My Choices for this Year's Festival

My friend and I made our picks for this year's festival. Remains to be seen until next week how many of our choices we'll actually get. There's still gaps in our schedule, so we'll probably end up adding a few more films, and I'll probably try to fit at least one film in with my girlfriend.

L'Annulaire: After losing her ring finget in an industrial accident, a woman moves to a town where she's soon involved in a triangle with a sailor and a curator who preserves personal effects that trigger memories for people. Based on a Japanese novel by Yoko Ogawa.

Banlieue 13: An undercover cop and a vigilante race to find a stolen neutron bomb in the dystopia of 2010 Paris.

Beowulf and Grendel: An adaptation of Beowulf starring Stellan Skarsgard, Gerard Butler, and Sarah Polley. From Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson.

Everything Is Illuminated: The directorial debut of actor Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate). An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer. Stars Elijah Wood as a man trying to track down the woman who saved his grandfather's life in the Second World War.

Frankie: Follows the drug-fuelled descent of a fashion model played by Diane Kruger (Troy, National Treasure).

Gentille: Follows the relationship of two people.

Linda, Linda, Linda: About Japanese schoolgirls who are trying to put together a performance for their high school festival, covering an 80's Japanese punk hit song. Score by James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Lucid: A psychothreapist who treats victims of post-traumatic stress disorder has to deal with problems in his own personal life.

Mistress of Spices: Stars Aishwarya Rai as a woman running a magical spice shop in Oakland, who finds herself tempted by a customer (Dylan McDermott).

Obaba: A young woman travels to a small Basque town to videotape it for a class assignment, but soon finds herself caught up in some magical happenings.

Opa!: An archeologist (Matthew Modine) travels to a Greek island to find a long buried church, and soon finds himself entranced by the tavern owner under whose establishment the church may lie.

Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnes: A tabloid reporter travels to a small town to investigate some mysterious disappearances.

Souvenir of Canada: Based on the book by Douglas Coupland (Generation X), the movie pays tribute to Canadian pop culture.

Takeshis': Writer/director Takeshi Kitano plays two roles, one his own real-life entertainment persona, Beat Takeshi, and the other a convenience store clerk called Kitano, and the film follows their lives as they continuously intersect and diverge.

Tideland: A young country girl explores her surroundings and meets some interesting characters along the way in Terry Gilliam's film.

La Vie avec Mon Pere: About the reconcilation between two sons and their wayward father.

We Feed the World: Documentary about the food industry around the world.

Winter Passing: An actress (Zooey Deschanel) travels home to visit her estranged father (Ed Harris) and find the love letters he wrote her mother, and finds him under the care of a former grad student and a musician (Amelia Warner and Will Ferrell).

Workingman's Death: Documentary about people doing some of the toughest and most dangerous jobs in the world, from ship breakers in Pakistan to miners in the Ukraine.

You Bet Your Life: A gambler decides to roll dice to make all the decisions in his life.

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