✖
Toronto fest boasts 109 world preems
The 30th Toronto International Film Festival unveiled its complete 2005 lineup at a press conference in Nathan Phillips Square Aug. 23, announcing that 335 films from 52 countries, including 109 world premieres, will screen during the 10-day event.
People
* Paula Davies is the new executive producer of in-house production at Toronto1. She previously served as assistant general manager for MTV Canada and TV Land and will guide in-house shows through T1’s relaunch this fall.
Aspiring producers auction off credits on eBay
Vancouver: From a serial killer’s fingernails to a grilled cheese sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin Mary, there isn’t much that hasn’t been sold on eBay.
Jump Cuts
Emmy for Toon Boom
Cool summer B.O. for Canuck-shot flicks
It was a tough summer all around at the box office and Canadian-shot movies definitely felt the chill.
DVDs and moving bits: the distribution revolution
Stephen Fraser practises law in Toronto and Los Angeles with the firm of Fraser – Entertainment Law. Special thanks to Mike Wagman for his assistance with this article.
Playback Readership Poll Results
The TIFF hype is building – for some films. In an online Playback poll asking readers which of six listed Canadian films they most want to see at the Toronto International Film Festival, A History of Violence was the runaway winner, with 59% of the vote. This was followed by Beowulf & Grendel with 16%, Tideland with 9%, Water with 8%, Where the Truth Lies with 7% and Lie with Me with 2%.
Conspiracy theories and the Ceeb
As of press time, the picket lines continue to encircle CBC’s Toronto headquarters and other Ceeb locales across the country.
Top auteurs help TIFF ring in number 30
The Toronto International Film Festival celebrates its 30th birthday this year. In its three decades, TIFF has risen to the top class of world film fests, stirring up an annual fervor among moviegoers who have been more than happy to queue up for hours to ensure advance seats for films selected from a far-reaching menu of international fare. That experience proved so overwhelming to all that cinéastes are now asked to drop off a form with their selections days in advance, and customers are served in order based on a random draw.
Water rises to launch fest
Like most Canadian feature films, Water is the product of one filmmaker’s unshakeable will. But Deepa Mehta’s will being rattled by marauding Hindu extremists in India rather than muddled bureaucrats or meddling producers makes Water a most improbable Canadian film.
Ratings battle endangers thriller’s box-office potential
Where the Truth Lies, directed by Atom Egoyan and produced by Robert Lantos, is, at press time, facing a potentially harsh ratings decision from the Motion Picture Association of America. The sexy thriller, which premiered at Cannes and will launch in North America as a TIFF gala, could see its commercial hopes seriously undermined in the U.S. if the MPAA sticks to its plan to slap the film with an NC-17 rating (no one 17-and-under admitted). If that happens, distributor ThinkFilm would launch an appeal. Canadian audiences, however, will be able to see the director’s cut at TIFF and in its commercial R-rated release, set for Oct. 7.
Cronenberg returns to mainstream – or does he?
By now, a gala screening of the latest David Cronenberg movie at the Toronto International Film Festival is par for the course. Where his new film, A History of Violence, breaks with tradition lies in the fact that, this time, TIFF audiences won’t be weirded out.
Virgo preems much-hyped sex drama
Filmmaker Clement Virgo expects that his new feature, Lie with Me, will stir up at least one debate.
‘Is it porn – is it not porn?’ he says, and then offers his own view. ‘To me, porn doesn’t have a Hitchcockian element in it, which is suspense.’
Tideland
!!
Beowulf & Grendel
!!Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
The definitive CDN broadcast and production resource.Over 5,000 company listings!
