Gone Mad is a modern-day depiction of the theme of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. All sorts of their wild charades go wrong, but they remain faithful to their fantasies, adding pleasure and poetry to their sordid lives.

"LES HERBES FOLLES" (2009 feature film directed by Alain Resnais)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:54:25 -0400

From modernist master Alain Resnais comes a romantic adventure based around the simple act of losing a wallet.

"HIGH LIFE" (2009 feature film directed by Gary Yates)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:09:23 -0400

Two drug-addled brothers go for one last major score in writer-director Gary Yates's energetic and funny crime comedy.

"A HINDU'S INDICTMENT OF HEAVEN" (2009 short film directed by Dev Khanna)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:00:29 -0400

Ever wondered what the afterlife is like? Dev Khanna provides us with a cynical take on romanticized visions of eternal happiness in this charming tongue-in-cheek drama about a woman who waits at the gates of heaven for her soulmate to arrive. When things don't work out quite as planned, Saint Peter offers an unexpected alternative. This film screens with Machotaildrop.

"HIPSTERS" (2009 feature film directed by Valery Todorovsky)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:33:23 -0400

In a fantastical 1950s Moscow, straight-laced Mels swaps his drab Communist uniform for a saxophone, pompadour and zoot suit in this vibrant musical that is bursting with razzle and dazzle and of course, rhythm.

"SHOWCASE: HIPSTERS (DANCE LESSONS + CONCERT)" (2009 presentation)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:53:41 -0400

Swing-dance lessons followed by a concert at 9 pm featuring Aelita with the Galaxy All-Star Orchestra in honour of the Russian musical screening as part of the Festival's Vanguard programme Tuesday, September 15 starting at 7 pm (concert at 9pm)

"HIROSHIMA" (2009 feature film directed by Pablo Stoll)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:45:14 -0400

World Premiere Juan sings in a rock band, but he doesn't talk much. He also works at a bakery during the night and sleeps most of the day. This is the story of one of his days and what happens when he wakes up. Hiroshima is a silent musical, based on real facts.

"A HISTORY OF ISRAELI CINEMA - PART 1" (2009 feature film directed by Raphael Nadjari)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:18:06 -0400

This invigorating exploration of Israeli cinema draws upon numerous clips and engrossing interviews with filmmakers and historians. Part 1 covers the years 1932 to 1978, chronicling the Zionist struggle to create a state and shape its identity.

"A HISTORY OF ISRAELI CINEMA - PART 2" (2009 feature film directed by Raphael Nadjari)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:16:42 -0400

In the second of this two-part documentary, filmmakers and scholars explore the development of Israel's film culture from 1978 to the present.

"THE HOLE" (2009 feature film directed by Joe Dante)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:45:32 -0400

After moving into a new town, brothers Dane and Lucas and their neighbour Julie discover a bottomless hole in their basement that brings their nightmares to life. With shadows lurking around every corner, they must face their darkest fears in order to put an end to the mystery of the hole. "The festival this year is also going to experiment with 3-D. Screenings of Joe Dante's prep-school horror thriller The Hole will be in 3-D, a first for the fest using the latest advances in multi-dimensional moviegoing that has Hollywood going ka-ching." - Peter Howell, Toronto Star

"HONEYMOONS" (2009 feature film directed by Goran Paskaljevic)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:50:36 -0400

Two young married couples take off and travel abroad to the promised lands of better opportunities, but hope collapses when their expectations disappear into thin air and their dreams turn into nightmares.

"HOTEL ATLANTICO" (2009 feature film directed by Suzana Amaral)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:50:53 -0400

Enigmatic and perturbing, Suzana Amaral's Hotel Atlantico takes us on a mysterious journey through Brazil's southern landscapes. The film follows an unnamed actor as he wanders into new experiences, living life in the moment.

"THE HOUSE OF BRANCHING LOVE" (2009 feature film directed by Mika Kaurismaki)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:34:07 -0400

Family therapist Juhani and business trainer Taula decide to divorce in a civilized manner. Despite these good intentions, things turn ugly and the Pandora's Box of their marriage flies open, releasing plagues of love and hate.

"HOW TO FOLD A FLAG" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:38:44 -0400

The makers of Gunner Palace follow U.S. soldiers as they create new lives post-Iraq--from a Congressional candidate in Buffalo to a cage fighter in Louisiana--set against the backdrop of the 2008 election.

"HUACHO" (2009 feature film directed by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:46:07 -0400

A warm family saga which follows 24 hours in the life of a poverty-stricken provincial family in central Chile.

"HUGH HEFNER: PLAYBOY, ACTIVIST AND REBEL" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Brigitte Berman)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:38:59 -0400

An intimate look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the Playboy empire. With humour and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists. Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who's who of 20th Century American pop culture, present a brilliant and entertaining snapshot of the life of an extraordinary man and the controversies that surrounded him.

"I AM LOVE" (2009 feature film directed by Luca Guadagnino)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:35:18 -0400

Academy Award(R)-winner Tilda Swinton stars in this drama about the devastating effects of a forbidden passion between a woman who belongs to a rich northern-Italian family and her son's best friend, a cook.

"I AM NOT YOUR FRIEND" (2009 feature film directed by Gyorgy Palfi)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:52:32 -0400

This is a fresh and entertaining improvised film made up of a series of vignettes portraying the many faces of love relationships. Young couples move through stages of desire, jealousy and infidelity, tempted by the promises of someone or something different in their lives.

"I, DON GIOVANNI" (2009 feature film directed by Carlos Saura)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:52:49 -0400

Venice 1763 - writer Lorenzo da Ponte is leading a pleasure-seeking life. He was originally a priest but his numerous affairs force him to be exiled to Vienna. Supported by his friend and mentor Giacomo Casanova, da Ponte is introduced to the Emperor's favourite composer, Salieri, and a newcomer named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Seeing an opportunity to undermine Mozart's ascension, Salieri tricks Mozart into hiring this unknown libertine as his librettist. But da Ponte's own nature and sentimental wanderings in Vienna will nurture his inspiration and lead to one of Mozart's most bold and powerful compositions: Don Giovanni.

"IF I KNEW WHAT YOU SAID" (2009 feature film directed by Mike Sandejas)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:53:04 -0400

An affecting, sensitive and convincingly drawn teen romance between a rebellious rock girl and a deaf boy who loves to dance.

"THE ILLUSIONIST (OPENING NIGHT CONCERT: DJ CHAMPION)" (2009 feature film directed by Sylvain Chomet)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:15:41 -0400

The story of a dying breed of stage entertainer whose thunder is being stolen by emerging rock stars. Forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theaters, garden parties and bars, he meets a young fan who changes his life forever. Thursday, Sept. 10 at 9:00PM

"THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS" (2009 feature film directed by Terry Gilliam)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:44:52 -0400

North American Premiere This fantastical morality tale tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his travelling show, the extraordinary 'Imaginarium'. Blessed with the remarkable gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr. Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, and won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on the condition that when his daughter reached her sixteenth birthday, she would become the property of Mr. Nick.

"IMAGINARY LOVERS" (2009 short film directed by Don McKellar)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:55:58 -0400

Don McKellar's Imaginary Lovers is a multi-channel installation that resulted from McKellar's self-described obsession with the intimate and authentic aesthetics of the cell phone. The acclaimed actor, director and Tony-award winning writer has created a series of carefully constructed films, each featuring a different woman in a different foreign locale, reciting a tender and heartfelt personal video-phone message for an unnamed and deeply missed lover. Part travelogue, part contemporary epistolary form, the installation resonates around issues of desire and displacement, as well as the complicated politics of travel and human intimacy. Curated by Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo and Noah Cowan. From September 10 through 19, Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Stephen Bulger Gallery.

"IN A CITY" (2009 short film directed by Mark Lewis)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:33:52 -0400

Straight from Canada's Venice Biennale Pavilion this year, Mark Lewis: In a City features the North American premiere of three new filmed artworks by Mark Lewis. Commissioned by the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery and co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada, these new works will be presented in the context of a selection of Lewis's works about Toronto. The exhibition traces his experiments with stripped down cinema techniques to comment on the history of visual art, architecture and cinema. Lewis's exquisitely beautiful films utilize minimal camera movements to reveal unexpected stories within familiar landscapes. Curated by Barbara Fischer. Presented with special project support from the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts and the Toronto Arts Council. Lewis will speak about his work at a special public lecture at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery on September 8 at 6 pm. From September 9 to October 26, 2009, at Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle Monday through Friday, 11 am to 5 pm Thursday until 8 pm and Saturday and Sunday, 1 pm to 5 pm. Mark Lewis joins NFB producer Gerry Flahive and executive producer Michael White at the JMB Gallery from 4 pm to 5 pm on Saturday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 16. There will also be collateral events related to Mark Lewis and his work: In conjunction with Mark Lewis: In a City, special screenings of Lewis's Backstory (2009) and Cinema Museum (2008) take place during the Festival on Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor. The Art Gallery of Ontario will feature three recently acquired works by Lewis from September 9 to January 3, 2010 (paid admission). During TIFF Cinematheque's upcoming Fall season, Lewis will present five examples of masterful rear projection filmmaking along with a limited run of Backstory in October, 2009. Details will be available as of September 22 at tiff.net/cinematheque.

"INDEPENDENCIA" (2009 feature film directed by Raya Martin)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:46:22 -0400

Mimicking early silent films, Independencia creates a lush metaphor that plays with cinematic illusions and the cultural and mythical history of the Philippines.

"THE INFORMANT!" (2009 feature film directed by Steven Soderbergh)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:09:57 -0400

Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), a rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), suddenly turns whistleblower. Exposing his company's multinational price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, Whitacre imagines himself as a kind of de facto secret agent. Unfortunately for the FBI, their lead witness hasn't been quite forthcoming about helping himself to the corporate coffers. Whitacre's ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre's rambling imagination. Based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.

"THE INVENTION OF LYING" (2009 feature film directed by Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:46:13 -0400

From Ricky Gervais, the award-winning creator and star of the original BBC series The Office and HBO's Extras, comes the new romantic comedy The Invention of Lying, which takes place in an alternate reality where lying--even the concept of a lie--does not even exist. Everyone--from politicians to advertisers to the man and woman on the street--speaks the truth and nothing but the truth with no thought of the consequences. But when a down-on-his-luck loser named Mark suddenly develops the ability to lie, he finds that dishonesty has its rewards. In a world where every word is assumed to be the absolute truth, Mark easily lies his way to fame and fortune. But lies have a way of spreading, and he begins to realize that things are getting out of control when some of his tallest tales are being taken as, well, gospel. With the entire world now hanging on his every word, there is only one thing Mark has not been able to lie his way into: the heart of the woman he loves.

"IRENE" (2009 feature film directed by Alain Cavalier)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:43:10 -0400

Filmmaker Alain Cavalier turns his personal grief of becoming a widower into a first-person subjective documentary that focuses on his diary entries.

"IT" (1927 feature film directed by Clarence G. Badger)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:46:42 -0400

A salesgirl with plenty of 'it' pursues a handsome playboy. Thursday, Sept. 17 at 3:00PM

"JOE DANTE INTRODUCES IT'S A GIFT" (1934 feature film directed by Norman Z. McLeod)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:58:51 -0400

Norman McLeod's It's a Gift, considered by critics and fans to be one of W.C. Fields's finest films. The film showcases Fields's adroitness as a physical comedian in this laugh-outloud story of a henpecked New Jersey grocer with plans to use an inheritance to buy an orange grove in California. "When I was in college, the great W.C. Fields was venerated as a comedian equal to the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy. His puncturing of pomposity and love of intoxicants endeared him to the anti-establishment youth culture," said Joe Dante.

"J'AI TUE MA MERE" (2009 feature film directed by Xavier Dolan)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:43:31 -0400

Hubert, a brash 17-year-old, is confused and torn by a love-hate relationship with his mother that consumes him more and more each day. After distressing ordeals and tragic episodes, Hubert will find his mother on the banks of Saint Lawrence river, where he grew up, and where a murder will be committed: the murder of childhood.

"JAFFA" (2009 feature film directed by Keren Yedaya)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:59:11 -0400

In this contemporary Romeo and Juliet story from Tel Aviv's fabled sister city, a young Jewish woman and her Arab childhood sweetheart grow up side-by-side but are pulled apart by fate and passing years.

"JEAN CHARLES" (2009 feature film directed by Henrique Goldman)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:59:24 -0400

The tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist alerts. A Brazilian girl comes to live with her cousin in London. He has already carved out a life for himself there; she hopes to do the same. It is 2005, a year in which the city will be traumatized by terrorist attacks. Both of them will be caught in the crossfire.

"JENNIFER'S BODY" (2009 feature film directed by Karyn Kusama)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:46:38 -0400

[Midnight Madness Opening Night] Jennifer's Body tells the story of small-town high-school student Jennifer (Megan Fox) who is possessed by a hungry demon and transitions from being "high school evil"--gorgeous (and doesn't she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal--to the real deal: evil/evil. The glittering beauty becomes a pale and sickly creature jonesing for a meaty snack, and guys who never stood a chance with the heartless babe take on new lustre in the light of her insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, Jennifer's best friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), long relegated to living in Jennifer's shadow, must step-up to protect the town's young men, including her nerdy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). Written and executive produced by Oscar(R)-winner Diablo Cody (Juno).

"JOAN BAEZ: HOW SWEET THE SOUND" (2009 short documentary film directed by Mary Wharton)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:28:03 -0400

The world premiere of American Masters - Joan Baez, featuring a short concert by Joan Baez. Friday, September 18 at 6 pm

"JOHN LENNON AND THE PLASTIC ONO BAND: SWEET TORONTO" (1969 feature documentary film directed by D.A. Pennebaker)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:27:39 -0400

The September 13, 1969 show was a one-day festival spotlighting rock legends of the fifties (including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis) and the modern acts they had influenced. Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 12:00PM

"THE JONESES" (2009 feature film directed by Derrick Borte)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:00:54 -0400

In the comedic drama The Joneses, Kate Jones (Demi Moore) and Steve Jones (David Duchovny) are a picture-perfect couple who, at first glance, are the embodiment of the American dream. When they move their family into suburbia, the Joneses immediately become the envy of the residents around them with their luxury cars and their gorgeous home. But little do their neighbours realize that this family isn't what it appears to be, and everyone is about to find out that keeping up with the Joneses isn't as easy as it seems.

"KAMUI" (2009 feature film directed by Yoichi Sai)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:46:49 -0400

A crowd pleasing, sweeping epic brilliantly directed by one of Japan's finest auteurs, Kamui is the adventurous story of a fugitive ninja played by superstar Kenichi Matsuyama.

"KARAOKE" (2009 feature film directed by Chris Chong Chan Fui)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:46:54 -0400

Poetic, observant and allegorical, Karaoke juxtaposes a young man's idealism with the reality of a changing Malaysia through karaoke videos.

"KELIN" (2009 feature film directed by Ermek Tursunov)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:56:30 -0400

A love story among the ragged steppes of ancient Kazakhstan is told in beautiful and poetic images, as a young love struggles to survive in the face of uncontrollable external factors.

"PETER BERG PRESENTS KINGS RANSOM" (2009 short documentary film directed by Peter Berg)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:37:26 -0400

Peter Berg presents the world premiere of Kings Ransom, produced for ESPN Film's 30 for 30 project. The hour-long documentary explores how Wayne Gretzky's move from Canada to Los Angeles changed the game of hockey. For fans, it's a must-see. But even those unfamiliar with the sport can connect to the universal themes and will be dazzled by the archival clips of Gretzky's mastery on ice. The resulting work tells a powerful story of family, money, national pride and opportunities lost and gained. Afterwards, Berg will sit down for an extended discussion of the film and his friendship with Gretzky.

"KIROT" (2009 feature film directed by Danny Lerner)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:01:10 -0400

James Bond heroine Olga Kurylenko stars in this taut drama about a Russian illegal immigrant in Tel Aviv forced into violence even as she befriends a woman who needs her help.

"THE LAST DAYS OF EMMA BLANK" (2009 feature film directed by Alex van Warmerdam)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:02:44 -0400

Emma is a lady living in high style, surrounded by family members who double as maids and servants. Everyone hopes Emma's bad health will soon do her in, letting them inherit her substantial wealth.

"LAST RIDE" (2009 feature film directed by Glendyn Ivin)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:47:06 -0400

A desperate father and his 10-year-old son flee into the wilderness of the desert and the human heart, battling the elements, the past and each other.

"THE LAST WALTZ" (1978 feature documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:54:37 -0400

A film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band. Preceded by shorts: Ready When You Are, Laura Barrett with Martin Tielli at the AGO and Bloomfield or a Memory Bank Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 12:00PM

"LEAVES OF GRASS" (2009 feature film directed by Tim Blake Nelson)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:10:54 -0400

Bill Kincaid, an Ivy League classics professor, returns to rural Oklahoma to bury his dangerously brilliant identical twin brother who had remained in their native state to grow hydroponic pot. Leaves of Grass is a fast-paced comic film that contrasts two distinct approaches to life. Featuring Edward Norton in the role of each twin.

"LEBANON" (2009 feature film directed by Samuel Maoz)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:23:49 -0400

Set in June 1982 during the Israel-Lebanon War, the film follows a young and heroic tank crew that finds itself in a situation that cannot be contained. The crew copes with impossible conflicts, losing its way amid the chaos of war.

"LEGER PROBLEME" (2009 short film directed by Helene Florent)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:58:57 -0400

Generally, it's nice to be light in one's step. In this visually inventive short, however, it's causing great existential issues for a man attempting to remain within the laws of gravity. With a flourish for visual storytelling, Helene Florent crafts moments of levity in this depiction of a character's struggle to stay grounded. This film screens with The Wild Hunt.

"LEONARD COHEN: I'M YOUR MAN" (2005 feature documentary film directed by Lian Lunson)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:18:27 -0400

A documentary on the legendary singer-songwriter, with performances by those musicians he has influenced. Preceded by shorts: POEN, Tony Dekker at Spadina Subway Station and The Poet's Home Thursday, Sept. 10 at 12:00PM

"LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL" (2009 feature film directed by Reginald Harkema)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:11:27 -0400

Perry, a sheltered chemist, falls in love with Leslie, a former homecoming princess, when he is selected to be a jury member at her hippie, death-cult murder trial. When Perry and Leslie lock eyes in court, Perry is forced to confront his deepest, darkest urges.

"LIFE ACCORDING TO AGFA" (1992 feature film directed by Assi Dayan)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:03:42 -0400

Gila Almagor stars as the owner of a bar which sees its regulars suffer highs and lows as they come to reflect a microcosm of Tel Aviv.

"LIFE DURING WARTIME" (2009 feature film directed by Todd Solondz)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:29:18 -0400

Happiness director Todd Solondz returns with another unsettling dark comedy about sexual obsession between friends, family and lovers struggling to find love, forgiveness and meaning in a war-torn world.

"LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL" (2009 feature film directed by Hong Sang-soo)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:12:06 -0400

Delightfully comic exploration of the emotional and social geography of an art-house film director, directed by Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo.

"LONDON RIVER" (2009 feature film directed by Rachid Bouchareb)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:47:25 -0400

This intimate drama tells the story of two people, a Muslim man and a Christian woman, who are immediately affected by the July 2005 London bombings. Both of them are drawn to the British capital when their children go missing on the day of the attacks. Putting aside their cultural differences, they will give each other the strength to continue the search for their children and maintain their faith.

"LOURDES" (2009 feature film directed by Jessica Hausner)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:58:04 -0400

In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life-changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.

"LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS" (2009 feature film directed by Don Roos)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:04:20 -0400

Emilia Woolf (Natalie Portman) is a Harvard law school graduate and a newlywed, having just married Jack, her high-powered New York lawyer boss (Scott Cohen). Her life takes an unexpected turn when the couple loses their newborn daughter. Emilia struggles through her grief to connect with her precocious new stepson William (Charlie Tahan), overcome a rift in her relationship with her father caused by his infidelity, and cope with the constant interferences of Jack's angry, jealous ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow). An adaptation of an Ayelet Waldman novel, this tearful and terrific tale by writer-director Don Roos proves that even with a pursuit like love, nothing is impossible.

"THE LOVED ONES" (2009 feature film directed by Sean Byrne)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:47:33 -0400

A troubled teen's prom dreams are shattered by a series of painful events that take place under the mirrored disco ball, involving syringes, nails, power drills and a secret admirer in this wild mash-up of Pretty in Pink and Misery.

"MACHOTAILDROP" (2009 feature film directed by Corey Adams and Alex Craig)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:13:39 -0400

Equal parts surreal comedy, fantasy and indictment of our logo-glutted culture, Corey Adams and Alex Craig's Machotaildrop follows teen skateboarder Walter as he's recruited by a legendary company to be their next big star.

"MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE" (1991 feature documentary film directed by Alek Keshishian, Mark Aldo Miceli)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:14:20 -0400

Documentary following singer Madonna on her controversial Blond Ambition tour in 1990. Preceded by shorts: Meet Gisele, Care Failure at 102.1 The Edge and Killer Babe Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12:00PM

"MALL GIRLS" (2009 feature film directed by Katarzyna Roslaniec)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:05:05 -0400

When a 14-year-old girl arrives at a new high school, she is typecast as an outsider from the sticks. Survival means working things out with a clique of girls who troll the local malls and score the latest in consumer toys and clothes by trading sexual favours for cash with the men they find there.

"THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGE" (2009 feature film directed by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:05:25 -0400

A lonely man finds a companion in a mad woman in a dense forest in the Western Ghats of India. When she becomes pregnant, a conflict arises between a society that refuses to take responsibility for one of its members and one man's endeavour to integrate her in his life.

"MAO'S LAST DANCER" (2009 feature film directed by Bruce Beresford)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:47:04 -0400

Adapted from his internationally best-selling memoir, the film tells the true story of Li Cunxin, a Chinese-trained ballet dancer. Plucked from his childhood village, subjected to years of vigorous training and threatened during the Cultural Revolution, Cunxin decides to leave China at great risk to himself and those he loves, for an uncertain future.

"MAX MANUS" (2009 feature film directed by Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:25:07 -0400

The film is based on the true story of Norway's most colourful resistance fighter Max Manus, and follows him from the outbreak of World War II until the summer of peace in 1945. After fighting against the Russians during the Winter War in Finland, Max returns to a German-occupied Norway. He joins the active resistance movement, and becomes one of the most important members of the so-called "Oslo Gang", famous for their spectacular raids against German ships in Oslo harbour.

"MELODY FOR A STREET ORGAN" (2009 feature film directed by Kira Muratova)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:06:38 -0400

Two young orphan siblings travel to Moscow in search of their missing father. Scared of being separated and sent to orphanages, they hope to reunite with the last link of their shattered family.

"MEN ON THE BRIDGE" (2009 feature film directed by Asli Ozge)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:59:05 -0400

The stories of three men working at the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul are told by the original characters, in this mosaic depicting real persons exposing their lives and aspirations.

"THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS" (2009 feature film directed by Grant Heslov)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:54:16 -0400

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (Academy Award(R) winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. When the programme's founder, Bill Django (Oscar(R) nominee Jeff Bridges), goes missing, Cassady's mission is to find him in this quirky dark comedy, inspired by a real story.

"MICMACS" (2009 feature film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:13:01 -0400

Is it better to live with a bullet lodged in your brain, even if it means you might drop dead any time or would you rather have the bullet taken out and live the rest of your life as a vegetable? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is scrap metal worth more than landmines? Can you get drunk from eating waffles? Can a woman fit inside a refrigerator? What is the human cannonball world record? Micmacs, a fantastical comedy from the world class director of Amelie and Delicatessen, answers these questions and way more.

"THE MISFORTUNATES" (2009 feature film directed by Felix Van Groeningen)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:44:18 -0400

From Belgium comes this rambunctious, vulgar story of a 13-year-old boy growing up in a small village with his father and three uncles, all drunken, incorrigible louts. Yet they are hilarious and they love Roy Orbison.

"MOLOCH TROPICAL" (2009 feature film directed by Raoul Peck)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:48:30 -0400

A democratically elected "President" and his closest collaborators are getting ready for a state celebration. But in the morning of the event, he wakes up to find the country inflamed and the streets in turmoil. Despite the situation, the President does not want to face reality and refuses to resign. Overwhelmed, he plunges into a deep mental confusion as the events unfold. Set in a castle in the clouds, Moloch Tropical is a Shakespearian, behind-the-scenes depiction of the end of power.

"MONTEREY POP" (1968 feature documentary film directed by D.A. Pennebaker)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:08:40 -0400

A film about the greatest pre-Woodstock rock music festival. Preceded by shorts: Toronto Jazz, Sarah Slean at The Rovoli and Questions Of A Dead Worker Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 12:00pm

"THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:40:56 -0400

Daniel Ellsberg was a valued strategist inside the American government until he leaked the Pentagon Papers and exposed the lies of the Vietnam War. This thrilling documentary chronicles this momentous chapter in history and how Richard Nixon's obsession over the case brought down his own government.

"MOTHER" (2009 feature film directed by Bong Joon-ho)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:48:36 -0400

A unique noir thriller that digs into the secrecy surrounding a terrible murder and the mystery of a mother's primal love for her son. The films of director Bong Joon-ho regularly, and brilliantly, break with convention, thanks to an imagination that is not confined to the accepted parameters of humour, suspense or horror - Mother is no exception.

"MOTHER AND CHILD" (2009 feature film directed by Rodrigo Garcia)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:31:15 -0400

This moving drama follows the story of three women (Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington) and the power of the unbreakable bond between mother and child. From writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives), executive producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel).

"MR. NOBODY" (2009 feature film directed by Jaco Van Dormael)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:44:45 -0400

Jared Leto stars as Nemo, the world's oldest man. In 2092, humans have achieved immortality, thanks to advances in genetics and at the age of 120 years, Nemo is the last mortal left on Earth. His death is drawing near, and media from all over the world are eager to cover the event.

"MY DOG TULIP" (2009 animated feature film directed by Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:48:45 -0400

Vividly animated, touching tale of friendship between an elderly bachelor and his German Shepherd.

"MY HEART GOES HADIPPA" (2009 feature film directed by Anurag Singh)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:46:36 -0400

In a village where girls don't play cricket, Veera (Rani Mukherjee) has to put on a turban and beard and become a man to fulfill her dreams. Her brilliance on the field earns her a place in Rohan's (Shahid Kapoor) team and Veera Kaur becomes Veer Pratap Singh. And then begins a roller-coaster journey of Veera, Rohan and Veer filled with music, romance and comedy through Punjab and beyond.

"MY QUEEN KARO" (2009 feature film directed by Dorothee van den Berghe)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:04:08 -0400

A young girl witnesses the moral dilemmas of free love when her parents join a squatter community in 1970s Amsterdam.

"MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE" (2009 feature film directed by Werner Herzog)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:16:19 -0400

Inspired by true events, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, is a story of ancient myth and modern madness. Brad Macallam, an aspiring actor performing in a Greek tragedy, commits the crime he is to enact in the play by killing his mother. The mystery unfolds in a series of flashbacks displaying the psychological destruction of the killer set off by an ill-fated white-water kayaking trip in a distant land.

"MY TEHRAN FOR SALE" (2009 feature film directed by Granaz Moussavi)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:23:33 -0400

Shot underground on location in Tehran, the film tells the story of modern-day Iranian youth struggling for cultural freedom.

"MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX" (2009 feature film directed by Sarah Watt)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:08:25 -0400

One Family. One Year. No Sex. Instead: sports, spending, saving, singing, sickness, storage solutions, spiritual stuff and Santa.

"THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA PREVIEW PRESENTATION" (2009 feature film directed by Aszure Barton)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:35:47 -0400

The National Ballet of Canada's preview presentation of the latest production from Aszure Barton in celebration of the Festival's screening of Mao's Last Dancer Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 9:00pm

"THE NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW FT. NEIL YOUNG" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Jonathan Demme)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:26:10 -0400

Young and Demme will host the screening of their concert film The Neil Young Trunk Show. Monday, Sept. 14 at 9:00PM

"NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD" (1968 feature film directed by George A. Romero)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:42:13 -0400

A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse. To celebrate the premiere of George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead in Midnight Madness, The Toronto Zombie Walk: Special Director's Cut Edition arrives at YDS with a special appearance by legendary director George A. Romero. This event will conclude with a free screening of his 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead. Saturday, September 12 at 7 pm

"NORA" (2009 short film directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:09:29 -0400

Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire stars in this beautiful and rigorously choreographed fable based on her own life and shot on location in Southern Africa. (This film will be screened with Saint Louis Blues.)

"NORTHLESS" (2009 feature film directed by Rigoberto Perezcano)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:08:57 -0400

Andres reaches the Mexican border to cross into the United States. As he waits between crossing attempts, he discovers the complicated border world of Tijuana.

"NYMPH" (2009 feature film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:28:13 -0400

A haunting supernatural love affair set in a mysterious forest between a nymph and a couple who have drifted apart.

"ON A LONELY DRIVE" (2009 short film directed by Igor Drljaca)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:40:34 -0400

A young boy's psyche is put to the test as he waits outside for his parents to stop arguing. Shutting out the world on a hot sunny day, he finds himself caught on a long drive with possibly tragic consequences. Drljaca deftly directs this stark story, offering reflection on a family's troubles. This film screens with Passenger Side.

"ONCE UPON A TIME PROLETARIAN: 12 TALES OF A COUNTRY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Guo Xiaolu)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:10:04 -0400

A subjective anatomy of contemporary China in the post-Marxist era, this is a dark, poetic depiction of people from different backgrounds, living in modern China. Twelve chapters explore the country's current social and political landscape, from which emerge stories of loss and yearning. This is the latest documentary from director Guo Xiaolu, who recently was awarded the Golden Leopard Grand Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival for She, A Chinese.

"ONDINE" (2009 feature film directed by Neil Jordan)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:13:41 -0400

A lyrical, modern fairy tale that tells the story of Syracuse (Colin Farrell), an Irish fisherman whose life is transformed when he catches a beautiful and mysterious woman (Alicja Bachleda) in his nets. His daughter Annie (Alison Barry) comes to believe that the woman is a magical creature, while Syracuse falls helplessly in love. However, like all fairy tales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand.

"ONG BAK 2: THE BEGINNING" (2009 feature film directed by Tony Jaa)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:45:44 -0400

Martial-arts superstar Tony Jaa stars in and directs this epic tale of revenge set hundreds of years in the past. Featuring a huge cast and hordes of elephants, this prequel takes Jaa's skills to the next level, showcasing him as a master of a wide range of martial-arts styles - while proving him to be a promising director as well.

"OPENING NIGHT CONCERT: THE ILLUSIONIST / DJ CHAMPION" (2009 presentation hosted by Measha Brueggergosman)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:01:08 -0400

Opening Night concert by DJ Champion, hosted by Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman Thursday, Sept. 10 at 9:00PM

"THE ORIGINS OF FACTUM" (2009 short film directed by Candice Breitz)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:10:52 -0400

On September 14, Future Projections presents The Origins of Factum, a unique on stage conversation during which South-African born, Berlin-based Candice Breitz will present excerpts from her newly-commissioned series of multi-channel video works titled Factum, and clips of films that inspired the work, including David Cronenberg's rarely seen Camera. Factum focuses on the lives of identical twins and was commissioned for Candice Breitz: Same Same, an extensive and ambitious solo exhibition at The Power Plant and the artist's first major North American survey, which will open during this year's Festival. Breitz is an internationally acclaimed artist whose works investigate contemporary media culture using the language of the entertainment industry, including pop music, television and Hollywood films. The exhibition will feature a selection of her multi-channel video works. The talk and screening with Candice Breitz during the Toronto International Film Festival will take place on September 14 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor. Candice Breitz: Same Same is curated by Gregory Burke. The exhibition is presented with support from the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund. Factum commissioning partner: Partners in Art. From September 19 through November 15, Tuesday to Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay West. Opening reception September 18 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

"PARTIR" (2009 feature film directed by Catherine Corsini)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:22:45 -0400

Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a well-to-do married woman and mother in the south of France. Her idle bourgeois lifestyle gets her down and she decides to go back to work as a physiotherapist. Her husband agrees to fix-up a consulting room for her in their backyard. When Suzanne and the man (Sergi Lopez) hired to do the building meet, the mutual attraction is sudden and violent. Suzanne decides to give up everything and live this all-engulfing passion to the fullest.

"PASSENGER SIDE" (2009 feature film directed by Matthew Bissonnette)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:49:42 -0400

In writer-director Matthew Bissonette's intimate and amusing road movie Passenger Side, two talkative brothers tour Los Angeles while trying to reconcile their romantic lives.

"PERE DE MES ENFANTS" (2009 feature film directed by Mia Hansen-Love)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:11:26 -0400

When a hard-working, independent film producer finds that personal and professional pressures are too much, something has to give - and it does. His wife is left to pick up the pieces in this heart-rending portrait of a modern-day marriage overwhelmed by life's demands.

"PERRIER'S BOUNTY" (2009 feature film directed by Ian Fitzgibbon)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:14:17 -0400

When Michael's (Cillian Murphy) debt to Dublin kingpin Darren Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) is called in and one of Perrier's goons accidentally ends up dead, Michael escapes to the mountains with his father Jim (Jim Broadbent) and best friend, Brenda. Flat broke, on the run and with only 24 hours to pay up, Michael is forced to confront his true feelings for Brenda and make amends with his father. However, with Perrier and his gang in hot pursuit, time is running out for Michael and only fate, a bit of luck and possibly a gang of savage dogs will save him, in this cracking gangster comedy.

"PETROPOLIS: AERIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ALBERTA TAR SANDS" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Peter Mettler)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:46:17 -0400

Filmmaker and visual artist Peter Mettler takes audiences on an eye-opening aerial tour of Alberta's tar sands in this beautiful, haunting and vital documentary. This film is co-presented by Short Cuts Canada.

"PHANTOM PAIN" (2009 feature film directed by Matthias Emcke)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:31:41 -0400

Marc (Til Schweiger) is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with the help of love and willpower. Phantom Pain is a thought-provoking, yet light and upbeat look at a man who's forced to turn his life around.

"PHANTOMS OF NABUA" (2009 short film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:27:10 -0400

Critically acclaimed Thai artist and filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century) presents Phantoms of Nabua, a single channel installation that extends many of the recurring themes in his internationally celebrated feature films into a more politically conscious terrain. Focusing on the Thai border town of Nabua, the site of bloody confrontation between Communist farmers and the army in 1965, Weerasethakul engages the local boys - descendants of the persecuted farmers - and captures their masculine juvenescence in light and in shadow. A haunting and ethereal meditation about light, ghosts, reincarnation and transformation, Phantoms of Nabua is one segment from the artist's larger multi-platform project, Primitive, which explores themes of remembrance and extinction in his home country. The piece is presented in conjunction with A Letter to Uncle Boonmee in Wavelengths 2009. Commissioned by Animate Projects, London with Haus der Kunst, Munich and FACT, Liverpool. Curated by Andrea Picard. From September 10 through September 20 at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art at 952 Queen Street West. (Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) Opening reception on September 10 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"PHOBIDILIA" (2009 feature film directed by Yoav Paz and Doron Paz)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:07:51 -0400

This is a sharp, stylish debut feature about a young man hunkering down in his Tel Aviv apartment with a steady diet of TV and internet for companionship.

"PICTURE START" (2009 short film directed by Christopher Doyle)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:12:31 -0400

With Picture Start, the famous Director of Photography Christopher Doyle (Happy Together) reconsiders how images evolve before the director's call to "action" and what happens to them after the "cut." Doyle superimposes directives from traditional film leader on to the processed still film and filmmaking images he has created during his extensive career. The show will be accompanied by a short video installation along the same principles and is dedicated to the memory of Doyle's friend and Asian cinema champion Wouter Barendrecht. Picture Start is curated by Noah Cowan. From September 2 through October 11 from Wednesday to Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at INDEXG, 50 Gladstone Avenue.

"LA PIVELLINA" (2009 feature film directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:11:25 -0400

A small abandoned girl is sheltered by a circus woman in this tale of courage, loss and togetherness.

"POLICE, ADJECTIVE" (2009 feature film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:50:14 -0400

A witty portrait of life in the small town of Vaslui, the sophisticated Police, Adjective builds on the promise of Porumboiu's debut 12:08, East of Bucharest.

"PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE" (2009 feature film directed by Lee Daniels)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:43:39 -0400

Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Set in 1987 Harlem, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an illiterate African-American teenager who is pregnant for the second time by her absent father and abused by a poisonously angry mother. Despite her experiences, Precious has a latent understanding that other possibilities exist for her, and jumps at the chance to enroll in an alternative school. There she encounters Ms. Rain, a teacher who will start her on a journey from pain and powerlessness to self-respect and determination.

"PRECIOUS: SHOWCASE FEATURING SAPPHIRE" (2009 presentation hosted by Lee Daniels)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:59:48 -0400

To showcase the Gala Presentation Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, noted poet and author Sapphire reads from her body of work in an event hosted by director Lee Daniels. Saturday, Sept. 12 at 4:00PM

"PRESUMED GUILTY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Roberto Hernandez and Geoffrey Smith)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:50:28 -0400

Two young Mexican attorneys attempt to exonerate a wrongly convicted man by making a documentary. In the process, they expose the contradictions of a judicial system that presumes suspects guilty until proven innocent.

"PRINCE OF TEARS" (2009 feature film directed by Yonfan)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:20:17 -0400

A gorgeously shot, thought-provoking look at Taiwan's White Terror, the anti-communist campaign that swept the island throughout the 1950s. This little-known time in history becomes the backdrop for a unique tale of love, friendship, ideals and dignity.

"THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE" (2009 feature film directed by Rebecca Miller)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:45:45 -0400

From all outward appearances, Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) leads a charmed existence. An anchor of feminine serenity, she is the devoted wife of an accomplished publisher (Alan Arkin) 30 years her senior, the proud mother of two grown children, a trusted friend and confidant. But as Pippa dutifully follows her husband to a new life in a staid Connecticut retirement community, her idyllic world and the persona she has built over the course of her marriage will be put to the ultimate test. Adapted from writer-director Rebecca Miller's novel of the same name, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee presents the complex portrait of the many lives behind a single name.

"A PROPHET" (2009 feature film directed by Jacques Audiard)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:50:45 -0400

A young Arab man, Malik, is sent to a French prison where he is cornered by the leader of the ruling Corsican gang. He is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. But Malik is brave and a fast learner, daring to secretly develop his own plans.

"RABIA" (2009 feature film directed by Sebastian Cordero)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:43:02 -0400

Rabia is a romantic thriller about a construction worker on the run for killing his foreman who hides in the mansion where his girlfriend works as a housekeeper.

"[REC] 2" (2009 feature film directed by Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:34:18 -0400

In the follow-up to the acclaimed [REC], a SWAT team enters the old apartment to control an epidemic with terrifying results.

"REEL INJUN" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Neil Diamond)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:00:11 -0400

Neil Diamond's documentary Reel Injun is a long-needed corrective to the wildly inaccurate portrayals of native peoples in Hollywood films and filled with revealing and often poignant interviews with key players like actors Wes Studi, Adam Beach and Sacheen Littlefeather.

"LE REFUGE" (2009 feature film directed by Francois Ozon)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:13:51 -0400

The French master returns with this unsettling tale of a rich, beautiful young woman who finds herself pregnant after her boyfriend dies of an overdose. Retreating to a seaside home, she is joined by his brother.

"ROAD, MOVIE" (2009 feature film directed by Dev Benegal)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:14:50 -0400

Vishnu, a restless young man, rejects his father's faltering hair oil business and hits the road with a travelling cinema. Colourful and full of unforgettable characters, Road, Movie celebrates India's open road and the pure love of movies.

"THE ROAD" (2009 feature film directed by John Hillcoat)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:38:22 -0400

In this epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival, a father (Academy Award(R) nominee Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit- McPhee) journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. From author Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men) comes the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road, also staring Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce.

"ROBIN HOOD" (1922 feature film directed by Allan Dwan)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:30:06 -0400

King Richard leaves for the Crusade. His brother, Prince John, begins to oppress the people. The Earl of Huntingdon protects the Kingdom until Richard's return, in disguise as Robin Hood. Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 3:00PM

"SAINT LOUIS BLUES" (2009 feature film directed by Dyana Gaye)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:30:50 -0400

In this sparkling and surprising Senegalese musical, Dyana Gaye turns a shared taxi ride from Dakar to Saint Louis into a confection that could have been made by Jacques Demy. (This film will be screened with Nora.)

"SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT" (2009 feature film directed by Detlev Buck)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:15:45 -0400

This is an exceptional modern love story in which a young German falls in love with a Cambodian bar girl and stays by her side, even though she is HIV-positive. The film is based on the true story of Benjamin Prufer and Sreykeo Solvan.

"SAMSON & DELILAH" (2009 feature film directed by Warwick Thornton)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:47:30 -0400

Teenagers Samson and Delilah live in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. Their outsider status draws them closer together and they come to depend on each other when tragedy strikes.

"SAWASDEE BANGKOK" (2009 feature film directed by Wisit Sasanatieng, Aditya Assarat, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee and Pen-ek Ratanaruang)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:19:29 -0400

Directed by four distinctly talented Thai directors, this collection of tales about Bangkok is less a love letter than a funny, touching and surprising expression of the city's reality.

"SCHEHERAZADE, TELL ME A STORY" (2009 feature film directed by Yousry Nasrallah)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:40:23 -0400

Hebba is the host of a successful political talk show in present-day Cairo. Karim, her husband, is deputy editor-in-chief of a governmentowned newspaper. When Party big shots imply his wife is meddling with opposition politics, Karim convinces her to start a series of talk shows around issues involving women. Hebba knows, of course, that women's issues are political. But she could not imagine to what extent, and the tension eventually leads to the break-up of her marriage.

"SCHMATTA: RAGS TO RICHES TO RAGS" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Marc Levin)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:51:43 -0400

Veteran filmmaker Mark Levin (Slam) looks at the past and present of New York's garment district, from its heyday as a base for immigrant labour and unions to its recent decline.

"THE SEARCH" (2009 feature film directed by Wan Ma Cai Dan, Pema Tseden)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:27:00 -0400

This peacefully charming second feature by Pema Tseden (Wan Ma Cai Dan) is the first ever to be shot entirely in Tibet and in the Tibetan language by a local crew. It is a road movie and an expedition in search of a disappearing culture, as well as a detailed fresco of contemporary Tibet.

"SECRET IN THEIR EYES" (2009 feature film directed by Juan Jose Campanella)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:47:57 -0400

Benjamin Chaparro, a secretary of a court in Buenos Aires, is about to retire and decides to write a novel based on a case that deeply affected him thirty years ago. Chaparro's tale crosses Argentina's turbulent years during the 1970s, when nothing was necessarily what it seemed to be.

"A SERIOUS MAN" (2009 feature film directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:34:58 -0400

Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behaviour, dental phenomena, academia, mortality and Judaism - and intersections thereof - A Serious Man is the new film from Academy Award(R)-winning writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen.

"SHAMELESS" (2009 feature film directed by Jan Hrebejk)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:17:45 -0400

This film, freely inspired by stories form Michal Viewegh's bestseller, Tales of Marriage and Sex, is a wry comedy about sex and marriage and a story about losing and finding love.

"THE SHAPE OF THINGS / CIVILIZATION / THIS TRANSITION..." (2009 short film directed by Oliver Pietsch)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:05:17 -0400

German artist Oliver Pietsch explores the nature of dreams in cinema with a thematic sequence that is both elegiac and entertaining. From Nosferatu to Aliens Pietsch's The Shape of Things presents the cinematic dream in all its guises, from nightmare and psychological torment to erotic fantasy. Curated by Noah Cowan. Presented as a kind of audio visual baptism for TIFF Bell Lightbox, it will be projected against the John Street side of the building as a continuous loop each night of the Festival. From September 10 through September 19 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

"SHE, A CHINESE" (2009 feature film directed by Xiaolu Guo)

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:27:06 -0400

A rock-`n'-roll odyssey and hybrid of documentary, creative writing, visual poetry and cinema, She, A Chinese follows a young woman on a soul-searching journey from her native village in China to London.

"A SHINE OF RAINBOWS" (2009 feature film directed by Vic Sarin)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:43:02 -0400

An extraordinary woman helps an orphan boy find self-acceptance and love through her unique gifts of colour and magic. Set in a small village on wind-swept Corrie Island, just off the coast of Ireland, A Shine of Rainbows is a story about the transformational power of love, finding acceptance, discovering magic and realizing that rainbows are all around you and within you, too.

"SHIRLEY ADAMS" (2009 feature film directed by Oliver Hermanus)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:52:05 -0400

This intimate, precise portrait focuses on a mother in Cape Town, South Africa, whose son is disabled in a neighbourhood shooting.

"SHORT CUTS CANADA PROGRAMME 1" (2009 short film directed by Ivan Grbovic, Min Sook Lee, Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael, Chris Landreth, Caitriona Cantillon)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:40:57 -0400

La Chute - Ivan Grbovic Marie, an elementary school teacher, suspects a student has been abused at home. Her judgment clouded by tensions in her marriage and her own desire to be a mother, Marie makes decisions that are more personal than professional. In this vivid performance, actress Marie-Eve Bertrand capitalizes on every moment onscreen, creating empathy for a woman whose needs are unfulfilled and whose loneliness goes unnoticed. My Toxic Baby - Min Sook Lee BPA. Lead. Melamine. Documentary filmmaker Min Sook Lee brings us this intimate and alarming look at the numerous toxins found in a baby's products and environment. As a new mom, Lee shares her anxieties as she struggles to protect her young daughter, Song Ji, from our chemical world. Urgent, emotional and highly personal, Lee's documentary is essential viewing for new and expecting parents. Tungijuq - Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael The cycle of life is revealed in a pulsing rhythm as Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq turns from animal to human to seal and then back again. Tungijuq, which co-stars Zacharias Kunuk, is a charged meditation on the Inuit seal hunt and the claim for sovereignty over traditional practices. The Spine - Chris Landreth Academy Award-winner Chris Landreth ploys his signature style for his latest animation, creating a wholly original account of a co-dependent couples' support group. Dan and Mary are facing very real issues. Their marriage having broken into tiny fragments, they must dig deep to tell their real story and rediscover the ties that brought them together in the first place. Swimming Lesson - Caitriona Cantillon Tensions build on a sunny afternoon as Kate, her sister Nicola and their mother go swimming. Kate swims circles around her mother, who is just learning to swim, taunting her and blaming her for everything wrong in her own life. Peace comes in a surprising form when the birthday girl, Nicola, delivers some unexpected news.

"SHORT CUTS CANADA PROGRAMME 2" (2009 short film directed by Sami Khan, Sonya Di Rienzo, Kazik Radwanski, Guy Maddin, Ryan Mullins, Richard Kerr, Samer Najari)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:17:58 -0400

75 El Camino - Sami Khan In Sarnia's Chemical Valley, a red-hot Chevy El Camino is the last treasured possession that Travis and Marianne have hung on to after losing everything, including their house. Should they sell this reminder of more prosperous days or take off on the open road, a dream they've been chasing all their lives? As this close-knit couple tries to decide, life offers some unexpected twists. The Translator - Sonya Di Rienzo Is it "je t'aime" or "I don't love you"? A translator of French films finds that her work has become her life. While on the subway with her boyfriend, she looks around and imagines the inner thoughts of the people surrounding her as she makes up her mind about her own feelings. Out in that Deep Blue Sea - Kazik Radwanski Kazik Radwanski and Daniel Montgomery, the director-producer team behind last year's award-winning Princess Margaret Blvd., bring you the final film of their trilogy. Presented as the middle section of a three-part storyline, the film focuses on a disillusioned middle-aged man who goes door to door, drumming up business for his real estate agency. As he attempts to balance his work with his personal life, he finds that he is unable to do a good job at either one. Night Mayor - Guy Maddin The filmmaker whose cinematic style inspired the term "Maddinesque" delivers a fantastical film about the night mayor of Winnipeg, an inventor of Bosnian descent who harnesses the power of the aurora borealis to transmit distinctly Canadian images across the Great White North. Guy Maddin's imaginative allegory for our cinematic history blends his signature humour with subversive social commentary. Volta - Ryan Mullins In an era of generic multiplexes, it's difficult to imagine a place where theatres have disappeared altogether. Guided by the former projectionist, Ryan Mullins explores a derelict theatre in rural Ghana that retains shadows of its former purpose while serving as a makeshift school. This exquisitely photographed documentary reveals the importance of local cinemas as gathering places that can expose remote areas to the larger world. De Mouvement - Richard Kerr As an extension of his INDUSTRIE/INDUSTRY project, Richard Kerr furthers his appropriation of feature film trailers, formally reconstructing their cinematic language. Monochromatic French film trailers from a bygone era provide the source material, and here the actions of the actors are secondary to the physical movement of celluloid. A brilliant formalist montage of wipes creates an awareness of film motion and rhythm. Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees - Samer Najari Salim, a recent immigrant to Canada, recounts this contemplative story about six men piled in the back of a van delivering flyers in Montreal on the day they are joined by a curious newcomer from Russia, Sacha. Though the men hail from different parts of the world, they all share a sense of nostalgia for their homelands. Melding poetic and magic realism, this lyrically melancholic drama ponders the immigrant experience, comradeship and the snow.

"SHORT CUTS CANADA PROGRAMME 3" (2009 short film directed by Cordell Barker, Peter Wellington, Spencer Maybee, Dusty Mancinelli, Isaac Cravit, Trevor Anderson, Chelsea McMullan)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:23:36 -0400

Runaway - Cordell Barker Award-winning animator Cordell Barker brings us this zany and sumptuously animated tale about a reckless train ride. Gleeful passengers cavort to the jaunty jazz score of Benoit Charest, oblivious to trouble ahead. But when the driver disappears and a madcap scramble for fuel ensues, this careless ride turns darkly funny, becoming a cynical, and prescient, metaphor for our modern world. Pointless Film - Peter Wellington Canadians' awkward inability to haggle is humorously played out in this comedic short film. Through give-and-take dialogue, Oliver Dennis and Noam Jenkins sell their performances as relentless negotiators. In the end, one questions if anyone really wins when it comes to the purchase of a used futon. Man v. Minivan - Spencer Maybee Shane's future brother-in-law thinks a visit to a strip club is the best way for Shane to start his wedding day. Upon receiving the pre-nuptial gift of a minivan from his in-laws and a series of questions from an unlikely source, the groom is led to a comedic case of cold feet. Great performances and sharp writing deliver new life to a familiar formula in this wedding farce. Soap - Dusty Mancinelli Eileen is an unhappily married stay-at-home mom with a muscled lover on the side. After a surprise twist ruins an afternoon tryst, her simple solution for the predicament hits a few snags. With a nod to the Coen brothers, and nostalgically set in the eighties, Soap uses dark humour to relay its tale of a woman forced to take control of her life. Homeland Security - Isaac Cravit Concerned about the fidelity of his wife, customs agent Phil takes out his frustration on a group of young ladies heading south of the border for a bachelorette party. This dark comedy reveals the ills of paranoia in an age when everything can seem suspect. The Island - Trevor Anderson Where should all the gays go? To an island, says a homophobic piece of "fan mail" written to Trevor Anderson, an independent gay filmmaker living in Alberta. Trudging through the snow, Anderson ironically muses that perhaps a "fantasy island" for gay people isn't such a bad idea. Through colourful animations, he imagines a world free from discrimination. Deadman - Chelsea McMullan In the desert landscape of Deadman Creek, British Columbia, modern cowboy Matt Sandvoss is determined to resurrect the wild west by constructing a "ghost town." Meanwhile, a First Nations resident, Gerald Carter, is equally committed to another vision of the west based on long-held Native traditions. Keenly observed and suffused with irony, this elegant documentary surveys a profound confrontation of ideologies.

"SHORT CUTS CANADA PROGRAMME 4" (2009 short film directed by Anne Emond, Nicolas Pereda, Nikos Theodosakis and Linda, Ed Gass-Donnelly, Felix Dufour-Laperriere, Pedro Pires, Jamie Travis)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:29:54 -0400

Naissances - Anne Emond Naissances examines an ephemeral connection between strangers and the false hope borne of living in a moment that both does and does not belong to you. Young Camille has just had an abortion and is hitchhiking home when she meets Pierre, an older man who refurbishes furniture. During their journey, both tell lies about their personal lives that are disquieting, but which build a certain hopefulness between them. Interview with the Earth - Nicolas Pereda The poignant Interview with the Earth follows two young brothers from a small Mexican town as they come to terms with the loss of their father, who left the family some time ago. Blending documentary and a fictional story of the death of one of their friends, Pereda explores how the boys experience grief and loss. Smoke - Nikos Theodosakis and Linda Thrown into an ice-fishing tradition of beer and cigarettes, Michael finds himself caught in the crossfire of his father's wrath when he doesn't quite fit into the ritual shared by the men in his family. Smoke is a beautifully rendered story of a young boy and the love-hate relationship he has to leave behind in the face of his father's imminent death. Sixty Seconds of Regret - Ed Gass-Donnelly In the time it takes to steam water for a cup of tea, an elderly man has a moment of austere personal reflection. With an economy of narrative, Ed Gass-Donnelly creates a fully realized character whose life was shaped by a pivotal youthful decision and who must continue to live with the burden of his choice. M - Felix Dufour-Laperriere Following last year's beautiful collage anim- ation Rosa Rosa, Felix Dufour-Laperriere returns to the Festival with M, a striking and abstract animated film. Delicately hand-drawn black-and-white architectural constructions expand and transform, evoking precariously balanced technological masses, while a cavernous soundscape punctuates this hypnotic visual play with structural complexity and progression. Danse Macabre - Pedro Pires Based on a concept by Robert Lepage, Pedro Pires's exquisitely photographed morbid ballet pushes the traditional dance film to new cinematic heights. In haunting deserted spaces, the choreographed erratic motions of a corpse evoke the final spasms of life and a last struggle with the emotional turns of the past. The Armoire - Jamie Travis A young boy goes missing in a seemingly "perfect" suburban neighbourhood. His best friend has no idea what happened, and slowly begins to descend into an abyss of grief, tormented by the mystery surrounding the disappearance. Soon the depressed lad begins sleeping in his armoire, haunted by the silence it holds. Through magnificent art direction, Jamie Travis brings us another sad children's tale, eerily capturing a young boy's struggle to hide his secrets.

"SHORT CUTS CANADA PROGRAMME 5" (2009 short film directed by Randall Okita, Mio Adilman, Caroline Monnet, Emile Proulx-Cloutier, Lea Nakonechny, Dylan Reibling, Ben Bruhmuller)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:39:05 -0400

fish in barrel - Randall Okita Following the intricate and ethereal dream landscape he created in Machine with Wishbone, Randall Okita continues to demonstrate a keen ability to craft sculptural cinema that absorbs the viewer into a diaphanous world. In a film overflowing with symbolic imagery, dark undertones of a young man's self-destruction are made beautiful through Okita's water compositions. Unlocked - Mio Adilman Anger-management issues and a domineering mother fill B's life with constant frustration. Add to this the inconvenience he endures when his bike is repeatedly double-locked by careless cyclists, and one gets the feeling that B is reaching a breaking point. Mio Adilman creatively constructs an entertaining and revealing character study, highlighting the ills and joys of urban life on two wheels. IKWE - Caroline Monnet IKWE (meaning "woman" in Algonquin) is a visually fluid experimental film centred on the internal dialogue between a young woman and the teachings of her grandmother, the moon. Referencing ancestral traditions of oral storytelling, the narrative unfolds in both French and Cree as two generations form a bridge between the natural and modern worlds. Life Begins - Emile Proulx-Cloutier Joseph is entering adolescence. Mathieu, his older brother, stagnates in a menial job. They rarely interact. One night, their home is broken into and their father's gun stolen, setting off a sequence of actions that test the family's fabric. A story of the profound bond between brothers, this affecting drama unfolds with subtle and confident precision. Edge of the Desert - Lea Nakonechny In a small Saskatchewan prairie town, two teenaged girls, one shy and awkward and the other more confident, are picked up at the local burger joint by a couple of guys who work the oil rigs. Heading out to the Great Sandhills, a desert-like area that stretches as far as the eye can see, they split into pairs, revealing their inner selves against the backdrop of a breathtakingly barren landscape. Record - Dylan Reibling On an idyllic Saturday afternoon, a sidewalk record sale becomes the unexpected site of an emotional reckoning when three fellow countrymen are confronted by their past in an unusual way. Capturing this moment on a city street corner in vibrant detail, Reibling creates a clever and charming portrait of the power of music. Vs. - Ben Bruhmuller In this elaborate stop-motion animated film, Ben Bruhmuller deftly evokes the sweep of a man's life through the rounds of a boxing match. Through a striking layering process complemented by exquisitely sculpted figures, family and personal moments are pulled into focus then disappear as the boxer advances from a young man to a lonely elder.

"SHOULD I REALLY DO IT?" (2009 feature film directed by Ismail Necmi)

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:25:58 -0400

The concepts of real life and fiction, documentary and drama, are explored in this real-life feature which follows the unbelievable life of Petra, a German woman living in Turkey.

"A SINGLE MAN" (2009 feature film directed by Tom Ford)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:46:14 -0400

Set in Los Angeles in 1962, A Single Man is the story of George Falconer, a British college professor (Colin Firth) who is struggling to find meaning in his life after the death of his long-time partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). We follow George through a single day, where a series of encounters, ultimately leads him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend, Charley (Julianne Moore), a 48-year-old beauty, and is stalked by one of his students, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult). The story is an adaptation based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood.

"SLOVENIAN GIRL" (2009 feature film directed by Damjan Kozole)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:51:43 -0400

A young university student solicits sex clients through newspaper ads, involving her in a hellish adventure.

"SNOWBLIND" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Vikram Jayanti)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:52:33 -0400

Rachael Scdoris, a blind 23-year-old, doesn't let her disability stop her from competing in one of the most gruelling endurance contests in the world: the Iditarod dogsled race traversing 1,100 miles of Alaska's most rugged terrain. But being blind is only the start of her challenges

"LA SOGA" (2009 feature film directed by Josh Crook)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:16:05 -0400

This gritty and gripping drama explores political intrigue, love, death and the power of memory, set in the Dominican Republic.

"SOLITARY MAN" (2009 feature film directed by Brian Koppelman, David Levien)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:41:37 -0400

Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas) is feeling his age, but you wouldn't know it from the company he keeps. A former mogul with a chain of car dealerships, until legal troubles knocked him out of business, Ben now keeps a grip on the world through his relationships with women - many women.

"SOLOMON KANE" (2009 feature film directed by Michael J. Bassett)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:53:21 -0400

From Robert E. Howard, the legendary creator of Conan, comes this tale of a savage mercenary in sixteeth-century Century England who owes the devil his soul and seeks to redeem himself by fighting evil.

"SOUL KITCHEN" (2009 feature film directed by Fatih Akin)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:16:34 -0400

From the director of Head-on comes the story of a young restaurant owner Zinos is down on his luck. His girlfriend Nadine has moved to Shanghai, his Soul Kitchen customers are boycotting the new gourmet chef, and he's having back trouble. Things start looking up when the hip crowd embraces his revamped culinary concept, but that doesn't mend Zinos' broken heart. He decides to fly to China for Nadine, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias.

"SPARROWS" (1926 feature film directed by William Beaudine)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:09:12 -0400

Pickford plays Molly, the oldest girl in an "orphan farm" in the Louisiana bayou. The owners of the farm, the vile and opprobrious Grimes family, offer to care for children of families experiencing hardship, then exploit and neglect the children in the most appalling manner. Sparrows is a gripping melodrama, praised for merging the social concerns of Charles Dickens and the techniques of German Expressionism. The film is presented to mark the centenary of Pickford's film debut and it will feature live musical accompaniment by Gabriel Thibaudeau, who has composed scores for numerous silent films including the Robert Flaherty classic Nanook of the North.

"SPEAK CITY: LISA STEELE & KIM TOMCZAK" (2009 short film directed by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:14:50 -0400

Speak City delivers a unique glimpse of Toronto through its most omnipresent yet most innocuous markers: street signs. Over a two-year period, Steele and Tomczak documented the street signs of one intersection within each one of Toronto's designated neighbourhoods. The result is a 30- minute video that recreates the artists' journey through their own city. Speak City is a work of urban contemplation; its only reference to human existence comes through the sounds of an occasional distant object or site-specific sound. The world premiere of the newest installation by Governor General's Award-winning duo Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak is an intriguing single channel piece structured around the 140 official neighbourhoods designated by the City of Toronto. The work is presented as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's celebration of the 175th anniversary of the City of Toronto. Curated by Steve Gravestock. From September 5 through September 19, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Nathan Phillips Square, TIFF Box Office Tent.

"SPRING FEVER" (2009 feature film directed by Lou Ye)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:35:50 -0400

A lyrical and audacious portrait of a doomed gay love triangle that spins out of control, Spring Fever is inspired by prohibited Chinese novels from the 1920s and directed by controversial filmmaker Lou Ye.

"STEAMBOAT BILL JR." (1928 feature film directed by Charles Reisner)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:35:14 -0400

The effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain comes to join his father's crew. Thursday, Sept. 10 at 3:00PM

"STOLEN" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:40:37 -0400

Filmmakers Fallshaw and Ayala's journey of discovery among Saharawi refugees turns into a political thriller.

"STOP MAKING SENSE" (1984 feature documentary film directed by Jonathan Demme)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:25:21 -0400

An innovative concert movie for the rock group The Talking Heads. Preceded by shorts: Lonely Boy, Woodhands at The Brick Works and From The City To The Forest Monday, Sept. 14 at 12:00PM

"SUCK" (2009 feature film directed by Robert Stefaniuk)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:17:33 -0400

World Premiere A rock'n'roll vampire comedy about a down-and-out band that will do anything for a record deal. Their humdrum image radically changes when the bass player disappears one night with a hip vampire and emerges with a sexually charged charisma that drives the audiences wild.

"SUCK: SHOWCASE" (2009 presentation)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:21:46 -0400

Spotlight concert featuring The Burning Brides and Canadian legends Blue Peter with guest appearances from stars of the rock'n'roll vampire comedy screening as part of the 2009 Festival Friday, September 11 at 6:30 pm

"THE SUNSHINE BOY" (2009 feature film directed by Friorik Por Frioriksson)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:14:41 -0400

This is a moving, compassionate portrayal of a mother's desperate quest to understand autism, the perplexing condition that controls her son. By taking a journey through different countries and cultures, the film deals with autism in a deeply comprehensive way and considers it on a global scope.

"SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD: TORONTO ZOMBIE WALK" (2009 presentation)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:56:05 -0400

To celebrate the premiere of George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead in Midnight Madness, The Toronto Zombie Walk: Special Director's Cut Edition arrives at YDS with a special appearance by legendary director George A. Romero. Saturday, September 12 at 6:00PM - Survival Of The Dead - Toronto Zombie Walk Saturday, September 12 at 7:00PM - Special Presentation: George Romero Citizen of Toronto & Canada This event will conclude with a free screening of his 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead

"GEORGE A. ROMERO'S SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD" (2009 feature film directed by George A. Romero)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:46:56 -0400

Master director George A. Romero returns to his world of the undead, this time pitting two feuding clans in the middle of the fallout of a zombie epidemic.

"SOOK-YIN LEE INTRODUCES SWEETIE" (1989 feature film directed by Jane Campion)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:17:02 -0400

A strikingly original and darkly comic work that centres on a dysfunctional pair of contrasting sisters. Using unusual colour, framing, angles and perspectives, Campion crafts an engaging and visually intriguing film that refuses to romanticize or sanitize mental illness. "What I so appreciate about Sweetie is Jane Campion's singular and authentic voice, her determination to bring all of her characters to life with humanity," said Sook-Yin Lee.

"SYMBOL" (2009 feature film directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:28:48 -0400

Japanese comedy superstar Hitoshi Matsumoto (DAINIPPONJIN) stars in and directs this absurd and outlandish comedy about a man trying to escape a unique dilemma.

"TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE" (2009 feature film directed by Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Maria Uricaru, Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu and Constantin Popescu)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:51:04 -0400

This film presents a series of absurd and ridiculous situations set during the repressive communist era in Romania.

"TANNER HALL" (2009 feature film directed by Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana von Furstenberg)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:54:07 -0400

Tanner Hall is a vivid peek into the private world of an all-girls boarding school. In a cozy, but run down New England town, the knot of adolescent complexity is unraveled through the coming of age stories of four teen-age girls.

"THE SHAPE OF THINGS / CIVILIZATION / THIS TRANSITION..." (2009 short film directed by Jeremy Shaw)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:05:26 -0400

Berlin-based, Vancouver punk artist Jeremy Shaw's This Transition Will Never End #6 is a spinning vortex of appropriated footage where spiraling tunnels suggest the slippage of time. The work attests to Shaw's ongoing interest in psychedelic art, rock video, drug culture, experimental and documentary film and the collision of mainstream and subculture. Curated by Noah Cowan. Presented as a kind of audio visual baptism for TIFF Bell Lightbox, it will be projected against the John Street side of the building as a continuous loop each night of the Festival. From September 10 through September 19 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

"TIFF.KIDS ZONE" (2009 presentation)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:31:17 -0400

The TIFF Kids Zone - offering fun for children of all ages, including face-painting, green-screen activity and more. Saturday, September 12 at 2 pm

"TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE" (1914 feature film directed by Mack Sennett)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:36:30 -0400

Charlie talks wealthy farmer's daughter Tillie into eloping with him (and taking her father's money). Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 3:00PM

"THE TIME THAT REMAINS" (2009 feature film directed by Elia Suleiman)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:18:22 -0400

This semi-biographic film, divided into four historical episodes, portrays the daily life of Palestinians in 1948 who were considered a minority, even in their homeland.

"TIMETRIP: THE CURSE OF THE VIKING WITCH" (2009 feature film directed by Mogens H. Christiansen)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:13:41 -0400

Ninth-grader Valdemar and younger sister Sille embark on a trip through Danish history as they attempt to break an age-old curse in this exciting, action filled, time-travel adventure.

"TO DIE LIKE A MAN" (2009 feature film directed by Joao Pedro Rodrigues)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:45:16 -0400

In order to forgive and be forgiven for the slights endured over a long life as a transsexual club performer, Tonia devolves her body back into a male form and seeks reconciliation with her estranged son.

"TO THE SEA" (2009 feature film directed by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:39:24 -0400

Before their inevitable farewell, a young Mexican man and his half Italian son, Natan, embark on an epic journey to the second-largest coral reef on the planet.

"TOAD'S OIL" (2009 feature film directed by Koji Yakusho)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:17:41 -0400

The story of Takuro Yazawa, a day-trader who claims he can earn hundreds of millions of yen in one day, and those around him as they attempt to cope with the death of his son and somehow find a way to benefit spiritually from the experience.

"TOGETHER" (2009 feature film directed by Matias Armand Jordal)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:50:21 -0400

The tragic death of a mother causes her family to shatter when they struggle to cope with the loss.

"UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS: SHOWCASE FEATURING THE TOPP TWINS" (2009 presentation hosted by Elvira Kurt)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:24:43 -0400

Spotlighting The Topp Twins, the Festival presents a concert by New Zealand's top yodelling comedy duo with host Elvira Kurt. Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9:00PM

"THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Leanne Pooley)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:20:17 -0400

Fun, disarming and musically provocative, the Topp Twins are New Zealand's finest lesbian country-and-western singers and the country's greatest export since rack of lamb and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

"A TOWN CALLED PANIC" (2009 animated feature film directed by Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:27:33 -0400

An outlandish animation style captures the absurd wit and surreal adventures of plastic toys Cowboy, Indian and Horse.

"TRASH HUMPERS" (2009 feature film directed by Harmony Korine)

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:21:12 -0400

Harmony Korine returns to Gummo territory in this handheld video of a loser-gang cult-freak collective who do antisocial things in a nonnarrative way, except for the song-and-dance numbers.

"THE TRAVELLER" (2009 feature film directed by Ahmed Maher)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:58:00 -0400

he Traveller follows one man's journey through time and space, from youth and adulthood to old age. Hassan's life is encapsulated in three crucial days during which he moulds his own sensitivity and character. Through a twist of fate he will be forced to learn the meaning of love, jealousy and betrayal and have the opportunity to question his own meanings of fatherhood and kinships.

"TRIAGE" (2009 feature film directed by Danis Tanovic)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:32:13 -0400

Mark (Colin Farrell), a war photographer, returns home from Kurdistan without his friend and colleague David (Jamie Sives). As time goes on, it becomes clear that Mark holds the key to the truth of David's disappearance.

"THE TROTSKY" (2009 feature film directed by Jacob Tierney)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:02:32 -0400

Leon Bronstein (Jay Baruchel) is not your average Montreal West high school student. For one thing, none of his peers can claim to be the reincarnation of early 20th century Soviet iconoclast and Red Army hero, Leon Trotsky. When his father (Saul Rubinek) sends Leon to public school as punishment for starting a hunger strike at Papa's clothing factory, Leon quickly lends new meaning to the term "student union," determined as he is to live out his pre-ordained destiny to the fullest and change the world.

"TURTLE: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Nick Stringer)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:25:51 -0400

Canadian Premiere Join a logger heard turtle on an extraordinary journey through the fascinating underwater world and witness how changes in the oceans are affecting marine life in this beautiful and spectacular ocean adventure.

"U2: RATTLE AND HUM" (1988 feature documentary film directed by Phil Joanou)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:10:07 -0400

A documentary of Irish rock group U2's Fall 1987 tour of North America. Preceded by shorts: cNote, Lioness at the Masonic Temple and Gershon Thursday, Sept. 17 at 12:00PM

"UNDER THE MOUNTAIN" (2009 feature film directed by Jonathan King)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:31:52 -0400

When teenaged twins Theo and Rachel meet the mysterious Mr. Jones, they learn that they may hold the key to saving the world from impending destruction in this thrilling adventure based on Maurice Gee's acclaimed novel.

"THE UNLOVED" (2009 feature film directed by Samantha Morton)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:27:48 -0400

Morton shifts from actor to director in this stark portrait of a young British girl plucked from an abusive family and thrown into the hands of government care.

"UP IN THE AIR" (2009 feature film directed by Jason Reitman)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:19:49 -0400

From Jason Reitman, the Oscar(R)-nominated director of Juno, comes a comedy starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams.

"VALHALLA RISING" (2009 feature film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:11:15 -0400

It is 1000 AD. For years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self.

"VENGEANCE" (2009 feature film directed by Johnnie To)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:32:54 -0400

A father comes to Hong Kong to avenge his daughter, whose family was murdered. Officially, he's a French chef. Twenty years ago, he was a killer. Vengeance is a moody, noir-ish tour-de-force.

"A VICIOUS UNDERTOW" (2007 feature film directed by Jesper Just)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:18:52 -0400

Danish artist Jesper Just returns to Future Projections with a new signature work. Jesper has long been interested in the mechanics of film drama and the emotions it evokes in its audience: melancholy, longing, solitude and male vulnerability. The protagonists in A Vicious Undertow whistle to a slowed-down, instrumental Nights in White Satin, as desire overtakes them in an elegant bar. As in his previous films, unnamed characters dance, sing, watch and cry in emotionally ambiguous tableaux. This time, however, he is as interested in the female gaze as he is in the male. Curated by Mia Nielsen. Courtesy Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen. From September 10 through September 19 it will screen on the front windows of The Drake Hotel from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

"VIDEOCRACY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Erik Gandini)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:24:53 -0400

This penetrating look at the media empire of Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlosconi reveals how his reality TV shows full of bikini-clad women enriched his friends and beguiled a nation.

"VINCERE" (2009 feature film directed by Marco Bellocchio)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:00:06 -0400

This fictionalized portrait of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini concentrates on his youthful years before he rose to power in Italy. It uncovers the details of his first marriage and the child he had with a passionate woman whom he later totally disowned and abandoned.

"THE VINTNER'S LUCK" (2009 feature film directed by Niki Caro)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:19:15 -0400

Set in early 19th century France The Vintner's Luck tells the compelling tale of Sobran Jodeau, an ambitious young peasant winemaker and the three loves of his life--his beautiful and passionate wife Celeste, the proudly intellectual baroness Aurora de Valday and Xas, an angel who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Sobran. A fantastical creature with wings that smell of snow, Xas turns out to be an unconventional mentor. Under his guidance Sobran is forced to fathom the nature of love and belief and in the process, grapples with the sensual, the sacred and the profane--all in pursuit of the perfect vintage.

"VISION" (2009 feature film directed by Margarethe von Trotta)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:00:25 -0400

One of the major auteurs to emerge from the New German Cinema, Margarethe von Trotta returns to the Festival with Vision, a study of the remarkable Hildegard von Bingen, the Benedictine nun who emerged as a Renaissance woman before there was a Renaissance.

"VIVE LA ROSE" (2009 short film directed by Bruce Alcock)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:30:03 -0400

Bruce Alcock's animated depiction of a tragic Newfoundland love song (performed by Emile Benoit) illustrates the tune's folk roots through its imaginative use of a rustic, abandoned fisherman's cabin. Using an antique writing desk as his tableau, Alcock brings this Acadian tale to life by integrating stop-motion animation of found maritime objects with complementary oil paintings. This film screens with Crackie.

"V.O.S." (2009 feature film directed by Cesc Gay)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:00:49 -0400

A smart and intriguing film-within-a-film comedy about love and friendship, where the characters travel playfully in and out of one another's lives and the film's narratives.

"THE WAITING CITY" (2009 feature film directed by Claire McCarthy)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:01:20 -0400

An outwardly happy Australian couple (Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton) journey to Kolkata, India to collect their adopted baby, but on arrival finds that the arrangements at the agency have yet to be finalized. They have no option but to wait in this place that, to them, is chaotic and foreign. But as the intoxicating mystic powers of the Indian city pull them each in separate and unexpected directions, the vulnerability of their marriage begins to reveal itself.

"TED KOTCHEFF INTRODUCES WAKE IN FRIGHT (OUTBACK)" (1971 feature film directed by Ted Kotcheff)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:44:03 -0400

Wake in Fright developed a reputation as Australia's lost masterpiece. After an extensive search that lasted years, the original film materials were finally located in a Pittsburgh vault in 2002, one week before their incineration. Following its screening in the retrospective programme at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, the North American premiere of the fully digitally restored film will be presented at the Festival by Ted Kotcheff. Brutal, uncompromising and stunning, Wake in Fright tells the story of John Grant, a young teacher whose overnight stay in a rough outback mining town extends to a five-day nightmarish odyssey of drinking, gambling, hunting and more drinking, plunging him toward his own destruction. Nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971, the film remains as fresh and relevant today as it was nearly forty years ago. "I loved the outback, with its unearthly colours and shapes, and this new digital print reveals colours and patterns I never saw in the original photochemical print of 1971. You will see the outback now as it actually is," said Ted Kotcheff. The film is based on a 1961 novel by Kenneth Cook, an Australian journalist, novelist and filmmaker who died in 1987.

"WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Don Hahn)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:44:17 -0400

This isn't a fairy tale, but rather the true story of how the Disney animation team went from stagnation in the mid-1980s to a startling rebirth with a staggering output of hits - Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and more - over a ten year period. Director Don Hahn, who was a key contributor on many of these works, brings an insider's perspective to the film.

"THE WARRIOR AND THE WOLF" (2009 feature film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:27:28 -0400

The disillusioned general of an ancient Chinese army regiment finds himself stranded in a village populated by a strange clan with mystical connections to wolves.

"WAVELENGTHS 1: TITANS" (2009 presentation)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:13:06 -0400

George Melies' playful and eccentric spirit hovers throughout Wavelengths's opening programme. Klaus Lutz's Titan (USA), is a charming, artisanal space odyssey during which the filmmaker doubles as an intrepid astronaut simultaneously creating and voyaging through space. Heinz Emigholz's Two Projects by Frederick Kiesler (Austria/Germany) is the latest instalment of his internationally lauded Photography and Beyond series. The film renders homage to this visionary Viennese architect whose wild and wonderful genius was little understood during his lifetime. T. Marie's 010101 (USA) is an incredibly meticulous digital painting, offering one minute, one second and one frame of shimmering and breathtaking beauty through its diaphanous and forever-changing palette. American avant-garde master Ernie Gehr's stunning Waterfront Follies (USA) is a work of extended sublime that presents a view of the Brooklyn harbour as it is continuously interrupted by the flow of human interaction. The film's structure and soundtrack work as a reminder of the constant intersections between life's impulsiveness and beauty. Likewise, enigmatic human poetry in motion spills forth from Josef Dabernig's Hotel Roccalba (Austria), a sonata of inactivity starring the filmmaker's family whose gestures of leisure conspire to operatic heights. Puccini Conservato (Canada/Italy) by Michael Snow, to whom Wavelengths is dedicated, was commissioned by the Lucca Film Festival for the 150th anniversary of the famous Italian composer's birth. In this delightful video, the Canadian master offers a witty visual and sonic commentary to Puccini's La Boheme.

"WAVELENGTHS 2: PRO AGRI" (2009 presentation)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:13:18 -0400

In a time of tampered food and farming, an appreciation for nature and its untold mysteries is as strong as ever. Tomonari Nishikawa's Lumphini 2552 (Thailand) is an exhilarating chiaroscuro montage of still photographs taken in Bangkok's inner-city oasis, Lumphini Park. Nicky Hamlyn's Pro Agri (UK) is a time-lapse composition that bears a powerful and timely pro-land, proagriculture message. Cordao Verde (Portugal) by first-time filmmakers Hiroatsu Suzuki and Rossana Torres is part poem and part documentary that observes farmers in the greenbelt of Portugal as they work and rejoice off the land's riches. Chris Kennedy's serene and painterly Tamalpais (Canada) was filmed while perched high above San Francisco. The majesty of the landscape materializes in relation to an easel-mounted grid that not only recalls the tradition of plein air perspective painting but also reverses the spatio-temporal dynamics inherent to cinema. Bookending the programme in 35mm black and white is Karl Kels's Kafig (Germany), an incredible, archaic burlesque dance of rhinoceroses that uses high-contrast and positive-negative juxtapositions to blend notions of domesticity and wilderness.

"WAVELENGTHS 3: LET EACH ONE GO WHERE HE MAY" (2009 presentation)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:25:59 -0400

Let Each One Go Where He May (USA) is the stunning feature debut of celebrated Chicago-based filmmaker Ben Russell. Having its world premiere in Toronto, the film traces the extensive journey of two unidentified brothers who venture from the outskirts of Paramaribo, Suriname, on land and through rapids, past a Maroon village on the Upper Suriname River, tracing the voyage undertaken by their ancestors, who escaped from slavery at the hands of the Dutch 300 years prior. Shot almost entirely with a 16mm Steadicam rig in thirteen extended tracking shots, this cartographic portrayal of contemporary Saramaccan culture is a rigorous and exquisite work that partakes in and dismantles traditional ethnography, inviting anachronism and myth-making to participate in the film's daring conflation of history.

"WAVELENGTHS 4: IN COMPARISON" (2009 presentation)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:12:35 -0400

Lisandro Alonso (Liverpool, Los Muertos) creates a face-to-face encounter with the wild in the beguiling and enigmatic S/T (Argentina), a moment observed in a seemingly floating abyss. Observation is also the main modus of Harun Farocki's latest film, In Comparison (Austria/Germany), which revisits issues explored in the director's 2007 two-channel installation Comparison Via a Third. This handsome 16mm colour film, which will have its North American premiere in Toronto, is a deceptively contemplative documentary about contemporary brick production. Spanning continents and cultures, the film focuses on the brick in its many contexts, from the collective efforts of a community building a clinic in Burkina Faso, through semi-industrialized mouldings in India, to industrial production lines in Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. Through its notable structure and its captivating rhythms, In Comparison presents various methods of labour production, allowing for an assessment that changes with every layer and goes well beyond a simple binary divide.

"WAVELENGTHS 5: UNE CATASTROPHE" (2009 presentation)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:01:00 -0400

Personal expressions of historical and collective memory confront spectres from the past throughout this programme. With The Secret School (Greece), Marina Gioti delves into one of the most contentious nationalist debates in Greece: the existence of illegal "secret schools" allegedly operating under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Church during the Turkish Ottoman rule. While the world eagerly awaits his new feature, Jean-Luc Godard's Une Catastrophe (Austria) has its Canadian premiere in Toronto. Returning to the essayistic style that has come to define his extensive post-Nouvelle Vague body of work, the film brings a flash of the director's prosody, complete with the grunting sounds of a tennis match, a dash of German melodrama and his signature epigrammatic wordplay. Despite the loss of his filmmaking partner and wife, Daniele Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub has been steadfast in his filmmaking. The international premiere of Le Streghe, femmes entre elles (France/Italy), like last year's heartrending Le Genou d'Artemide, is based on Cesare Pavese's Dialogues with Leuco. Nature's splendour, as Straub has always filmed it, pulses with everlasting energy throughout this delicately profound chimerical intersection of im/mortality. The North American premiere of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's equally masterful A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (Thailand/UK/Germany) is a segment from his multi-platform project Primitive (see also his single-channel installation Phantoms of Nabua, presented as part of Future Projections). Filming in Nabua in northeastern Thailand, site of a bloody 1965 battle between communist farmers and the totalitarian government, Apichatpong employs a roving, floating camera and incantatory omniscient narration to simultaneously evoke the dangerous cycles of violence and repression, and the hope of perpetual rebirth and remembrance. David Gatten's Abbreviation for Dead Winter (USA) from his Invisible Ink series, captures passages from Darwin's On the Origin of Species as they are lifted from the page, resulting in residual ink spots and fibres that evoke metaphors of migration and distances.

"WAVELENGTHS 6: FLASH POINT CAMERA" (2009 presentation)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:19:02 -0400

Wavelengths 2009 concludes on a ruminative note, with art and experience partaking in time's inevitable passage. Ute Aurand's Snowing Chestnut Blossoms (Germany) is a gentle, generous and unsparing portrait of the filmmaker's parents, whose passing is marked by remembrance and the loving recording of them. The idea of the "life portrait" is at the core of the photographic and film work of Friedl vom Groller (Kubelka). Polterabend (Austria) is an atypical portrait of female aging, made just prior to the artist's wedding. Six older women of various ages are filmed, first in static tableau, then in a panning camera individualizing each face in a series of uncontrolled and disarming reciprocal gazes. Passage Briare (Austria) is a tiny picaresque set in Paris chronicling Kubelka's coy encounter with an unnamed man. Jim Jennings's Greenpoint (USA) is a rapturous and observant portrait of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that pays tribute to a working-class neighbourhood on the verge of gentrification with a boogie-woogie collage of hot colours, pealing posters, graffiti art and neon signs. Coleen Fitzgibbon's 1974 FM/TRCS (USA), recently preserved by filmmaker Sandra Gibson, is a masterful work of abstraction that explores the textures of the medium and dissolution of imagery to a woman's undressing. After working on many Wavelengths films over the years at Niagara Custom Lab in Toronto, Sebastjan Henrickson presents Flash Camera Movie (Canada). For one year (2002-03), Henrickson stole moments from his hectic days to ritualistically record his surroundings with disposable flash cameras one frame at a time. Allowing for repose and reflection, the resulting imagery reveals the paradoxical precious and banal moments in life.

"WHAT'S YOUR RAASHEE?" (2009 feature film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker)

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:45:32 -0400

What's Your Raashee? is a romantic comedy about a young man who has always wanted to marry for love. When he suddenly is told that he must find his dream girl within ten days in order to save his family from utter ruin, he discovers that finding her is even hard when it has to happen in a hurry. The film is based on the Gujarati novel, Kimball Ravenswood, by Madhu Rye.

"WHEAT" (2009 feature film directed by He Ping)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:04:53 -0400

In the Kingdom of Zhao, all the men have left for war and Lady Li (Fan Bingbing), wife of the absent lord, says victory will soon bring their men back home. When two enemy deserters invade the kingdom they pretend to be Zhao soldiers and improvise a tale for Lady Li describing Zhao's victory. Word of the supposed victory spreads rapidly throughout the town, causing misplaced optimism among the women until the truth is revealed and despair and horror emerge.

"WHIP IT" (2009 feature film directed by Drew Barrymore)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:20:31 -0400

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut stars Ellen Page (Juno) as Bliss, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small-town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller-derby. Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River, Pollock) plays Bliss's disapproving mother, while Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) and Juliette Lewis (Old School) play roller-derby stars.

"SPOTLIGHT - WHIP IT" (2009 presentation)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:41:52 -0400

Fans can catch a roller derby exhibition featuring the Toronto Roller Derby League and stars from the film Whip It. Sunday, Sept. 13 at 4:00PM

"WHITE MATERIAL" (2009 feature film directed by Claire Denis)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:20:59 -0400

A family of French expatriates living in an African country where they own a coffee plantation find that their livelihood is threatened by the outbreak of civil war. They struggle to keep their lives together in the face of rival factions fighting for power and gun-toting child soldiers who have no sympathy for their plight.

"THE WHITE RIBBON" (2009 feature film directed by Michael Haneke)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:35:26 -0400

Michael Haneke won the Palme d'Or for best film at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his film set in Protestant Northern Germany on the eve of World War I, where strange incidents begin to occur in a village community and increasingly take the form of a ritual of punishment.

"NEIL JORDAN INTRODUCES: THE WHITE SHEIK" (1952 feature film directed by Federico Fellini)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:46:02 -0400

Featuring a wonderful score by Nino Rota, this charming and farcical romantic comedy by Fellini offers an affectionate and satirical look at romantic illusions as it follows newlyweds Ivan and Wanda on the least romantic honeymoon in history. Discussing this film in relation to Fellini's subsequent work, Neil Jordan said: "You can see the hints of what would come later bursting through like an eruption from another film entirely. Another universe, almost. Which is why, the first time I saw The White Sheik, I kind of fell in love with it." The White Sheik was Federico Fellini's solo directorial debut.

"THE WHITE STRIPES UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS" (2009 feature documentary film directed by Emmett Malloy)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:44:27 -0400

An intimate look inside The White Stripes' cross-Canada tour, as Jack and Meg White touch down in remote northern communities and surprising city venues.

"THE WILD HUNT" (2009 feature film directed by Alexandre Franchi)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:43:33 -0400

Fantasy and reality meet in The Wild Hunt when an ancient ritual is reborn in the woods north of Montreal.

"THE WIND JOURNEYS" (2009 feature film directed by Ciro Guerra)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:40:10 -0400

Ignacio, a former traveling musician, makes one final trip across the country following his wife's death. He is joined by a teenaged fan, and together they explore the possibilities that life has in store for them.

"THE WINDOW" (2009 feature film directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:08:57 -0400

When Bimal decides to give something back to his alma mater, he chooses to replace the broken window of his favourite classroom. Plans to pay for this gesture go awry and he cannot bear to tell his fiancee.

"WOMEN WITHOUT MEN" (2009 feature film directed by Shirin Neshat)

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:58:03 -0400

Shirin Neshat's first feature-length film is based on a magic-realist novel written by Iranian author Sharnush Parsipur. The narrative interweaves the lives of four Iranian women during the summer of 1953, a pivotal moment in Iranian history when an American led coup d'etat brought down the democratically elected prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh and reinstalled the Shah to power. The film chronicles each woman's quest for change and their mysterious encounter in a magical orchard.

"WOODSTOCK" (1970 feature documentary film directed by Michael Wadleigh)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:24:02 -0400

The film chronicle of the legendary 1969 music festival Preceded by shorts: Street Musique, Geddy Lee at Massey Hall and Washing Machine, Sewing Machine Sunday, Sept. 13 at 12:00PM

"WORKING ON THE DOURO RIVER" (1931 short documentary film directed by Manoel de Oliveira)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:36:26 -0400

A documentary that looks at the people working in the river Douro, around the city of Oporto.

"YEAR OF THE CARNIVORE" (2009 feature film directed by Sook-Yin Lee)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:35:59 -0400

Year of the Carnivore is a romantic-comedy-drama about a girl with an unrequited crush on a boy who thinks she's bad in bed, so she goes out to get more 'experience.'

"THE YOUNG VICTORIA" (2009 feature film directed by Jean-Marc Vallee)

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:26:03 -0400

From a script by Academy Award(R)-winning Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park). The film chronicles Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne, focusing on the turbulent early years of her reign and her legendary romance and marriage to Prince Albert. The Young Victoria is set in the period from 1836, the year before Victoria ascended the throne, to 1840, the year she married Prince Albert, and revises the widely held picture of Queen Victoria as an elderly widow dressed in black. In addition to being a love story and family drama, the film explores the idea of instant celebrity - one minute Victoria is living under virtual house arrest, the next she is the most famous woman in the world.

"YOUTH IN REVOLT" (2009 feature film directed by Miguel Arteta)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:21:27 -0400

Youth in Revolt is an outrageous and heartwarming tale of Nick Twisp (Michael Cera), and his quest to win the heart of Sheeni (Portia Doubleday) and hopefully lose his virginity along the way. The film is based on C.D. Payne's cult-hit novel of the same name.

"ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS" (1973 feature documentary film directed by D.A. Pennebaker)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:22:21 -0400

The July 3rd, 1973 historic concert was to be David Bowie's last with the the Ziggy persona, and the Spiders from Mars. Preceded by shorts:Juke - Bar, Danko Jones at Maple Leaf Gardens and Jaffawiye Friday, Sept. 11 at 9:00PM