Breakin’ Me

About this time last year, someone in the know told me that The Toronto International Film Festival was getting close to point break (As in the point where the wave breaks…not the lousy movie cited in the photo above).

I could follow the logic – galas were getting bigger, guest lists were getting longer, it all seemed to be growing at an unbelievable rate. Surely Fetsival organizers might think about scaling it all back.

Well, if that is in fact in the cards, then it will have to wait another year. Full details were announced today…and this year’s festival looks to be about as big as any I’ve seen yet.

Details about some truly fun looking free events and the star studded guest list behind the jump. All of which is 100% pure adrenaline.

Toronto – Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival today announced final programming details, including the complete lineup of films and programmes, for its 33rd edition running September 4 through 13, 2008. As part of TIFF08, 312 films from 64 countries will screen, including 249 feature-length films, 76 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres, and 61 of which are feature directorial debuts.

Today’s announcements feature 11 Gala Presentations, including Caroline Link’s A Year Ago in Winter; starring Karoline Herfurth, Josef Bierbichler, Corinna Harfouch, Hanns Zischler and Mišel Maticevic; Toa Fraser’s Dean Spanley, starring Peter O’Toole, Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill and Bryan Brown; Jodie Markell’s The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Evans, Ellen Burstyn, Mamie Gummer, Ann-Margret and Will Patton; Neil Burger’s The Lucky Ones, starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Peña; Rod Lurie’s Nothing But the Truth, starring Kate Beckinsale, Vera Farmiga, Alan Alda, David Schwimmer, Noah Wyle and Angela Bassett; Gavin O’Connor’s Pride and Glory, starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich and Jennifer Ehle; Jerry Zaks’s Who Do You Love, starring Alessandro Nivola; Anees Bazmee’s Singh is Kinng, starring Akshay Kumar, and Ethan Coen and Joel Coen’s Burn After Reading, starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, and Brad Pitt.

Three enlightening Mavericks presentations will feature appearances by filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, historian and social activist Howard Zinn, actors Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, filmmaker/gallerist Arne Glimcher, painter Chuck Close, Academy Award™- nominated filmmaker Julian Schnabel, and more. Cineastes’ favourite Dialogues: Talking with Pictures will feature filmmakers Terence Davies, Agnès Varda and Deepa Mehta, and International Herald Tribune film journalist Joan Dupont, showcasing films that have inspired them or have marked a significant period in their careers.

A homage to the Big Apple from twelve international filmmakers, New York, I Love You will screen as a work-in-progress as part of Special Presentations. Adam Resurrected by Paul Schrader and Nuit de chien by Werner Schroeter join Masters, while Lyne Charlebois’s Borderline joins Canada First!. Three titles will screen as a part of Real to Reel, including Adria Petty’s Paris Hilton documentary Paris, Not France, and 25 titles join Contemporary World Cinema, including Nigel Cole’s $5 a Day, Anthony Fabian’s Skin and Ella Lemhagen’s Patrik, Age 1.5.

In addition to its signature programming and official selections, the Toronto International Film Festival is pleased to announce a series of free outdoor programming at Yonge-Dundas Square, the new street-level hub of Festival activity. Bringing the Festival experience outside the theatre, programming will include free public performances and presentations by some of the artists and entertainers featured in films at this year’s Festival in Festival Showcase, highlights of which include concerts from Senegalese music sensation Youssou Ndour and Keb’ Mo’ and Robert Randolph & The Family Band, a performance by the cast members of ‘A Chorus Line,’ an Invitational Slam Dunk Competition featuring an appearance by LeBron James, and a special martial arts demonstration. On Saturday, September 14, TIFF08 will come to a close with the first-ever Public Festival Wrap Party, also at Yonge-Dundas Square.