Intelligent comedies that blend sports jokes, gay jokes and a touching story about a really cute kid are hard to find. In fact, nearly impossible. Breakfast with Scot accomplishes all three without ever relying on cheap gags, stereotypes or clichés. Plus, the acting is great.

Tom Cavanaugh is pitch-perfect as the closeted ex-Maple Leaf, who along with his partner Sam (Ben Shenkman) finds himself the reluctant temporary dad of fey 11 year old Scot (played by talented newcomer Noah Bernett). Of course, the boy's presence in their lives forces them to examine their own identities, as they struggle to help him find his.

Outside the theatre before the film began, a woman approached me to ask ?is this the one that everyone is begging for a ticket to downstairs?? When I said it was Breakfast With Scot, she replied with ?Yep, that?s the one. I love it when people get so excited they?re begging for tickets! I?ve done that!? Indeed, so have most avid TIFF attendees. Breakfast With Scot is one of those movies that?s worth lining up for.

On hand to answer audience questions and comments at last night?s absolutely packed house at the Scotiabank Theatre were director Laurie Lynd, along with Cavanaugh and Bernett.

When an audience member asked Bernett what it felt like seeing himself on screen, he joked ?It feels just like watching a movie, kind of. It doesn?t really feel weird, and I know what?s coming next, always?.

Cavanaugh got on stage a few moments after the other two, just in time to answer what the most fun part of making the movie was for him. He pondered for a second then said ?hmm, kissing Ben Shenkman or playing hockey. One of the two!?

Responding to questions about what drew them to the project, Lynd cited ?the great story, based on the novel by Michael Downing, adapted into a wonderful screenplay by Sean Raycraft?, also adding that he really identified with Scot ? ?I wasn?t that flamboyant but there was some of me in there?. Cavanaugh mentioned getting to play hockey on screen (apparently, Lynd was relieved that the actor is not only a fan of the sport, but also a pretty good skater), while Bernett quipped ?It was a job?.

The film screened with an absolutely charming short called No Bikini (pictured, right) about a girl who, at the age of seven, pretends to be a boy for six glorious weeks of swimming classes, simply by not wearing the top of her two-piece bathing suit. the film is visually delightful and the story is heartwarming. It reminded me of being a little girl myself, and once seriously asking whether I could be a boy when I grew up, because they seemed to have all the fun.

Check out the second screening of Breakfast With Scot and No Bikini on Tuesday Sept 11, 9:00am at the Scotiabank Theatre.

It may be a cliché, but it?s true: few things are sexier than an honest, hard working cowboy. If that cowboy happens to also run a program that rehabilitates prison inmates by teaching them to train wild mustangs, well, it?s pretty much love at first sight. The Wild Horse Redemption is a film that?s hard not to fall in love with.   

The program is designed to save at least some of the tens of thousands of wild horses in the American southwest ? a rapidly growing population that simply can?t be housed on range lands. Of course, the program doesn?t just save horses. It also saves the men who participate.

?There are similarities between the wild horses and the inmates,? says Brian Hardin, the capable cowboy who runs the program. Director John Zaritsky spent six months shooting at the Canon City prison facility, and the result is a stunning and deeply touching documentary that asks a very tough question ? can two wild creatures ? a prison inmate and a wild mustang ? help each other find peace, tranquility, and perhaps a better life?  

Zaritsky came to Toronto for the premiere of the film with four of the men who work in the program ? when the four took the stage after the screening, in their matching cowboy hats, shiny belt buckles, tight jeans and boots, the audience?s applause was long and heartfelt. These men are the genuine article, and they do their work with passion and heart that can be felt throughout the film.   

The program has been going on since 1986, and though there aren?t any statistics on how many of the inmates don?t re-offend after participating, estimates place it at 50% - compared to the 80% who return to prison without a program like this.  

Of course, the audience was curious to find out what happened to Jon Peterson, an inmate profiled in the film, and his horse Samson.  

Director Zaritsky answered: Jon is still in a halfway house ? working at his landscaping job. Samson is now in a long-term facility being looked after and I guess I should let everybody know I?ve decided to adopt him.

The Wild Horse Redemption screens again on Wednesday Sept. 12 at 9:30pm at  the ROM, and Friday Sept. 14 at 11:45am at the Varsity.

"It's the first artificially intelligent actor." say  Peter Lynch of the star of his most recent work, A Short Film about Falling.

There's little denying that Max Dean's chair is engaging and committed (two things a director loves to see in a lead). The filmmakers took time to talk talk with Sarah Milroy, who wrote about  the chair (as well as Dean and Lynch) in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

Halfway there, and the fun has just started. I spent the day yesterday with Ariel Dorfman, Lt-General Romeo Dallaire, four prison guard/cowboys,and Tom Cavanagh. That's the type of line-up that could only occur at TIFF.

Today, no cowboys sadly, however we do have the premiere of one of the most assured debuts by a director I've seen in a long time, Stéphane Lafleur's amazing Continental, un film sans fusil. 

Equal parts absurd and insightful, this is one of the funniest and most poignant movies I've seen all year.

Lafleur is a filmmaker to watch, and this is chance to see where an artist begins.

Also premiering tonight is TIFF veteran Carl Bessai's (Unnnatural and Accidental, Emile)  new film, the emotional Normal.  Powered by a great cast, the movie examines grief, guilt and tragedy from the inside out. It might be Bessai's best movie yet. Plus I'm hoping to meet Carrie-Anne Moss (pictured). See you on Day 6!

BRITT RANDLE, Director, Dada Dum
1. Where do you come from?
Born in Thunder Bay - sounds mythic - T-H-U-N-D-E-R B-A-Y and I like it. Traveled a lot. Settled in Toronto.

2. What influenced your film?
Growing up gay in a fundamentalist Christian family didn't hurt. My films are my early experiences disguised in surreal, black and white, visual.    metaphors.                         
        
3. Why filmmaking?
I love silent film - long live Bunuel, Murnau and Eisenstein! When I was 12 my parents took me to Hollywood to exorcise my intense obsession with the movies. Their plan to expose the reality behind the magic backfired. The obsession continues.             

4. Who is your creative hero?
A: I don't really have heroes but I saw a doc on Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo - he was old and drew a simple picture of a sea turtle. He finished the picture and smiled. Living a creative life - that's pretty heroic.

5. What are you most looking forward to at TIFF?
A: The films, I can't wait! Plus I'm having a competition with one of the Madame Tutli Putli team members to see who can get the most photos with a celebrity. Game on!


DEV KHANNA, Director, Terry Southern's Plums and Prunes
1. Where do you come from?
I'm a Torontonian born and raised.  Actually I did a stint (10 years) in Mississauga, but then again no one's perfect right?

2. What influenced your film?
The Script did.  I mean how many times does a person have the chance to work
on script by the writer of Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider?  It was sort of
like telling a karaoke singer, "Hey, here's an unsung John Lennon song, want
to give it a go?"

3. Why filmmaking?
Why not film making?  Except for the fact that it's the most thorough artistic mediums out there.  You have the visual frame of painting, the lyrical element of music and the narrative arc of literature.  What's not to love?

4. Who is your creative hero?
I can't pick just one.  So I won't.  Here are three: Scorsese for his use of music and his raw intensity, Bunnuel for his surrealism and indictment of the bourgeois,
And Kubrick, because. well. he's KUBRICK! Need I say more?

5. What are you most looking forward to at TIFF?
Now that's an easy one. To watch films with people who really love them.


DAVID BIRNBAUM, Director, found oBjects
1. Where do you come from?
I was born and raised in Montreal, spent six years in Vancouver and now six in Toronto.
 
2. What influenced your film?
Our absurd and uncertain future within our newest geo-political crisis.

3. Why filmmaking?
The ability to coordinate a multiplicity of art forms seems to have existed only for the past few generations fortunate enough to have been born into an era of Cinema.  To me it is limitless, boundless- a prism for exploring the great human experiment without guile.

4. Who is your creative hero?
Emir Kusturica

5. What are you most looking forward to at TIFF?
Access to the new great films of our time, and a pint with fellow travellers.


PETER LYNCH & MAX DEAN, Directors,
A Short Film About Falling
1. Where do you come from?
Peter: Some where between Planet X and Bedrock- East York  The son of  British  immigrants  in Thorncliffe Park  one of the most multicultural places pound for pound on the planet Mostly spent somewhere between hirise rooftops, TV-land and the mighty Don Valley. A vintage Toronto boy a hundred percent born and paid for.
Max:  i come from the visual arts, i am known for my interactive kinetic installations many of which have used robotics. i have used video in many of my installations but this is my first film

2. What influenced your film?
Peter: Marcel Duchamp, Bill Viola, Igmar Bergman, David Lynch, Stanely Kubrick, 9/11, Bugs Bunny and  The Road runner hour, Andy Warhol, NiagraFalls, The Three Stooges,TheTalking Heads,  Iggy Pop, Bernins fountains in Rome, Huckleberry Finn, Camus, Marylin Monroe repressed memories, anger, sexual tension the necessity for conceptual  risk, the narcotic for constant change and taping in to the big current life force of the universe  fear of death - great food and wine!
Max: i would have to say the biggest influence for me was working with peter.  i think we are both exploring and i felt we gave each other permission to push ourselves and 'A Short Film about Falling' is a beginning of that exploration.

3. Why filmmaking?
Peter: Don't you wonder sometimes 'Bout sound and vision? Frankly  its a License to be a show off a  creative delinquent It has the allure of fame  and fortune  hopefully adoration the getting paid to be a  storyteller  and a  god dam lier angle! Film embraces all the art-forms there are no rules only your own limitations.Oh ya and being an independent filmmaker in Canada means depravity financial depravation  being constantly  misunderstood and undervalued and totally underestimated  with a massive dose of  and heaps of self loathing and masochism to boot.In other words total abject insanity.
Max: i like the medium,  how you can play with time and space, i like the scale of the image, the sound, the audience, and the suspension film can be very magical.

4. Who is your creative hero?
Peter: Pablo Picasso -  he was fearless in all his creative endeavors.
Max: when i find a creative hero i will retire

5. What are you most looking forward to at TIFF?
Peter: The Parties!
Max: showing the film, releasing the film to the public, it is at that moment that i will free to go on

A packed house at the Scotiabank theatre watched the premiere of Bruce Sweeney's American Venus last night. The audience, peppered with slick media types and handsomely dressed Canadian actors, was clearly excited to see the tale of an unstable mother unable to let her ex-figure skater daughter grow up and leave the nest. The family drama is set against a backdrop of American/Canadian relations, when mom follows daughter from their home in the U.S. to her new home in Vancouver.

A woman next to me in the line before the film said "I'm so thrilled to be seeing it. My husband and I are here with 16 of our friends. I had to line up for two hours to get tickets ... twice!"

The film is full of funny moments, which elicited relieved laughter from a crowd that was otherwise almost as tense as Rebecca DeMornay's manic mom, Celia. One audience member asked how the actress (who shone in the role) prepared for it. Bruce Sweeney quipped "I think Rebecca's been preparing for this role her whole life".

When asked to explain the film's title, Sweeney joked that his producers wouldn't allow him to use his original title "A Histrionic American". He expanded on DeMornay's character, saying "I wrote her as a histrionic person. That is to say, her close relationships or her supposedly close relationships really aren't. She's a person who has a low tolerance for frustration and who sexualises relationships ... and has an exaggerated manner."

One of the funniest and most disturbing aspects of the film is DeMornay's unrelenting obsession with guns. At home in America, shooting at the range soothes her. In Vancouver, where her daughter has moved, she's confronted by Canada's considerably stricter gun laws. The results are humorous but also disturbing, as her character's frustration gets more and more out of control.

When asked about the gun obsession, Sweeney explained "In many ways, it's a metaphor for addiction. I've seen too many films that are just about drug addiction and I wanted another kind of addiciton and what I tried to convey in the film is that through the process of shooting the gun, through hearing that bang, bang, you can see her face ... she stays in control and it kind of soothes her. To have that feeling and then she's robbed of it."

American Venus screens again on Monday Sept. 10, at noon, at the Scotiabank Theatre.

Here it is, for those of you that missed out!  Exclusive footage from the Mother of Tears premiere.  We've got some kind words from Dario Argento, followed by Colin's intro and then Dario and Asia Argento introduce the film before the entire crowd sings Dario 'happy birthday'.

Apologies for some shaking with the camera... it was my first day.  More video to come, I promise!

For those of you that missed out, there is still another screening of Mother of Tears on Friday, Sept. 14 - 11:15 p.m. at Varsity Theatre 6.

Last night, at the premier screening of the outstanding doc "Heavy 
Metal in Baghdad," I sat next to Waleed Rabia, who was the first
singer in the Iraqi metal band the film profiles.  (I met him in Baghdad in 2004, and some of the footage I shot there is in the  film.)Waleed was luckier than his bandmates -- he now attends film school in British Colombia. But last night he was emotionally shaken watching the heart-breaking story of his old friends who are still suffering in the middle east.Sitting next to Waleed put me in mind of Thomas Jefferson's comment on slavery, "I tremble for my country when I think that God is just."The movie is that moving.

Sunday we premier "Operation Filmmaker," which is something of a companion piece to "Heavy Metal."   It follows another young Iraqi --a friend of the musicians in "Heavy Metal" -- over the same period of time, from 2004 to the present.   Its great to see such a heavy dose of the Baghdad College of Fine Arts, where all these kids congregated, in this years Real to Reel.  "Heavy Metal" makes one want to do something to help the victims of the war; "Operation Filmmaker" shows what can happen when people try.  It will be very 
interesting for audience members to screen the two films in the same week.

Then "Very Young Girls" premiers Tuesday, and I think that one of our brave young subjects is going to be able to attend.  It is always tough for people to see their difficulties, traumas and stories on the big screen, shared with an audience, but I was happy to see the amazing outpouring of support the Toronto audience gave Waleed when he went through just that.  During the screening, a man he had just met reached around and gave him a pat on the leg during a particularly difficult segment; that wouldn't happen in New York, I don't think.  After the screening, many people reached out to him in a kindly way.  I've always heard Canadians are nice, and its reassuring to me that my young subjects will be in gentle hands on Tuesday when they talk about the trauma they've been through.

Director Ramses Madina discusses his film Farmer's Requiem: With a contemplative pace, Farmer's Requiem studies the effects of time on the icons of agriculture. The hauntingly beautiful decay of farms and barren fields are echoed in the fading considerations of Victor McGregor, a farmer at the end of his days. Farmer's Requiem was filmed over a period of three summers beginning in the summer of 2002. The entire filmmaking experience was a unique one that involved labour intensive shots filmed using a specially modified Bell & Howell 2709 35mm film camera. The 2709 was made during the 1920's, around the same time many of the barns being filmed were constructed. The entire process from production to editing created an intimate relationship with these icons of agriculture and in many ways the era they emerged from. From long days camped out executing methodical time-lapse shots, to a return to the tactile process of picture and sound editing on a 35mm flatbed, the nostalgic gaze of the film is echoed in the process of its creation. The film with its delapidated images and barren fields represent our tenuous relationship with history. A film that not only evokes the loss of traditon and livelihood, but also the dissappearance of a cultural and architectural landscape, the shift from agriculture to agribusiness, from the farmers market to the supermarket, and a disappearing sense of community. Farmer's Requiem is a poetic elegy to a vanishing generation.

[Picture: Madina with the Bell & Howell 2709 during the filming of Farmers Requiem]

Before everyone gets too wrapped up in Romero Mania tonight, some words on Midnight Madness Round Two last night with Xavier Gens' Frontiere(s).

Gens himself was there to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards and it's fresh to see a filmmaker so happy with what he's done and eager to get people seeing his film.  Last night was the first time an audience saw the film and the reaction was incredible.

I got a chance to talk with Gens beforehand as the audience was streaming in and he was borderline giddy to get things underway.  Introducing the film he was appreciative and hopeful for what the audience was about to see and only minutes into the film, everyone understood they were in for something unique.

The film starts off torrid and hardly relents for the almost two hours as a clan of Neo-Nazis systematically terrorize and pick off the four members of the principle cast before a showdown with the final victim.

There's some intense violence and severe discomfort throughout the film so everyone from claustrophobics to the blood-squeamish can consider themselves warned.  It also marked the second film in a row from this year's Madness to feature a severed Achilles tendon (or two... what is this Colin?  A fetish?).

What we can say from this film and the buzz building around A L'Interieur is that French horror is taking off in a big way.  A lot of the people behind the scenes on these films know each other, work together and are friends and it shows in the high quality of the finished cut of each film.

Frontiere(s) especially marks a shift towards political commentary.  The whole scenario plays out as reaction to the election of an extremist right-wing government.  Early in the film there's actually a script line that tells it all, as a character quips: "Great, now we've got our George Bush".

When asked during the Q&A if the film was a direct reaction to Nicolas Sarkozy's recent ascent to the French Presidency, Gens commented that the film was actually a reaction to the re-election of Jacques Chirac in 2002 and the direction his country has taken since. 

While certainly not the easiest film to watch, Frontiere(s) has enough action and deep enough layers to make it more than a politically charged take on Hostel.  There's much more to this film, and anyone with an interest in revenge flicks, French politics, the new face of horror, or simply in well-crafted cinema would be a fool to give this stellar film a pass.

More pics and video to follow.

Denis Côté's film, Nos Vies Privées, premiered last night to a room full of attentive fans at the Varsity. Côté appeared in front of a similar crowd the previous night to introduce and answer questions about his cinematographer's film (Raphaël Ouellet's Le Cèdre penché).

The similarity between the films in terms of tone and visual style is striking. The stories, however, are very different. Where Ouellet's film focuses on the reconciliation between two estranged sisters, Côté's focuses on the estrangement of two lovers. The film is about a curious internet romance (there's not a computer in sight) between two Bulgarians in rural Quebec. The peaceful, idyllic setting of their isolated cottage is juxtaposed with the pair's increasing restlessness as they wrestle with the fact that they are intimate strangers - lovers who are seeing each other for the first time.
 
The script was written in English, and translated into Bulgarian by the actors who ultimately performed it. Côté told the TIFF audience, "They came for the first time to North America, they translated the script into their language, everything in Bulgarian, into their own alphabet. So it was total trust." This connection to the text obviously got the story under their skin, because both actors had an uncanny ability to translate the increasingly uncomfortable atmosphere between them into a palpable sensation the audience could undoubtedly feel.
 
"The second time I saw them was when they came to Montreal to shoot the film, and I discovered that they were a real life couple. I didn't know that ... the whole relationship between the actors and me was an internet thing." said Côté of his experience working with two actors whose language he does not speak. "There was a Bulgarian clan and there was a Quebec clan", he clarified about the crew, but quickly added "I'm more into the experience of telling a story. The adventure of telling a thing in a language I don't understand is somehow more important than telling you a tight story, a tight narrative. It's more about atmosphere."
 
"This film is about your own interior beast and your own intimate struggle", Côté concludes about his story. The film's lyrical, impressionistic final sequence illuminates his point subtly and beautifully.  

Nos Vies Privées will be screening again on Sunday Sept. 9 at 4:30pm at the ROM.

Seat-slapping comedy, eye-popping absurdity, falling chairs and old-time transvestite cowboys and Indians were a few of the highlights from Short Cuts Canada?s Programme 1 at the ROM on Friday.

Two of the most warmly received films were Peter Lynch?s A Short Film About Falling, and Neil and Cathy McInnes? Automoto.  Here?s what those directors had to say:

Peter Lynch (pictured above):  ?About a year and a half ago Max Dean (co-director and inventor of the falling chair) called me and told me he wanted to make a film about this chair he was building that kept falling.  I thought, that sounds like a Peter Lynch type of film.  We ended up saying we didn?t want to make a documentary and we ended up talking about falling a lot.  This is the import of all those conversations that happened over a period time.?

 

Neil McInnes:  If you want to test your marriage just do a film together, parts of you that are never sort of visible emerge.  We have a great relationship and we?ve been working together for 25 years now. It?s a five minute film that?s a reimagining of the animation process from script to film.

Does anyone else feel like it's Christmas Eve?  Tonight the first screening of George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead will go down at the Ryerson theatre- and, in honour of this, we have quite the scoop indeed.

The above trailer (if you've not already basked in the glow of its awesomeness, I recommend you do so) is for Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero, a new doc on the Diary of the Dead filmmaker.

This is officially the WORLD PREMIERE of the film's trailer, so get a good luck and appreciate how much more special you are than those sorry fools who don't check this blog regularly.

This material came directly from the doc's director, Rusty Nails, and it looks fantastic.  I can't wait to see this.  So, on behalf of all the Madness fans, thanks for the sneak peek, Rusty.

It's Day 3, and the first weekend is upon us.  These two days are the most intense of the festival for everyone, from staff to the filmmakers and the audience.  Tonight, there are a couple of very different, but equally intriguing Canadian movies having their World Premieres.

Bruce Sweeney (The Last Wedding) returns to TIFF with his latest dark satire, American Venus

Rebecca De Mornay (pictured) stars as the ulitmate obsessive mother, hounding her figure skating daughter and risking everything. It's classic caustic Sweeney.

Also bowing tonight is the insightful documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, from Vice magazine and Vice Tv travel to Iraq to find the country's only heavy metal rock band, Acrassicauda.

That's lead singer Faisal pictured at a club show in 2004.

The doc provides a much needed glimpse into a side of Iraq seldom seen here.

All this, and it's only Day 3! What could possibly happen on Day 4?!

 

Great news, guys!  Jake West (Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes, Evil Aliens, Razor Blade Smile) gave us a sneak peek at his next film that may just end up in Midnight Madness ?08.  Check out these crazy early images? sure looks awesome.

 

From the man himself:

 

?I'm just in the very early stages of Pre-Production on Doghouse,  doing concept art. The film is being financed by Carnaby International in the U.K!   It should be finished for  Cannes next year.

 

We hope to shoot at the end of the year, dates TBC. I'll keep you updated as things develop, and I hope to Return to Midnight Madness with this one!

 

I think this will be my best movie to date . It certainly has one  of the the best Original scripts I've read in years, written by cult comic book artist and DOGWITCH creator Dan Schaffer.?

 

He also gave us his thoughts on the Midnight Madness program and where we can expect to see him this year!

 

?Yes, I?m an addict and happy to admit it. Midnight Madness is one of the great high points of my life. Nothing prepared me to turn up to a cinema with a queue of over a 1000 people going around several blocks. I though wow a major film must be playing tonight so I guess I?ll just have a small crowd at my screening?..and then it was pointed out this was the cinema where my film was playing! They were all there too see my crazy indie horror slapstick flick ?Evil Aliens?. It had an amazing crowd and an absolutely electric party atmosphere that was whipped into a further frenzy by Midnight Madness Maestro Colin Geddes. It was breathtaking to experience the film in a room full of like minded people who were out to really enjoy themselves and it was addictive. I can?t wait to return with another film. I?m currently in early pre-production on my next flick, which I hope will be a strong candidate for the Midnight Madness crowd. It?s called Doghouse and been written by cult comic book artist Dan Schaffer (?Dogwitch?, ?The Scribbler?). I can?t wait. And yes, I?m so addicted to Toronto I?m going to even turn up this year and catch my good mate Adam Masons flick ?The Devils Chair?, which is a cracking flick. So see you there and say hi! Like I said, I?m a total addict.?

 

Many thanks again to Jake West for these exclusive images.

This morning's brunch for the talented crop of Canadian short filmmakers featured at this year's festival allowed wide-eyed newcomers to mingle with established luminaries and everyone in between. The affable Bravo!FACT hosts were on hand to introduce filmmakers to each other, chat, answer questions and most importantly, to encourage everyone to have seconds of the seemingly bottomless supply of fresh juice, eggs, bacon and pastries.

Topics of conversation mostly centered around the films everyone wanted to see, and of course, their nervous excitement at attending their own screenings.

Animator extraordinaire Jesse Rosensweet debated the merits of screening shorts with features versus screening them on their own, with fellow filmmaker Cassandra Nicolaou (pictured above). Rosensweet's Paradise falls in the former category, premiering alongside Just Buried on Sunday Sept. 9, 9:15pm at the Scotiabank Theatre, while Nicolau's Congratulations Daisy Graham is screening as part of the Short Cuts Canada Programme 5 premiering on Tuesday September 11 at 9:45 at the Cumberland.

TIFF-veteran Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly, Cyberman), who went back to his short-filmmaking roots this year with A Short Film About Falling, chatted about future plans with Simon Ennis (pictured right), whose The Canadian Shield will precede the much-hyped Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

Lynch's film will be premiering as part of Short Cuts Canada Programme 1 on Saturday Sept. 8, 4:45pm at the ROM, and Ennis' later that same day at 9:45pm, also at the ROM.

When asked what he was most looking forward to seeing at the festival, Ennis cited fellow Canadian Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, screening on Saturday Sept 9, 5:00pm at the Varsity.

Walking into the Varsity on the opening night of the festival was a hectic experience.

The Gala may have been at Roy Thomson Hall, but the substantial crowds in line to see the eight films kicking off the fest at the Varsity were abuzz with excitement and chatter. It was especially great to see so many people so excited about Canadian cinema. Even though it was competing with the Gala screening of Fugitive Pieces and the Canada First! opener Young People Fucking, Rafaël Ouellet's Le Cèdre penché garnered a large and enthusiastic audience, who were mesmerized by the film's subtle, lyrical approach to storytelling. The music-filled story of two estranged sisters brought together after their mother's death clearly moved the audience, who sighed and laughed in unison at the film's funny, quirky, charming and emotional moments.

Director Ouellet wasn't on hand to answer questions, but producer Denis Côté did his best to fill in, talking about the pair's DIY approach to filmmaking and unconventional narrative styles. Côté astounded the audience by telling us that the film was made for a mere $10,000. Let me be clear: the film is good regardless. The shoestring budget simply makes it a mind-bogglingly sophisticated accomplishment.

A woman behind me whispered to her seat mate "it's great to see a movie that doesn't have to rely on special effects to be compelling". I couldn't agree more! Check out the second screening of Le Cèdre penché on Saturday September 8 at 2:00pm at the Cumberland, and complement it by seeing Denis Côté's own directorial effort, Nos Vies Privées, premiering tonight, Friday September 8, at 8:45 at the Varsity.

It's Day 2, and everyone is just now recovering from opening night.  Today's hot tickets:

Ernie's Barbaresh's creepfest They Wait.

The Chinese ghost story transplanted to Vancouver stars Jaimie King (pictured).

Also tonight, one of the most subtle and beautiful Canadian movies of the year, Denis Côté's Nos vies privées.

An intimate and suprising movie, this is one not to miss.

 

More to come on Day 3!

 

Bill Maher and director Larry Charles (Borat) will take the stage on Sunday for a special Mavericks discussion. Here are Maher's thoughts on his new work-in-progress RELIGULOUS:

Since starting on Politically Incorrect in 1993, it has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to make organized religion one of my favorite targets.  I often explained to people, ?I don?t need to make fun of religion, it makes fun of itself.?  And, then I go ahead and make fun of it too, just for laughs.

With religious fanatics like George Bush and Osama bin Laden now taking over the world, it seemed to me in recent years that this issue -- this cause of debunking the man behind the curtain -- needed to have a larger, more insistent and focused forum than late night television.  I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny.  In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today?s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee slapper.  Unless, of course, you?re religious, then you might not like it.

Who could I get to direct me on such an epic quest?  In reality, there was only one man, and his name is Larry Charles.  I hope that together we fulfilled that quest.  Which really isn?t that hard, considering that comedically speaking, the topic of religion is pretty much hitting the side of a barn.  

As a comedian, religion has always interested me -- it was the single easiest subject to make jokes about.  I think that tells us something:  comedians look for things that don?t make sense, that are illogical.  

Even as a young comedian, routines I did that got the biggest laughs and got me invited back on the Tonight Show were the religious ones -- like the one about being half Catholic and half Jewish and bringing a lawyer into confession:  ?Bless me father for I have sinned -- and I think you know Mr. Cohen . . .?

Politics is a rich area, but even politicians, although they promise some ridiculous stuff, don?t approach the level of, for example, the Mormon practice of promising couples a planet to rule over in the after life if they have a really good marriage on earth.  They give you a planet -- kinda like when someone gives you a certificate that says a star has been named after you -- except here, they really give you the star!

Join me in the final battle between intelligence and stupidity that will decide the future of humanity.  Coming soon to a house of false idols near you.

[Picture: taken from msnbc.com]

Director Larry Charles (Borat) will take the stage on Sunday for a special Mavericks discussion with Bill Maher. Here are his thoughts on his new work-in-progress RELIGULOUS:
Ok.  An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man?s rib.  They get to live forever if they don?t eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed.  Or, how bout this one?  This same space God who lives in the sky and has power over everything decides he wants a son, so he impregnates a woman but she remains a virgin.  And, the child can walk on water and raise the dead.  But his father, the sky God, sends him on a suicide mission to save humanity.  After he dies, he rises from the dead and flies into space to be with his father (who is also him.)

Greek myths?  The latest installment of the ?Lord of the Rings??  Disney?s new animated movie?  No!  These are the foundations of Western religion.  The tenuous shaky belief systems that our entire civilization rests upon.

What do you believe, why do you believe it, and why do you need to believe it?  Can we be good without God?  Is religion a calling or a mental illness?  Were Jesus, Moses and Mohammed prophets and visionaries, or crackpot nut cases who today would be put away?  Is religion an obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Comedian, acerbic commentator, raconteur, skeptic, seeker Bill Maher and I set off in search of answers to these questions in a raunchy, rude, irreverent, outrageous, and shocking nonfiction film about the greatest fiction ever told.

Set to the rhythms of ?Sympathy for the Devil? and ?Jesus Walks,? from the Western Wall to the Vatican, from self-professed messiahs to self professed Pariahs, we will not only expose the hypocrisy and corruption in organized religion but the absurdly hilarious logic that holds it together.

We will talk to clergy, extremists, scholars, politicians, ex-cons, the man on the street and even the man upstairs (that's right, we interview God.)  

The funny will be scary, the scary wildly funny.  The crazy will seem sane and the sane absolutely and undeniably crazy.  All lines are blurred.  All bets are off.   We will get inside, on top of, behind, and in front of religion.

Looking back on the making of TRUMBO, two things stand out for me. One is Trumbo's charisma on screen.  Irrespective of the subject matter, his age, or health, and he was quite frail near the end of his life, he was mesmerizing.

Despite the repetitious grind that editing can be, I always looked forward to Trumbo's interviews.  He was eloquent, he was funny, and he had the best deadpan delivery this side of Jack Benny.

For those who don't know it, I also recommend checking out Trumbo's brief but memorable film appearances in JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN and PAPILLON.

We also had the good fortune to have in existence an edition of Trumbo¹s
collected letters.  It's titled ADDITIONAL DIALOGUE: Letters of Dalton
Trumbo, 1942-1962.  Hard but not impossible to find, it's well worth the
hunt. Nearly 600 pages of epistolary genius.

?Enjoy Young People Fucking!? says one TIFF patron to her friend. ?Are you ready to watch Young People Fucking?? zings another.  It?s a joke Canadian Feature Programmer Jesse Wente and his colleagues have undoubtedly heard their fair share of.  Even director Martin Gero finds it difficult to believe his distributors let the incendiary title slide.?We kind of came up with it, and thought ?Haha young people fucking?, and we thought we?d give it to people and they?d say ?great working title?, but they loved it, so far so good I guess.?

The title isn?t a publicity stunt, but rather an ideal moniker for a film as frank, sexy and hilarious as Gero?s feature debut. The sophisticated comedy ?goes down? on a number of sexual hang-ups with a depth and style that inspired raucous laughter at Thursday?s premier.

 

Preceding the delicious slice of urban sexuality was the perfect appetizer:  Robert Kennedy?s two-minute, cell-phone short I?ve Never Had Sex, which approaches the dirty deed with a similarly light-hearted tone.

 

Written by Gero and star Aaron Abrams (pictured above with Slings and Arrows co-star Sarah Polley), YPF?s appeal isn?t limited to young hipsters. Dozens of seniors were spotted yukking it up in the audience. If you missed the premier, it screens again on Saturday at the Scotiabank Theatre at 9:15 a.m.

Mike Sauve - TIFF Blog Reporter.

Check this out, friends!  In our ongoing recovery of archived Midnight Mandess footage, we pulled an epic, FOUR-PART interview with the man of the evening himself, Dario Argento!

Each segment clocks in at about 10 minutes or so, but we promise that it's nothing but pure gold.  What better way to get primed for tonight's Mother of Tears screening when the clock strikes twelve?

Enjoy!

Hey there friends, we just received an awesome set of pictures and a friendly greeting from Xavier Gens, French director of Frontiere(s):

"It's a very great pleasure for me to be in Toronto for the beginning of Midnight Madness this year. And when I look the selection of the movies it's a great honour to be here and to present you my first feature film Frontiere(s). 

 

The only self imposed rule I have is to crank it up a constant crescendo until we reach a mind blowing climax. The film's aim in to grab you by the balls at the start and then squeeze harder and harder until they are totally crushed at the end. I hope you a good week of screening.

 

Take Care,

Xavier Gens 

 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

That's right, all of it!  OK, maybe just USA Today, but that'll do for the time being. 

The daily posted a quality feature on the Midnight Madness trifecta of horror masters; George A. Romero, Dario Argento and Stuart Gordon.

Susan Wloszczyna wrote-up Romero for today's online edition, talking about him taking leadership in getting the zombie movie back to the top of its game.  She credits Romero for modernizing the genre giving us a "post-9/11 and Hurricane Katrina image of widespread chaos for the YouTube/MySpace generation".

Wloszczyna, who called Romero's Diary of the Dead one of her top TIFF picks earlier in The Star also gave all three flicks (Dead, with Mother of Tears and Stuck) a nice preview with some excellent exclusive comments from the directors and our own Madness programmer Colin Geddes.

[Picture: Image by Steve Wilkes courtesy of usatoday.com]