Charles Darwin biopic to open Toronto International Film Festival
Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin
Going to the TIFF is like a film geek’s wet dream – movies and talented artists galore. Three of us GATWers applied this year and we’re crossing our fingers we that get in.
Today TIFF announced their opening lineup and broke their normal tradition by selecting a non-Canadian film as their opener. CREATION, a British film, will be the opening night film this year. This will also be the world premiere of CREATION.
“We have traditionally opened with a Canadian film, but this year we chose to go a different route. We fell in love with this movie and this is the one, we felt, really sets the tone for the kinds of conversations we hope will happen around the films at the festival,” TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey told reporters on Tuesday.
CREATION tells the story of evolutionist Charles Darwin and stars married actors Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly.
Two American films and a Norse-Danish-German co-production have also been added to the gala schedule:
PRECIOUS, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which won wide acclaim at Sundance
GET LOW, starring Robert Duvall as a 1930s backwoods eccentric who stages his own funeral
MAX MANUS, a film based on the true story of Norway’s famed Second World War resistance fighter
The following is a list of other films that we have confirmed so far. The 2009 Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 10-19!
The Boys are Back, Scott Hicks (Australia/U.K.)
Bright Star, Jane Campion (U.K./Australia)
City of Life and Death, Lu Chuan (China)
Cracks, Jordan Scott (Ireland)
Hadewijch, Bruno Dumont (France)
The Informant, Steven Soderbergh (U.S.)
The Invention of Lying, Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson (U.S.)
Leaves of Grass, Tim Blake Nelson (U.S.)
London River, Rachid Bouchareb (U.K./France/Algeria)
Mao’s Last Dance, Bruce Beresford (Australia/U.S./China)
Moloch Tropical, Raoul Peck (Haiti/France)
Mother, Bong Joon-ho (South Korea)
Ondine, Neil Jordan (Ireland/U.S.)
Partir, Catherine Corsini (France)
Scheherazade Tell Me a Story, Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
Solitary Man, Brian Koppelman and David Levien (U.S.)
Valhalla Rising, Nicolas Vinding Refn (Denmark/U.K.)
Vengeance, Johnnie To (Hong Kong/France)
The Vintner’s Luck, Niki Caro (New Zealand/France)
Source CBC
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