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‘King’s Speech’ nabs TIFF audience award
Monday September 20th 2010TORONTO — The odds on Colin Firth grabbing the best actor Oscar shortened Sunday as Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” picked up the top audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Firth was edged out last year at the Academy Awards with his “A Single Man” nomination. But his star turn in the uplifting British drama as King George VI will give Firth bragging rights as the awards season gets underway post-Toronto.
Toronto festival director Piers Handling branded “The King’s Speech” one of his “personal favorites” in this year’s lineup, and praised the performances of Firth and fellow actors Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.
“It is a very, very moving story,” he said of Hooper’s portrait of the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
“The King’s Speech” will look to follow a host of TIFF titles like “Precious,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Crash,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that rode goodwill from Toronto with the top audience award trophy to Oscar success.
The 2010 class of Oscar contenders coming out of Toronto also includes Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” and past Oscar winners and their latest films, including Darren Aronofky’s “Black Swan,” starring Natalie Portman, and Danny Boyle’s survival film “127 Hours,” which stars James Franco.
Toronto is also a launch-pad for best foreign language Oscar, with last year’s winner, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” by Argentina’s Juan Jose Campanella, having its international premiere here.
Other audience prizes unveiled at TIFF’s wrap luncheon included Jim Mickle’s vampire thriller “Stake Land” taking home the Midnight Madness audience award, while Sturla Gunnarson’s “Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie” grabbed the best documentary prize.
And Denis Villeneuve won for best Canadian feature for “Incendies,” which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics during the festival.
Elsewhere, Deborah Chow won for best first Canadian feature for her dark drama “The High Cost of Living,” while Vincent Biron’s “Les Fleurs de l’Age” (“Little Flowers”) grabbed the best Canadian short film award.
“I was just happy to get into the festival, let alone win an award. And I was in a tough competition,” Chow told the awards luncheon Sunday.
Also Sunday, Shawn Ku’s “Beautiful Boy” earned the FIPRESCI critics prize, just as his film about a couple on the verge of separation gets set to bow in San Sebastian.
The final award giving in Toronto followed a brisk sales market, well ahead of last year’s slow pace in the wake of the financial market meltdown.
“The film industry seems to be coming back in terms of buying films presented at the festival,” Toronto festival co-director Cameron Bailey said Sunday, as he called the festival a “turnaround” for a crisis-era indie film world.
Last-minute deals included Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions jointly purchasing the Will Ferrell drama “Everything Must Go,” IFC Films making its third buy of the festival with Barry Blaustein’s “Peep World,” and Oscilloscope Laboratories picking up Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff.”
Already on Friday, Bailey was touting TIFF as a savior for indie, with 20 of his programming team’s titles having by then sold into the U.S. and other foreign territories.
Fest organizers, knowing Toronto’s future depends on the length of its red carpets and the size of their film deals, went for decidedly commercial titles this year, prizing commerce over art to keep the film buyers and sellers coming year after year.
Bailey insisted Toronto did not seek out acquisition titles for distributors, only films that connected with local audiences. “We don’t program looking for sales titles,” he insisted.
At the same time, Toronto was quick to tout U.S. sales made pre-festival and during Toronto’s run to Sunday, including purchases or service deals for Richard Ayoade’s coming-of-age film “Submarine”; Francois Ozon’s “Potiche”; James Gunn’s “Super”; Richard J. Lewis’ “Barney’s Version” going to Sony Pictures Classics; George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack”; Werner Herzog’s 3D doc “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”; Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” to Lionsgate/Roadside; and the William H. Macy-starrer “Dirty Girl” going to a they’re-still-here Weinstein Co.
Even foreign-language titles moved in Toronto, with South Korean Kim Je-Woon’s thriller “I Saw the Devil” going to Magnet Releasing and Rachid Bouchareb’s French gangster pic “Outside the Law” and Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s “Sarah’s Key” snagging U.S. deals.
Other late deals in Toronto included D Films acquiring the Canadian rights to Michelangelo Frammartino’s “Le Quattro Volte,” while Lorber Films picked up the U.S. rights stateside.
In the end, film buyers were more active writing checks than last year, and the list of high-profile films that will need to wait until after Toronto to snag willing distributors is shorter than 2009.
Many of the TIFF titles started out in Venice and Telluride, but in Toronto were road-tested in front of real public audiences.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Front Page, Industry News
‘King’s Speech’ nabs TIFF audience award
Monday September 20th 2010TORONTO — The odds on Colin Firth grabbing the best actor Oscar shortened Sunday as Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” picked up the top audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Firth was edged out last year at the Academy Awards with his “A Single Man” nomination. But his star turn in the uplifting British drama as King George VI will give Firth bragging rights as the awards season gets underway post-Toronto.
Toronto festival director Piers Handling branded “The King’s Speech” one of his “personal favorites” in this year’s lineup, and praised the performances of Firth and fellow actors Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.
“It is a very, very moving story,” he said of Hooper’s portrait of the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
“The King’s Speech” will look to follow a host of TIFF titles like “Precious,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Crash,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that rode goodwill from Toronto with the top audience award trophy to Oscar success.
The 2010 class of Oscar contenders coming out of Toronto also includes Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” and past Oscar winners and their latest films, including Darren Aronofky’s “Black Swan,” starring Natalie Portman, and Danny Boyle’s survival film “127 Hours,” which stars James Franco.
Toronto is also a launch-pad for best foreign language Oscar, with last year’s winner, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” by Argentina’s Juan Jose Campanella, having its international premiere here.
Other audience prizes unveiled at TIFF’s wrap luncheon included Jim Mickle’s vampire thriller “Stake Land” taking home the Midnight Madness audience award, while Sturla Gunnarson’s “Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie” grabbed the best documentary prize.
And Denis Villeneuve won for best Canadian feature for “Incendies,” which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics during the festival.
Elsewhere, Deborah Chow won for best first Canadian feature for her dark drama “The High Cost of Living,” while Vincent Biron’s “Les Fleurs de l’Age” (“Little Flowers”) grabbed the best Canadian short film award.
“I was just happy to get into the festival, let alone win an award. And I was in a tough competition,” Chow told the awards luncheon Sunday.
Also Sunday, Shawn Ku’s “Beautiful Boy” earned the FIPRESCI critics prize, just as his film about a couple on the verge of separation gets set to bow in San Sebastian.
The final award giving in Toronto followed a brisk sales market, well ahead of last year’s slow pace in the wake of the financial market meltdown.
“The film industry seems to be coming back in terms of buying films presented at the festival,” Toronto festival co-director Cameron Bailey said Sunday, as he called the festival a “turnaround” for a crisis-era indie film world.
Last-minute deals included Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions jointly purchasing the Will Ferrell drama “Everything Must Go,” IFC Films making its third buy of the festival with Barry Blaustein’s “Peep World,” and Oscilloscope Laboratories picking up Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff.”
Already on Friday, Bailey was touting TIFF as a savior for indie, with 20 of his programming team’s titles having by then sold into the U.S. and other foreign territories.
Fest organizers, knowing Toronto’s future depends on the length of its red carpets and the size of their film deals, went for decidedly commercial titles this year, prizing commerce over art to keep the film buyers and sellers coming year after year.
Bailey insisted Toronto did not seek out acquisition titles for distributors, only films that connected with local audiences. “We don’t program looking for sales titles,” he insisted.
At the same time, Toronto was quick to tout U.S. sales made pre-festival and during Toronto’s run to Sunday, including purchases or service deals for Richard Ayoade’s coming-of-age film “Submarine”; Francois Ozon’s “Potiche”; James Gunn’s “Super”; Richard J. Lewis’ “Barney’s Version” going to Sony Pictures Classics; George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack”; Werner Herzog’s 3D doc “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”; Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” to Lionsgate/Roadside; and the William H. Macy-starrer “Dirty Girl” going to a they’re-still-here Weinstein Co.
Even foreign-language titles moved in Toronto, with South Korean Kim Je-Woon’s thriller “I Saw the Devil” going to Magnet Releasing and Rachid Bouchareb’s French gangster pic “Outside the Law” and Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s “Sarah’s Key” snagging U.S. deals.
Other late deals in Toronto included D Films acquiring the Canadian rights to Michelangelo Frammartino’s “Le Quattro Volte,” while Lorber Films picked up the U.S. rights stateside.
In the end, film buyers were more active writing checks than last year, and the list of high-profile films that will need to wait until after Toronto to snag willing distributors is shorter than 2009.
Many of the TIFF titles started out in Venice and Telluride, but in Toronto were road-tested in front of real public audiences.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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Front Page, Industry News
‘King’s Speech’ nabs TIFF audience award
Monday September 20th 2010TORONTO — The odds on Colin Firth grabbing the best actor Oscar shortened Sunday as Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” picked up the top audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Firth was edged out last year at the Academy Awards with his “A Single Man” nomination. But his star turn in the uplifting British drama as King George VI will give Firth bragging rights as the awards season gets underway post-Toronto.
Toronto festival director Piers Handling branded “The King’s Speech” one of his “personal favorites” in this year’s lineup, and praised the performances of Firth and fellow actors Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.
“It is a very, very moving story,” he said of Hooper’s portrait of the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
“The King’s Speech” will look to follow a host of TIFF titles like “Precious,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Crash,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that rode goodwill from Toronto with the top audience award trophy to Oscar success.
The 2010 class of Oscar contenders coming out of Toronto also includes Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” and past Oscar winners and their latest films, including Darren Aronofky’s “Black Swan,” starring Natalie Portman, and Danny Boyle’s survival film “127 Hours,” which stars James Franco.
Toronto is also a launch-pad for best foreign language Oscar, with last year’s winner, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” by Argentina’s Juan Jose Campanella, having its international premiere here.
Other audience prizes unveiled at TIFF’s wrap luncheon included Jim Mickle’s vampire thriller “Stake Land” taking home the Midnight Madness audience award, while Sturla Gunnarson’s “Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie” grabbed the best documentary prize.
And Denis Villeneuve won for best Canadian feature for “Incendies,” which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics during the festival.
Elsewhere, Deborah Chow won for best first Canadian feature for her dark drama “The High Cost of Living,” while Vincent Biron’s “Les Fleurs de l’Age” (“Little Flowers”) grabbed the best Canadian short film award.
“I was just happy to get into the festival, let alone win an award. And I was in a tough competition,” Chow told the awards luncheon Sunday.
Also Sunday, Shawn Ku’s “Beautiful Boy” earned the FIPRESCI critics prize, just as his film about a couple on the verge of separation gets set to bow in San Sebastian.
The final award giving in Toronto followed a brisk sales market, well ahead of last year’s slow pace in the wake of the financial market meltdown.
“The film industry seems to be coming back in terms of buying films presented at the festival,” Toronto festival co-director Cameron Bailey said Sunday, as he called the festival a “turnaround” for a crisis-era indie film world.
Last-minute deals included Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions jointly purchasing the Will Ferrell drama “Everything Must Go,” IFC Films making its third buy of the festival with Barry Blaustein’s “Peep World,” and Oscilloscope Laboratories picking up Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff.”
Already on Friday, Bailey was touting TIFF as a savior for indie, with 20 of his programming team’s titles having by then sold into the U.S. and other foreign territories.
Fest organizers, knowing Toronto’s future depends on the length of its red carpets and the size of their film deals, went for decidedly commercial titles this year, prizing commerce over art to keep the film buyers and sellers coming year after year.
Bailey insisted Toronto did not seek out acquisition titles for distributors, only films that connected with local audiences. “We don’t program looking for sales titles,” he insisted.
At the same time, Toronto was quick to tout U.S. sales made pre-festival and during Toronto’s run to Sunday, including purchases or service deals for Richard Ayoade’s coming-of-age film “Submarine”; Francois Ozon’s “Potiche”; James Gunn’s “Super”; Richard J. Lewis’ “Barney’s Version” going to Sony Pictures Classics; George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack”; Werner Herzog’s 3D doc “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”; Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” to Lionsgate/Roadside; and the William H. Macy-starrer “Dirty Girl” going to a they’re-still-here Weinstein Co.
Even foreign-language titles moved in Toronto, with South Korean Kim Je-Woon’s thriller “I Saw the Devil” going to Magnet Releasing and Rachid Bouchareb’s French gangster pic “Outside the Law” and Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s “Sarah’s Key” snagging U.S. deals.
Other late deals in Toronto included D Films acquiring the Canadian rights to Michelangelo Frammartino’s “Le Quattro Volte,” while Lorber Films picked up the U.S. rights stateside.
In the end, film buyers were more active writing checks than last year, and the list of high-profile films that will need to wait until after Toronto to snag willing distributors is shorter than 2009.
Many of the TIFF titles started out in Venice and Telluride, but in Toronto were road-tested in front of real public audiences.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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