I panicked a bit on the way down, fearing lateness, but alas, I was the first guest to arrive at the Four Seasons for the (26th) Toronto International Film Festival's opening press conference. I had brought my ally Lloyd with me--he makes a splash. Lloyd's DJ instincts kicked in as he attempted to kill time by noodling riffs on the piano in the Regency Ballroom's waiting area. We eventually hook up with an old acquaintance who has tried with valour in the past to spur my hometown's interest in lesser-seen cinema; our conversation continues inside the spacious though humid ballroom over free beer and pastries.
The itinerary is predictable once the crowd is hushed: Managing Director Michèle Maheux, Festival Director Piers Handling, and various sponsors all borrowed the mic at some point to announce the partial line-ups for programmes new and old and re-establish ticket ordering protocol (July 16 if you're a VISA cardholder, July 23 for walk-in sales; the box office is now located at the Eaton Centre). That said, the T.I.F.F.'s kick-off selection, which is traditionally from a major Canadian director and whose announcement has always climaxed the opening press conference during my tenure, remains a mystery. I hope that's not a bad omen.
A brief rundown of features secured thus far, by category:
Galas
- Last Orders (dir. Fred Schepisi, stars Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Ray Winstone)
- Dark Blue World (dir. Jan Svêrák)
- Hearts in Atlantis (dir. Scott Hicks, stars Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin)
- No Man's Land (dir. Danic Tanović)
Masters
- Eric Rohmer's L'Anglaise Et Le Duc
- Ken Loach's The Navigators
- Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day
- Shohei Imamura's Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse
- Manoel de Oliviera's Je Rentre à la Maison
Wavelengths (new; avant-garde film)
Featuring the works of Robert Breers, Matthias Müller, Stan Brakhage, and others.
Nordic Visions (new)
Italian For Beginners (dir. Lone Scherfig; Dogme 95-certified)
Asia
- Hirokazu Kore-Eda's Distance
- Ryosuke Hasiguchi's Hush!
- Stanley Kwan's Lan Yu
- Wang Chao's The Orphan of Anyang
- Shinobu Yaguchi's Waterboys
- Hsiao Ya-chuan's directorial debut Mirror Image
- Kim Kiduk's Address Unknown
Jean-Pierre Lefebvre: Vidéaste (new)
"...includes four of Jean Pierre Lefebvre's 20 feature films, as well as L'âge des Images, a sustained investigation of the cultural signs of contemporary life consisting of five videos--four essays of 50 minutes in length and a short fictional feature--created by Lefebvre between 1993 and 1995. In honour of Jean Pierre Lefebvre: Vidéaste, the Festival is publishing a monograph on Lefebvre compiled by Peter Harcourt." (media notes)
Canadian Open Vault
Phillip Borsos' The Grey Fox
Last, but not least, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will live-score F.W. Murnau's 1921 silent Nosferatu according to the original Hans Erdmann orchestrations. All the fun runs from September 6-15, so get ready! -Bill Chambers
