TIFF 2010 Schedule

So it's almost that time again. I received confirmation of my advance ticket order, and this year, I got all the films I requested. Barring last minute changes, here's my expected schedule:

Thursday September 9

Film Socialism (Godard)

Inside Job (Ferguson)

Friday September 10

The Way (Estevez)

Guest (Guerin)

Saturday September 11

Erotic Man (Leth)

The King's Speech (Hooper)

Stone (Curran)

Jucy (Alston)

Sunday September 12

Made in Dagenham (Cole)

Conviction (Goldwyn)

The Illusionist (Chomet)

Monday September 13

Tamara Drew (Frears)

The Game of Death (Nick & Bornot)

Of Gods and Men (Beauvois)

Tuesday September 14

Miral (Schnabel)

Beautiful Boy (Ku)

The Sleeping Beauty (Breillat)

Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt)

Wednesday September 15

Amigo (Sayles)

Blue Valentine (Cianfrance)

Anything You Want (Mañas)

Hard to pick one film from a list like this and say it is what I'm most looking forward to, but Blue Valentine has been on my radar since Cannes. Look for reviews at 1More Film Blog.

TIFF Coverage at Christianity Today Movies

I'm happy to announce I'll be doing some guest blogging for Christianity Today (CT Movies). You can follow my posts at the CT Movies Blog.

Tentative 2009 TIFF Schedule

Well, I got my Out of Town Package from the Toronto International Film Festival today, and spent most of the day figuring out what my itinerary will be. Now, the question is what will happen if I lose out on any of these in the lottery.

Here's what I put in for:

THURSDAY SEP 10:

6:00-7:40 An Education--Sherfig (Ryerson)

FRIDAY SEP 11:

12:30-2:51 Face--Tsai (Scotiabank 1)
6:00-7:50 Vision--von Trotta (Scotiabank 2)
9:00-11:04 Fish Tank--Arnold (Scotiabank 2)

SATURDAY SEP 12:
11:45-1:22 My Tehran For Sale--Moussavi (AMC 7)
3:15-4:56 The Art of the Steal--Argott (AMC 2)
5:15-7:40 White Ribbon--Haneke (Scotiabank 1)
9:15-10:50 The Disappearance of Alice Creed--Blakeson (Ryerson)

SUNDAY Sep 13:
9:30-11:30 Bright Star--Campion (Scotiabank 2)
12:30-2:17 Dorian Gray--Parker (Winter Garden)
9:00-11:00 Air Doll--Koreeda (Scotiabank 2)

MONDAY Sep 14:
10:00-11:30 Solitary Man--Koppelman (Scotiabank 2)
3:00-5:00 The Road--Hillcoat (Scotiabank 2)
5:00-7:00 Agora--Amenabar (Scotiabank 1)
8:15-9:51 Life During Wartime--Solondz (Scotiabank 1)

TUESDAY Sep 15:
9:30-11:14 Wild Grass--Resnais (Scotiabank 4)
12:30-2:03 Carmel--Gitai (Scotiabank 2)
6:30-8:12 White Material--Denis (Scotiabank 1)
9:15-10:51 Lourdes--Hausner (Scotiabank 1)

WEDS Sep 16:
9:15-10:40 Leslie, My Name is Evil--Harkema (Scotiabank 4)

Still Walking (2008)

I've completed my write-ups of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival with a review of Kore-eda's Still Walking. Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet at Looking Closer for the review space.

Lorna's Silence (2008)

My review of the new film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is now available at Looking Closer.

Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for the review space.

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

Many thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for sharing blog space over at Looking Closer. Here is a link to my review for Wendy and Lucy at that site.

Two Legged Horse (2008)

Jeffrey Overstreet has graciously uploaded my review of Samira Makhmalbaf's Two Legged Horse. Here's the link to his blog, Looking Closer.

More TIFF Reviews.

Jeffrey Overstreet at Looking Closer has been graciously providing me with space for some reviews of films at Toronto.

He has uploaded my review of Three Monkeys by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Peter Sollet. More to come.

And thanks to Green Cine Daily for the blurb!

Apron Strings (2008)

Jeffrey Overstreet over at Looking Closer has once again graciously provided me with review space for selected films from the Toronto International Film Festival.

First up, Apron Strings, a nice little discovery from New Zealand about two families, one white, one of Indian descent, and how food acts as a focal point for an examination of the ways environment (familial or cultural) can and can't be escaped.

Leaving On a Jet Plane...

On the way to the airport.

Next stop, Toronto.

First up: Three Monkeys by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Waiting is the Hardest Part...

Word out of Toronto is that the advance ticketing has begun.

Fedex says it delivered my booklet this morning, but I don't know what bin number I am in. The TIFF website says that the lottery showed they would begin with bin #9. Since there were over 40 yesterday, I assume my bin number is somewhere in the 60s or higher. Not a great draw, but past experience tells me that if I have a number of films scheduled at non-peak hours or in larger venues, I have a good shot.

The only film I specifically remember getting shut out of was Manufactured Landscapes (my friend Doug swapped me his ticket and rushed it) and that was at the smaller Isabel Bader venue. So that may not bode well for the Agnes Varda retrospective. But I've got a lot of films scheduled at the Scotia Bank or the Varsity (though, curiously, not too many at the Ryerson this year), and those theaters are huge.

September Christmas

My friend Darren Hughes once described the day the Toronto Film Festival Out of Town Package arrives as a second Christmas. That's true enough, and it combines the hope and optimism of a new sports season as well. All the films will be great, and you get to make lists not see what you got.

It's a time of anxiety, though, too. Will the package get here? (Mine was late and I had to go to work, meaning it was sitting at home as I was teaching and I had to pore over the catalog to get my picks in so that I could FedEx my requests right back.)

Then there is the mix of euphoria (what a new Kore-eda that I hadn't realized would be playing!) followed by despair (Barbet Schroeder joins Paul Schrader and Agnes Varda as people whose new films I will miss as they play after I've left to get back to my real job.)

Then there is the anxiety of juggling as you realize that, oh, say, the Dorsky short films are playing at the same time as the new Linklater and the new Reichardt and the new Denis. Sheesh, I can practically hear Ursula the sea witch in the back of my head cackling with glee, "Life's full of tough choices, innit?"

With the help of the catalog before me, the schedule book map and the online guide (as well as an MS-Word Table to sort), I've managed to make my selections. Now, I send it off and hope and pray I get all my choices (or at least certain key ones that can't be juggled because they are only playing once while I'm there like, oh, say Lorna's Silence.)

Tentative Schedule

Friday

9:15-11:04	3 Monkeys	Scotia Bank 4
12:00-2:02	Sky Crawlers	Scotia Bank 1
4:00-5:30	Apron Strings	Scotia Bank 2
6:30-8:10	35 Rhums	Scotia Bank3

Saturday

12:30-1:53	Sauna	Scotia Bank 4
4:00-5:47	Me and Orson Welles	AMC 3
6:00-7:30	Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist	Ryerson

Sunday

10:00-11:27	Examined Life	AMC 9
12:45-2:05	Wendy and Lucy	Scotia Bank2
3:15-5:02	Afterwards	Scotia Bank 2
6:00-7:45	Lorna’s Silence	Scotia Bank 1
9:15-10:30	Of Time and the City	AMC 6

Monday

9:15-11:09	Still Walking	Scotia Bank 1
12:15-2:15	Disgrace	Scotia Bank 1
3:30-5:35	Seraphine	Scotia Bank1
6:15-7:55	Terence Davies Trilogy	Varsity 3
9:00-10:37	At the Edge of the World	AMC 10

Tuesday

12:00-1:41	Two Legged Horse	Scotia Bank 4
3:00-4:45	More than a Game	AMC 6
6:30-8:00	La Pointe Courte	Jackman

Hey, I may not get the new Varda, but perhaps I can end my festival with a Varda introduced Varda retrospective.

Biggest disappointment: Well, missing the Schrader and Varda films, though I hope both get distribution as seems likely.

Hardest Cut: The Dorsky Wavelength session. Man those hour sessiosn at the Jackman just totally screw your schedule. And Friday night is an obscenity of riches.

Film I'm Most Likely to Miss Even If I Get All My Choices: Inevitably sleep deprivation, the need to write or eat or catch up with someone and network ends up costing you one or two films out of twenty. (I think I screened 18 last year): Afterwards, Sauna, or Apron Strings. They each look interesting but made the final cut as much for their proximity in time and location to something that was an anchor than for anything I knew about the film. Still, it's hard to pass up a film that is described as a cross between Tarkovsky and Eli Roth.

Film that Would Most Screw Up My Festival Experience if I Got Shut Out of--Lorna's Silence.

Actor I Would Most Like to Show up at a Q&A--I guess John Malkovich, since he's in two films that I'm screening.

Film I Would Be Least Disappointed to Get Shut Out of: Nick and Nora. I'm sure it will get disribution, and I was the only person in America who didn't like Juno. Still, got to have some lighter fare mixed in.

That Grinding Noise You Hear...

...is my teeth.

The official schedule for The Toronto International Film Festival came out today, and it turns out that both Paul Schrader's and Agnes Varda's new films will not open until Wednesday the 10th in the evening, which means I will miss them both.

Oh, well, here's hoping they get distribution. Perhaps I will discover a new favorite auteur in their stead.

Toronto International Film Festival 2008 Countdown

16 days and counting.

TIFF 2008 announced the full slate of films today. I haven't done an exhaustive look yet, but with a preliminary glance, here are the films I'm most anxious to try to get tickets for:

Two Legged Horse -- Samira Makhmalbaf (Contemporary Cinema)
The Terence Davies Trilogy--Terence Davies (Dialogues)
Adam Resurrected--Paul Schrader (Masters)
Of Time and the City--Terence Davies (Masters)
Le Silence de Lorna--Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Masters)
Les Plages de Agnes--Agnes Varda (Masters)
Three Monkeys--Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Masters)
The People Speak: A Howard Zinn Documentary Project (Mavericks)
Witch Hunt--Dana Nachman and Don Hardy (Real to Reel)
Inju, la bête dans l'ombre--Barbet Schroeder (Special Presentations)
Me and Orson Welles--Richard Linklater (Special Presentations)
Miracle at St. Anna--Spike Lee (Special Presentations)
Sarabande and Winter--Nathaniel Dorsky (Wavelengths I)

I'm sure that list will be tweaked as I get and peruse the catalogue.

You may all envy me now.

Festival Awards

I have not seen the new film Bella, but just about every site or blog has picked up the talking point that it won an award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

A word on these awards. Most of them are tabulated through slips of paper given to the viewers who can then drop them off (or not) in boxes outside the theater doors.

In two years, I have never voted.

One friend who attends told me he'll vote if it is an independent film that won't otherwise get backing.

Of course, this format also means that results of such polls depend on the day of the screening(s), the theater (some festival auditoriums hold substantially more patrons than others) and the rate of return.

A single viewer who was so inclined could influence voting by collecting ballots from indifferent voters, and a single usher who is more or less pushy could also effect the outcome.

All of which is to say, the next time you hear an advertisement about an audience award at a festival, take it with a grain of salt.

Toronto International Film Festival Wrap Up

My festival overview/wrap up is now available at The Matthews House Project.

Here is the link.

My Kid Could Paint That

Last but not least, my review of My Kid Could Paint That is now available at Looking Closer. Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for providing review space.

Here is a link.

Miscellaneous TIFF 2007 Notes

I got (and still am) sick on my last day. Surprising it doesn't happen more with all the finger food eating, walking around and congregations of people. Still it sort of sucks.

As a rule TIFF doesn't play previews, but I find myself strangely looking forward to "Death Shark."

Not sure how it works at other festivals, but I wouldn't take too seriously the various awards based on voting. This can have a lot more to do with what venue and time a film is playing at, how many people actually vote, if they are in a hurry to get to the next film, etc.

TIFF 2007: Day Five (America's Real Artist Laureate)

My last full day at the festival ran the gamut from an earnest but faltering first film to the sure hand of an accomplished master.

No Country for Old Men
I've got a review coming of this elsewhere, so for right now I'll say that despite not being a huge fan of the Coens nor of McCarthy, I was won over by the film. Javier Bardeem's performance will probably be argued about and over, but this is a function, I think of his character rather than his abilities...but more on that later. It does have some stylized violence, but it last the "isn't that clever" irony of Fargo or Blood Simple, and as a result the violence actually served the themes of the film rather than just its style. I'll probably see this again. Oh, and I was afraid, very afraid of Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Bell. I thought he'd be too smug. He wasn't. Jones is terrific.

When did You Last See Your Father
Earlier this month, I watched "The Young Lions" on cable just because I wanted to see Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in the same film. If anyone watches "When did you Last See Your Father?' thirty years from now, it will probably be to see Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth together on screen. I love both, though Firth was limited by the film's flashback heavy scenes and Broadbent by the gamut of films about larger than life but flawed fathers in recent years. I confess the main thing I realized walking out of this film was just how good last year's "The Squid and the Whale" was at elevating the genre. Good to see Juliet Stevenson get some work, too. But a little too literary and a little too well trodden ground.

Battle in Seattle
I didn't like this film much, and I'll have to give more thought to why I didn't. I had a good talk with Doug Cummings over dinner, and one thing we discussed was the capacity of politically evangelical films to annoy rather than inspire. That's a bit too simplistic, though. This film is earnest but still too morally satisfied with itself. "Last week, people didn't know what GATT was" one anarchist says to another in a fine bit of self-referential criticism, "now...they still don't know what it is, but they know its bad."

Honeydripper
I've got a review coming out soon, so I'll just say that I loved this film. Another great work by one of my favorite filmmakers. A new John Sayles film is a cause to rejoice. A few days ago, one guy introducing film had the temerity to suggest Alan Ball was threatening to make himself America's new poet laureate. Hah. Now John Sayles, on the other hand, is someone about whom that claim could be made without it sounding silly, in fact....

Persepolis

Jeffrey Overstreet has graciously provided me some review space over at the Looking Closer blog for my further thoughts about Persepolis.

You can read it here.