329 Films for Toronto 2000

The 25th Anniversary Edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, September 7-16, 2000, has announced its Opening Night and Gala screenings. Stardom, from acclaimed two-time Oscar nominated director Denys Arcand, will open the Festival. The film, starring Dan Aykroyd, Frank Langella, Thomas Gibson, Robert Lepage and Montreal newcomer Jessica Pare, first screened at Cannes this past spring, where it was the Closing Film.

The Festival will also host four Gala screenings, among which are three world premieres. Scheduled are Best in Show, the latest documentary spoof from master mockumentary director Christopher Guest; The Contender starring Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman, from director Rod Lurie; The Luzhin Defence from Academy Award winning director Marleen Gorris, starring Emily Watson and John Tuturro; and the as-yet untitled new film from Cameron Crowe (rumoured to be called "Almost Famous"). The film, starring newcomer Patrick Fugit and Frances McDormand, is a thinly veiled semi auto-biographical account of Crowe's famous summer as a 15 year-old music fan on assignment with Rolling Stone magazine.

The Festival, widely regarded as one of the top festivals in the world, will unveil the rest of its 400 film lineup over the upcoming weeks, as well confirm screenings in its special sections. New this anniversary year is the addition of 25 X 25, a special project to celebrate the 25 years of the Festival. Guest filmmakers will be given a digital video camera and asked to document their experiences during a 25-hour period at the 25th Festival. The world premieres of 25 X 25 will screen free throughout the Festival.

Other initiatives designed to celebrate the anniversary include Year One, a series of six films that showcase the Festivals' programming origins. The films highlighted in Year One are Dersu Uzala (director Akira Kurosawa); Cousin, Cousine (director Jean-Charles Tacchella); Yesterday Girl (director Alexander Kluge); L'Eau Chaude, L'Eau Frette (director Andre Forcier); Grey Gardens (directors Albert and David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer) and Harlan County, U.S.A. (director Barbara Kopple).

Other special programs include Preludes (ten filmmakers commissioned for special projects for the Festival: David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Mike Jones, Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Guy Maddin, Don McKellar, Jeremy Podeswa, Patricia Rozema, Michael Snow and Anne Wheeler); Tribute (one international filmmaker yet to be announced); and Masters (featuring the work of filmmakers who have reached a high degree of international recognition).

The Festival also hosts the Rogers Industry Centre programming which brings together film industry leaders in forums, informal sessions and keynote addresses that cover a variety of issues of vital interest to the world wide filmmaking community. The RIC programming in 2000 includes Pitch This! (six Canadian filmmakers are given six minutes to pitch to a prestigious group of film executives); The Mavericks (interactive sessions between filmmakers and master crafts artists); Global Exhibition; European Film Promotion Shooting Stars (emerging European directors); Women's Stories and Mentoring Panel; New Media and Technology, and Telefilm Canada Micro Meetings.

Toronto