2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Introduction The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009.The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography ''Creation''. ''The Young Victoria'', based on the early years of Queen Victoria, closed the festival on September 19.
About the 2009 Festival TIFF is a non-profit organization whose goal is to change the way people look at the world through film. The festival is Canada's largest film festival, receiving 4,209 submissions in 2008.Of this total, 312 films were screened coming from 64 different countries. TIFF creates an annual economic impact of $135 million CAD. Aided by over 2,000 volunteers, 100 full-time staff members and 500 seasonal or part-time staff are responsible for organizing the festival. Two screenings of each of the invited films are presented to the public and at least one screening is provided for press and industry. The 2009 festival contained 19 different Programmes, or categories of films. After the ten days of film, the Awards reception was held at Intercontinental Hotel on Front Street in Toronto.Perhaps the most prestigious of the awards was bestowed to Lee Daniels's ''Precious'': based on the novel ''Push'' by Sapphire. This award was the 2009 Cadillac People's Choice Award and is based solely on votes by Festival audiences. This award carries a $15,000 cash prize and also comes with a custom made award from Cadillac. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious because it has had the greatest impact on audiences and inspires film distributors to sign the winning film for larger international releases. Last year's winner ''Slumdog Millionaire'' directed by Danny Boyle, went on to reap huge international spotlight which culminated at the 2009 Academy Awards where it won Best Picture. Lee Daniel's ''Precious'' was also a big Oscar contender as it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, however it lost to ''The Hurt Locker'' and its helmer Katheryn Bigelow. The First runner-up was Bruce Beresford's ''Mao's Last Dancer'' and the second runner-up was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's ''Micmacs''.The City of Toronto and Astral Media's The Movie Network Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to ''Cairo Time'' directed by Ruba Nadda. Sponsored by Astral Media's the Movie Network and the City of Toronto, this award came with a cash prize of $30,000.Future endeavors by the TIFF will be aided by the ongoing construction of TIFF Bell Lightbox, a  facility with an estimated annual economic impact of over $200 million. Complete with 5 cinemas, learning studios, galleries and a rooftop lounge, this will become the hub of TIFF in 2010 when construction is scheduled to be completed.===Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight===More than 1,500 people, including prominent filmmakers, academics, and writers signed a letter of protest directed at the Toronto International Film Festival regarding its decision to spotlight Tel Aviv and the work of 10 Israeli filmmakers. The protest leaders emphasized that it is not a call for a boycott. The original protest letter in part reads::"As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by TIFF's decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. We protest that TIFF, whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine. We do not protest the individual Israeli filmmakers included in City to City, nor do we in any way suggest that Israeli films should be unwelcome at TIFF. However, especially in the wake of this year's brutal assault on Gaza, we object to the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, and UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann have all characterized as an apartheid regime. "The signatories and supporters include Ken Loach, David Byrne, Naomi Klein, Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, Danny Glover, John Greyson, Viggo Mortensen and the American Jewish group Jewish Voice for Peace.John Greyson's letter of protest highlighted an interview "Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin gave to ''Canadian Jewish News'' in which he described the TIFF spotlight as a culmination of his year-long Brand Israel campaign, which included ads on buses, radio and television." Greyson claims that "This isn't the right year to celebrate Brand Israel, or to demonstrate an ostrich-like indifference to the realities (cinematic and otherwise) of the region, or to pointedly ignore the international economic boycott campaign against Israel. "The protest letter was met with condemnation by some, such as Simcha Jacobovici, "a Toronto filmmaker who recently moved with his family to Israel, noted in a statement that the Palestinian government in Gaza had recently called a U.N. proposal to teach the Holocaust in Palestinian schools a war crime." Jacobovici asked "Why does protest supporter John Greyson want to align himself with Holocaust deniers?" Others accused those who signed the protest letter as engaging in a boycott of Israel films.Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has stated that "it is clear that the script the protesters are reading from might as well have been written by Hamas. "Patrick Goldstein, writing in the ''Los Angeles Times'', wrote against the protest and made an analogy to actions by musician Paul Simon::"At the height of apartheid in South Africa, Paul Simon made "Graceland", an album of glorious music with South African musicians. He was criticized at the time for breaking a worldwide cultural boycott, but Simon believed that exposing the musicians' gifts to the world far outweighed any tacit endorsement his use of South African musicians would have provided for the country's repressive regime. History long ago proved him right. The same openness should apply to a film festival. "In response to the protest, a number of Hollywood stars circulated a counter-protest letter on September 15, 2009.This letter,  which appeared simultaneously in the ''Los Angeles Times'' and the ''Toronto Star'', included signatories Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Natalie Portman, Jason Alexander, Lisa Kudrow, Lenny Kravitz, Patricia Heaton, Jacob Richler, Noah Richler, George F. Walker and Moses Znaimer. The letter said:Anyone who has actually seen recent Israeli cinema, movies that are political and personal, comic and tragic, often critical, knows they are in no way a propaganda arm for any government policy. Blacklisting them only stifles the exchange of cultural knowledge that artists should be the first to defend and protect.Jane Fonda, in a posting on ''Huffington Post'', says that she now regrets some of the language used in the original protest letter and how it "was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers." She continued writing "the greatest 're-branding' of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens."
Awards  Award Film Director People's Choice Award ''Precious'' Lee Daniels People's Choice Award First Runner Up ''Mao's Last Dancer'' Bruce Beresford People's Choice Award Second Runner Up ''Micmacs'' Jean-Pierre Jeunet People's Choice Award, Documentary Winner ''The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls'' Leanne Pooley People's Choice Award, Documentary Runner Up ''Capitalism: A Love Story'' Michael Moore People's Choice Award, Midnight Madness Winner ''The Loved Ones''  Sean Byrne People's Choice Award, Midnight Madness Runner Up ''Daybreakers''  Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig Best Canadian Feature Film ''Cairo Time'' Ruba Nadda Best Canadian Feature Film - Special Jury Citation ''The Legacy (La Donation)'' Bernard Émond Best Canadian Short Film ''Danse Macabre'' Pedro Pires Best Canadian Short Film - Special Mention ''The Armoire'' Jamie Travis Best Canadian First Feature Film ''The Wild Hunt'' Alexandre Franchi FIPRESCI Discovery ''The Man Beyond the Bridge''Laxmikant Shetgaonkar FIPRESCI Special Presentations ''Hadewijch'' Bruno Dumont
Programmes ===Special presentations===* ''Baaria'' by Giuseppe Tornatore* ''Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'' by Werner Herzog* ''The Boys are Back'' by Scott Hicks* ''Bright Star'' by Jane Campion* ''Broken Embraces'' by Pedro Almodóvar* ''Cairo Time'' by Ruba Nadda* ''Capitalism: A Love Story'' by Michael Moore* ''City of Life and Death'' by Lu Chuan* ''Cracks'' by Jordan Scott* ''Defendor'' by Peter Stebbings* ''An Education'' by Lone Scherfig* ''The Front Line'' by Renato De Maria* ''Glorious 39'' by Stephen Poliakoff* ''Good Hair'' by Jeff Stilson* ''The Good Heart'' by Dagur Kari* ''Hadewijch'' by Bruno Dumont* ''Harry Brown'' by Daniel Barber* ''The Hole'' by Joe Dante* ''Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel'' by Brigitte Berman* ''I Killed My Mother'' by Xavier Dolan* ''The Informant!'' by Steven Soderbergh* ''The Invention of Lying'' by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson* ''The Joneses'' by Derrick Borte* ''Kamui'' by Yoichi Sai* ''L'affaire Farewell'' by Christian Carion* ''Leaves of Grass'' by Tim Blake Nelson* ''Les derniers jours du monde'' by Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu* ''Life During Wartime'' by Todd Solondz* ''London River'' by Rachid Bouchareb* ''Mao's Last Dancer'' by Bruce Beresford* ''Moloch Tropical'' by Raoul Peck* ''Mother'' by Bong Joon-ho* ''My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'' by Werner Herzog* ''Mr. Nobody'' by Jaco Van Dormael* ''Ondine'' by Neil Jordan* ''Partir'' by Catherine Corsini* ''Perrier's Bounty'' by Ian Fitzgibbon* ''A Prophet'' by Jacques Audiard* ''The Road'' by John Hillcoat* ''Road, Movie'' by Dev Benegal* ''Scheherazade Tell Me a Story'' by Yousry Nasrallah* ''The Secret in Their Eyes'' by Juan José Campanella* ''A Serious Man'' by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen* ''A Single Man'' by Tom Ford* ''Solitary Man'' by Brian Koppelman and David Levien* ''Soul Kitchen'' by Fatih Akın* ''The Traveller'' by Ahmed Maher* ''Triage'' by Danis Tanovic* ''The Trotsky'' by Jacob Tierney* ''Up in the Air'' by Jason Reitman* ''Valhalla Rising'' by Nicolas Winding Refn* ''Vengeance'' by Johnnie To* ''The Vintner's Luck'' by Niki Caro* ''The Waiting City'' by Claire McCarthy* ''Wheat'' by He Ping* ''Whip It!'' by Drew Barrymore* ''Women Without Men'' by Shirin Neshat* ''Youth in Revolt'' by Miguel Arteta===City to City===* ''Bena'' by Niv Klainer* ''Big Dig'' by Efraim Kishon* ''Big Eyes'' by Uri Zohar* ''The Bubble'' by Eytan Fox* ''A History of Israeli Cinema - Part 1'' by Raphael Nadjari		* ''A History of Israeli Cinema - Part 2'' by Raphael Nadjari* ''Jaffa'' by Keren Yedaya* ''Kirot'' by Danny Lerner* ''Life According to Agfa'' by Assi Dayan* ''Phobidilia'' by Yoav Paz and Doron Paz===Contemporary World Cinema===* ''Beyond the Circle'' by Golam Rabbany* ''Blessed'' by Ana Kokkinos* ''Cole'' by Carl Bessai* ''Down for Life'' by Alan Jacobs* ''Excited'' by Bruce Sweeney* ''Eyes Wide Open'' by Haim Tabakman* ''Giulia Doesn't Date at Night'' by Giuseppe Piccioni* ''A Gun to the Head'' by Blaine Thurier* ''Heiran'' by Shalizeh Arefpour* ''High Life'' by Gary Yates* ''The House of Branching Love'' by Mika Kaurismäki* ''Huacho'' by Alejandro Fernández Alemendras* ''Jean Charles'' by Henrique Goldman* ''Like You Know It All'' by Hong Sangsoo* ''Lourdes'' by Jessica Hausner* ''Men on the Bridge'' by Asli Özge* ''My Year Without Sex'' by Sarah Watt* ''Passenger Side'' by Matt Bissonnette* ''Police, Adjective'' by Corneliu Porumboiu* ''Rabia'' by Sebastián Cordero* ''Sawasdee Bangkok'' by Wisit Sasanatieng* ''Shameless'' by Jan Hřebejk* ''Slovenian Girl'' by Damjan Kozole* ''Suck'' by Robert Stefaniuk* ''Tanner Hall'' by Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana von Fürstenberg* ''The Time That Remains'' by Elia Suleiman* ''The Wind Journeys'' by Ciro Guerra===Discovery===* ''Angel'' by Margreth Olin* ''Applause'' by Martin Zandvliet* ''Bare Essence of Life'' by Satoko Yokohama* ''Beautiful Kate'' by Rachel Ward* ''A Brand New Life'' by Ounie Lecomte* '''' by Susanne Schneider* ''The Disappearance of Alice Creed'' by J Blakeson* ''Eamon'' by Margaret Corkery* ''Everyday is a Holiday'' by Dima El-Horr* ''Five Hours from Paris'' by Leon Pruddovsky* ''Gigante'' by Adrián Biniez* ''The Happiest Girl in the World'' by Radu Jude* ''Heliopolis'' by Ahmad Abdalla* ''Le Jour Ou Dieu Est Parti en Voyage'' by Philippe van Leeuw* ''Kelin'' by Ermek Tursunov* ''Last Ride'' by Glendyn Ivin* ''The Man Beyond the Bridge'' by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar* ''My Dog Tulip'' by Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger* ''My Tehran for Sale'' by Granaz Moussavi* ''Northless'' by Rigoberto Perezcano* ''La Pivellina'' by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel* ''Samson and Delilah'' by Warwick Thornton* ''Shirley Adams'' by Oliver Hermanus* ''Should I Really Do It?'' by Ismail Necmi* ''La Soga'' by Josh Crook* ''Toad's Oil'' by Kōji Yakusho* ''Together'' by Matias Armand Jordal* ''The Unloved'' by Samantha Morton===Future Projections===* ''The Butcher's Shop'' by Philip Haas* ''Cathedral'' by Marco Brambilla* ''The Death of Tom'' by Glenn Ligon* ''I'm Feeling Lucky'' by Samuel Chow* ''Teenager Hamlet 2006'' by Margaux Williamson* ''Utopia Suite'' by Clive Holden* ''When the Gods Came Down to Earth'' by Srinivas Krishna===Gala Presentations===* ''Agora'' by Alejandro Amenabar* ''Chloe'' by Atom Egoyan* ''Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky'' by Jan Kounen* ''Cooking with Stella'' by Dilip Mehta* ''Creation'' by Jon Amiel* ''The Damned United'' by Tom Hooper* ''Dil Bole Hadippa'' by Anurag Singh* ''Dorian Gray'' by Oliver Parker* ''Get Low'' by Aaron Schneider* ''I, Don Giovanni'' by Carlos Saura* ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' by Terry Gilliam* ''Max Manus'' by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning* ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' by Grant Heslov* ''Micmacs'' by Jean-Pierre Jeunet''* ''Mother and Child'' by Rodrigo García* ''The Other Woman'' by Don Roos* '''' by Matthias Emcke* ''Precious'' by Lee Daniels* ''The Private Lives of Pippa Lee'' by Rebecca Miller* ''What's Your Raashee?'' by Ashutosh Gowariker* ''The Young Victoria'' by Jean-Marc Vallée===Masters===* ''Air Doll'' by Hirokazu Kore-eda* ''Antichrist'' by Lars von Trier* ''Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl'' by Manoel de Oliveira* ''Hotel Atlantico'' by Suzana Amaral* ''Janala'' by Buddhadeb Dasgupta* ''The Legacy'' by Bernard Émond* ''Wild Grass'' by Alain Resnais===Midnight Madness===* ''Bitch Slap'' by Rick Jacobson* ''Daybreakers'' by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig* ''Survival of the Dead'' by George A. Romero* ''Jennifer's Body'' by Karyn Kusama* ''The Loved Ones'' by Sean Byrne* ''Ong Bak 2'' by Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai* ''REC 2|REC 2'' by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza* ''Solomon Kane'' by Michael J. Bassett* ''Symbol'' by Hitoshi Matsumoto* ''A Town Called Panic'' by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar===Reel to Reel===* ''The Art of the Steal'' by Don Argott* ''Bassidji'' by Mehran Tamadon* ''Cleanflix'' by Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi* ''Collapse'' by Chris Smith* ''Colony'' by Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell* ''Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould'' by Peter Raymont and Michele Hozer* ''Google Baby'' by Zippi Brand Frank* ''How to Fold a Flag'' by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein* ''L' Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot'' by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea* ''The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'' by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith* ''Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands'' by Peter Mettler* ''Presumed Guilty'' by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith* ''Reel Injun'' by Neil Diamond* ''Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags'' by Marc Levin* ''Snowblind'' by Vikram Jayanti* ''''Stolen'''' by Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw* ''The Topp Twins'' by Leanne Pooley* ''Videocracy'' by Erik Gandini===Vanguard===* ''Accident'' by Soi Cheang* ''The Ape'' by Jesper Ganslandt* ''Bunny and the Bull'' by Paul King* ''Carcasses'' by Denis Côté* ''The Dirty Saints'' by Luis Ortega* ''Enter the Void'' by Gaspar Noé* ''Fish Tank'' by Andrea Arnold* ''Hipsters'' by Valery Todorovsky* ''The Misfortunates'' by Felix Van Groeningen* ''Leslie, My Name Is Evil'' by Reginald Harkema* ''My Queen Karo'' by Dorothée van den Berghe* ''Spring Fever'' by Lou Ye* ''The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights'' by Emmett Malloy===Visions===* ''Between Two Worlds'' by Vimukthi Jayasundara* ''Face'' by Tsai Ming-liang* ''Gaia'' by Jason Lehel* ''Hiroshima'' by Pablo Stoll* ''Independencia'' by Raya Martin* ''I Am Love'' by Luca Guadagnino* ''Irene'' by Alain Cavalier* ''Karaoke'' by Chris Chong* ''Lebanon'' by Samuel Maoz* ''Nymph'' by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang* ''To Die Like a Man'' by João Pedro Rodrigues* ''To the Sea'' Pedro González-Rubio* ''Trash Humpers'' by Harmony Korine===Short Cuts===* ''5 Dysfunctional People in a Car'', Pat Mills* ''75 El Camino'', Sami Khan* ''The Armoire'', Jamie Travis* ''Big Head'', Dylan Akio Smith* ''La Chute'', Ivan Grbovic* ''Covered'', John Greyson* ''Danse Macabre'', Pedro Pires* ''De Mouvement'', Richard Kerr* ''Deadman'', Chelsea McMullan* ''Edge of the Desert'', Lea Nakonechny* ''Fish in Barrel'', Randall Okita* ''Found'', Paramita Nath* ''A Hindu's Indictment of Heaven'', Dev Khanna* ''Homeland Security'', Isaac Cravit* ''IKW'', Caroline Monnet* ''Interview with the Earth'', Nicolás Pereda* ''The Island'', Trevor Anderson* ''Léger problème'', Hélène Florent* ''Life Begins (La vie commence)'', Émile Proulx-Cloutier* ''M'', Félix Dufour-Laperrière* ''Man v. Minivan'', Spencer Maybee* ''My Toxic Baby'', Min Sook Lee* ''Naissances'', Anne Émond* ''Night Mayor'', Guy Maddin* ''On a Lonely Drive'', Igor Drljaca* ''Out in That Deep Blue Sea'', Kazik Radwanski* ''Pointless Film'', Peter Wellington* ''Record'', Dylan Reibling* ''Runaway'', Cordell Barker* ''Sixty Seconds of Regret'', Ed Gass-Donnelly* ''Smoke'', Nikos Theodosakis and Linda Theodosakis* ''Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees'', Samer Najari* ''Soap'', Dusty Mancinelli* ''The Spine'', Chris Landreth* ''Swimming Lesson'', Caitriona Cantillon* ''The Translator'', Sonya Di Rienzo* ''Tungijuq'', Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël* ''Unlocked'', Mio Adilman* ''Vive la rose'', Bruce Alcock* ''Volta'', Ryan Mullins* ''Vs. '', Ben Bruhmuller
Canada's Top Ten TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list, its national critics and festival programmers poll of the ten best feature and short films of the year, was released in December 2009.===Feature films===*''Cairo Time'' — Ruba Nadda*''Carcasses'' — Denis Côté*''Crackie'' — Sherry White*''Defendor'' — Peter Stebbings*''I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère)'' — Xavier Dolan*''The Legacy (La Donation)'' — Bernard Émond*''Passenger Side'' — Matt Bissonnette*''Polytechnique'' — Denis Villeneuve*''The Trotsky'' — Jacob Tierney*''The Wild Hunt'' — Alexandre Franchi===Short films===*''The Armoire'' — Jamie Travis*''The Cave'' — Helen Haig-Brown*''Danse Macabre'' — Pedro Pires*''Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica'' — Cam Christiansen*''Life Begins (La Vie commence)'' — Émile Proulx-Cloutier*''Naissances'' — Anne Émond*''Out in That Deep Blue Sea'' — Kazik Radwanski*''Runaway'' — Cordell Barker*''The Spine'' — Chris Landreth*''Vive la rose'' — Bruce Alcock
References
External links *  Official site*  1,500 Artists and Writers Sign Letter Protesting Toronto Film Festival Decision to Spotlight Tel Aviv - video report by ''Democracy Now! ''*  IMDB page, showing award-winners. *  2009 Toronto International Film Festival at IMDb