25/08/2005

The European Film Promotion (EFP) will be present at the Toronto International Film Festival (8th – 17th September) for the ninth consecutive year, representing over 100 European films and co-productions.

From the 18 European countries presented, France has the strongest platoon with 30 co-productions in the various sections. The UK comes in second place with 14 British features and 12 coproductions. Among the Brit titles there are the long-awaited Stephen Frears's Mrs. Henderson presents, starring Judy Dench, Joe Wright's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: a cock and a bull story, Guy Ritchie's return with Revolver after the flop Swept away and Terry Gilliam's Tideland, which will screen in Toronto, directly after its world premiere in Venice.
Scandinavian countries present this year a package of 13 films such as Klaus Häro'sMother of Mine (Finland), Krsitian Petri's The Well (Sweden), and Baltasar Kormakur's A little trip to Heaven (Iceland).
11 German-speaking films will also premiere on the American continent, such as The White Masai directed by Hermine Huntgeburth (Germany) and Workingman's Death by Michael Glawogger (Austria). From Eastern European come the Czech productions Something like happiness, the second film by Bohdan Slána and Shark in the head, and three Hungarian films: Áron Gauder's The District, Péter Gárdos' The Porcelain Doll and Lajos Koltai's Fateless.
Luxembourg is absent but its neighbours Belgium, Switzerland and Holland will feature 7 films, among them the Cannes 2005 Golden Palm The Child by the Dardenne brothers (Belgium), Someone Else's Happiness, the first feature by Flemish director Fien Troch (Belgium), The Giant Buddhas by Oscar-nominee director Christian Frei (Switzerland) and 06/05: The Six of May by Theo Van Gogh (Holland). The last film by the director murdered last year will be the subject of a panel of discussion about terrorism, organised within the framework of the festival.
From Ireland arrive two films: The Traveller girl by Perry Ogden and Breakfast on Pluto, Neil Jordan's latest film, whereas the countries from the south of Europe present 12 films in total. From Greece comes Kinetta by Yorghos Lanthimos whereas Portuguese film The Fatalist, by João Botelho travels directly from the Venice Official competition to the Canadian event. The most awaited among the Italian titles is Mary by Abel Ferrara (another film premiering in Venice in early September) and from Spain come three co-productions (Marcelo Piñeyro's El método Grönholm, Chema de la Peña and Gabriel Velásquez's Sud Express and Julia Solomonoff's Sisters) and three national productionsSeven Virgins by Alberto Rodriguez, Obaba by Montxo Armendáriz and Carlos Sauras' tribute to Catalan composer Albéniz, the musical Iberia.

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Toronto was also the place chosen by the Hamburg based institution to pursue its Film Sales Support (FSS) activities. The FSS is a fund created in 2004 in order to encourage and support the efforts of Sales Companies selling films in the Festival. Between 40 and 50 marketing campaigners will receive the support of FSS. "It tells us that Toronto remains the most important event for getting into the Northern American market and a logical place to focus our efforts", stated EFP's president, Claudia Landsberger. After Toronto, the EFP non-European promotion activities continue at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival (22nd September – 6th October) and the Pusan International Film Festival (6th – 14th October), in South Korea.