New Almodovar, Lou Ye titles join Toronto film fest lineup

Films by noted directors Pedro Almodovar, Lou Ye and Gasper No are among the latest added to the Toronto International Film Festival schedule.

Organizers of the 34th edition of the festival unveiled on Thursday several dozen more entries across three programs set to screen for audiences in Toronto this September.

Spanish film auteur Almodovar's latest, Broken Embraces, is among a new batch of international fare joining the Special Presentations lineup. The film, which appeared earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, follows a blind writer whose must revisit his past as a filmmaker when his former producer dies.

Other Special Presentations films include:

• An Education, Lone Scherfig (U.K.).
• The Front Line, Renato De Maria (Italy).
• Glorious 39, Stephen Poliakoff (U.K.).
• Kamui, Yoichi Sai (Japan).
• Life During Wartime, Todd Solondz (U.S.).
• A Prophet, Jacques Audiard (France).
• The Secret of Their Eyes, Juan Jose Campanella (Argentina/Spain).

Australian actress Rachel Ward and British actress Samantha Morton have made the move to the directors chair, with their new films Beautiful Kate and The Unloved (respectively) to make their international premieres at TIFF.

The two dramas are among the 21 features joining TIFF's Discovery program, which showcases films by new and emerging directors.

Titles presented in the festival's Vanguard program tend to by innovative filmmakers who "challenge our social and cultural assumptions," TIFF organizers said.

The newest movies added to this bold program hail from around the globe and include controversial French filmmaker Gaspar No's Enter the Void and Lou Ye's Spring Fever, which the noted Chinese filmmaker shot surreptitiously after being officially banned from movie-making by the Chinese government.

Organizers will continue to reveal more additions through the summer, with the full Canadian lineup to be announced on Aug. 4.

The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10-19.