TIFF 2009: The New Additions...

Click images to enlarge...

Director Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" and Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning "The White Ribbon" have now been added to this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) lineup, running September 10-19 in Toronto.

Both features will make their North American premieres as part of TIFF's 'Masters' program.

Over 300 films will screen @ TIFF this year, singling out Australia, the Middle East and Israel.

Film-makers set to attend this year's Fest include Werner Herzog, Steven Soderbergh, Jane Campion, Joel and Ethan Coen, Jean-Marc Vallée, Michael Moore, George A. Romero, Johnnie To and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Actors attending will include George Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Michael Douglas, Viggo Mortensen, Demi Moore, Michael Sheen, Mads Mikkelsen, Liam Neeson, Chris Rock and Naomi Watts.

Celebrities accompanying films will include Oprah Winfrey, Sacheen Littlefeather and rap star Snoop Dogg.

TIFF has increased the total number of films featured this year to 335, to screen in 18 different programs.

The final addition of film titles will include Margarethe von Trotta's "Vision", Jaco Van Dormael's "Mr. Nobody", Rachel Perkins "Bran Nue Dae", Sarah Watt's "My Year Without Sex" and Pema Tseden's "The Search"...

Brightlight Bails Out Of BC...

BC-based Brightlight Pictures, noted for producing a series of Uwe Boll-directed feature films, has decided to bail out of British Columbia, setting up shop in Ontario because of the province's new tax credits that offer a 25 per cent credit on the total cost of production.

BC offers tax incentives on labour costs alone, traditionally only half the budget of a feature.

"We've lost three independent feature films between $9.5 and $15 million that have all shifted out east," said Brightlight's Shawn Williamson.

Brightlight has now set up production offices in Toronto, reportedly moving half of its staff out of BC...

TIFF 2009: Galas And Special Presentations...

Click images to enlarge...

"Love And Other Impossible Pursuits", starring actress Natalie Portman, directed by Don Roos, will have its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film festival.

Premise of "Love," adapting author Ayelet Waldman's novel, follows a newlywed Harvard Law School grad's attempt to connect with her new stepson.

Other Galas include writer/director Rodrigo Garcia's "Mother and Child," starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington, Carlos Saura's "I, Don Giovanni," Matthias Emcke's "Phantom Pain", Grant Hezlov's "Men Who Stare at Goats", Jan Kounen's "Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky" and Alejandro Amenabar's "Agora".

"The Joneses," starring Demi Moore, directed by Derrick Borte screens in Special Presentations, as well as Christian Carion's "L'Affaire Farewell," Dev Benegal's "Road, Movie", Claire McCarthy's "The Waiting City", Giuseppe Tornatore's "Baaria" and He Ping's "Wheat".

Special Presentations will also include the North American premieres of John Hillcoat's "The Road", starring Viggo Mortensen, Miguel Ateta's "A Single Man", Ahmed Maher's "The Traveler", starring Omar Sharif and Werner Herzog's "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done"...

Swank Takes Off As "Amelia"...

Click images to enlarge...

As Sneak Peek first reported October 2007, "Amelia" is the Canadian-lensed feature, based on the life of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, starring actors Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor and Virginia Madsen, directed by Mira Nair based on a script by Ronald Bass.

Bass wrote the script using several books on Earhart as sources including author Susan Butler's "East to the Dawn", Mary S. Lovell's "The Sound of the Wings" and Elgin Long's "Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved."

The new film chronicles Earhart's rise to fame and her relationship with husband 'George Putnam'.

Historically, Earhart was the first woman to receive the 'Distinguished Flying Cross' for flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean, authored best-selling novels about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of 'The Ninety-Nines' organization for women pilots.

Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937.

TIFF 2009: Romero @ Free Screening Of "Night Of The Living Dead"...

Click images to enlarge...

Genre director George A. Romero, will host a free screening of his classic feature film "Night Of The Living Dead" @ this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

TIFF will also be launching a series of free films, with director Jonathan "Silence Of The Lambs" Demme, @ Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square.

Romero will appear at the screening of his 1968 feature "Night of the Living Dead', Sept 12, Demme will host the screening of his concert film "The Neil Young Trunk Show", Sept. 14 and Baez will perform Sept. 18 at the screening of her new doc "American Masters - Joan Baez".

Other screenings include concert/musical films "Stop Making Sense", "Rattle and Hum", "The Last Waltz" and "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man".

Actress Isabella Rossellini has adapted her shorts, "Green Porno", about how insects mate, into a special installation including video/sculptures of sea creatures, offering a free talk/screening, Sept. 10.

The 34th Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10 to 19.

Sneak Peek the 1968 trailer of Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead" and a trailer for Rossellini's "Green Porno"...

LG FilmFest Offering $100,000 Prize...

Click images to enlarge...

LG Electronics have announced their inaugural LG Life’s Good FilmFest , an HD short film festival, enlisting the support of Oscar-winning actor Jamie "Ray" Foxx at a launch event August 11 @ Toronto's Manulife Centre, Panorama Room.

Foxx discussed his own experiences breaking into show business and helped to preview the festival for prospective filmmakers/news media.

“There really is no other film festival like the LG Life’s Good FilmFest,” said Tim Barnes, marketing director, LG Electronics Canada.

“The concept is simple: an engaging HD short film festival with no entry fee and the chance to win incredible cash prizes. We’re absolutely thrilled that Jamie could join us to help launch the festival, as his amazing work in film, comedy and music really exemplifies the spirit and talent the FilmFest will no doubt attract.”

Aspiring film makers from around the world can submit their LG Life’s Good FilmFest HD films into one of four categories: Animation, Fashion & Music, Sports and Narrative.

Each HD entry must be no longer than five minutes in length and express a positive, uplifting message that conveys the notion that “Life’s Good.”

There will be four prizes awarded. Three of the four category winners will receive $10,000 Canadian in prize money. The fourth category winner, who is chosen as the overall winner, will receive the grand prize of $100,000 Canadian in prize money.

The entry deadline is 5 pm Eastern Standard Time, Oct. 16, 2009. Each submission will be judged and winners announced January 2010.

The LG Life’s Good FilmFest was inspired, in part, by LG’s new series of HDTVs...

John Hughes: "Don't You Forget About Me"...

Click images to enlarge...

According to reports, a new 75-minute, low-budget feature doc, "Don't You Forget About Me", focusing on late writer/director John "Ferris Bueller" Hughes, has been snapped up by distributor Alliance Films of Montreal.

Toronto film-maker Matt Austin-Sadowski says the feature looks at the life and work of Hughes, creator of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles", lensed during a road trip in which Austin-Sadowski and producers Kari Hollend, Mike Facciolo and Lenny Panzer drove to Illinois to track down the reclusive director.

Actors interviewed in the doc include Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Mia Sara, Kelly LeBrock and Andrew McCarthy.

Hughes' 'muse', actress Molly Ringwald, who shares a February 18 birthday with the director (as well as yours truly), reportedly refused to participate in the project.

Sneak Peek the trailer from John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club"...

"Suck" @ TIFF- September 11...

Click images to enlarge...

As Sneak Peek first reported December 2008 , the Toronto-lensed comedy horror feature "Suck" from Capri Vision Inc., a division of Capri Films, is written/directed by Canadian musician/actor Rob Stefaniuk - featuring acting turns from rockers Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins and Moby, following a group of rock ‘n’ roll wannabes in search of immortality and a record deal.

"...Seemingly doomed to roadtrip doldrums and dives, the band 'The Winners' break their slump when their female bass player disappears one night with a studly, stylin’ vampire. She returns charged with sexual charisma that creates audience frenzy and eventually ensnares the rest of the band. Their “hook” launches them to fame. But fame turns out to be a different kind of Hell than AC/DC promised.

Following an 'incident' on a national radio show with 'Rockn’ Roger', The Winners hit mega-stardom beyond their wildest dreams. But 'Joey' is haunted by an eerie bartender with a dark secret. And legendary vampire hunter, 'Eddie Van Helsing' (Malcolm "A Clockwork Orange" McDowell) , is on their tail tracking them down despite his fear of the dark..."

"Suck" is produced by Robin Crumley and Jeff Rogers, co-producer is Victoria Hirst, executive producers Gabriella Martinelli, Jeff Sackman, Brad Peyton and Terry Markus.

"Suck" will have its World Premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's 'Contemporary World Cinema' programme, Friday September 11, 2009...

Mandeville Has The Perfect "Alibi"...

Click images to enlarge...

Mandeville Films and comic book publisher Top Cow are developing a feature version of the Top Cow comic book "Alibi".

Mandeville's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce.

"Alibi" follows a 'socialite' whose public presence establishes the perfect alibi for the covert activity of a secret twin brother.

"Wanted", an adaptation of another Top Cow title, earned $340 million worldwide theatrically, while Top Cow's "Witchblade" was developed into a Toronto-lensed TV series by TNT.

"Alibi" was created by Top Cow president Matt Hawkins/Michael Renegar, written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and illustrated by Jeremy Haun.

Top Cow CEO/founder Marc Silvestri will exec produce "Alibi" with Hawkins and Mandeville VP David Manpearl...

Sneak Peek trailers for "Wanted" and the "Witchblade" TV series compilation...

August Highlights @ Toronto's NFB Mediatheque...

Click images to enlarge...

The National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque wraps up its 70th anniversary summer program with the feature docs "Nollywood Babylon" and "Waterlife", a night of short films, animation workshops, day camps and free access to 5,000 NFB titles through digital viewing stations.

The NFB Mediatheque is located at 150 John Street in Toronto.

"Nollywood Babylon" will have its Toronto theatrical premiere, August 11, 12 & 13 at 7 pm, with co-director Samir "Discordia" Mallal in attendance for a Q&A, August 11.

"...Nigeria’s film industry “Nollywood” is the third largest in the world – an unstoppable force that is now bursting beyond the borders of Africa. Unfazed by low budgets, enterprising filmmakers create a brash, inventive and wildly popular form of 'B-movie'. An official selection at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, 'Nollywood Babylon' delivers an electric vision of Lagos, Africa’s leading metropolis, and a revealing look at the powerhouse that is Nigerian cinema..."

A World of Shorts, in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre, offers screenings August 19 at 7 pm.

"...The Mediatheque’s popular monthly short-film program spotlights comedy titles including the hilarious 'Walk the Dog', starring 'Being Erica’s Erin Karpluk as a woman who learns the simple – and simply outrageous – truth about cats and dogs while on a park stroll with her boyfriend.

"Waterlife", screening August 25, 26 & 27 at 7 pm, offers director Kevin McMahon in attendance for a Q&A, August 27.

"...Winner of the 'Hot Docs 2009 Special Jury Prize' for Canadian Feature, this beautifully shot documentary screened in 35mm follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, telling the story of the last huge supply of fresh water on Earth. Filled with fascinating characters and stunning imagery, 'Waterlife' is a cinematic poem about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted. Narrated by Gord Downie, lead vocalist of 'The Tragically Hip' and Waterkeeper Trustee of Lake Ontario. Featuring music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno..."

Digital viewing stations access over 5,000 NFB docs and animation titles in English and French, including new releases "Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary", award winners "The Danish Poet" and "Ryan", festival hit "Manufactured Landscapes" and "The Log Driver’s Waltz", "The Sweater" and "The Cat Came Back"...

Cronenberg Directing "Cosmopolis"...

Click image to enlarge...

According to reports from TorontoFilm.Net, Canadian filmmaker David "Scanners" Cronenberg will adapt/direct author Don DeLillo's 2003 novel "Cosmopolis", for producer Paulo Branco's Paris-based Alfama Films and Cronenberg's Toronto-based Antenna Ltd.

Premise of the book focuses on 28-year-old billionaire 'Eric Packer', a 'financial wizard', who attempts to cross Manhattan in a luxuriously equipped stretch limo, encountering a presidential visit, public protest and celebrity funeral, forcing him to conduct his business and personal affairs from the vehicle.

Cronenberg will shoot the feature in New York and Toronto in 2010...

Lionsgate Cuts A Deal For "Saw VII"...

Click images to enlarge...

According to reports from TorontoFilm.Net, Lionsgate has greenlit "Saw VII" for a January 2010, Toronto production start.

David Hackl, production designer of "Saw 2", "3" and "4" is attached to direct for "Saw" producers Mark Burg/Oren Koules, from a screenplay by regular "Saw" writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton.

The five Toronto-lensed "Saw" features have grossed more than $700 million worldwide.

Lionsgate controls "Saw" rights in North America and the United Kingdom.

The first feature, based on a 2003 short film by James Wan and Leigh Whannel, was shot in 2004, written/directed by Wan, after an 18 day shoot.

Premise of that film revolved around two kidnapped men, locked in an industrial bathroom with a dead body, then given instructions related to escaping, while police detectives attempt to apprehend the "Jigsaw Killer" criminal responsible for the abduction...

Sneak Peek James Wan's original "Saw" short film and the official trailer from the first feature...

ABC Takes A Shine To Toronto's "Copper"...

Click image to enlarge...

Developed by Thump Inc. and produced in partnership with Canadian indie studio/distributor, E1 Entertainment, "Copper" (working title), started production in Toronto July 14 and will continue shooting in and around the GTA through to November 2009.

The one-hour, 13-episode series, commissioned by Canwest and picked up by the ABC Television Network during development, will be simulcast on Global and ABC.

"...'Copper' is a workplace drama about five young rookie cops just out of the police academy. They have bonded together, fought together, drank together, worked together and slept together. Now they're on the job together.

They're kids with guns, experiencing firsthand the hardest kind of policing there is. They are first responders, and they are about to learn that no amount of training prepares you for life..."

"The entire Copper team have crafted an exciting,innovative new twist on the traditional cop franchise," said Noreen Halpern, President, Dramatic Programming, E1 Entertainment.

"This project is unusual. While it was originally developed with Canwest, ABC has been actively involved, early on, since the pitching stage. The result has been a series with a truly international sensibility."

Vancouver-born actress Missy "Reaper" Peregrym stars as 'Andy McNally', "...a young woman who has grown up fast and carries a gun, but feels like a fraud half the time. She comes from a police family and all she's ever wanted to beis a cop. A born rescuer, Andy is the soul of the close-knit group of five rookie officers plunged into the high stakes world of big city policing - a world where even the smallest mistake can have life-or-death consequences..."

Co-starring is Canadian actor Gregory "Everwood" Smith, whose character, 'Dov Epstein', is the thrill-seeker in the group, thoroughly 'jacked' to be a cop.

Enuka "24" Okuma plays 'Traci Nash', a girl from a working class family raised in a tough neighbourhood, a serious party girl and a single mother.

Travis "My Green House" Milne is 'Chris Diaz', a clean-cut police poster boy with a wicked temper.

Charlotte "M.V.P." Sullivan is 'Gail Peck', the group's politico, whose mother is a superintendent next in line to be Chief of Police...

Milla Shoots For "Resident Evil: Afterlife"...

Click images to enlarge...

According to reports, actress Milla Jovovich will reprise her survivor character 'Alice' for the fourth "Resident Evil" movie, titled "Resident Evil: Afterlife", scheduled for a Toronto start, September 28.

Originally a Capcom video game series, created by Shinji Mikami, selling 40 million games as of May 2009, other "Resident Evil" spin-offs have included comic books, novelizations and action figures.

The first feature, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson,released in 2002, grossed $102 million worldwide, focusing on amnesiac affected heroine 'Alice' and a squad of 'Umbrella Corporation' commandos, as they attempted to escape a secret underground facility overrun with zombies.

The new film will pick up after the events of "Resident Evil: Extinction", the Mexican-filmed 2007 sequel focusing on Alice and a group of survivors from 'Raccoon City', as they travel across the Mojave desert wilderness to Alaska, staying one step ahead of a 'zombie apocalypse'.

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" will be released September 17, 2010...

TIFF Opening With "Creation"...

Click image to enlarge...

Michael Stevens reporting from Toronto...

Director Jon Amiel's feature "Creation", a film on evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, will open the 34th Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 10.

"This intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day," said Toronto fest director/CEO Piers Handling.

Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the bio-pic stars actor Paul "Gangster One" Bettany as the English author of "The Origin of Species", with Jennifer "A Beautiful Mind" Connelly playing his wife 'Emma'.

The screenplay by John Collee adapts the book "Annie's Box," written by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes.

The film was developed by the Recorded Picture Co., BBC Films and the UK Film Council.

This year's TIFF announced three galas and 19 special presentations.

Galas include Aaron Schneider's "Get Low," starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek, the biopic "Max Manus," focusing a Norwegian resistance fighter and Lee Daniels' "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

World premiere features currently seeking US distribution rights through this year's TIFF film market include director Neil Jordan's "Ondine," starring Colin Farrell, "Solitary Man," starring Michael Douglas, "Cracks," starring Eva Green, "Leaves of Grass," starring Ed Norton, "Valhalla Rising", romance "The Vintner's Luck", Raoul Peck's "Moloch Tropical" and Bruce Beresford's "Mao's Last Dancer," starring Joan Chen.

Special presentations include Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!", Jane Campion's "Bright Star", Rachid Bouchareb's "London River"; Bong Joon-ho's "Mother", Yousry Nasrallah's "Scheherazade Tell Me a Story", Bruno Dumont's "Hadewijch" and Catherine Corsini's "Partir".

Ubisoft Plugs Into Toronto...

Click images to enlarge...

France-based videogame maker Ubisoft Entertainment SA, with a studio in Montreal, is now set to open a Toronto studio later this year, reportedly creating 800 jobs over 10 years, according to the Ontario Liberal government.

Ontario will invest $263 million over 10 years in the company, with Ubisoft expected to invest over half a billion.

Meanwhile, according to reports from Big Game Hunter, the Montreal studio of Ubisoft continues collaborating with Canadian film director James "Aliens" Cameron on a new game crafted as an extension of his upcoming tent-pole feature "Avatar."

"Ubisoft didn't want to just put something flashy on the screen," said Cameron.

They wanted a soul behind the videogame...The world of the 'Avatar' game is, in some ways, considerably richer than what you are going to see in the film."

"We are learning from the best," said Yannis Mallet, head of Ubisoft's Montreal studio.

"The film and videogame industries are on lines that are not quite parallel, so let's anticipate that the talents are converging and building collaboration, so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

Ubisoft was free to create its own characters, vehicles and weapons for the video game, as well as embellish settings on the fictional moon 'Pandora' where the film story is set.

Inspired by author Edgar Rice "Tarzan" Burroughs' "John Carter Of Mars" fantasy book series, "Avatar" is set during the 22nd century on a small moon called 'Pandora', inhabited by ten foot blue humanoids called 'Na'vi'. Humans cannot breathe Pandoran air, so genetically engineered human/Na'vi hybrids known as 'Avatars' are controlled via a mental link.

In 2008, Ubisoft bought Montreal-based Canadian special effects firm Hybride, which worked on animated action films "300" and "Sin City."

Ubisoft also revealed that the company will be working on projects with directors Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg on a new "Tintin" game, timed to the release of that feature in 2011...

Toronto Film Production Update...

Click image to enlarge...


Features:

"SPICE IT UP"
June 20 – Aug. 10/09

"THE DOGFATHER"
July 13 - Aug. 7/09

"SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD"
Mar. – Aug./ 09

TV Series:

"AARON STONE"- Season 2
June 23 – Oct. 23/09

"BEING ERICA"
June 1 – Oct. 16/09

"BRIDGE, THE"- Season 1
Apr. – Aug. /09

"BLOODLETTING"
June 29-Sept. 23/09

"BORDER, THE"
June 1 – Oct. 15/09

"COPPER"- Season 1
July 13 – Dec. 1/09

"DEGRASSI: The Next Generation"- Season 9
May 19 – Oct. 28/09

"FLASHPOINT"- 2
Jan. 7 – Aug. 4/09

"HAPPY TOWN"- Season 1
Aug. – Oct. 2/09

"LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE"
May 13 – Sept. 4/09

"9" Character Posters On The Rag...

Click images to enlarge...

Take a look at the new character posters from Focus Features, supporting producer Tim Burton's upcoming CG feature "9", directed by Shane Acker @ Toronto's Starz Animation, a Canadian production company that recently received a $23 million boost from the Ontario provincial government.

Adapting Acker's 2005 computer animated Academy Award-nominated short film, the new movie will be distributed by Focus Features, following a 'sentient' rag doll, the last of its kind, living in the ruins of a decaying parallel world, hunted relentlessly by a mechanical beast that has already killed eight other rag dolls by stealing their souls with a canister-like talisman.

Rag doll '9', accompanied by his friend and mentor, the one-eyed '5', scavenged the ruins of their world in search of tools that would help them survive, before the monster suddenly appeared and attacked 5, stealing his soul, with 9 narrowly escaping.

In an attempt to destroy the monster, 9 prepares a trap, luring the monster into an old building where it is briefly subdued, allowing 9 to steal its talisman.

But the monster breaks free and chases 9 through the building, cornering him onto a wooden plank elevated high above the floor.

Just as the monster approaches, 9 leaps to safety, knocking the plank down as the monster plummets to the floor impaled by the plank.

After setting up a memorial for the other rag dolls, 9 puts two talismans together to create a larger canister that releases the souls of all the monster's victims, including 5.

Before vanishing, 5 turns to 9 and gives him an approving one-eyed wink and a nod, with 9 setting off for parts unknown, leaving the canister behind...