View image Roger Ebert with his "star" -- outside Dusty Cohl's annual Floating Film Festival Chinese dinner in Toronto. (photo by Jim Emerson -- with Kim Robesons's camera)
I've got several planes backed up on the runway (and by that I mean movies to write about lined up in my head) from this year's Toronto Film Festival -- plus a couple posts' worth of photos -- but for now, here are the official TIFF 2007 award winners. I'll have a list of the best of my fest soon. Now I gotta catch a plane...
Audience Award: "Eastern Promises" (David Cronenberg, Canada/USA). My review here. Roger Ebert's here. Runners up: "Juno" (Jason Reitman), "Body of War" (Phil Donohue and Ellen Spiro).
FIPRESCI International Critics Award: “La Zona” (Rodrigo Pia)
CityTV Award for Best First Canadian Film: "Continel, Un Film Sans Fusil" (Stephane Lafleur)
Artistic Innovation Award: “Encarnation” (Ahani Bemeri)
Diesel Discovery Award: “Cochochi" (Israel Cardernas and Laura Amelia Guzman)
Toronto City Award: "My Winnepeg" (Guy Maddin)
Roger Ebert's dispatch about all the TIFF 2007 awards is here.
So were you able to see "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"? So far I've read nothing but raves for the movie, and it's probably at the top of my looking forward to list at this point.
Andrew: I didn't get to see the Lumet movie (I'm looking forward to it, too), but I did get to meet the screenwriter, Kelly Masterson, while waiting in line! I liked him immediately, because he wanted to see Paul Schrader's movie, "The Walker" (which I also had to miss)...
Any thoughts on "Diary of the dead"? I know that Ebert has been appreciative of Romero's work in the zombie subgenre in the past and it sounds as if the new film is a genuine effort to maintain the artistry that made the director such a recognized name in the first place. Did you see the film? If so, what was your take?
Were you able to catch Persepolis? I hope it holds up on the screen as well as it holds up on the page...
I'm a big Romero fan too, but I was quite disappointed with "Diary of the Dead." I found the basic device (the whole film being shot by a student with a DV camera) to be very clunky, downright annoying in fact. It has plenty of funny moments and I thought it would have worked as a high camp, but every time Romero tried to make it "serious" the creakiness of the whole project became a problem.
However, the "Amish guy" has a huge future as a horror convention guest. I won't spoil that bit of the film any more.