Jazz

The trailer is generating alot of buzz all over....I am guessing this might be Viggo and David C's big break!

Jazz

Viggo's in town here. How do I know? Because my producer at the other station called me and had him on the freakin' phone with me to tell me personally that Eastern Promises is getting a gala presentation at the Film Festival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the press release that was released today:

Arcand, Cronenberg added to T.O. film fest roster
Updated Tue. Jul. 17 2007 3:32 PM ET

Canadian Press

Toronto -- Acclaimed Canadian directors Denys Arcand and David Cronenberg will receive the red-carpet treatment at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.


Organizers announced the full lineup of Canadian talent for the festival at a news conference Tuesday, with Arcand and Cronenberg getting splashy gala presentations for their films.


Arcand, who won an Oscar in 2004 for "The Barbarian Invasions,'' will show "Days of Darkness'' ("L'Age des Tenebres'') about a man who struggles to find his place in life.


The comedy, starring Marc Labreche, was the closing film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.


Cronenberg will screen his thriller "Eastern Promises,'' starring Viggo Mortensen (who was also in Cronenberg's "A History of Violence'') as a Russian mobster whose life is shaken by a midwife, played by Naomi Watts.


Other prominent filmmakers on the festival's roster this year include Guy Maddin, whose "docu-fantasia'' film "My Winnipeg'' stars his mother and was partly filmed in the house where he grew up.


Maddin plans to provide a live narration during screening of the film.


Director Clement Virgo will show his film "Poor Boy's Game,'' which screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February.


Adam Vollick is entering the festival with his documentary "Here Is What Is,'' about Canadian record producer Daniel Lanois's recording sessions with artists including U2.


Francois Girard will show his film "Silk,'' about a silkworm merchant, while Roger Spottiswoode will screen "Shake Hands With the Devil,'' based on retired general Romeo Dallaire's book of the same name.


Previously announced films include Bruce McDonald's "The Tracey Fragments,'' which also showed at the Berlin Film Festival, and Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces,'' which will open the festival.


The 32nd annual Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 6 to 15.

Jazz

Toronto offers homegrown slate
Festival to include Cronenberg, Arcand, Girard
By TAMSEN TILLSON
David Cronenberg's thriller 'Eastern Promises,' starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, will receive a Gala screening at the Toronto fest.


Denys Arcand's 'Days of Darkness' is among the homegrown pics that will screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

TORONTO -- The homegrown slate for the 32nd Toronto Film Festival, unveiled Tuesday, is peppered with offerings from many of the Great White North's most talented auteurs, including David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand and Francois Girard.
Cronenberg's thriller "Eastern Promises," starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, and "L'Age des tenebres" ("Days of Darkness"), from Oscar winner Denys Arcand ("The Barbarian Invasions") will receive Gala screenings at the festival.

The costumer "Silk," directed by Francois Girard ("The Red Violin") and starring Michael Pitt, Sei Ashina and Keira Knightley, will have its world preem as a Special Presentation at the festival, as will the adaptation of Romeo Dallaire memoir "Shake Hands With the Devil," directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Roy Dupuis, and docs "My Winnipeg," from Guy Maddin, and "Here Is What Is," about musician-producer Daniel Lanois, directed by Lanois, Adam Vollick and Adam Samuels.

Also unspooling as a Special Presentation is the North American preem of Clement Virgo's boxing and discrimination drama "Poor Boy's Game," starring Rossif Sutherland and Danny Glover.

Peter Raymont's "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman" has been added to the Real to Reel slate, along with "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," from Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, and John Zaritsky's "The Wild Horse Redemption."

Joining the Contemporary World Cinema slate is Bruce Sweeney's "American Venus"; "All Hat," from Leonard Farlinger; "Breakfast With Scot," from Laurie Lynd; "Contre toute esperance," from Bernard Emond; "The Stone Angel," from Kari Skogland; Allan Moyle's "Weirdsville"; "Nos vies privees," from Denis Cote; and "Normal," directed by Carl Bessai.

Opening the Canada First! program is Martin Gero's directorial debut, "Young People ****ing," an upfront comedy about "four couples, a threesome and a crazy night of sex."

The Canada First! slate, featuring work from this nation's cinematic up-and-comers, also includes "Amal," from 2005 Telefilm Canada Pitch This! competition winner Richie Mehta; "Le Cedre penche," from Rafael Ouellet; "Continental, un film sans fusil," directed by Stephane Lafleur; and Chaz Thorne's "Just Buried."

The work of Quebecois director Michel Brault will be showcased at this year's Canadian Retrospective. In addition to selected screenings of Brault's work, the Toronto Intl. Film Festival Group is publishing a Brault bio penned by Andre Loiselle, "Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec."

Jazz

Viggo's unexpected visit surprised everyone!



The Toronto International Film Festival madness began today with this year’s Canadian press conference—whereas last year we were unprepared for the experience, this year we were ready. We didn’t eat lunch, instead eating our fill of the finger food on offer. Result!

No one was prepared for the appearance of Viggo Mortensen on stage however, discussing perhaps the biggest announcement of the day: Eastern Promises. It makes sense, of course. Last year they had a dude in make-up pretending to be a zombie on stage, so this year, why not a Hollywood star who naturally looks like a zombie? A sexy zombie, we were told my many of the ladies in attendance later, but a zombie nonetheless.

Eastern Promises casts Mortensen as a Russian gangster in London, trapped in the apex of a “chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.” It joins Denys Arcand’s L'Âge Des Tènèbres as a Gala presentation.

Special Presentations include Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, to be accompanied in its screenings by live narration from Maddin himself, Clement Virgo's Poor Boy’s Game, winner of the Telefilm Canada Pitch This! competition in 2001 and Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands With The Devil, based on Lieutenant-General Romèo Dallaire's award-winning book about the Rwandan genocide.

Martin Gero's childishly titled Young People ****ing, a comedy which “intertwines the stories of five twenty-something prototypical couples over the course of one evening,” is the opening film of this year’s Canada First! programme, which also includes 2005 Telefilm Canada Pitch This! winner Richie Mehta’s Amal, Ernie Barbarash's They Wait and Ed Gass-Donnelly's This Beautiful City.

Contemporary World Cinema includes Allan Moyle’s Weirdsville (where Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley play Dexter and Royce—two men who get in over their heads after the overdose of a friend leads them to an abandoned drive-in to dispose of her body), Bruce Sweeney's American Venus and Laurie Lynd's Breakfast With Scot.

Real to Reel includes Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi and VBS producer Eddy Moretti's Heavy Metal In Baghdad, which we hope is more intelligent than the Vice Guide to Travel. Which was just kind of annoying.

Short Cuts Canada presents 43 shorts this year, including A.J. Bond’s Hirsute (a physicist is visited by an arrogant, time-traveling, future version of himself), Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany’s Knights of Atomikaron and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski animated Madame Tutli-Putli.

And finally, his year the Canadian Retrospective showcases the work of director and cinematographer, Michel Brault, and Francis Mankiewicz's Les Bons Débarras is this year's Canadian Open Vault.

Are any of these films going to be any good at all? We honestly have no idea. But we'll endeavour to tell you as our coverage ramps up for TIFF 2007. Right now, satisfy yourself by checking out the festival's website.

Jazz

Cronenberg and Viggo together again
The $30-million Eastern Promise, which reunites the director with his History of Violence leading man Viggo Mortensen, joins Denys Arcand's latest in this year's TIFF gala lineup
GAYLE MACDONALD

With a report from Guy Dixon

July 18, 2007

TORONTO -- Two years after collaborating on the Oscar-nominated film A History of Violence, director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen are set to take the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival by storm with the world premiere of the Russian mob drama Eastern Promises.

At a press conference yesterday, TIFF organizers announced the $30-million-plus feature film, which also stars Naomi Watts, will be a gala presentation, along with Denys Arcand's L'Âge des ténèbres (Days of Darkness) which nabbed the closing-night slot at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Yesterday, Cronenberg said he was thrilled to be part of the festival yet again, telling the crowd packed into the Imperial Room at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel that he doesn't feel like he's actually made the movie, "until it's been shown at the Toronto film festival."

Then the director introduced his leading man, adding that it was sheer luck Mortensen was in town to attend the press conference. "Viggo just happened to be in town doing a little dialogue replacement because we thought his Russian could be refined a little bit more," Cronenberg joked.

Cronenberg added that, while shooting in Britain last fall, the subject matter of the film - it's about the Russian mob in London - suddenly "became rather hot news. In fact, really hot, like radioactively hot."

Both Cronenberg and the actor lived a block away from exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky's building, which was stormed by British police after they detected traces of radioactive polonium. Berezovsky was a close friend of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin who was poisoned with thallium and died last November.

Mortensen told the crowd he viewed his collaboration with Cronenberg on A History of Violence - nominated for two Oscars - as "a very long, and complicated, rehearsal for Eastern Promises.

"I felt very comfortable, right away, with David from the first time. This time, we found a shorthand that meant we could work very quickly and efficiently with each other. We knew the good, the bad, and the ugly about each other," the actor cracked.

Cronenberg added that he often found Mortensen comforting cast-mates who weren't used to the director's style. "I'd see them sobbing in corners, and Viggo saying, 'It's okay. It's okay. He's always like that.'"

As previously announced, Jeremy Podeswa's wartime feature Fugitive Pieces, based on the 1997 novel by Toronto author/poet Anne Michaels and starring Rosamund Pike and Stephen Dillane, is TIFF's opening night gala on Sept. 6, while Toronto-based director Bruce McDonald's' The Tracey Fragments, will have its North American premiere at the 32nd Toronto festival.

TIFF will also highlight eight new Canadian filmmakers in its Canada First! program, which will kick off with Martin Gero's hilarious comedy Young People ****ing (the title self-evident, it follows the sexual escapades of five, twentysomething couples). Also to be unveiled in this category will be Richie Mehta's Amal; Rafaël Ouellet's Le cèdre penché; Stéphane Lafleur's Continental, un film sans fusil; Chaz Thorne's Just Buried; Ernie Barbarash's They Wait; Ed Gass-Donnelly's This Beautiful City; and Robert Cuffley's Walk All Over Me.

Yesterday, the first-time director Gero said he figured if he could manage to keep the title, Young People ****ing, he'd be a shoe-in at the festival. The downside of the lewd title, Gero admitted, is the fact he's got to break it to his grandmother.

"I've carefully avoided that for close to three years now," said Gero. "Plus it's not a musical. She's going to be doubly upset.

"But we had a lot of fun making this film. We wanted to do an adult comedy about sex that wasn't targeted toward virgins. But was [aimed at] people who had actually had sex before."

After the press conference, TIFF co-director Piers Handling said his group stands by the movie name. "We never censor a title," he said. The film already has Canadian distribution (with Montreal-based Cristal) and U.S. distribution (with Thinkfilm).

Eastern Promises, which starting shooting last November in London, follows ruthless gangster Nikolai (Mortensen) who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized-crime families. Written by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), Nikolai's existence is shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Watts), an innocent midwife who unwittingly uncovers potential evidence against the family.

A U.K./Canada joint effort, the film is produced by Paul Webster of Britain's Kudos Films and Robert Lantos of Toronto's Serendipity Point Films. Other co-stars include Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine), Sinead Cusack (V for Vendetta), Donald Sumpter (The Constant Gardener), and Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski (Moonlighting), who plays a police officer involved with the case.

Academy Award-winner Arcand's film stars Marc Labrèche who plays Jean-Marc, a clock-punching Quebec civil servant who escapes from a bad marriage and a dead-end job by indulging in a rich fantasy life. L'Âge des ténèbres also stars Diane Kruger and Rufus Wainwright.

Other special presentations from homegrown talent include Here Is What Is (a feature about the music industry) from Adam Vollick, Daniel Lanois and Adam Samuels; Guy Maddin's personal portrait of his hometown, My Winnipeg; Clement Virgo's racy drama Poor Boy's Game with Rossif Sutherland and Danny Glover; Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands With the Devil (based on Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire's award-winning book about the Rwandan genocide; and François Girard's Silk, about a 19th-century French silkworm merchant (Michael Pitt). The film co-stars Keira Knightley.

This year's Canadian Retrospective pays tribute to Michel Brault, the Québécois director and cinematographer who participated in some of that province's most powerful films, including 1974's Les Ordres (about the October Crisis) and Mon Oncle Antoine. TIFF plans to publish a book on Brault written by André Loiselle, entitled Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec.

Canadian work to be showcased in Contemporary World Cinema include Leonard Farlinger's All Hat, Bruce Sweeney's American Venus, Laurie Lynd's Breakfast with Scot, Bernard Émond's Contre toute espérance, Carl Bessai's Normal, Denis Côté's Nos vies privées, Kari Skogland's The Stone Angel and Allan Moyle's Weirdsville.

Real to Reel will include powerful Canadian documentaries such as Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman (a heartbreaking and hopeful exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy, as seen through the life experiences of acclaimed Chilean-American writer Dorfman); Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti's Heavy Metal in Baghdad (about the lone heavy metal rock band Acrassicauda in Iraq); and John Zaritsky's The Wild Horse Redemption, shot in the desert foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains where hard-core prisoners are given 90 days to tame wild mustangs.

TIFF also announced yesterday that director John Sayles (Honeydripper), actor Tilda Swinton (The Man From London) and actor/writer/director Don McKellar (Childstar) will participate in the 2007 talent lab for 22 emerging Canadian filmmakers.

Mortensen added the film was difficult to shoot, not just because of the subject matter, but because London is so frenetic. "People who see the film will find it a pleasant - and in some cases, not so pleasant - experience."

*****

THE FEST SO FAR

Each summer, the Toronto International Film Festival slowly releases details of the coming festival. What we know so far:

This year's festival runs Sept. 6 to Sept. 15. It opens with a gala presentation of Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces. Festival tickets went on sale July 9.

Films already announced include the corporate thriller Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney; Rendition, another thriller, with Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin; director Neil Jordan's The Brave One, with Jodie Foster; Lars and the Real Girl, starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling; The Girl in the Park, the directorial debut of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Auburn; Then She Found Me, starring Matthew Broderick and Colin Firth in a film by Helen Hunt ; Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett; and No Country for Old Men, the latest from the Coen brothers.

Dates to watch: The lineups for most major programs will be online at TIFF's website (TIFF '07) as of Aug. 21; tickets for galas go on sale the following Saturday.

Jazz

In brief: Cronenberg top-lines Toronto


Staff and agencies
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


On the red carpet... David Cronenberg

New films from David Cronenberg and Denys Arcand will receive the gala treatment at the Toronto International Film Festival. Cronenberg's movie is organised crime thriller Eastern Promises, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, while Arcand's is the comedy L'Âge des ténèbres (The Age of Ignorance), which closed Cannes this year. The festival takes place from September 6-15. Other special presentations will include François Girard's period drama Silk, starring Keira Knightley, Roger Spottiswoode's Rwandan drama Shake Hands With the Devil and Clément Virgo's boxing tale Poor Boy's Game, starring Danny Glover.

Jazz

Toronto offers homegrown slate
Festival to include Cronenberg, Arcand, Girard
By TAMSEN TILLSON
Posted: Tue., Jul. 17, 2007, 12:55pm PT

David Cronenberg's thriller 'Eastern Promises,' starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, will receive a Gala screening at the Toronto fest.

Denys Arcand's 'Days of Darkness' is among the homegrown pics that will screen at the Toronto Film Festival.


TORONTO -- The homegrown slate for the 32nd Toronto Film Festival, unveiled Tuesday, is peppered with offerings from many of the Great White North's most talented auteurs, including David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand and Francois Girard.
Cronenberg's thriller "Eastern Promises," starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, and "L'Age des tenebres" ("Days of Darkness"), from Oscar winner Denys Arcand ("The Barbarian Invasions") will receive Gala screenings at the festival.

The costumer "Silk," directed by Francois Girard ("The Red Violin") and starring Michael Pitt, Sei Ashina and Keira Knightley, will have its world preem as a Special Presentation at the festival, as will the adaptation of Romeo Dallaire memoir "Shake Hands With the Devil," directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Roy Dupuis, and docs "My Winnipeg," from Guy Maddin, and "Here Is What Is," about musician-producer Daniel Lanois, directed by Lanois, Adam Vollick and Adam Samuels.

Also unspooling as a Special Presentation is the North American preem of Clement Virgo's boxing and discrimination drama "Poor Boy's Game," starring Rossif Sutherland and Danny Glover.

Peter Raymont's "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman" has been added to the Real to Reel slate, along with "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," from Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, and John Zaritsky's "The Wild Horse Redemption."

Joining the Contemporary World Cinema slate is Bruce Sweeney's "American Venus"; "All Hat," from Leonard Farlinger; "Breakfast With Scot," from Laurie Lynd; "Contre toute esperance," from Bernard Emond; "The Stone Angel," from Kari Skogland; Allan Moyle's "Weirdsville"; "Nos vies privees," from Denis Cote; and "Normal," directed by Carl Bessai.

Opening the Canada First! program is Martin Gero's directorial debut, "Young People ****ing," an upfront comedy about "four couples, a threesome and a crazy night of sex."

The Canada First! slate, featuring work from this nation's cinematic up-and-comers, also includes "Amal," from 2005 Telefilm Canada Pitch This! competition winner Richie Mehta; "Le Cedre penche," from Rafael Ouellet; "Continental, un film sans fusil," directed by Stephane Lafleur; and Chaz Thorne's "Just Buried."

The work of Quebecois director Michel Brault will be showcased at this year's Canadian Retrospective. In addition to selected screenings of Brault's work, the Toronto Intl. Film Festival Group is publishing a Brault bio penned by Andre Loiselle, "Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec."

S.A.S.H.A.

Cool.

Sasha

HappySquared

Thanks for all the news Jazz. Aw he looks good in red.

Jazz

He does...and all dressed down and such. I just wish I was there. Alas, at least he was on the phone with me.

HappySquared

Aw, I am so jealous once again!

Jazz

Yes, you should be. Not everyday you get to hear the good news from the man itself.

There are a ton of more articles about the gala. Here are some:

In brief: Cronenberg top-lines Toronto

Staff and agencies
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

New films from David Cronenberg and Denys Arcand will receive the gala treatment at the Toronto International Film Festival. Cronenberg's movie is organised crime thriller Eastern Promises, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, while Arcand's is the comedy L'Âge des ténèbres (The Age of Ignorance), which closed Cannes this year. The festival takes place from September 6-15. Other special presentations will include François Girard's period drama Silk, starring Keira Knightley, Roger Spottiswoode's Rwandan drama Shake Hands With the Devil and Clément Virgo's boxing tale Poor Boy's Game, starring Danny Glover.

Cronenberg and Viggo together again
The $30-million Eastern Promise, which reunites the director with his History of Violence leading man Viggo Mortensen, joins Denys Arcand's latest in this year's TIFF gala lineup
GAYLE MACDONALD

With a report from Guy Dixon

July 18, 2007

TORONTO -- Two years after collaborating on the Oscar-nominated film A History of Violence, director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen are set to take the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival by storm with the world premiere of the Russian mob drama Eastern Promises.

At a press conference yesterday, TIFF organizers announced the $30-million-plus feature film, which also stars Naomi Watts, will be a gala presentation, along with Denys Arcand's L'Âge des ténèbres (Days of Darkness) which nabbed the closing-night slot at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Yesterday, Cronenberg said he was thrilled to be part of the festival yet again, telling the crowd packed into the Imperial Room at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel that he doesn't feel like he's actually made the movie, "until it's been shown at the Toronto film festival."

Then the director introduced his leading man, adding that it was sheer luck Mortensen was in town to attend the press conference. "Viggo just happened to be in town doing a little dialogue replacement because we thought his Russian could be refined a little bit more," Cronenberg joked.

Cronenberg added that, while shooting in Britain last fall, the subject matter of the film - it's about the Russian mob in London - suddenly "became rather hot news. In fact, really hot, like radioactively hot."

Both Cronenberg and the actor lived a block away from exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky's building, which was stormed by British police after they detected traces of radioactive polonium. Berezovsky was a close friend of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin who was poisoned with thallium and died last November.

Mortensen told the crowd he viewed his collaboration with Cronenberg on A History of Violence - nominated for two Oscars - as "a very long, and complicated, rehearsal for Eastern Promises.

"I felt very comfortable, right away, with David from the first time. This time, we found a shorthand that meant we could work very quickly and efficiently with each other. We knew the good, the bad, and the ugly about each other," the actor cracked.

Cronenberg added that he often found Mortensen comforting cast-mates who weren't used to the director's style. "I'd see them sobbing in corners, and Viggo saying, 'It's okay. It's okay. He's always like that.'"

As previously announced, Jeremy Podeswa's wartime feature Fugitive Pieces, based on the 1997 novel by Toronto author/poet Anne Michaels and starring Rosamund Pike and Stephen Dillane, is TIFF's opening night gala on Sept. 6, while Toronto-based director Bruce McDonald's' The Tracey Fragments, will have its North American premiere at the 32nd Toronto festival.

TIFF will also highlight eight new Canadian filmmakers in its Canada First! program, which will kick off with Martin Gero's hilarious comedy Young People ****ing (the title self-evident, it follows the sexual escapades of five, twentysomething couples). Also to be unveiled in this category will be Richie Mehta's Amal; Rafaël Ouellet's Le cèdre penché; Stéphane Lafleur's Continental, un film sans fusil; Chaz Thorne's Just Buried; Ernie Barbarash's They Wait; Ed Gass-Donnelly's This Beautiful City; and Robert Cuffley's Walk All Over Me.

Yesterday, the first-time director Gero said he figured if he could manage to keep the title, Young People ****ing, he'd be a shoe-in at the festival. The downside of the lewd title, Gero admitted, is the fact he's got to break it to his grandmother.

"I've carefully avoided that for close to three years now," said Gero. "Plus it's not a musical. She's going to be doubly upset.

"But we had a lot of fun making this film. We wanted to do an adult comedy about sex that wasn't targeted toward virgins. But was [aimed at] people who had actually had sex before."

After the press conference, TIFF co-director Piers Handling said his group stands by the movie name. "We never censor a title," he said. The film already has Canadian distribution (with Montreal-based Cristal) and U.S. distribution (with Thinkfilm).

Eastern Promises, which starting shooting last November in London, follows ruthless gangster Nikolai (Mortensen) who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized-crime families. Written by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), Nikolai's existence is shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Watts), an innocent midwife who unwittingly uncovers potential evidence against the family.

A U.K./Canada joint effort, the film is produced by Paul Webster of Britain's Kudos Films and Robert Lantos of Toronto's Serendipity Point Films. Other co-stars include Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine), Sinead Cusack (V for Vendetta), Donald Sumpter (The Constant Gardener), and Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski (Moonlighting), who plays a police officer involved with the case.

Academy Award-winner Arcand's film stars Marc Labrèche who plays Jean-Marc, a clock-punching Quebec civil servant who escapes from a bad marriage and a dead-end job by indulging in a rich fantasy life. L'Âge des ténèbres also stars Diane Kruger and Rufus Wainwright.

Other special presentations from homegrown talent include Here Is What Is (a feature about the music industry) from Adam Vollick, Daniel Lanois and Adam Samuels; Guy Maddin's personal portrait of his hometown, My Winnipeg; Clement Virgo's racy drama Poor Boy's Game with Rossif Sutherland and Danny Glover; Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands With the Devil (based on Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire's award-winning book about the Rwandan genocide; and François Girard's Silk, about a 19th-century French silkworm merchant (Michael Pitt). The film co-stars Keira Knightley.

This year's Canadian Retrospective pays tribute to Michel Brault, the Québécois director and cinematographer who participated in some of that province's most powerful films, including 1974's Les Ordres (about the October Crisis) and Mon Oncle Antoine. TIFF plans to publish a book on Brault written by André Loiselle, entitled Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec.

Canadian work to be showcased in Contemporary World Cinema include Leonard Farlinger's All Hat, Bruce Sweeney's American Venus, Laurie Lynd's Breakfast with Scot, Bernard Émond's Contre toute espérance, Carl Bessai's Normal, Denis Côté's Nos vies privées, Kari Skogland's The Stone Angel and Allan Moyle's Weirdsville.

Real to Reel will include powerful Canadian documentaries such as Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman (a heartbreaking and hopeful exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy, as seen through the life experiences of acclaimed Chilean-American writer Dorfman); Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti's Heavy Metal in Baghdad (about the lone heavy metal rock band Acrassicauda in Iraq); and John Zaritsky's The Wild Horse Redemption, shot in the desert foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains where hard-core prisoners are given 90 days to tame wild mustangs.

TIFF also announced yesterday that director John Sayles (Honeydripper), actor Tilda Swinton (The Man From London) and actor/writer/director Don McKellar (Childstar) will participate in the 2007 talent lab for 22 emerging Canadian filmmakers.

Mortensen added the film was difficult to shoot, not just because of the subject matter, but because London is so frenetic. "People who see the film will find it a pleasant - and in some cases, not so pleasant - experience."

*****

THE FEST SO FAR

Each summer, the Toronto International Film Festival slowly releases details of the coming festival. What we know so far:

This year's festival runs Sept. 6 to Sept. 15. It opens with a gala presentation of Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces. Festival tickets went on sale July 9.

Films already announced include the corporate thriller Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney; Rendition, another thriller, with Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin; director Neil Jordan's The Brave One, with Jodie Foster; Lars and the Real Girl, starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling; The Girl in the Park, the directorial debut of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Auburn; Then She Found Me, starring Matthew Broderick and Colin Firth in a film by Helen Hunt ; Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett; and No Country for Old Men, the latest from the Coen brothers.

Dates to watch: The lineups for most major programs will be online at TIFF's website (TIFF '07) as of Aug. 21; tickets for galas go on sale the following Saturday.

This article mentioned EP...I just cut out the part that did.

Halifax-made films to roll in T.O.
Two projects by Thorne, Shake Hands with the Devil to screen at festival

""TIFF is the launching pad for a lot of Canadian filmmakers and it’ll be an opportunity to rub elbows with some of the best filmmakers in the world,"" said Thorne. ""It’s extremely flattering because it was an extremely competitive year with so many Canadian films.""

Meanwhile, director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen, who made a splash at the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago with A History of Violence will be back at this year’s festival with their new movie Eastern Promises.

"I’m very happy to have been able to work with David again," Mortensen, dressed casually in a red T-shirt, denim pants and sneakers, said Tuesday at a news conference.

The film stars Mortensen as a Russian mobster whose life in London is shaken by a midwife, played by Naomi Watts.

Cronenberg said their London shoot "suddenly became rather hot news, in fact, really hot — like radioactively hot" because they were filming near a building owned by exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, where experts found traces of polonium, a radioactive element.

Cronenberg was "very excited" to see that his film will get the red-carpet treatment at the festival.

"I’ve had quite a few films in the festival and I don’t feel that I’ve actually made the movie until it’s been shown at the Toronto film festival," he told reporters at the hotel news conference.

Jazz

The first press conference for the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival kicked off this week, and it's already got me excited for the festivities to come. Waiting for the festival is kind of like waiting for Christmas Day, except it lasts for like 10 days.

On-hand this year for the press conference, which announces all the Canadian titles that will be screening at the festival, were Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg for David's new film Eastern Promises.

Personally though I was more excited about films like Silk, by director François Girard, the comedy Young People *****ing by Martin Gero, This Beautiful City by Ed Gass-Donnelly, and Just Buried by Chaz Thorne.

On top of that there's just 48 days left until the festival kicks off, so I'm starting to realize I'm not only excited, but I've also got to start planning interviews, photo sessions, and setting up the site for everything.

Stay tuned folks - a lot more to come.

Arcand, Cronenberg added to roster for Toronto film festival
July 17, 2007 - 17:17

By: VICTORIA AHEARN

TORONTO (CP) - Director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen, who made a splash at the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago with "A History of Violence" will be back at this year's festival with their new movie "Eastern Promises."

"I'm very happy to have been able to work with David again," Mortensen, dressed casually in a red T-shirt, denim pants and sneakers, said Tuesday at a news conference.

The film stars Mortensen as a Russian mobster whose life in London is shaken by a midwife, played by Naomi Watts.

Cronenberg said their London shoot "suddenly became rather hot news, in fact, really hot - like radioactively hot" because they were filming near a building owned by exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, where experts found traces of polonium, a radioactive element.

Cronenberg was "very excited" to see that his film will get the red-carpet treatment at the festival, which runs Sept. 6 to 15.

"I've had quite a few films in the festival and I don't feel that I've actually made the movie until it's been shown at the Toronto film festival," he told reporters at the hotel press conference.

Denys Arcand, who won an Oscar in 2004 for "The Barbarian Invasions," will also received a gala at the festival for his film "Days of Darkness" ("L'Age des Tenebres"), about a man who struggles to find his place in life.

The comedy, starring Marc Labreche, was the closing film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Other prominent Canadian filmmakers on this year's festival roster - one filled with "local heroes," according to festival chief executive Piers Handling - include Guy Maddin, whose "docu-fantasia" film "My Winnipeg" stars his mother and was partly filmed in the house where he grew up.

Maddin plans to provide a live narration during screening of the film.

Director Clement Virgo will show his film "Poor Boy's Game," which screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

Canadian record producer Daniel Lanois turns the camera on himself in the documentary "Here Is What Is," where he, along with filmmakers Adam Vollick and Adam Samuels, document recording sessions with artists including U2, Sinead O'Connor and Aaron Neville.

"It's all about capturing the moment and so that's what we really went after," said Lanois, who clipped small security cameras onto musical instruments in the studios to get some of the footage.

Francois Girard will show his film "Silk," about a silkworm merchant, while Roger Spottiswoode will screen "Shake Hands With the Devil," based on retired general Romeo Dallaire's book of the same name.

Previously announced films include Bruce McDonald's "The Tracey Fragments," which also showed at the Berlin Film Festival, and Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces," which will open the festival.

The 32nd annual Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 6 to 15.

Canada films at Toronto festival have global view
Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:37 PM EDT

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.

Jazz

Cronenberg gets gala treatment at TIFF
Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Article tools

Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival announced this year's lineup of Canadian talent to a lavish room full of industry types yesterday afternoon amidst munchies and drinks.

David Cronenberg's thriller, Eastern Promises, topped the TIFF list as a 2007 gala presentation. Cronenberg and the film's star, Viggo Mortensen, awkwardly expressed their delight at being included as a gala again, after success with A History of Violence in 2005.

"I don't feel like I've really made the movie until it's been shown at the Toronto Film Festival," Cronenberg said, before begging Mortensen to say "something, anything" to the crowd.

He said he was very happy to be attending for the third time, and reminisced about his first TIFF experience.

"I knew about the Toronto film festival, but I didn't realize how much it takes over," he said. "The city itself is transformed."

Organizers also announced that Denys Arcand's Days of Darkness will enjoy gala treatment, wrapping up Arcand's trilogy that includes The Decline of the American Empire, and 2004's Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions.

TIFF programmer Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo said the Canadian lineup -- especially the 43 short films she helped program -- offer a vibrant picture of Canada.

"I'm really proud of how this year's Shortcuts Canada reflects Canada's diversity," she said. "We have eight provinces represented: films from Newfoundland, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and Quebec. We also have three aboriginal filmmakers in the program."

Toronto-based director Clement Virgo said he had to tell one of these stories. TIFF 2007 will present his feature film Poor Boy's Game, which takes on diversity in physical terms.

"I think racism is going to be a dominant issue in this country over the next half a century," said Virgo. "There are so many immigrants, there are so many people of colour. I think the new issue is multiculturalism, and that's what the film is about."

Other films announced as part of the Canadian bill include My Winnipeg, from director Guy Maddin, and Silk, from Francois Girard.

S.A.S.H.A.

Ooh, all that reading comes with a picture.

Sasha