One small film on the radar of acquisitions executives at this year’s festival, is the Norwegian film “Kon-Tiki,” which is based on a real-life story about a legendary explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, who crossed the Pacific on a wooden balsa raft in 1947.
The comedy “Imogene” is directed by indie darlings Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. The story follows a writer (Kristen Wiig) who stages a suicide to win back her ex, only to wind up in the hands of her gambling mother.
Several Middle-Eastern-themed films can be seen on the fall festival circuit, including Syrian writer-director Ruba Nadda’s drama,“Inescapabale.” In it, a man returns to the Syrian capital of Damascus after 30 years to search for his daughter.
One highly anticipated horror film is Rob Zombie’s “The Lords of Salem,” which imagines what happens when the residents of Salem, Mass., are paid a visit by a 300-year-old group of witches.
"Tree of Life's" Terrence Malick is becoming prolific in his later years. At Toronto he will show “To the Wonder,” a romantic drama about a man who is torn between two loves: the European who moved to America to be with him, and his old flame from his hometown.
We asked Sony Pictures Classics’ Tom Bernard for his festival picks. One of his suggestions: Ariel Vroman’s “The Iceman,” which opened at the Venice Film Festival ahead of Toronto. Michael Cimino earned high marks for his performance in the mafia drama, which also stars Chris Evans and James Franco.
"The Place Beyond the Pines” is a buzzed-about crime film directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes. In it, a stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his family.
British director Peter Stickland’s horror film “Berberian Sound Studio” is a paranoiac thriller set in the 1970s. The story follows a British sound engineer who descends into the madness of an Italian horror studio when he is asked to work in Italy. The film was the hit of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The Austrian director Michael Haneke stole critics' hearts at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and walked away with the top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his love story about an 80-year-old couple hanging on to each other as they hang on to their memories.
The documentary “Love, Marilyn,” by Liz Garbus, has been generating interest. As the story goes, nearly 50 years after Monroe's death, two boxes of her private writings and musings were discovered in the home of her acting coach, offering clues into her guarded inner world.
It's not every day that a head of state comes to Toronto to present a film. The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will do just that when he makes his argument for Palestinian statehood at this year's festival. Fayyad is holding a press conference on Sept. 11 in conjunction with the premiere of "State 194," a documentary by Dan Setton that follows the Palestinian leader's efforts to gain United Nations recognition as the 194th independent state.
“The Impossible,” directed by the Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona, is based on a true story about a Spanish family that found themselves in the middle of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The film marks the English-language debut of the director and stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.
The Toronto International Film Festival is celebrated for having one of the widest ranges of pictures on show on the festival circuit -- from out-there arthouse films to horrific horror titles and even Oscar hopefuls. Here's a selection of buzzed-about titles that caught our attention.
