Premium Screenings
Midnight's Children
Dir. Deepa Mehta (Water); Canada/UKStarring: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas.
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: Spanning decades and generations, celebrated Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta's highly anticipated adaptation of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize®–winning novel is an engrossing allegorical fantasy in which children born on the cusp of India's independence from Britain are endowed with strange, magical abilities.
Anna Karenina
Dir. Joe Wright (Atonement); UKStarring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jude Law, Kelly MacDonald
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Keira Knightley re-teams with director Joe Wright (Atonement) for this visionary adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel about a society woman torn between loyalty to her husband and the desires of her heart.
To the Wonder
Dir. Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life); USAStarring: Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis; Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko star in the new film from Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), about a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart.
Thanks for Sharing
Dir. Stuart Blumberg (co-writer, The Kids Are All Right); USA
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Josh
Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo and Tim Robbins star
in this comedy-drama about a group of people who are brought together when they
join a support group to overcome their sex addictions.
What Maisie Knew
Dir. Scott McGehee, David Siegel (The Deep End); USA
Starring: Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander Skarsgård,
Joanna Vanderham, Onata Aprile
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan star in this
modern-day version of the classic Henry James novel from directors Scott
McGehee and David Siegel (The Deep End, Bee Season).
Twice Born (Venuto Al Mondo)
Dir. Sergio Castellitto (Don’t
Move); Italy / Spain
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Penélope Cruz,
Adnan Haskovic, Sergio Castellitto , Saadet Aksoy
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: Actor-director Sergio
Castellitto (Don't Move) directs Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch in
this vivid, full-throttle melodrama about an ill-starred romance set against
the backdrop of the siege of Sarajevo.
The Paperboy
Dir. Lee Daniel (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire); USA
Starring: Zac Efron, Nicole
Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack, David Oyelowo
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: An all-star cast —
Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and John Cusack — get down and
dirty in this sizzling, deliciously trashy chunk of Southern-fried Gothic from
the director of Precious.
Rust &
Bone
Dir.
Jacques Audiard (A Prophet); France
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose) and Matthias
Schoenaerts (Bullhead) star in this gritty, moving and emotionally raw
love story from Cannes Grand Prix winner Jacques Audiard (Un prophète).
Based on the collection of short stories by Canadian author Craig Davidson
Regular Screenings
On the Road
Dir. Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries); France/BrazilStarring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart.
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopisis: Academy Award®–winning director Walter Salles (Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries) and producer Francis Ford Coppola finally bring Jack Kerouac's legendary Beat Generation novel to the screen.
Imogene
Dir. Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Bergman (American Splendor); USA Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening and Matt Dillon headline this hilarious comedy about a washed-up playwright who, after faking her own suicide as a ploy to get her ex-boyfriend's attention, winds up remanded to the custody of her wackily dysfunctional family.
Frances Ha
Dir. Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale); USAStarring: Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote!), Micky Sumner
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Greta Gerwig stars as Frances, an apprentice in a dance company who wants so much more than she has but lives life with unaccountable joy and lightness. This modern fable from Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg) explores youth, friendship, class, ambition, failure and redemption.
Something in the Air (Apres Mai)
Dir. Olivier Assayas (Carlos); FranceStarring: Clement Metayer, Lola Creton, Felix Armand, India Menuez, Carole Combes
Programme: Masters
Synopsis: Celebrated French filmmaker Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Carlos) returns with this lovely, loosely autobiographical tale about a young aspiring artist caught up in a whirlwind of politics, art and sex in the fervid French youth scene of the early 1970s.
Quartet
Dir. Dustin Hoffman (debut); UKStarring: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billie Connolly, Pauline Collins
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with this tale of four aging opera singers (Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins).
Byzantium
Dir. Neil Jordan (The Crying Game); UK/IrelandStarring: Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Johnny Lee Miller
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: A pair of female vampires (Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton) wreaks havoc on an unsuspecting English seaside community in this deliciously depraved supernatural drama from Academy Award® winner Neil Jordan.
The Lesser Blessed
Dir. Anita Doran (Late Fragment); CanadaStarring: Joel Nathan Evans, Benjamin Bratt, Kiowa Gordon, Chloe Rose, Tamara Podemski
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema
Synopsis: A teenage metalhead living on a First Nations reserve in the Northwest Territories grapples with the challenges of adolescence in this affecting adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by Richard Van Camp.
Thérèse Desqueyroux
Dir. Claude Miller (Un secret); FranceStarring: Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lelouche
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Audrey Tautou stars as a provincial housewife in 1920s France, whose suffocating marriage to a boorish landowner inspires her to a fatal bid for freedom, in the late director Claude Miller's exquisite adaptation of the classic novel by François Mauriac.
Great Expectations
Dir. Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire); UKStarring: Jeremy Irvine, Robbie Coltrane, Holliday Grainger, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Sally Hawkins
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: An outstanding roster of British acting talent — including Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Sally Hawkins, Jason Flemyng, Ewen Bremner — bring Charles Dickens' universe to life in this magnificent new screen version of the classic novel from director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral).
All that You Possess (Tout ce que tu possèdes)
Dir. Bernard Émond (La donation); CanadaStarring: Patrick Drolet, Isabelle Vincent, Gilles Renaud
Programme: Masters
Syopsis: An obsessed scholar attempts to withdraw from the world but finds personal ties drawing him back into the family he had left behind, in this novelistic, beautifully modulated drama from acclaimed Québécois filmmaker Bernard Émond.
Smashed
Dir. James Ponsoldt (Off the Black); USAStarring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Megan Mullally
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema
Synopsis: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) and Megan Mullaly (Party Down) star in this story about a perpetually soused first-grade teacher's painful but ultimately triumphant struggle to sober up and remake her life.
Hannah Arendt
Dir. Margarethe von Trotta (Vision); GermanyStarring: Barbara Sukowa, Janet McTeer
Programme: Special Presentations/ the slow/ Thursday's broke-ass daytime schedule
Synopsis: The great Barbara Sukowa stars in Margarethe von Trotta's fascinating biography of the influential philosopher and political theorist, whose reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann led to her famous concept of the "banality of evil."
Passion
Dir. Brian De Palma (Femme Fatale); France/GermanyStarring: Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis;; Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) star in this fiendishly clever erotic thriller from master of suspense Brian De Palma.
Ginger and Rosa
Dir. Sally Potter (Orlando); UK/DenmarkStarring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Annette Bening, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: As the Cold War meets the sexual revolution in 1960s London, the lifelong friendship of two teenage girls (Elle Fanning, Alice Englert) is shattered by ideological differences and personal betrayals. This new film from director Sally Potter (Orlando) also stars Annette Bening and Christina Hendricks.
Jackie
Dir. Antoinette Beumer (The Happy Housewife); The NetherlandsStarring: Holly Hunter, Carice Van Houten, Jelka Van Houten
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema
Synopsis: Two very different twin sisters from the Netherlands (real-life siblings Carice and Jelka van Houten) travel to America to help out the mother they have never met (Academy Award winner Holly Hunter) in Dutch director Antoinette Beumer's heartwarming, cross-cultural take on the classic American road movie.
Rebelle (War Witch)
Dir. Kim Nguyen (Truffle); CanadaStarring: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Mizinga Mwinga, Ralph Prosper
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Kidnapped and forcibly inducted into a rebel army, a young girl finds herself haunted by premonitory visions in this heartfelt and helplessly moving portrait of a child soldier from Canadian director Kim Nguyen.
Dangerous Liaisons
Dir. Hur Jin-Ho (Happiness); ChinaStarring: Ziyi Zhang, Shawn Dou, Lisa Lu , Dong-gun Jang, Cecilia Cheung
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars in director Hur Jin-ho's lushly sensual adaptation of the classic French novel, which updates Choderlos de Laclos' devilish tale of sex, seduction and scheming to 1930s Shanghai.
Lore
Dir. Cate Shortland (Somersault); Australia/UK/GermanyStarring: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Left to fend for herself when her SS officer father is captured by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, a fourteen-year-old German girl (striking newcomer Saskia Rosendahl) must lead her four siblings on a gruelling trek across the war-ravaged countryside — and must put her trust in the very person she was taught to hate.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Dir. Mira Nair (Vanity Fair); India/Pakistan/USAStarring: Kiefer Sutherland, Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Nelsan Ellis, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Haluk Bilginer, Martin Donovan
Programme: Gala
Synopsis: Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber and Kate Hudson co-star in this adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's international best-selling novel, about a young Pakistani man (Riz Ahmed) whose pursuit of corporate success on Wall Street leads him on a strange path back to the world he had left behind.
Inch’Allah
Dir. Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (Le Ring);
Canada
Starring: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina
Ouazani, Sivan Levy, Yousef Sweid
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: A Quebec doctor
discovers the heartbreaking absurdity of life in Israel's divided West Bank, in
this intense, politically-charged drama from the producers of the Academy
Award®–nominated Incendies and Monsieur Lazhar.
Middle of Nowhere
Dir. Ava DuVernay (This is Life); USA
Starring: Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Omari
Hardwick
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema
Synopsis: A young woman (mesmerizing
newcomer Emayatzy Corinealdi) brings anguish to herself and those around her
through her blind devotion to her imprisoned husband, until a chance encounter
leads her to reclaim the life she had almost given away. Writer-director Ava
DuVernay won the Best Director prize at Sundance for her elegant, emotionally
complex second feature.
The Sessions
Dir. Ben Lewin (Paperback
Romance); USA
Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy
Programme: Special Presentations
Synopsis: Academy Award® nominee John Hawkes (Winter's
Bone) stars in this funny and touching comedy-drama about a childhood
polio survivor — now in his thirties and permanently confined to an iron lung —
who hires a professional sex surrogate (Academy Award® winner Helen Hunt) to
help him lose his virginity.
Jump
Dir. Kieron J. Walsh (When
Brendan met Trudy); Ireland/UK
Starring: Martin McCann, Nichola Burley
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema
Synopsis: A constellation of variously desperate characters
collide on a fateful New Year's Eve in Derry, Northern Ireland in this twisty,
blackly comic crime thriller.
Jason Reitman’s Live Read of American Beauty
Dir. Jason Reitman (Up
in the Air)
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendicks, Woody Harrelson,
Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Adam Driver, Sarah Gadon, Nick Kroll, Mae
Whitman and George Stroumboulopoulos.
Programme: Surprise event!
Synopsis: In a unique special event, filmmaker Jason Reitman
(Juno, Up in the Air) directs a live stage reading of the
screenplay for American Beauty.
What's everyone else seeing this festival season?!
(Note: I've already reviewed some shorts that will be screening at the fest - Frost , Asian Gangs , and Dear Scavengers, Bydlo, and Let the Daylight into the Swamp)
