A complete list of the Special Presentation titles announced yesterday that will screen at this year's Toronto International Film Festival:
Che: Part One and Che: Part Two
At 41/2 hours in total, both films are from director Stephen Soderbergh. They chronicle Ernesto Che Guevara's alliance with Fidel Castro in 1956 to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and Che's post-revolution life as a guerrilla fighter in Bolivia. It stars Benicio Del Toro. Although critics at Cannes were divided about the merits of the film, Handling said he thought Toronto audiences would respond favourably: “It's not at all a conventional biopic.”
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky's story about a former star wrestler (Mickey Rourke) long past his prime.
Me and Orson Welles
Described as an ode to Orson Welles, this Richard Linklater film stars Christian McKay (as Welles) and heartthrobs Zac Efron, Claire Daines and Ben Chaplin. Like the 1967 Carl Reiner classic Enter Laughing, it deals with a young man's romance with the theatre and the disillusion that follows his landing a bit part in a Welles's production of Julius Caesar.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
The only visible Canadian content in this mix is Vancouver's Seth Rogen, co-starring with Elizabeth Banks in Kevin Smith's film about roommates who decide that making porn might pay some bills.
Synecdoche
Charlie Kaufman's much-anticipated film has a predictably absurdist premise: A theatre director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who recreates the world inside a New York warehouse with a troupe of actors, tripping on the fault line between reality and illusion.
The Brothers Bloom
In this world premiere from America director Rian Johnson, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo star as con men trying to dupe heiress Rachel Weisz.
Easy Virtue
An adaptation of a Noel Coward play. Directed by Stephan Elliott, it stars Colin Firth, Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ben Barnes and tells the story of a young Englishman who falls in love with an older woman, marries her impetuously and then brings her home to meet the family.
Genova
From British director Michael Winterbottom, it also stars Firth, as a widower seeking to establish a new life in Italy with his two daughters.
Management
A romantic road comedy from Stephen Belber, starring Steve Zahn, as a motel clerk smitten with Jennifer Aniston and impeded by Woody Harrelson.
Is There Anybody There?
Michael Caine stars as a retired magician trying to help a death-obsessed 10-year-old. Directed by John Crowley.
Inju, la bête dans l'ombre (The Beast in the Shadow), From director Barbet Schroeder, a thriller about a successful crime novelist who travels to Japan and meets a geisha threatened by a former lover, possibly another novelist.
Slumdog Millionaire
From Danny Boyle ( Trainspotting), another slum kid story, about a Mumbai orphan one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India's Who Wants to be A Millionaire?
A Woman in Berlin
Directed by Golden Globe nominee Max Färberböck, about a German woman raped by a red Army soldier in April 1945.
A Perfect Day
Ferzan Ozpetek's tale of disintegration and personal ruin.
35 Rhums
Claire Denis's exploration of the working underclass of French society.
The Burning Plain
Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger star in Oscar-nominated Guillermo Arriaga's romantic mystery about a one woman's emotional journey to uncover the secret of a past love.
Faubourg 36
A musical from Christophe Barratier ( Les Choristes) about three unemployed stage workers who mount a hit show and occupy the music hall where they formally worked.
Séraphine
Martin Provost explores the relationship between naive painter Séraphine Louis (1864–1942) and art collector Wilhelm Uhde.
Last Stop 174
Bruno Barreto's examination of how a child of the slums becomes a hostage-taker.
Aide-toi le ciel t'aidera
François Dupeyron's comedy about a matriarch (Félicité Wouassi) fighting a dissolute husband and son while trying to enjoy her daughter's wedding day.
Flash of Genius
Another script based on history, the film stars Greg Kinnear as a part-time inventor who takes on the American auto industry, for stealing his invention – the windshield wiper.
Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique
Directed by Rithy Panh, based on a novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras and starring Isabelle Huppert. Set in 1930s French Indochina (now Cambodia), she plays a land-owning matriarch struggling against nature and corrupt bureaucrats.
