Toronto International Film Festival
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“PARTICIPATORY ETHNOGRAPHY” — TORONTO’S WAVELENGTHS 3: LET EACH ONE GO WHERE HE MAY
A pair of bare feet was wedged though the gap between seats in front of me, ankles casually crossed and toes silhouetted against the screen, for Let Each One Go Where He May, the third experimental Wavelengths program at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. The screening was devoted to the World Premiere of a single 135-minute 16mm work by American filmmaker Ben Russell?. The film has no translated dialogue and no traditional narrative. It is made up of ten 13-minute shots of two men walking and is described by programmer Andréa Picard as an “intervention” into culture and landscape. This […]
by Livia Bloom Ingram on Sep 15, 2009 -
“GOING GREEN” – TORONTO’S WAVELENGTHS 2: PRO AGRI
Plastic bags cost $.05 here in Toronto this year, a determinedly “pro-agri” city if ever there was one. In the second Wavelengths program, five directors explored themes of, in, and around the natural world. A sputtering soundtrack accompanied a tiny, spunky film, Lumphini by Thai director Tomonari Nishikawa, a speedy, black-and-white collection of still photographs documenting trees, plants, and leaves from a 140-acre Bangkok park in on gorgeous 35mm. In Cordão Verde (Green Belt, pictured above), Hiroatsu Suzuki and Rossana Torres document the pastoral Portugal countryside, while in Tamalpais, Canadian filmmaker Chris Kennedy uses a draughtsman’s landscape grid to break […]
by Livia Bloom Ingram on Sep 15, 2009 -
LEE DANIELS’S “PRECIOUS”: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE By Jason Guerrasio
In this excerpt of our interview with Lee Daniels on his award-winning film Precious, which will be in the upcoming Fall issue, Jason Guerrasio talks to the director-producer about his connection with the book the film is based on, molding first-time actor Gabby Sadibe into Precious and his conflicts with the crew while making the film. Precious screens at the Toronto International Film Festival this evening and will be in theaters in November. Filmmaker: Did reading Push bring back any memories of what you went through growing up in Philly? Lee Daniels: I had not experienced the things that Precious […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 13, 2009 -
“IT’S ALL ABOUT WAVES” — TORONTO’S WAVELENGTHS 1: TITANS
The first 2009 Wavelengths Program (or Programme, as the Canadians say) was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). It’s a sophisticated building, one that spent years shrouded in mystery and scaffolding, and has only just revealed its new Gehry glory. Organized this year by talented film programmer Andréa Picard, Wavelengths is an annual extensive program of avant-garde cinema that is screened in six parts during the course of the Toronto International Film Festival. The Festival’s first installment, titled Titans, was an artful collection of films that that varied widely in technique, from an architectural piece by Heinz Emigholz […]
by Livia Bloom Ingram on Sep 12, 2009 -
WHAT WE’VE HEARD SO FAR…
Even big time festivals goof up sometimes, Steven Soderbergh has finished his documentary on Spalding Gray and buzz builds for Tom Ford’s A Single Man.
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 12, 2009 -
TORONTO 09: CAMPION & KUSAMA
Over at our Toronto page, check out interviews with Bright Star‘s Jane Campion and Jennifer’s Body‘s Karyn Kusama. Both films are currently screening at the festival and will be out in theaters next week.
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 11, 2009 -
Jane Campion’s Bright Star
Chaste is not a word often associated with the films of Jane Campion. From the boudoirs of The Portrait of a Lady to the rough frontier bedrooms of The Piano (1993), Campion is known for her steamy, sultry visions of intimacy. But in her latest film, Bright Star, the only female filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or puts the gloves on, telling the tale of British poet John Keats and his love, Fanny Brawne, with modesty and restraint. Keats died at the age of 25, before he could find the critical and financial success to wed his beloved. Yet Brawne, […]
by Livia Bloom Ingram on Sep 11, 2009 -
TORONTO 09: FILMS FOR THE TAKING
indieWIRE has compiled a list of 145 titles that will be for sale at Toronto. Some of them with big name talent attached — Don Roos’ Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, with Natalie Portman, Atom Egoyan’s Liam Neeson-Julianne Moore thriller Chloe and Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime. TIFF ’09 has the makings of a buying bonanza. We’ll be on the scene if anything goes down. Head over to our dedicated page throughout the fest.
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 10, 2009 -
KARYN KUSAMA’S “JENNIFER’S BODY” By Scott Macaulay
Here’s the way it used to be. You made an edgy, well-received independent film, one that showed your facility to tell a story and work with actors, and the smart Hollywood scripts — quality writing that required the touch of someone outside the system — would arrive in those expensively-printed agency binders. And that’s the way it seemed to be playing out for Karyn Kusama, who made an excellent debut with her gritty, low-budget Girlfight, a female boxing movie that launched the movie career of Michelle Rodriguez. But then a couple of things happened. First, her follow-up, Aeon Flux, was […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 9, 2009 -
51 MUST-KNOWS
Toronto Life lists the 51 hotspots that you should be aware of if you want to survive TIFF 09. From where to get coffee to where you can see the celebs this is an essential guide. They also have a list of bars that have received licenses to stay open past last call during the fest.
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 9, 2009
