Canada films at Toronto festival have global view
Enlarge imageBy Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - Home-grown films will bring a foreign feel to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, as Canadian entries include a Russian mob thriller set in London, a look into the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and a search for heavy-metal music in Iraq.
"Eastern Promises", directed by Canadian cult legend and Toronto veteran David Cronenberg, led the list of Canadian films announced on Tuesday.
The film stars "Lord of the Rings" actor Viggo Mortensen as a ruthless Russian gangster in London who crosses paths with an innocent midwife holding secrets about the mob family.
Cronenberg and Mortensen last teamed up for the critically acclaimed "History of Violence", which debuted in Toronto two years ago and received an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay.
"I don’t feel I’ve made the movie until it has been shown at the Toronto Film Festival," Cronenberg said at a news conference on Tuesday. The film will be screened as a gala presentation, reserved for the most high-profile films of the festival.
Also unveiled was "Shake Hands with the Devil," directed by Roger Spottiswoode and based on Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire’s account of his time commanding U.N. forces during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
"Heavy Metal .....continued below
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in Baghdad", a documentary by Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, follows two journalists as they search Iraq for Acrassicauda, the only heavy metal band in the country.Also getting the gala treatment is L’Age des Tenebres, directed by Denys Arcand, who won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with "The Barbarian Invasions" in 2004. The film focuses on a civil servant and failed father who daydreams of greater things.
The presentations announced on Tuesday are in addition to the Jeremy Podeswa-directed and Canadian entry "Fugitive Pieces", which is based on the novel by Anne Michaels. The film will open the festival, which runs from September 6-15.
The festival, now in its 32nd year, ranks with Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Venice as one of the world’s most influential, and has gained a reputation as the kick-off to the Hollywood awards season.
By Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - Home-grown films will bring a foreign feel to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, as Canadian entries include a Russian mob thriller set in London, a look into the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and a search for heavy-metal music in Iraq.
"Eastern Promises", directed by Canadian cult legend and Toronto veteran David Cronenberg, led the list of Canadian films announced on Tuesday.
The film stars "Lord of the Rings" actor Viggo Mortensen as a ruthless Russian gangster in London who crosses paths with an innocent midwife holding secrets about the mob family.
Cronenberg and Mortensen last teamed up for the critically acclaimed "History of Violence", which debuted in Toronto two years ago and received an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay.
"I don’t feel I’ve made the movie until it has been shown at the Toronto Film Festival," Cronenberg said at a news conference on Tuesday. The film will be screened as a gala presentation, reserved for the most high-profile films of the festival.
Also unveiled was "Shake Hands with the Devil," directed by Roger Spottiswoode and based on Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire’s account of his time commanding U.N. forces during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
"Heavy Metal in Baghdad", a documentary by Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, follows two journalists as they search Iraq for Acrassicauda, the only heavy metal band in the country.
Also getting the gala treatment is L’Age des Tenebres, directed by Denys Arcand, who won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with "The Barbarian Invasions" in 2004. The film focuses on a civil servant and failed father who daydreams of greater things.
The presentations announced on Tuesday are in addition to the Jeremy Podeswa-directed and Canadian entry "Fugitive Pieces", which is based on the novel by Anne Michaels. The film will open the festival, which runs from September 6-15.
The festival, now in its 32nd year, ranks with Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Venice as one of the world’s most influential, and has gained a reputation as the kick-off to the Hollywood awards season.
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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