Thursday, August 20, 2009

Final Films for Contemporary World Cinema

The final films were announced today for the festival:

In the Contemporary World Cinema programme:

  • 25 Carat, from Patxi Amezcua, about the criminal underworld in Barcelona.
  • Adrift, from Bui Thac Chuyen, about a newly married Vietnamese couple exploring the boundaries of their relationship.
  • Ajami, from Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, set in a Palestinian community in Jaffa.
  • At the End of Daybreak, from Ho Yuhang, about two young people from different strata in society and their relationship that soon spirals out of control.
  • Backyard, from Carlos Carrera, about a policewoman investigating the murder of factory workers.
  • Balibo, from Robert Connolly, about a reporter who goes searching for his missing colleagues in East Timor in 1975.
  • Bran Nue Dae, from Rachel Perkins, based on a stage musical about young love and Aboriginal identity.
  • Castaway on the Moon, from Lee Hey-jun, a suicidal person becomes stranded on an island in the middle of Seoul's Han River.
  • Cell 211, from Daniel Monzon, about a new prison guard caught up in the middle of a riot, with the prisoners unaware of his true identity.
  • Deliver Us from Evil, from Ole Bornedal, about a young couple who encounter violence after moving to the country.
  • Dogtooth, from Yorgos Lanthimos, about three siblings raised at home by their over-protective parents.
  • The Double Hour, from Giuseppe Capotondi, a psychological thriller revolving around a couple caught up in an art heist.
  • Help Gone Mad, from Boris Khlebnikov, a modern take on Don Quixote.
  • I Am Not Your Friend, from György Pálfi, a film made up of a number of stories centered around romantic relationships.
  • If I Knew What You Said, from Mike Sandejas, about the relationship between a rebellious teenage girl and a deaf boy who loves to dance.
  • Jean Charles, from Henrique Goldman, about a young Brazilian girl who comes to London in 2005 to live with her cousin, with the two of them soon to be caught up in the bombings of that year.
  • The Last Days of Emma Blank, from Alex van Warmerdam, about a rich woman waited on hand-and-foot by her family, who are just waiting for her to die so they can inherit her wealth.
  • My Year Without Sex, from Sarah Watt, about a family that forgoes sex for a year.
  • Le Père de mes Enfants, from Mia Hansen-Løve, about a film producer who's life falls apart, leaving it to his wife to pick up the pieces.
  • Prince of Tears, from Yonfan, set in 1950 and about Taiwan's White Terror, an anti-communist campaign.
  • Same Same but Different, from Detlev Buck, about a young German man that falls in love with an HIV-positive Cambodian girl.
  • The Search, from Wan Ma Cai Dan, a road movie set entirely in Tibet, filmed by a local crew, in the Tibetan language.
  • Tales from the Golden Age, from Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Maria Uricaru, Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu and Constantin Popescu, a collection of scenes set in the communist era in Romania.
  • V.O.S., from Cesc Gay, a comedic film-within-a-film about love and friendship.

The final films for the Masters programme were also announced:

  • Antichrist, from Lars von Trier, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe.
  • Carmel, from Amos Gitaï, in which he reflects on his own life.
  • Honeymoons, from Goran Paskaljevic, about two young couples travelling abroad to realize their dreams, only to have them dashed.
  • Hotel Atlântico, from Suzana Amaral, about an unnamed man who wanders through southern Brazil and his encounters.
  • Melody for a Street Organ, from Kira Muratova, about two orphaned siblings who travel to Moscow to search for their father.
  • Le Refuge, from François Ozon, about a pregnant young woman who seeks refuge at a seaside home with her brother after the death of her partner.
  • Vincere, from Marco Bellocchio, about the early years of Benito Mussolini
  • Vision, from Margarethe von Trotta, about Hildegard von Bingen, a Benedictine nun who was also a writer, a scientist, and a composer among many other talents.
  • White Material, from Claire Denis, about French ex-pats trying to defend their African coffee plantation in the midst of a civil war.
  • The White Ribbon, from Michael Haneke, the Palme d'Or winning film about strange happenings in a German town on the eve of the first world war.
  • The Window, from Buddhadeb Dasgupta, about a man who decides to replace a broken window in his old school, only to have things go completely awry.

In the Special Presentations programme:

  • Mr. Nobody, from Jaco Van Dormael, starring Jared Leto as the world's oldest and last mortal man in 2092, who is on the verge of death. Also stars Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham and Rhys Ifans.

In the Discovery programme:

  • Crab Trap, from Oscar Ruiz Navia, looking at life in a small costal village in Colombia.
  • Mall Girls, from Katarzyna Roslaniec, about a country girl starting in a new school in the city, who must learn to survive in her new environment.
  • The Man Beyond the Bridge, from Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, about the consequences when a man befriends and then impregnates a mad woman living in the forests of India.
  • Nora, from Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, with Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire starring in a fable based on her own life and shot on location in Southern Africa. Screened with Saint Louis Blues, from Dyana Gaye, a musical about a cab ride from Dakar to Saint Louis.

In the Sprockets Family Zone programme:

  • Timetrip: The Curse of the Viking Witch, from Mogens Hagedorn, about a brother and sister who travel through time and Danish history.
  • Under the Mountain, from Jonathan King, based on Maurice Gee's novel, about two twinfs who must save the world.

In the Vanguard programme:

  • She, A Chinese, from Xiaolu Guo, follows a young woman as she travels from rural China to London. Won the Golden Leopard Grand Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival.

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My experiences at the Toronto International Film Festival. Note this blog is not affiliated with the Toronto International Film Festival Group or the festival itself.
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