TIFF 08 - Film Titles released!

The first large batch of titles for TIFF 08 have been announced, the majority of which are North American premieres. The films span over many of the programs: Discovery (7), Contemporary World Cinema (6), Masters (5), Special Presentations (4), Visions (2) and single entries for Vanguard, Real to Reel and Gala. The total Galas released is currently two films as it was previously announced that Passchendaele, written, directed and produced by Paul Gross will open the festival on September 4, 2008. See the Passchendaele trailer here, it got me all teary eyed and patriotic at the same time.

Canadian entries so far are the above mentioned Passchendaele, and Atom Egoyan's Adoration which will be showing as a part of the Special Presentations program. Rounding out the Canadian content is Restless (dir: Amos Kollek) a co-production between Israel/Germany/Canada/France/Belgium and is included in the Contemporary World Cinema program.

I'm thrilled to hear that the South Korean “kimchi western” The Good, The Bad, The Weird (dir: Kim Jee-woon) will be at the festival this year. As I mentioned last week, I've been addicted to the trailer watching it over and over again. I was really hoping it would be at TIFF this year but thought it would be included in the Midnight Madness program, however it is a Gala. Regardless of program, it is thrilling that it will be at the festival!

Many of the announced films are Cannes '08 award winners including: Palme D'or winner Entre les murs (dir: Laurent Cantet) *, Grand Prix winner Gomorrah (dir: Matteo Garrone), Award for Best Screenplay winner Le Silence de Lorna (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne), Linha de Passe winner for Best Actress: Sandra Corveloni, Un Certain Regard prize winner Tulpan (dir: Sergey Dvortsevoy), Caméra d'or winner Hunger (dir: Steve McQueen).

It is still early days but it is most certainly shaping up to be one exciting year. Looking forward to hearing more titles release but until then here is the complete list of film titles released as of June 26, 2008:

Contemporary World Cinema (6)

Acne
Dir: Federico Veiroj
Uruguay/Argentina/Spain/Mexico

Linha de Passe
Dirs: Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas
Brazil

O’Horten
Dir: Bent Hamer
Norway/Germany/France

Lion’s Den
Dir: Pablo Trapero
Argentina/South Korea/Brazil

Restless
Dir: Amos Kollek
Israel/Germany/Canada/France/Belgium

Revanche
Dir: Götz Spielmann
Austria

Discovery (7)

Hunger
Dir: Steve McQueen
United Kingdom

Medicine for Melancholy
Dir: Barry Jenkins
USA

The Paranoids
Dir: Gabriel Medina
Argentina

Salamandra
Dir: Pablo Agüero
Argentina/France/Germany

Three Blind Mice
Dir: Matthew Newton
Australia

Tony Manero
Dir: Pablo Larraín
Chile/Brazil

Tulpan
Dir: Sergey Dvortsevoy
Germany/Switzerland/Kazakstan/Russia/Poland

Gala (2)

The Good, The Bad, The Weird
Dir: Kim Jee-woon
South Korea

Passchendaele
Dir: Paul Gross
Canada

Masters (5)

24 City
Dir: Jia Zhang-ke
China

Four Nights with Anna
Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
Poland/France

Of Time and the City
Dir: Terence Davies
United Kingdom

Le Silence de Lorna
Dirs: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Belgium/France/Italy

Three Monkeys
Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey/France/Italy

Real to Reel (1)

Blind Loves
Dir: Juraj Lehotský
Slovakia

Special Presentations (4)

Adoration
Dir: Atom Egoyan
Canada

Un conte de Noël
Dir: Arnaud Desplechin
France

Entre les murs *
Dir: Laurent Cantet
France

Gomorrah
Dir: Matteo Garrone
Italy

Vanguard (1)

Waltz with Bashir
Dir: Ari Folman
Israel/France/Germany

Visions (2)

Liverpool
Dir: Lisandro Alonso
Argentina/France/Netherlands/Spain/Germany

Service
Dir: Brillante Mendoza
Philippines/France

* Update: Laurent Cantet's Entre les murs no longer appears on the original press release. Looks like it will not be part of the 2008 line up.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 4 - 13, 2008 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.