More British films announced in Toronto sidebars

by Naman Ramachandran

01/08/2012 - The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, September 6-16) has announced an expanded line-up for its sidebar sections and there is a significant British presence in them. In the Vanguard programme, international titles that defy convention and ride on the pulse of cutting-edge cinema are showcased. British selections here include Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio [trailer] (photo), Ben Drew’s iLL Manors [trailer], Luis Prieto’s Pusher, an English-language remake of Nicholas Winding Refn’s 1996 cult classic and Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers [trailer, film focus].

In TIFF’s popular Midnight Madness programme Peter Travis’ US/India/UK co-production Dredd, Rob Zombie’s US/Canada/UK co-production The Lords Of Salem and Martin McDonagh’s UK/US co-production Seven Psychopaths feature.

The documentary programme includes Daniel Gordon’s 9.79 (UK), Mahdi Fleifel’s A World Not Ours (UK/Lebanon/Denmark), Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (Denmark/Norway/UK), Julien Temple’s London – The Modern Babylon (UK) and Janet Tobias’ No Place on Earth (UK, US, Germany).

TIFF will also screen a restored version of Roman Polanski’s Tess (UK/France). Mumbai is the metropolis in focus in TIFF’s city to city programme this year and one of the selections, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur has just had a commercial release in France. Of the other selections in this sidebar, the Netherlands’ Fortissimo Films are co-producers and sales agents on Anand Gandhi’s Ship Of Theseus that was filmed in India and Sweden.