Sunday, September 17, 2006

Toronto Film Festival: Winners & Buzz

This Mexican director (pictured left) is the director of this year's winning film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

This unknown Mexican director is Alejandro Monteverde. His film, Bella, won the People's Choice Award. Bella tells the story of two people whose lives converge and turn upside down on a single day in New York. (via)

Winning this award is a significant accomplishment, former winners over the past 10 years include Shine, Life is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Whale Rider, American Beauty, Tsotsi, Hotel Rwanda, and Amelie.

The critics prize went to a highly controversial film called Death of a President, which is a fictional documentary about the assassination of President George W. Bush in 2007 after his 'war on terror' further polarised America. (via)

I would guess some would be surprised by the winners of this year's Toronto International Film Festival, given some of the largley buzzed about titles that are showing this year.

Leah Rozen of People Magazine says that many of the performances at Toronto this year generated a lot of Oscar buzz.

Lead Actress Buzz from TIFF

Lead Actor Buzz from TIFF
  • Derek Luke, Catch A Fire
  • Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
  • Sean Penn, All The Kings Men
  • Peter O'Toole, Venus
  • Toby Young, Infamous
  • Sacha Baron Cohen (HBO's Ali G), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Supporting Actress Buzz from TIFF

Supporting Actor Buzz from TIFF
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sigourney Weaver in Snow Cake?

Anonymous said...

I just found out that Bullock is making an appearance in Infamous. I was going to skip this movie (one film about Capote is enough for me) but now it seems like I may be forced to see this one too!

Anonymous said...

Showing the assasination of the president got a lot of press coverage. It's important to note because images such as seeing our current president shot are signifigant. The more we see something like that the more acceptable it could make it as a form of expression in the future. I know there have been many presidents shot, but they should remain extrordinary events. We are already desensatized to so much violence in this world. Assasination of the current president should remain a sacred cow.

J said...

I'm holding out for The Host, Time, 12:08 Eat of Bucharest, Volver, and Woman on the Beach myself. Sure they're not Oscar bait, but that's sort of the point.