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  • Canadians get gala treatment at fest

    Canadians get gala treatment at fest
    by Peter Howell, Toronto Star

    The Toronto Star
    June 29, 2005 Wednesday

    The surprising choice of this year's opening-night gala selection
    for the Toronto International Film Festival could easily have led
    to a catfight between contending filmmakers David Cronenberg, Atom
    Egoyan and Deepa Mehta.

    But in true Canadian fashion, the announcement yesterday that Mehta's
    Water had been chosen over Cronenberg's A History of Violence and
    Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies for gala honours was an occasion for
    celebration, mutual admiration and a little bit of savvy marketing.
    All three filmmakers were on hand yesterday at the Royal York Hotel's
    Imperial Room for the festival event.

    It had been assumed by many that either Cronenberg or Egoyan would
    open the 30th edition of the festival on Sept. 8 at Roy Thomson Hall.
    Both men premiered their films at Cannes last month, and often the
    year's main Canuck flag carrier gets the nod for Toronto.

    But instead the festival will bow with Mehta's Water, the final chapter
    of her Elements Trilogy, following Earth (1998) and Fire (1996). It's
    the story of a child bride, living in 1930s India just before the
    rise of Mahatma Gandhi, who is exiled to a widow's ashram after her
    husband's death. She thirsts for freedom, as do many of her countrymen.

    Mehta thanked Cronenberg and Egoyan for graciously accepting her
    selection, only the second time in the festival's history that a female
    director has been chosen to open the event. Water, five years in the
    making, had a troubled start because the director's original plan
    to shoot it in India was met with death threats, destroyed sets and
    denunciation by fundamentalists who objected to the script. Mehta
    eventually moved the production to Sri Lanka, where it was shot
    secretly under the title River Moon.

    She called it "the understatement of the year" to say that she was
    thrilled to be the gala opener, but she also thanked the festival
    for being brave enough to "expand the boundaries of what defines a
    Canadian film."

    "We know that Canada is multicultural ... but somehow it's never been
    affirmed the way it has here today. That is an important day for me."

    Egoyan and Cronenberg seconded her sentiments. Egoyan added he's
    pleased the festival was willing to take a chance on a controversial
    film, just as it did for him in 2002 when he opened the festival
    with the contentious Ararat, which concerns the genocide of Armenians
    early in the last century.

    But both men added that it suited the marketing strategy of their
    films to skip the opening-night slot and to take one of the 17 other
    gala posts, a move that was also confirmed yesterday. A History
    of Violence and Where the Truth Lies are both scheduled for a fall
    release, aimed at an adult audience that isn't necessarily interested
    in film festivals.

    "The distributors of my film, and I think, Atom's, really didn't want
    to have the opening night," Cronenberg said in an interview.

    "Because they felt that the opening night is a lot about the
    festival. They want to control the party and the press and whatever
    else. I'm just interested in having it released as well as it can be
    and, if that's part of it, then go ahead and do that.

    "You gradually realize what is worth getting upset about and what
    isn't. If I had insisted on having my film at least proposed as
    the opening film, they probably would have. But I'm not looking for
    honours, I'm looking for the film to have a strong release."

    Festival co-director Piers Handling praised Mehta for persevering in
    making Water, which will have its world premiere at the festival.

    "Deepa has matured and grown, and she had pretty deep convictions
    to make a film like this, with all the trouble she had with the
    production. She got terrific performances. It's basically a women's
    film, told from their perspective, and it's very powerful and
    emotional. Its power comes through understatement."

    Cronenberg heaped high praise upon the Toronto festival, saying it's
    better than Cannes.

    "Well, we all know that Cannes is perfect and fun. But this is the
    real festival," he said, to solid applause from the room.

    Handling and fellow festival co-director Noah Cowan sought to live
    up to the superlatives. Along with the gala program choices, they
    announced a total of 25 films to add to the 20 announced last week,
    still just a small portion of the 250-odd features that will screen
    from Sept. 8-17.

    They also unwrapped new selections for the Special Presentations,
    Contemporary World Cinema, Discovery, Masters and Visions programs.

    Highlights include Shopgirl, Anand Tucker's adaptation of Steve
    Martin's comic novella about romance and retail, starring Martin,
    Clare Danes and Jason Schwartzmann; Thank You For Smoking, Jason
    Reitman's satire on corporate lobbyists, starring Aaron Eckhart,
    Robert Duvall and Katie Holmes; and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain,
    an epic cowboy love story starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal,
    set in the Texas and Wyoming of 1963.

    New ticket categories and screens have been added this year,
    allowing for a promised 10 per cent boost in available seats. The
    first ticket-sale deadline, for passes and coupon books, is July 18
    at 10 a.m.

    For more information, call 416-968-FILM or click www.bell.ca/filmfest.

    GRAPHIC: Peter Power TORONTO STAR Three Toronto-based directors who
    have made their mark on world cinema, from left, David Cronenberg,
    Deepa Mehta and Atom Egoyan, pose at yesterday's film festival press
    conference.
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