Fed: Large Aussie contingent heads to Toronto Film Festival

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2006
Fed: Large Aussie contingent heads to Toronto Film Festival

By Jonathon Moran, National Entertainment Writer

SYDNEY, AAP - One of the largest ever Australian contingents to the Toronto International
Film Festival will next week head for Canada, an important gateway into the potentially
lucrative North American market.

Some eight Australian films will screen at the Canadian festival, which runs from September
7 to 16.

And Aussie actors Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Isla Fisher and Jacinda Barrett will
all be at the festival with big budget Hollywood films.

"There are usually only a few Australian films so this is really rather a lot," says
producer Jan Chapman, who will attend the festival as a governor of its young talent lab.

"It is indicative of a very strong Australian presence and it will look in America
as though our film is on the rise."

Australian films selected to screen in different divisions of the festival include
The Book of Revelation, Macbeth, Suburban Mayhem, The Silence, Candy, Ten Canoes, 2:37
and Jindabyne.

Chapman, who produced The Silence and Suburban Mayhem, said the Toronto Film Festival
was particularly important in helping secure distribution deals in the United States.

And some industry insiders argue Toronto has eclipsed France's Cannes International
Film Festival, held in May, in terms of selling Australian films to America.

"It is the gateway to North America," said Chapman.

"All the American buyers will be there so you have more of a chance of reaching more
companies, maybe finding the exactly right one for your film."

Romper Stomper director Geoffrey Wright's latest film, Macbeth, will have its world
premiere at Toronto.

Producer Martin Fabinyi agreed the festival was extremely important in terms of securing
distribution in the United States.

"It is incredibly important," he said.

"Our sales agent is really going hard to sell Macbeth into north America, which is
obviously the big one."

Wright's modern adaptation of the classic Shakespeare drama will screen in the festival's
inaugural Vanguard program, featuring movies that push the envelopes in technology, culture
and sexuality.

Macbeth stars AFI award winner Sam Worthington as Macbeth, alongside Victoria Hulme,
Steve Bastoni, Gary Sweet and Lachy Hulme.

Murali Thalluri's 2:37 will also screen in the Vanguard division.

The film, set in a high school, explores the themes of suicide and the way individuals
are perceived, mixing drama with characters talking to the camera about issues such as
rape, sexuality, drugs and suicide.

Toronto is known for being comparatively friendly to the film loving public, with thousands
of movie connoisseurs attending the festival each year.

Due to its proximity to Los Angeles and New York, the festival attracts some of the
biggest name actors in the world.

This year's batch includes Brad Pitt, Jude Law, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon,
Orlando Bloom, Gwyneth Paltrow and Liam Neeson.

Toronto's annual film festival, now in its 31st year, is also unofficially regarded
as a precursor to the film awards season, leading into the Academy Awards, the British
Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards and the Golden Globes.

Australian director Sarah Watt's Look Both Ways last year won the Toronto Film Festival
Discovery Award, and went on to secure a number of AFI Awards.

Last year's Oscars darling Capote also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

"It seems like Toronto is much more involved in the actual pleasure of looking at films
than somewhere like Cannes or Venice," Chapman said.

"So I have always found Toronto very useful in terms of connecting with audiences."

Australian Oscar winner Russell Crowe will unveil his latest film, A Good Year, directed
by Ridley Scott and also starring Abbie Cornish.

Cate Blanchett, who is shooting the Bob Dylan film I'm Not There in Montreal, will
walk the red carpet in Toronto for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel.

Former Home and Away star Isla Fisher will be at the premiere of The Pleasure of Your
Company, while her British fiance Sacha Baron Cohen will be there with his film Borat:
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Queenslander Jacinda Barrett will attend the festival to promote The Last Kiss, a big
budget Hollywood film also starring Zach Braff, Rachel Bilson, Casey Affleck and Blythe
Danner.

And acclaimed Australian director Phillip Noyce will unveil his big budget Hollywood
flick, Catch a Fire, starring Derek Luke and Tim Robbins.

Noyce will also participate in the festival's young talent lab, helping and advising
22 budding Canadian writers, directors and producers on all things filmmaking.

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