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| Cronenberg filming A Dangerous Method. Photo courtesy of eOne Films |
It's been a big week for David Cronenberg. He and his son Brandon are the first father/son duo to have films screening at the Cannes Film Festival at the same time. Brandon's
Antiviral opened to positive notices earlier this week, while
Cosmopolis doesn't screen until towards the end of the festival (and it opens in Canadian theatres on June 8). In the meantime, though, comes a very good announcement for Mr. Cronenberg (senior) courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival, which plans to celebrate the director's body of work through a major exhibition:
Days away from the hotly anticipated world premiere of David
Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis at the 65th
Cannes Film Festival, Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF and Noah Cowan,
Artistic Director, TIFF Bell Lightbox, announced today that TIFF will mount a
major exhibition related to the Canadian director, screenwriter and actor. The
Cronenberg exhibition, set to launch in Fall 2013 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in
Toronto, is co-curated by Handling and Cowan and will be accompanied by several
additional elements, including a newly commissioned augmented reality game and
a dedicated film programme. This marks the first time TIFF has curated an
original exhibition of this magnitude, which will be packaged to tour beginning
Summer 2014.
“David Cronenberg is one of the world’s greatest living
filmmakers. He also represents Canadian cinema at its very best. This
exhibition underscores our commitment to Canadian film and its legacy, through
our 20-year history of working with David to preserve his papers and objects in
a special archive, and our efforts to restore and make available his film
catalogue,” said Handling. Added Cowan: “This is a major milestone for our
organization and we can’t wait to present our exhibition to film lovers at TIFF
Bell Lightbox next fall and to make it available to leading cultural
institutions worldwide.”
Through the presentation of artifacts, props, documentation
and audio-visual interviews, as well as reconstructed set-pieces from Cronenberg’s
films, the exhibition parallels his growth as a filmmaker with his ongoing
examination and interpretation of human evolutionary possibilities, tracing his
work from a focus on biological change towards examinations of shifting
psychological states. A parallel art project based on the same themes will be
announced at a later date.
TIFF will also create an online experience with a multi-platform
augmented reality game, The Worlds of
David Cronenberg, that will complement and enrich the exhibition using a
combination of social media technologies. A dedicated film programme with newly
struck
35mm prints and new digital versions of select films will
accompany the exhibition.
Additional information on the exhibition, including the
title, augmented reality game, film programme, touring destinations and
additional initiatives tied to the exhibition, will be available over the
coming months.
