I hope the action in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers picks up after this scene. The film, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, is about four college girls — played by Selena Gomez , Vanessa Hudgens , Rachel Korine and Ashley Benson — get mixed up with an arms and drug dealer, played by a Kevin Federlinesque James Franco , after they rob a restaurant to fund their spring break vacation and land in jail. This listless and very blue-hued first clip from the movie appears to be setting up the hotties’ motivation for their lawlessness. Apparently, there’s nothing like the boredom and brown grass of small-town living to make criminal activity sound like a hoot. FIRST PEEK: Spring Breakers from MUSE Film on Vimeo . Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
This week, your Labor Day holiday viewing kicks off with Tom Hardy in cardigans in John Hillcoat’s Lawless for the grown-ups and the PG-13 horror flick The Possession for everyone else. Well, almost everyone else; if you have eyeballs and live in the targeted marketing range of self-professed Teletubbies PR whiz Kenn Viselman, another new offering is jockeying for the disposable ticket monies of the kid-toting demographic out there. Its name is Oogieloves . And it’s coming for you. The Oogieloves In The Big Balloon Adventure is, like The Teletubbies , colorful G-rated children’s programming built around giant humanoid creatures, this time full-bodied puppet-kids Goobie, Zoozie and Toofie. (Unfortunately the stoner entertainment potential seems much, much lower here.) There’s no good reason for you to know what the Oogieloves are, though if you’re like me the billboards and posters around town have a lingering, disturbing effect. My immediate reaction to turning the corner to come face to face with one of these Oogieloves posters: WHAT ARE THESE GIANT FABRIC CANDY-COLORED CHILDREN-PUPPETS WITH NO NOSES? WHY DO THEY STARE AT ME FROM BEHIND THOSE BALLOONS LIKE PUPPET PEEPING TOMS?? DEAR GOD THEY’RE GOING TO EAT ME, AREN’T THEY??? And side note: Guys, just stop trying to make “Oogust” happen. Oogieloves aims to set itself apart from the competition by offering children and parents an interactive moviegoing experience: Here, the young viewer is encouraged to dance and sing with the screen characters as a gaggle of semi-recognizable celebrities (Toni Braxton, Cloris Leachman, Chazz Palminteri, Cary Elwes, Jaime Pressly) turn in cameos to keep the grown-ups from falling asleep/banging their heads against the seat, at least on some basic level of C-list celebrity spotting. I’m not a parent, so I don’t have much of an idea of how excruciating it is to sit through the majority of television and film programming aimed at the toddler set. I imagine Oogieloves isn’t any less torturous to sit through than your average kids picture. But there’s also a practical upside to the experimental interactive angle. “Instead of giving our children popcorn and soda and asking them to sit still during a 90 minute movie, we looked at the experience from a child’s point of view,” Viselman explained to the Sacramento Bee. It’s not just Baby Brigade night at your local cineplex; it’s playtime for a theater full of energetic tots who don’t have to try to sit still for an hour and a half, staring passively at the screen. Herein lies Viselman’s genius, if I may use that word (it’s been applied to him in the past for blowing up The Teletubbies phenomenon by fabricating the Tinky Winky gay rumors, and casting George Carlin in Thomas the Tank Engine ). Oogieloves , regardless of its actual content, fulfills a need that parents can’t find elsewhere – the chance to bring children to the movies without having to shush them, or wrangle them, without worrying about disturbing other patrons. Viselman teamed up with educator/Ph.D. Faith Rogow to pen a Parents Guide to Oogieloves ( pdf ) that outlines all the ways in which Oogieloves is an enriching educational film for 3-5 year-olds. It doesn’t include my favorite trivia bit about this whole Oogieloves business: That Viselman concocted the idea after going to a Tyler Perry movie and noticing how members of the audience were super into talking back to the screen. So if you find yourself dragged along to see Christopher Lloyd flamenco dancing with giant scary puppet spawn this week, you know who to blame/thank. ( Oogieloves is directed by Matthew Diamond, whose 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary for the Paul Taylor dance doc Dancemaker , amazingly enough, lends the pic some Oscar cred.) So what the good God is Oogieloves to any of us without children to entertain? I boil it down to the famous people trapped in this ultimate paycheck gig, even if some of them seem to be enjoying themselves much more than others. Let’s rank the celebrity cameos based on film stills and guess at who’s Oogielovin’ and Oogiehating their lives this week, in order of increasing enjoyment/decreasing humiliation: Christopher Lloyd as Lero Sombrero The front-runner of the Oogieloves misery contest appears to be Christopher Lloyd but hey, only a viewing of the film will tell. Even Piranha 3DD made more sense than this. Carey Elwes as Bobby Wobbly Remember Cary Elwes’ glory days? Sigh. Chazz Palminteri as Marvin Milkshake Fascinatingly enough, the Oscar nominee almost seems like he’s actually having fun, or at least doesn’t give a shit that he’s serving milkshakes to puppet children in a movie called Oogieloves . Jaime Pressly as Lola Sombrero Likewise, there’s no trace of sadness in Pressly’s face. I fully believe her dedication to the Oogieloves cause. Toni Braxton as Rosalie Rosebud On the other hand, Toni Braxton looks completely unfazed playing an over-the-top singer modeled after Mariah Carey . This could be her acting breakthrough. Cloris Leachman as Dottie Rounder And that brings us to the unsinkable Cloris Leachman, who appears to be having a freaking ball (as she always does). This is your Oogieloves MVP right here. Anyone planning on seeing Oogieloves this week? Come on back and tell us how it was. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Well, another power couple have locked lips and the result may be nothing short of earth-shattering. No longer relegated to the sidelines in this Summer filled with Batman and Spider-Man hoopla, Wonder Woman and Superman have hit the headlines with a snogging session that has turned the super-hero universe into a flutter – or at least some raised eyebrows and a little good-old fashioned gossip. Could their off-screen romance some day even make it to the big screen? The smooch took place in the final throes of issue No. 12 of DC Comics’ year-old Justice League series which introduced new stories, costumes and even origins of the members of this longstanding super posse. (The publisher introduced the Justice League of America as they were called then in 1960, three years before rival Marvel unveiled its equivalent, The Avengers.) DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee told A.P. via ABC News that the kiss is not a “stunt or an alternate reality smooch.” “This has been in the works for some time and we certainly wouldn’t have pulled the trigger without there being great creative benefit to the liaison,” he said in an email to A.P. “Beyond the joy and sorrows of new love, there are potentially huge ramifications and dramatic ways this single relationship between these iconic characters will change the entire political and interpersonal landscape of the DC Universe.” All of that from a kiss? What happens when they finally hook up? This is not the first time the super-hero power duo have had a fling, by the way. In the ’80s they had a short-lived moment of passion, but Superman ended up with Lois Lane. They also canoodled in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Strikes Again a decade ago. Beyond the smooch heard around the world, Wonder Woman has some other news to boast since her last foray into the headlines. Her costume has changed and she is now the daughter of none other than that zenith of Greek Mythology, Zeus. You go grrrl! Given Hollywood’s penchant for hot power couples and the lure of box office dollars that often follow super heroes generally, when will Wo-Supe (or maybe it’s Super-Wo?) share that kiss on the big screen? Tell us what you think…. [ Source: A.P. via ABC News ]
Having labeled the 1990 sci-fi Total Recall “ cheesy ,” it was only a matter of time before the makers of this summer’s lackluster Colin Farrell-starring remake had the tables turned on them by Paul Verhoeven , the original film’s director. And so, Friday at a sold-out screening of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, Verhoeven seized the opportunity for a little payback, a good-natured gleam in his eye. “Colin Farrell called it in an interview ‘kitschy,’” he declared with a smile. “So I dare to say that his version was not good.” Verhoeven revisited the making of the film over 22 years ago over the course of an hourlong Q&A, joined by screenwriters Ron Shusett, who first optioned Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” and co-scripted Total Recall and Alien with the late Dan O’Bannon, and Gary Goldman, who came on to help flesh out a third act and penned many of the film’s memorable one-liners. The trio shared memories of the film’s long journey to the screen, the difficulty in adapting a writer as brilliant as Philip K. Dick, and the unique challenges and benefits of writing for a star like Schwarzenegger. Scroll down for these and more highlights from the evening, including Verhoeven’s favorite scene! Why he cast Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct ! The connection between Total Recall and Alien ! (Plus: an update on his Winter Queen adaptation, which was to star Milla Jovovich but, he says, “fell into the wrong hands.”) 1. VERHOEVEN ON THE TOTAL RECALL REMAKE “Arnold being there made the movie a little light, and I think that’s very important for these Philip Dick stories,” he said. “I think if it would have been done in a straight way, I’m not so sure that it would have worked – at least, not at that time. And recently [in the Total Recall remake], it did not. I get to say that because the producer of the new one said that this was cheesy or something. And Colin Farrell called it in an interview ‘kitschy.’ So I dare to say that his version was not good.” 2. THE LONG ROAD TO TOTAL RECALL A notoriously long and troubled development saw Total Recall nearly derailed many times, as Shusett recalled. “Sets were being built in Germany, in Australia, and Mexico City — all over the world — and being cancelled. At that time it was the most expensive movie ever made… it was cancelled so many times that when I asked if they would save it, they said the only way we could do this was if we called it Partial Recall .” Once Schwarzenegger signed on, he lent his star power to supporting collaborators behind the scenes. Shusett, who’d written and was producing the project, was nearly removed from the film until Schwarzenegger stepped in on his behalf; the actor also handpicked Verhoeven to direct, as the filmmaker remembered. “Arnold picked me,” said Verhoeven. “Arnold was after this project for a long time… they had started to shoot in Australia and then [Dino De Laurentiis’] company fell apart and went bankrupt. Then Arnold convinced Mario Kassar of Carolco to buy the script out of the bankruptcy. And at the same time he said to Mario, ‘I want Paul Verhoeven because I have seen RoboCop .'” Even with Verhoeven onboard, the script was missing a conclusion. “I felt that something had to happen in the third act that would also be also a little bit philosophical or ambiguous or something, but that was not there,” he said. “And I really got scared – there were like 40 drafts where it was not solved. I thought, it’s unsolvable! It can’t be done! But I had signed already.” 3. THE PHILIP K. DICK CHALLENGE “The other Philip Dick movies all failed for one reason,” declared Shusett. “He’s so brilliant with his set up, he paints you into a corner, he has no ending, there’s barely a second act, and if you don’t match his brilliance with a third act the audience is disappointed. You have to go to extreme length, talent and luck, and come up with an ending that’s worthy of his brilliant set up. That’s why it took six years to get a third act!” Verhoeven’s ambiguous ending leaves open both possibilities that Quaid is either experiencing real life or a fantasy. “I felt that it should be both. I thought in retrospect this is probably the first post-modern film,” said Verhoeven, adding that “the producer of the new one asked me [if it’s real or not]. I said no it’s both, and he said, ‘That’s nonsense.’” 4. SHARON STONE: FROM LORI TO BASIC INSTINCT “For me, casting Sharon was very handy because I started to realize during the shoot what she could do,” revealed Verhoeven. “There’s this beautiful moment when they kick the shit out of [Schwarzenegger] and Rachel [Ticotin] comes out of the elevator and starts shooting. Sharon is on the ground and looks at Arnold … and it was exactly these 5, 6 seconds that made me decide to take Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct . It was based on the fact that she could do that so fast and so believable and she is so mean and so nice and charming, one after the other, that I thought she would be perfect for Basic Instinct .” 5. THE REAL LIFE INSPIRATION FOR RICHTER’S DEATH As a child, Verhoeven played in an elevator that he briefly thought might cut off his legs as he dangled them over the side. He exorcised his lingering horror at the thought by condemning Michael Ironside’s Richter to death by elevator amputation. “I often think about it; I would have been without legs.” 6. VERHOEVEN’S FAVORITE SCENE “I came to the scene that is still one of my favorite scenes, the Dr. Edgemar scene with Roy Brocksmith, who comes to Arnold on Mars and says what we see in him, ‘You are not here.’ I thought that was such a fascinating scene to dare to do that, to say something to the audience that they have been looking at something that is completely not true, and then prove to them that it’s true again.” 7. PAUL VERHOEVEN’S CRUSADE , STARRING ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER Verhoeven spoke fondly of Crusade , the famously never-produced period epic that would have reunited Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger in 1993. “We tried very hard when we were setting up The Crusades. The script was written by Walon Green, and we were supposed to shoot it then Carolco went into Chapter 11 and the movie was never made. Certainly Ridley Scott did Kingdom of Heaven but it was, again, with Arnold, a lighter version of The Crusades but very critical of the Christians.” 8. ABOUT WRITING FOR/DIRECTING ARNOLD… The Quaid character was originally written as an accountant, but that idea (not to mention the suggestion that he could pass as an everyman) went out the window when Schwarzenegger was cast. “It seemed completely ridiculous,” Verhoeven said. “We realized we had to give him a completely different job. Jackhammer worker. We adapted everything to Arnold because I felt that you could not go around Arnold!” “We wrote it like he was just an ordinary Joe, like Jeff Bridges, one of the earlier persons who was going to do it,” said Shusett. “And you don’t know he’s a super agent but Suddenly he’s believable – so he could be a nerd, and not. But we realized everybody knows Arnold’s going to be the real secret agent … but if you can get it made, it turns your mind around.” “In retrospect,” Verhoeven added, “I’m very happy that Arnold was forced upon me.” 9. TOTAL RECALL AND ALIEN Schusett took the audience back a few decades to tell the story of how Total Recall and Alien sprang from a moment of mutual writer’s block between him and Dan O’Bannon. “He said a lot of people want to be writers – he was very blunt and could cut you down in a minute, but he was always truthful,” Schusett laughed, remembering his initial meeting with O’Bannon. “‘Can you show me something you’ve written?’ I went home and gave him something I wrote, a spec script. He said, ‘You’re good – come on over, I have a proposition for you: I can help you finish this if you can help me finish this .’ And he pulled out this thing, he had 29 pages written. He said, ‘You can’t take it with you because I don’t know you and I don’t trust you yet, sit down here and read it.’ And I sat down and read it, and it was the first 29 pages of Alien . I said ‘This is brilliant.’ He said, ‘Yeah – and I’m stuck. What I see in you, I think you’ve got a good enough mind to help me make it work. So I’ll help you fix Total Recall and make it a reality, at least the script, and you help me fix Alien .’ And that day, both movies were born.” BONUS: THE WINTER QUEEN IS DEAD Verhoeven explained why the adaptation of Boris Akunin’s Russian novel he was producing is no longer happening. ” The Winter Queen fell into the wrong hands, so it will not be made,” he said. “I think the time might have passed for this kind of lightness that was in the movie – nowadays everything is so hard and serious. It would have been a very light adventure story at the end of the 19th century, Russians – I mean, played by Americans or English [laughs] but I don’t think that’s going to be made, no. I would have loved to do that five years ago.” Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This is for real! Get excited , per THR : ” Beached centers on a chubby 4-year-old child who falls overboard during a family outing, is raised by whales and goes on to become an Olympic swimmer.” Jon Turteltaub has just signed on to direct; Betty Thomas was previously attached, according to the trade report, though I can see one clear advantage to having Turteltaub behind the camera off the bat. Two words: Three Ninjas . Yeah sure, and National Treasure or whatever. The guy knows kids and extra-curricular athletic activities. Do I smell a franchise or what? [ THR ]
Leslye Headland won’t forget her first time, but not for the reasons you might think. In a guest blog she wrote for The Film Experience , the playwright and filmmaker, whose buzzed-about debut, Bachelorette , opens theatrically on Sept. 7 wrote that while losing her virginity was “sort of a let down,” the experience was salvaged by a post-deflowering viewing of Wes Anderson’s iconoclastic teen romance story Rushmore. “It was awkward, sort of empty and was done mostly to just get it over with,” Headland wrote of the sexual experience in “Growing Up Cinephile,” adding: “Afterwards, a thick disappointment hung in the room. My deflowerer half-heartedly offered up a solution” to watch Anderson’s second feature, which he pronounced the “greatest thing you’ll ever see.” Turns out the guy had at least one redeeming quality: good taste in post-relations movies. “Watching Rushmore , naked, innocence freshly lost, was one of the most beautiful moments of my life,” Headland wrote. “As the slow motion closing shot set to The Faces flashed before me, I was treated to the tears of real love and tenderness I’d hoped my first sexual experience would bring. “Thank you Wes Anderson,” the filmmaker concluded: “You saved Latin. But, for this cinephile, you also saved sex.” Headland also chose Woody Allen’s Love and Death and The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski as landmark films in life. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
David Koepp couldn’t envision a Snow White and the Huntsman sequel without Kristen Stewart — which is one reason he says he’s no longer involved in the project. Koepp — who scripted Jurassic Park , the original 2002 Spider-Man movie and co-wrote and directed this weekend’s new bike-messenger thriller Premium Rush — told Movieline that he departed the project because he had worked on a script idea “that I really liked” involving Stewart’s character. “And their situation, I hear, changed a little, so they weren’t interested in pursuing that idea anymore.” Koepp said that was a sign for him to move on. “I felt like there was a good path with her, but then they wanted to explore a different thing that I had no ideas for,” he explained. “If you don’t have any ideas, you should probably put your pen in your backpack and go home.” As a result, he added, “we agreed to part ways and stay friends.” When I asked Koepp if he could see a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman being made sans Stewart, he replied: “Well, I couldn’t. That was why I felt like I couldn’t follow through.” Stewart’s involvement in a Snow White sequel has been hotly debated since reports broke in late July that she cheated on her on- and 0ff-screen Twilight love interest Robert Pattinson with SWATH director Rupert Sanders and apologized for it. On Aug. 15, Deadline reported that, internally, Universal is discussing whether to focus the next movie on the Huntsman character played by Chris Hemsworth , who is fast proving himself to be leading-man material. Universal also bought a crime drama called 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell for Sanders. Nell Alk is an arts and entertainment writer and reporter based in New York City. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal , Manhattan Magazine , Z!NK Magazine and on InterviewMagazine.com, PaperMag.com and RollingStone.com, among others. Learn more about her here . Follow Nell Alk on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I suppose it makes sense: According to Vulture rumor-slinger Claude Brodesser-Akner, Disney’s new regime under Alan Horn is developing a remake of 1991’s The Rocketeer — a box office disappointment that nevertheless built a cult following owing to its retro-futuristic vibe, Billy Campbell’s irresistible hair, and Jennifer Connelly ‘s Jennifer Connelly-ness. The Rocketeer told the story of Cliff Secord, a square-jawed airplane pilot who battles Nazis with the help of a rocket jetpack in 1930s California. Audiences rejected it upon release, but the film won dedicated fans (myself included) in subsequent years. The report, based on studio spy whispers, points out that such a reboot might be successful thanks to its similarities with Marvel’s Iron Man properties — both were adapted from comics, both involve a hero in a supercool metal suit flying into action against baddies, etc. One way of updating the Rocketeer property could be to make it slick and high-tech and even more Iron Man -esque… though the idea of Disney courting such obvious parallels to Marvel’s best-loved new Avengers superhero doesn’t make much sense. If Disney reboots The Rocketeer , I can’t imagine fans of the original comics and the Joe Johnston-directed film would accept anything less than a faithful period setting, in keeping with the original story’s spirit and sense for nostalgic idealism; good luck finding a Cliff Secord with hair as phenomenally perfect as 90s-era Campbell. I mean – JUST… LOOK… AT THIS HAIR! YOU GUYS . On second thought, let me put this out there: Armie Hammer as Cliff. Jennifer Lawrence as Jenny. Michael Fassbender as Neville Sinclair. Discuss. [ Vulture ]
This week’s DVD releases encompass everything from the sublime — Richard Linklater’s Bernie , one of the best films of the year so far (Millennium Entertainment; $29.99 Blu-Ray, $28.99 DVD) — to the ridiculous — the DVD debut of the 1980s T&A epic Joysticks (Scorpion Releasing; $19.95 DVD). For my tastes, however, the highlights include a subtle but powerful British romance along with some animated Disney faves that are available for the first time on Blu-ray. HIGH: Weekend (The Criterion Collection; Blu-ray $39.95; DVD $29.95) Who’s Responsible: Written and directed by Andrew Haigh; starring Tom Cullen and Chris New. What It’s All About: Soft-spoken lifeguard Russell (Cullen) and cynical artist Glen (New) hook up in a British gay bar, but what begins as a one-night stand unfolds over the course of the titular time span into something else entirely. As they spend time together, the two open up about their lives, let down their defenses and appear to be on the brink of falling in love. There’s just one problem: Glen is about to go to the United States for a two-year arts program. Why It’s Schmancy: Following its debut at South by Southwest in 2011, Weekend felt like a revelation, not only to gay audiences, who are always starving for fresh and intelligent — and sexy and romantic — examinations of their lives, but also to mainstream critics. The latter group recognized that, with only one previous feature to his credit, Haigh had turned out a poignant tale of love and missed opportunity that can stand alongside David Lean’s Brief Encounter and Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset . Why You Should Buy It: Although there’s no commentary track, this release includes several illuminating documentaries, including one where Haigh explains the mechanics of the sex scenes. In another, scenes that the actors used to audition for their roles are compared to corresponding scenes in the the finished movie. There’s also a video essay on artists Quinnford + Scout, who shot stills and home movie footage on the set. Two of Haigh’s short films, Cahuenga Blvd. — which has some thematic parallels with Weekend — and Five Miles Out (starring Dakota Blue Richards of The Golden Compass ) are also included. Finally, there’s a fine Dennis Lim essay that contextualizes Weekend in contemporary queer cinema. LOW: The Rescuers: 35 th Anniversary Edition/The Rescuers Down Under (Walt Disney Home Entertainment; $39.99 Blu-Ray, $29.99 DVD) Who’s Responsible: Directed by John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman and Art Stevens ( Rescuers) ; Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel (Down Under). Both films star Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor. What It’s All About: A mouse organization known as the Rescue Aid Society operates alongside the United Nations to help abduction victims around the world. The glamorous Hungarian agent Miss Bianca (Gabor) enlists janitor Bernard (Newhart) to help her on her missions: In the 1977 original, they track down a young girl held captive in the Louisiana bayous by the treasure-seeking Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page). For the 1990 sequel, they head to the Australian outback to save a boy in the clutches of a vicious poacher (George C. Scott). Why It’s Fun: Based on the novels by Margery Sharp, both of these movies are cracking adventures for kids that possess enough sly wit to keep adults entertained as well. The original Rescuers was one of the few entertaining cartoon features to emerge from Disney’s bleak period between the death of Uncle Walt in 1966 and the resurrection of the studio’s legendary animation department with 1989’s The Little Mermaid . Also, as any fan of Green Acres knows, Gabor works best with a slow-burn straight man. Lucky for her — and us &mdash: Newhart ranks among the greatest comic foils. And speaking of Green Acres, character actor Pat Buttram, who played Mr. Haney on the comedy series, loans his distinctive voice to the first Rescuers . Why You Need to Buy It (Again): This release marks the Blu-Ray debut for both features, and both the Blu-Ray and DVD editions include a making-of for Down Under , an animated short ( Three Blind Musketeers ), a Disney True-Life Adventure ( Water Birds ), and a sing-along for the first film’s theme song, “Someone’s Waiting for You.” The Blu-Ray also includes a deleted tune, “Peoplitis.” Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What The Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The 37th Toronto International Film Festival added more titles Tuesday, completing a lineup that includes 289 features of which 146 are world premieres from 72 countries. Among the titles revealed today are Cannes Palme d’Or winner Amour by Michael Haneke, Everyday by Michael Winterbottom, Like Someone in Love by Abbas Kiarostami and Me and You by Bernardo Bertolucci. The festival touted its huge list of directors and actors expected to attend the event, which takes place September 6 – 16. The festival revealed titles in its Masters and Discovery sections as well as events planned for its conversational “Mavericks series.” TIFF will also host its Docs Conference for a second year, expanding the event to two days and it will allow for public participation. The event will kick off with a keynote from HBO Documentary Films’ Sheila Nevins. Among this year’s directors expected to attend are: Rian Johnson, Noah Baumbach, Deepa Mehta, Derek Cianfrance, Sion Sono, Joss Whedon, Neil Jordan, Lu Chuan, Shola Lynch, Barry Levinson, Yvan Attal, Ben Affleck, Marina Zenovich, Costa-Gavras, Laurent Cantet, Sally Potter, Dustin Hoffman. Baltasar Kormákur, J.A. Bayona, Rob Zombie, Peaches and Paul Andrew Williams. Actors expected to attend include: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jackie Chan, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Bill Murray, Robert Redford, Riz Ahmed, Ryan Gosling, Robert De Niro, Stephen Dorff, Dennis Quaid, Jennifer Connelly, Billy Bob Thornton, Bradley Cooper, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Colin Firth, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Gwyneth Paltrow and many more. “These Masters films represent cinema’s living legacy,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF. “We are proud to present new work from directors as renowned as Manoel de Oliveira, Michael Haneke, Bernardo Bertolucci and Abbas Kiarostami. All 14 filmmakers command the respect of audiences, critics and above all their filmmaking peers.” 2012 Toronto International Film Festival additions with descriptions provided by the event. Masters: Amour by Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are ineffably moving as an elderly couple facing their own mortality in the Palme d’Or-winning new work by modern master Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon). Beyond the Hills (Dupa Dealuri) by Cristian Mungiu, Romania/France North American Premiere Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) returns with this magisterial drama about a young Romanian woman who sets out to retrieve her childhood friend from “captivity” in a remote Romanian monastery, and soon comes into violent conflict with the archaic strictures of this traditional community. Everyday by Michael Winterbottom, United Kingdom World Premiere Everyday tells the story of four children separated from their father, and a wife separated from her husband. The father, Ian (John Simm), is in prison. The mother, Karen, (Shirley Henderson) has to bring up a family of four children by herself. Filmed over a period of five years, Everyday uses the repetitions and rhythms of everyday life to explore how a family can survive a prolonged period apart. Gebo and the Shadow (Gebo et l’ombre) by Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France North American Premiere Cinematic legends Jeanne Moreau, Claudia Cardinale and Michael Lonsdale star in the new film from legendary Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira. In Another Country (Da-Reun Na-ra-e-suh) by Hong Sang-soo, South Korea North American Premiere South Korean master Hong Sang-soo teams with French superstar Isabelle Huppert for this inventive and wonderfully witty three-part film, in which three different but strikingly similar women — all named Anne, and all played by Huppert — meet and interact with the same group of people in a seaside Korean town, with each encounter producing a set of intriguing new outcomes and new possibilities. Like Someone in Love by Abbas Kiarostami, Japan/France North American Premiere An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him; he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of 24 hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter. Me and You by Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy North American Premiere In Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci’s first feature in 10 years, Lorenzo is a quirky 14-year-old loner who plans to fulfill his teenage dream of happiness by hiding out in his apartment building’s abandoned cellar. To escape his overwrought parents, Lorenzo will tell them that he is going away on a ski trip with school friends. For an entire week, he will finally be able to avoid all conflicts and pressures to be a “normal” teenager. But an unexpected visit from his worldly older half-sister Olivia changes everything. Their emotional time together will inspire Lorenzo to come to terms with the challenge of casting aside his disguise of troubled youth and prepare to soon be thrown into the chaotic game of adult life. Night Across the Street (La Noche de Enfrente) by Raúl Ruiz, France/Chile North American Premiere Three intersecting ages of a man who can see approach of death. Three rival souls. The final testament of Raúl Ruiz. Pieta by Kim Ki-duk, South Korea North American Premiere In the new film by controversial Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, a brutal man employed by a loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle when a mysterious woman appears claiming to be his long-lost mother. But, as his attachment to her grows, he begins to discover the gruesome and tragic secret that made her seek him out. Something in the Air (Après mai) by Olivier Assayas, France North American Premiere At the beginning of the seventies, Gilles, a high school student in Paris, is swept up in the political fever of the time. Yet his real dream is to paint and make films, something that his friends and even his girlfriend cannot understand. For them, politics is everything, the political struggle all-consuming. But Gilles gradually becomes more comfortable with his life choices, and learns to feel at ease in this new society. Student by Darezhan Omirbayev, Kazakhstan North American Premiere Master director Darezhan Omirbayev transposes Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment to modern-day Kazakhstan, in this tale of a university student who takes the ruthless social Darwinist principles of his post-communist, pirate-capitalist society to their murderously literal extreme. When Day Breaks by Goran Paskaljevic, Serbia/Croatia/France World Premiere Misha Brankov is a retired music professor. One morning he receives a letter requesting him to contact the Jewish Museum in Belgrade. At the museum, he learns that during some excavations on the sewers at the city’s Old Fairgrounds, an iron box was found, in this same place where during the Second World War an infamous concentration camp was set up for Serbian Jews and Gypsies. The contents of the box will change the Professor’s life. Maverick Series: In Conversation With… Jackie Chan Actor, director, writer, producer, comedian, stuntman, action choreographer and martial artist Jackie Chan continues to do it all. His tireless work in more than 100 films over four decades has made him a global icon. There may be no corner of this planet where his face — and fists — are unknown. In this exclusive Mavericks Conversation, Chan will discuss the full range of his career. In a Festival exclusive, he will also offer a sneak preview glimpse of his upcoming film, Chinese Zodiac. Moderated by Cameron Bailey. Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony Produced by and starring Academy Award®-winning actor Javier Bardem, Álvaro Longoria’s documentary Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony examines the current political turmoil in Northern Africa, and the role of the Western world’s realpolitik foreign policies. These policies have generated tremendous instabilities that have erupted into violence and chaos. The film focuses on Western Sahara, the last African colony according to the UN, and a region on the brink of war. The film follows Bardem’s personal journey through the path of world diplomacy and the devastating reality of an abandoned people. Following the North American premiere screening, Bardem joins Longoria onstage to discuss how he discovered this catastrophic human rights issue, and his determination to bring the cause of the Saharan refugees to the attention of the UN Assembly. The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology Depending on one’s view, the philosopher and academic superstar Slavoj Žižek is a genius, madman, contrarian, clown, sensationalist, radical leftist, scourge of liberals, or all the above. What he never fails to be is wildly entertaining and provocative. Director Sophie Fiennes reunites with the very funny provocateur Žižek for the sequel to their collaboration The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema. Žižek examines film clips, both famous and obscure, for their overt and hidden ideological implications, tracing their connections to current times, while Fiennes does a masterful job editing Žižek’s commentary into film scenes and placing him into clever recreations of famous film sets. Fiennes and Žižek (making his first visit to the Festival) will engage in an onstage discussion following this world premiere screening. West of Memphis From Academy Award-nominated director Amy Berg, in collaboration with first-time producers Damien Echols and Lorri Davis along with acclaimed Academy Award-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, comes West of Memphis — a powerful examination of a catastrophic failure of justice in Arkansas. This infamous case of three teenagers — known as the West Memphis Three — who were imprisoned for a heinous crime despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence, has galvanized grassroots supporters and high-profile advocates such as Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and musician Natalie Maines. Told and made by those who lived it, Berg’s unprecedented access to the inner workings of the defence allows the film to show the investigation, research and appeals process in a way that has never been seen before. A pre-taped video introduction by Jackson precedes the screening, which is followed by a live discussion about the case and the movement it inspired with Berg, Echols, Davis, Maines and Depp. Moderated by Thom Powers. Discovery: 7 Boxes by Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori, Paraguay International Premiere It’s Friday night in Asunción and the temperature is 40ºC. Víctor, a 17-year-old wheelbarrow-boy, dreams of becoming famous and covets a cell phone in Mercado 4. He is offered the chance to deliver seven boxes with unknown contents in exchange for $100. This sounds like an easy job but it soon gets complicated. Something in the boxes is highly coveted. Víctor and his persecutors find themselves caught up in a crime they know nothing about. Starring Celso Franco, Lali González, Víctor Sosa and Nico García. Augustine by Alice Winocour, France International Premiere Paris, winter 1885. At the Pitié-Salpêtriere Hospital, Professor Charcot is studying a mysterious illness: hysteria. Augustine, 19 years old, becomes his favourite guinea pig and the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. The object of his studies will soon become the object of his desire. Starring Soko, Vincent Lindon and Chiara Mastroianni. Blancanieves by Pablo Berger, Spain/France World Premiere Once upon a time, there was a little girl who never knew her mother. She learned the art of her father, a famous bullfighter, but was hated by her evil stepmother. One day she ran away with a troupe of dwarfs and became a legend. Set in southern Spain in the 1920s, Blancanieves is a tribute to silent film. Starring Maribel Verdú and Daniel Giménez Cacho. Boy Eating the Bird’s Food by Ektoras Lygizos, Greece North American Premiere A 22-year-old boy in Athens has no job, no money, no girlfriend and no food to eat. He has only a canary bird and a beautiful singing voice. When he finds himself without a home, he must seek shelter for his bird. Starring Yiannis Papadopoulos. The Brass Teapot by Ramaa Mosley, USA World Premiere John and Alice are in their 20s, married, very much in love, and broke. In high school, gorgeous Alice was voted “most likely to succeed” but now she’s just trying to make ends meet while her friends are enjoying the good life. Her husband John, loving but immature, just wants to get the bills paid. After they get into an accident and end up at a roadside antique shop, Alice is uncharacteristically drawn to shoplift a brass teapot. It isn’t long before they realize this is no ordinary teapot. Starring Juno Temple, Michael Angarano, Alexis Bledel, Alia Shawkat, Bobby Moynihan, Stephen Park, Billy Magnussen and Debra Monk. Burn It Up Djassa by Lonesome Solo, Ivory Coast/France World Premiere In the busy streets of Abidjan, Tony, an out-of-school youth, scrapes together a living by hawking cigarettes but he soon turns to violence. Shot in 11 days in Abidjan, Burn It Up Djassa breathes new life into Ivory Coast film. Starring Abdoul Karim Konaté, Adélaïde Ouattara, Mamadou Diomandé and Mohamed Bamba. Call Girl by Mikael Marcimain, Sweden/Ireland/Norway/Finland World Premiere Stockholm, late 1970s. Within a stone’s throw of government buildings and juvenile homes lies the seductive world of sex clubs, discotheques and private residences. Call Girl tells the story of how young Iris is recruited from the bottom of society into a ruthless world where power can get you anything. Starring Pernilla August, Sofia Karemyr, Simon J Berger, Sven Nordin, David Dencik, Ruth Vega Fernandez, Josefin Asplund, Magnus Krepper and Kristoffer Joner. Clip by Maja Milos, Serbia North American Premiere Jasna is a beautiful girl in her mid-teens, leading a crude life in postwar Serbia. With a terminally ill father and dispirited mother, she is disillusioned and angry with everyone and everything, including herself. Having a huge crush on a boy from school, she goes on a spree of sex, drugs and partying, constantly filming with her mobile phone. Still, in that very harsh environment – love and tenderness emerge. Starring Isidora Simijonovic, Vukašin Jasnic, Sanja Mikitišin, Jovo Makisc and Monja Savic. The Color of the Chameleon by Emil Christov, Bulgaria World Premiere This is a story without innocents. A maniacal informant creates his own phantom secret-police department. He recruits a group of intellectuals to spy on each other and uses his secret archive to wreak havoc on the government. Secret policing reveals its dark nature not only in its nauseating cruelties, but in its deviant pleasures. Starring Ruscen Vidinliev, Irena Milyankova, Rousy Chanev, Deyan Donkov, Svetlana Yancheva and Samuel Finzi. The Deflowering of Eva van End by Michiel ten Horn, The Netherlands World Premiere The Deflowering of Eva van End is a tragicomedy about the van End family who, after the arrival of an impossibly perfect German exchange student, can no longer imagine how they ever managed to live with their imperfect selves. Starring Vivian Dierickx, Abe Dijkman, Tomer Pawlicki, Jacqueline Blom, Ton Kas and Rafael Gareisen. Detroit Unleaded by Rola Nashef, USA World Premiere Caught between the cultures of contemporary Detroit and traditional Arab-America, Sami works behind the bulletproof glass of a 24-hour gas station with his cousin Mike. Inside this unique East-side neighborhood, the once university-bound Sami is forced to put his dreams aside and resign himself to a world composed of junk food, overpriced Tigers baseball memorabilia, and cheap, long-distance phone cards. And then the beautiful Naj walks in. Starring E.J. Assi, Nada Shouhayib, Mike Batayeh, Mary Assel, Akram El-Ahmar and Steven Soro. Eat Sleep Die by Gabriela Pichler, Sweden North American Premiere When the forceful young Muslim Swedish/Balkan factory worker Raša loses her job, she must navigate the unemployment system. With no high school diploma, no job – but her boots deeply stained with the mud of the small town she grew up in – Raša finds herself on a collision course with society and its contradictory values and expectations. First time amateur actors play all of the main characters in the film. Starring Nermina Lukac, Milan Dragišic, Peter Fält, Ružica Pichler and Jonathan Lampinen. Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein, Israel North American Premiere Fill the Void tells the story of an Orthodox Hassidic family from Tel Aviv. Eighteen-year-old Shira is the youngest daughter of the family. She is about to be married to a promising young man of the same age and background. It is a dream come true and Shira feels prepared and excited. When her 28-year-old sister, Esther, dies while giving birth to her first child, Shira’s promised match is postponed. When Shira’s mother finds out that Esther’s widower may leave the country with her only grandchild, she proposes a match between Shira and the widower. Shira will have to choose between her heart’s wish and her family duty. Starring: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir, Razia Israely, Hila Feldman, Renana Raz, Yael Tal, Michael David Weigl and Ido Samuel. The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo, Italy North American Premiere A boy and a girl have been locked up in an enormous abandoned building in Naples. The boy has been forced by a Camorra gang to act as her jail-keeper. But as the hours go by, hostility gives way to a form of exchange and when the Camorra gang members make their appearance at sunset, the pair are different from what we were expecting. Starring: Francesca Riso, Alessio Gallo, Carmine Paternoster, Salvatore Ruocco, Antonio Buil, Jean Yves Morard Janeane from Des Moines by Grace Lee, USA World Premiere A conservative housewife wants to “take America back” in the 2012 election, but a tough economy causes some difficulties in her life, leading her to confront Republican contenders as they criss-cross her state during the Iowa Caucuses. But will anyone hear her story? Starring Jane Edith Wilson, Michael Oosterom, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. La Sirga by William Vega, Colombia/France/Mexico North American Premiere Alice is helpless. War memories invade her mind like threatening thunder. Uprooted by the armed conflict, she tries to reshape her life in La Sirga, a decadent hostel on the shores of a great lake in the highlands of the Andes. There, on a swampy and murky beach, she will try to settle down until her fears and the threat of war resurface again. Starring Joghis Seudin Arias, David Fernando Guacas, Julio César Roble, Heraldo Romero and Floralba Achicanoy . The Land of Eb by Andrew Williamson, USA World Premiere The Land of Eb relates a compassionate portrait of the Marshallese diaspora in Kona, Hawaii from the point of view of a hard-working and loving family man. Jacob forgoes cancer treatment in order to provide for his family when he’s gone. An insightful and ultimately joyful reminder of the lasting effects of the nuclear age. Starring Jonithen Jackson, Rojel Jonithen, Jeff Nashion and Hilary Monson. Nights with Theodore by Sébastien Betbeder, France World Premiere A party in a Parisian flat. Theodore meets Anna. Later in the night, while walking through Paris, they decide to climb the fence of Buttes-Chaumont Park. There, they will share their first night and they will continue to come back until this strange attraction begins to separate them. In Nights with Theodore, fiction meets documentary to show the mysteries and fantasies of Buttes-Chaumont Park. Starring Pio Marmaï and Agathe Bonitzer. Mushrooming by Toomas Hussar, Estonia North American Premiere Politician Aadu and his wife set out to pick mushrooms on a day when he gets a call from a journalist confronting him with suspected corruption. By coincidence, the married couple find themselves in a car with a pompous rock idol named Zäk. After discovering the spot his wife chose to pick mushrooms is full of vacationers, Aadu decides to find a quieter place. The woods where he ultimately ends up however, are perhaps too deep and inhospitable. Finding a way out may not be easy. This black comedy, with touches of political satire, aims at the often unscrupulous behaviour of contemporary politicians and media stars on their way to power and popularity. Starring Raivo E. Tamm, Elina Reinold, Juhan Ulfsak, Üllar Saaremäe and Hendrik Toompere Jr. Our Little Differences by Sylvie Michel, Germany International Premiere The seemingly harmonious relationship between the prestigious Doctor, Sebastian and his Bulgarian cleaning lady, Jana, develops into a vicious power game, when her daughter Vera and Arthur, the doctor’s son, vanish without a trace. Starring Wolfram Koch, Bettina Stucky, Leonard Bruckmann, Silvia Petkova, Wilhelm Eilers, Cornelia Brunig, Katharina Kubel and Jacqueline Macaulay. Out in the Dark by Michael Mayer, Israel/USA North American Premiere Two young men—a Palestinian grad student and an Israeli lawyer—meet and fall in love amidst personal and political intrigue in this striking debut feature. As their relationship deepens, Nimer is confronted with the harsh realities of a Palestinian society that refuses to accept him for his sexual identity, and an Israeli society that rejects him for his nationality. Starring Nicholas Jacob and Michael Aloni. Satellite Boy by Catriona McKenzie, Australia World Premiere While trying to save his home from being bought up by developers, a young Aboriginal boy becomes lost in the Outback with his smart-mouthed friend, and must call on the wisdom and survival skills passed down to him by his grandfather (played by legendary Australian actor David Gulpilil) in order to lead them out of the wilderness. Starring David Gulpilil, Cameron Wallaby, Joseph Pedley, Rohanna Angus and Dean Daley-Jones. Wasteland by Rowan Athale, United Kingdom World Premiere Battered, bruised and under arrest, Harvey Denton sits in a police interview room facing interrogation. Clutching a stack of eyewitness statements, Detective Inspector West has no doubt as to Harvey’s part in a foiled robbery and his subsequent attempted murder of local businessman Steven Roper. Denying nothing, Harvey agrees to tell his version of events in full. As the story unfolds, we discover that a malevolent and unjust act perpetrated by Roper put Harvey in prison and now he has a score to settle. What unfolds is a tense and exhilarating heist of unexpected proportions. Starring: Luke Treadaway, Iwan Rheon, Matthew Lewis, Gerard Kearns, Timothy Spall, Vanessa Kirby and Neil Maskell. Canadian films previously announced in the Discovery programme include: Jason Buxton’s Blackbird, Igor Drljaca’s Krivina, Kate Melville’s Picture Day and Kazik Radwanski’s Tower. TIFF Kids: Nono, The Zigzag Kid by Vincent Bal, Belgium/The Netherlands World Premiere Nono wants to be like his father – the best police inspector of the world – but he gets into trouble all the time. Two days before his Bar Mitzvah, he’s sent away to his uncle Sjmoel, in order to keep to the straight and narrow. However, during the train ride Nono gets a last chance to prove himself. Along with master burglar Felix Glick – an old acquaintance of his father – he’s able to stop the train. He then enters a world of disguises, chases, French chansons, and of Zohara, a mysterious lady whose secrets will change Nono’s life forever. TIFF Docs: Monday, Sept 10 Keynote Conversation with Sheila Nevins 9:30 – 10:45 am Sheila Nevins, the President of HBO Documentary Films, speaks on the topic of “How Far Can Documentaries Go?” in a conversation moderated by film critic John Anderson. Nevins makes her first trip to the Festival with two films that she executive produced: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God and First Comes Love. Making History: A Conversation with Ken Burns and Shola Lynch 11 am – 12:15 pm Acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns (The Central Park Five) and Shola Lynch (Free Angela and All Political Prisoners) talk about directing historical documentaries in a conversation moderated by author and filmmaker Nelson George (Brooklyn Boheme). The Fruit Hunters sneak preview 1 pm – 2:15 pm Yung Chang (Up the Yangtzee; China Heavyweight) presents an exclusive sneak preview of selected scenes from his much-anticipated new film The Fruit Hunters, based on the best-selling book. World Premiere of Rafea: Solar Mama 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm Egyptian-American filmmakers Jehane Noujaim (Control Room) and Mona Eldaief present the world premiere of Rafea:Solar Mama, a documentary that follows an illiterate mother from Jordan to the Barefoot College in India that trains impoverished women in technology for solar energy. The film is part of the ambitious Why Poverty? series coming this fall. After the film, the directors will take part in a conversation with commissioning editors Nick Fraser (BBC’s Storyville) and Mette Meyer Hoffman (DVTR / Denmark). Tuesday, Sept 11 World Premiere of The Last White Knight 9:30 am – 11:30 am Filmmaker Paul Saltzman (Prom Night in Missisissippi) presents the world premiere of his latest work The Last White Knight. A former civil rights worker and 1960s activist, Saltzman returns to Mississippi to meet a man who once attacked him — Byron “Delay” De La Beckwith, the son of the man convicted of murdering Medgar Evers — in this affecting documentary about racism, the South (new and old) and the possibilities of reconciliation. Maximizing the Education Market 11:45 am – 12:45 pm Leading distributors who specialize in bringing documentaries to the educational market discuss how filmmakers can maximize opportunities in this area. Co-presented by DOC Toronto. New Trends in Documentary Broadcasting 1:15 – 2:15 pm Representatives from leading broadcast brands in North America discuss new initiatives for documentaries on their channels. Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children 2:30 – 4:30 pm Director Patrick Reed (Triage), producer Peter Raymont and the general-turned-author and advocate Romé
