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FESTIVALS France

The Lady leads French armada at Toronto

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With 52 productions or co-productions including 16 world premieres, French cinema is out in force at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off today. Set to be unveiled as Gala screenings are Luc Besson’s The Lady [+see also:
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(about the life of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, played by Michelle Yeoh – see news), and Rémi Bezançon’s A Happy Event [+see also:
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interview: Rémi Bezançon
film profile
]
(see news), joined in this section by Christophe Honoré’s The Beloved [+see also:
film review
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interview: Christophe Honoré
film profile
]
, which closed this year’s Cannes festival.

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Other highlights among the world premieres, screening in the Special Presentations section, are Cédric Kahn’s A Better Life (starring Guillaume Canet – see news); Mathieu Kassovitz’s Rebellion [+see also:
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(see news); Anne Fontaine’s French/Belgian co-production My Worst Nightmare [+see also:
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(see news); Pawel Pawlikowski’s French/Polish/UK feature The Woman in the Fifth (see news); Mathieu Demy’s Americano; and Italian helmer Gianni Amelio’s French majority production The First Man [+see also:
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; not to mention the minority co-productions 360 by Brazil’s Fernando Meirelles, 11 Flowers by China’s Wang Xiaoshuai and Elles by Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowka (see news).

Finally, there will also be world premieres for Emmanuelle Millet’s Twiggy [+see also:
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(see news) in the Discovery section; for Bibo Bergeron’s animated film A Monster In Paris in the TIFF Kids programme; for Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s Carré Blanc [+see also:
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(“White Square”) in the Vanguard line-up; and for Belgian/French/Moroccan co-production Death for Sale [+see also:
film review
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interview: Faouzi Bensaïdi
film profile
]
by Faouzi Bensaidi and Turkish/French co-production Future Lasts Forever [+see also:
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by Ozcan Alper in Contemporary World Cinema.

The French presence at Toronto also includes, among others, former Cannes titles Hors Satan [+see also:
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by Bruno Dumont (see review) and The Snows of Kilimanjaro [+see also:
film review
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interview: Robert Guédiguian
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile
]
by Robert Guédiguian (in competition for the LUX Prize of the European Parliament 2011) in the Masters section, while the Special Presentations line-up will show Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist [+see also:
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(see review); directorial duo Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Chicken With Plums [+see also:
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(see review and interview); Philippe Garrel’s That Summer [+see also:
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interview: Philippe Garrel
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]
(see review and interview); and Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval’s Low Life (see review).

Screening in the Discovery section is Frédéric Louf’s J’aime Regarder les Filles [+see also:
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interview: Lou de Laâge
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]
(“I Like Watching Girls”, see news). Meanwhile, the Contemporary World Cinema section has selected Mia Hansen-Love’s Goodbye First Love [+see also:
film review
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interview: Mia Hansen-Love
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]
; Vincent Garenq’s Guilty [+see also:
film review
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interview: Vincent Garenq
film profile
]
(see news); Roschdy Zem’s Omar Killed Me [+see also:
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(see news); Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Free Men [+see also:
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(see news); and Michale Boganim’s Land of Oblivion [+see also:
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(see news). Finally, Visions will show Bertrand Bonello’s former Cannes competition contender House of Tolerance [+see also:
film review
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interview: Adèle Haenel
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]
(see review).

Alongside this armada is a wide range of productions and co-productions showing France’s decisive role in international film production with the latest films by Belgium’s Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid With A Bike [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
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]
) and fellow Belgian director Chantal Akerman (Almayer’s Folly [+see also:
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); Hungary’s Bela Tarr (The Turin Horse [+see also:
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interview: Béla Tarr
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]
); Italy’s Nanni Moretti (We Have A Pope [+see also:
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interview: Nanni Moretti
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]
) and Emanuele Crialese (Terraferma [+see also:
film review
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interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
film profile
]
); Denmark’s Lars von Trier (Melancholia [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lars von Trier
film profile
]
); Finland’s Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre [+see also:
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interview: Aki Kaurismäki
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]
); Germany’s Wim Wenders (Pina [+see also:
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interview: Wim Wenders
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]
); South Africa’s Oliver Hermanus; Canada’s Jean-Marc Vallée; Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki; Brazil’s Julia Murat; Palestine’s Tawfik Abu Wael; Belgian-American director John Shank (Last Winter [+see also:
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interview: John Shank
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]
); Chile’s Cristian Jimenez; Thailand’s Pen-ek Ratanaruang; Cambodia’s Rithy Panh; the United States’ Frederik Wiseman; Sri Lanka’s Vimukthi Jayasundara; Colombia’s Alejandro Landes; Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos (Alps [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
); and Sweden’s Ruben Ostlund (Play [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ruben Östlund
interview: Ruben Ostlund
film profile
]
, in competition for the LUX Prize of the European Parliament 2011).

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(Translated from French)

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