TIFF unveils gala films for anniversary edition

Films by Canadian movie mogul Robert Lantos, Hollywood legend Robert Redford and directing icon Woody Allen are among the titles set to unspool at this year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, organizers announced on Tuesday.

FestivalCEO and director Piers Handling and co-director Cameron Bailey unveiled dozens of titles that will be featuredat the Septembergala, special presentation and masters lineups, many making their world or North American debuts.

Barney's Version, hit producer Lantos's anticipated adaptation of Mordecai Richler's book will be featured, as will Redford's drama The Conspirator and Allen's latestensemble comedy You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

The bill will also include new works from noted filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky, Mike Leigh, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, John Cameron Mitchell and Susanne Bier.

This year also marks the 35th edition of the popular annual celebration of film, and programmers have once again scoured the world for "the best cinema we can find from every part of the globe," Handling told media, donors and industry representatives gathered for the morning announcement.

"To continue to find these gems and to bring them to greater prominence is one of our key roles as a festival," Handling said, citing as an example the Argentine film The Secret in Their Eyes, which arrived at TIFF last year with no distribution deal, but went on to landa deal and critical acclaim that eventually led to its best foreign film win at the Oscars.

"This role of discovery is central to our mission and no doubt there will be similar stories this year," said Handling.

Films to receive lavish gala screenings and their directors include:

• The Bang Bang Club, Steven Silver.
• Barney's Version, Richard J. Lewis.
• Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky.
• Casino Jack, George Hickenlooper.
• The Conspirator, Robert Redford.
• The Debt, John Madden.
• The Housemaid, Im Sang-Soo.
• Janie Jones, David M. Rosenthal.
• The King's Speech, Tom Hooper.
• Little White Lies, Guillaume Canet.
• Peep World, Barry Blaustein.
• Potiche, Franois Ozon.
• The Town, Ben Affleck.
• The Way, Emilio Estevez.
• West is West, Andy De Emmony.

Special presentation screenings include:

• Another Year, Mike Leigh.
• Beginners, Mike Mills.
• The Big Picture, Eric Lartigau.
• Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
• Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance.
• Brighton Rock, Rowan Joffe.
• Buried, Rodrigo Cortes.
• Conviction, Tony Goldwyn.
• Cirkus Columbia, Danis Tanovic.
• Dhobi Ghat, Kiran Rao.
• Easy A, Will Gluck.
• Henry's Crime, Malcolm Venville.
• The Illusionist, Sylvain Chomet.
• In A Better World, Susanne Bier.
• I Saw the Devil, Kim Jee-woon.
• It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden.
• Jack Goes Boating, Philip Seymour Hoffman.
• L'Amour Fou, Pierre Thoretton.
• The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, Andrew Lau.
• Lope, Andrucha Waddington.
• Love Crime, Alain Corneau.
• Made in Dagenham, Nigel Cole.
• Miral, Julian Schnabel.
• Never Let Me Go, Mark Romanek.
• Norwegian Wood, Tran Anh Hung.
• Rabbit Hole, John Cameron Mitchell.
• A Screaming Man, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.
• Stone, John Curran.
• Submarine, Richard Ayoade.
• That Girl in Yellow Boots, Anurag Kashyap.

A host of Oscar winners star in TIFF-bound films, such as Marion Cotillard (Little White Lies), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Robert De Niro (Stone), Helen Mirren (The Debt), Hilary Swank (Conviction)and Javier Bardem (Biutiful).

Other famous faces appearing in films at this year's festival and who might attend include Catherine Deneuve (Potiche and The Big Picture), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack), Colin Firth (The King's Speech), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Keira Knightley (Never Let Me Go),Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version), Rinko Kikuchi (Norwegian Wood) and Kristen Scott Thomas (Love Crime).

TIFF is also introducing two new initiatives this year: the addition of an extra day and, to mark the 35th anniversary, a program of free public screenings of past movies that notably launched at the festival, including Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill, Paul Haggis's Crash and Deepa Mehta's Water.

The free screenings which will befirst come, first served will be offered at the festival's new Lightbox headquarters, set to open during this year's event.

Slightly fewer films, but programs remain

Overall, the number of films to be featured at this year's festival will be slightly less than the 300 promoted earlier by organizers, though more than 50 countries will be represented.

"We've shrunk the festival slightly, in terms of the number of films we'll be selecting, but not a major difference," Bailey noted, adding after the news conference thatthe decision was "to make it a bit more manageable for everyone who is attending. We can't just constantly grow and grow and grow."

Also, after forecasting several years ago that the economic downturn would eventually affect TIFF, "what we have found is that the economy [has] given us fewer films, in some cases, from some countriesas their economies shrink and also maybe smaller-budget films in some cases, as well," he said.

With the exception of the free screenings tied to this year's anniversary, the number of TIFF film programs will remain the same, with the City to City series which sparked controversy last year for its inaugural focus on Tel Aviv to return.

"It's really hard to choose a city that has no controversy whatsoever," Baileysaid, adding that this year's pick will be announced soon.

"We were mindful of what happened last year. We made sure we chose a city ... where we hope people can focus on the filmmaking as opposed to other issues."

The 35th annual TIFFwill take place Sept. 9-19.