One need not look up at the skies in the Canadian metropolis of Toronto to see stars. There will be as many stars at street level (make that red carpet level) as there will be in the heavens as the 2011 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival continues through this Sunday.
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Salma Hayek and Viggo Mortensen will be backing a flurry of Hollywood and indie movie bows in Toronto, as will Keira Knightley, Clive Owen, Ge...
For most of the planet, the official end of summer does not come until the autumn equinox on September 21. However, for people in the film industry, the Fall season begins in only a few weeks, with the beginning of the autumn film festival cycle. Kicking off (startingly early this year) in Montreal on August 18 with the Montreal World Film Festival and then dashing across the pond to the Venice Film Festival, which begins on August 28, and then back across to the Toronto Film Festival, ...
HEARTBEATS (Xavier Dolan, Canada)
The hard truth is that even if one devotes oneself to seeing as many as 3 or 4 films per day (my usual average), that one is still only seeing less than 10% of the titles on offer at the Toronto International Film Festival, which concluded this past Sunday. Inevitably, there are those gems that one could not get to and the buzzed titles that conflicted with that Icelandic or Slovakian film that you convinced yourself that you cannot liv...
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is unique among A-list film festivals because it still is a non-competitive event. Unlike its other stellar festival cohorts, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian and Sundance, TIFF does not bother with the formality of competition juries and all the drama that surrounds their sometimes dubious choices. Instead, the audience determnes the winners, especially of the Cadillac People's Choice Awards, which were announced on Sunday...
Natalie Portman in BLACK SWAN
While film professionals are here at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to buy and sell films in a still soft market, for the Toronto public the big attraction are the movie stars who will be walking the red carpet in the coming 10 days. Toronto is a bit star-crazy, with all the local television stations highlighting their TIFF coverage and promising viewers up-close-and-personal access with the movie stars who are huddling here. Ever...
Olivia Newton-John in SCORE: A HOCKEY MUSICAL
Toronto and hockey......a match made in maple leaf heaven. Add music and icon Olivia Newton-John to the mix and you've got the ingredients for a fun and campy film delight. Well, that delightful concoction, the first hockey musical that I've ever heard tell of, will be the Opening Night Gala for the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The Festival hosts the world premiere of SCORE: A HOCKEY MUSICAL by Canadian writ...
Although the Toronto International Film Festival does not have a official Competition Section (which distinguishes it from events in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian), there are a few awards announcements to close out the 12 day event. CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS The Cadillac People's Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year’s award went to Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. Director Lee Daniels' Sundance Film Festival winner is a v...
Although the Toronto International Film Festival does not have a official Competition Section (which distinguishes it from events in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian), there are a few awards announcements to close out the 12 day event. CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS The Cadillac People's Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year’s award went to Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. Director Lee Daniels' Sundance Film Festival winner is a v...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Although the Toronto International Film Festival does not have a official Competition Section (which distinguishes it from events in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian), there are a few awards announcements to close out the 12 day event.
CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS
The Cadillac People's Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year’s award went to Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel “Push...
Female directors have been the toast of town in Toronto this week, with films that have been embraced by the industry, film critics and audiences. Although women directors still make up an anemically small percentage of the ranks of film directors everywhere around the world, their special spins on a number of high profile films here are worth noting. No film premiere generated as much excitement as the red carpet gala of JENNIFER'S BODY, a vampire comedy scribed by Oscar-winning scenarist Diabl...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Female directors have been the toast of town in Toronto this week, with films that have been embraced by the industry, film critics and audiences. Although women directors still make up an anemically small percentage of the ranks of film directors everywhere around the world, their special spins on a number of high profile films here are worth noting.
No film premiere generated as much excitement as the red carpet gala of JEN...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
The 34th Toronto International Film Festival opens September 10 with the world premiere Gala Presentation of CREATION, directed by Jon Amiel (The Core, Entrapment, The Man Who Knew Too Little). Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the film tells the life story of Charles Darwin, a still controversial figure who championed the idea of evolution and the descent of man (something that still makes the religious fundamentalists crazy).
Th...
