31/08/2006

As many as 27 UK productions and co-productions will have their world or North American premieres in eight sections of the 31st Toronto International Film Festival (September 7-16).

The prestigious Gala Presentation will feature the world premieres of three star-studded films. First up is the powerful new drama written and directed by Anthony Minghella, Breaking and Entering, starring Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn and Jude Law. Michael Apted, for his part, takes us back to late 18th century England with Amazing Grace, the story of a British Parliamentarian who led abolitionists in their crusade to end the slave trade, starring Rufus Sewell, Youssou N'Dour, and Ciaran Hinds. Lastly, US/UK co-production Penelope is a romantic fable directed by first-time Canadian director Mark Palansky, and stars Christina Ricci, Richard E.Grant and James McAvoy. Also in this section is Paul Verhoeven’s European co-production Black Book [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The Discovery Programme, dedicated to first-time filmmakers, includes Sean Ellis’s Cashback, which will be making its North American debut just after its launch in San Sebastian’s Zabaltegi-New Directors section; Paul Andrew Williams’s London to Brighton, which just won the New Directors Award in Edinburgh; and Steve Hudson’s True North, a thriller starring Peter Mullan, co-produced with Germany and Ireland.

The Contemporary World Cinema Section will feature Debbie Isitt’s comedy Confetti [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Agnieszka Holland’s UK/Hungarian Copying Beethoven, Andrea Arnold’s Cannes winner Red Road [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Tom Vaughan’s directorial debut Starter For 10, executive produced by Sam Mendes.

Six films will screen as Special Presentations: Kevin MacDonald’s The Last King of Scotland, Tarsem Singh’s Indian co-production The Fall, Kenneth Branagh’s The Magic Flute [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Snow Cake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marc Evans, Shane Meadows’ This is England [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and Roger Michell’s Venus.

The Reel To Reel documentary section will present four films, including Sophie Fiennes’ portrayal of world renowned philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavy Žižek, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema. Also of note is the screening of docudrama specialist Gabriel Range’s feature debut D.O.A.P. in the Visions section.