Creation to Open Festival

The festival announced that Creation, a film based on the life of Charles Darwin and starring real-life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, will open the festival this year. This year is the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

As Chandra Menard at blogTO noted (http://www.blogto.com/film/2009/07/tiff_unveils_galas_and_opening_night_film/), this is an unusual choice as it is a UK, not a Canadian film.

Usually, the festival chooses a Canadian film to open the festival:

2008: Passchendaele from Paul Gross
2007: Fugitive Pieces from Jeremy Podeswa
2006: The Journals of Knud Rasmussen from Zacharias Kunuk
2005: Water from Deepha Mehta
2004: Being Julia from István Szabó
2003: Les Invasions Barbares from Denys Arcand

Menard quotes Piers Handling as reaffirming the festival's commitment to Canadian film, and that the Canadian lineup will be announced within the next few weeks.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff