First batch of Toronto Film Festival entrants revealed

June 28, 2008
by Alex Billington

As much as I love the Sundance Film Festival, it does only come once a year. As a perfect compliment to that fest, the Toronto International Film Festival takes place every September and is just as fun and exciting of a festival. This marks their 32nd year and promises to be one of the best with an already intriguing line-up of films revealed. Although none of these films announced in this first batch of titles really stands out, except for one, The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, I’m interested in discovering new films that I haven’t yet become familiar with. As a brief introduction to the festival that is set to begin on September 4th this year, we’ve listed the first few titles that were announced in their diverse line-up.

As was already mention, Kim Jee-woon's The Good, The Bad, The Weird debuts in the Gala Presentation at the festival. Most films announced this week are from Cannes, including the following award winners: Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or winner Entre les Murs (The Class), Catherine Deneuve's Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale), Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys, Jean-Pierre Dardenne's and Luc Dardenne's Le Silence de Lorna, Steve McQueen's Hunger, Walter Salles' and Daniela Thomas' Linha de Passe. Additional films from Cannes include: Atom Egoyan's Adoration, Terence Davies' Of Time and the City, Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, Sergey Dvortsevoy's Tulpan, Bent Hamer's O'Horten, and Pablo Trapero's Lion's Den.

Other films showing at the festival include: Jia Zhang-ke's 24 City, Jerzy Skolimowski's Four Nights with Anna, Juraj Lehotský's Blind Loves, Lisandro Alonso's Liverpool, Barry Jenkins' Medicine for Melancholy, Gabriel Medina's The Paranoids, Matthew Newton's Three Blind Mice, Pablo Larraín's Tony Manero, Federico Veiroj's Acne, Amos Kollek's Restless, and Götz Spielmann's Revanche. The remaining line-up for the complete festival will be revealed entirely on Wednesday, July 23rd.

So far there’s a good selection, but I’m anxious to see what else will show up. I’m hoping Fernando Meirelles’s Blindness, Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, The Coen Brother’s Burn After Reading, Steven Soderbergh’s Che, Pierre Morel’s Taken and Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna will also debut there, as I’m very excited to see all of those films in a festival setting. Although we’re still in thick of the summer movie season, I always keep independent movies on my mind. I’m very excited for the Toronto Film Festival to swing around because it really kicks off the Oscar season of films usually with a great line-up. Last year Juno, Michael Clayton, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and In the Valley of Elah all premiered at the festival. Stay tuned for our coverage and much more closer to September!