2006 Toronto International Film Festival

The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen", a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people through the eyes of a father and daughter." [http://www.tiffg.ca/content/mediacentre/viewrelease.asp?recordId=314]

In a press release dated June 27, 2006, twenty-six international film selections were announced which previously premiered at major film festivals worldwide. Of the films announced, twenty-five of them will receive their North American premiere. [http://www.tiffg.ca/content/mediacentre/viewrelease.asp?recordId=334]

Among the many anticipated films were "Babel" by Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Volver" by Pedro Almodovar, "Election 2" (aka " Triad Election") by Johnnie To, "The Fountain" by Darren Aronofsky and "The Host" by Bong Joon-ho.

"Bella" took top prize at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival by winning the highly-coveted “Peoples Choice Award”, a distinction which puts them in the company of such Oscar-winning films as Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hotel Rwanda. Last year's winner of the “People’s Choice" Award, Tsotsi, won an Oscar for best foreign-language film.

"Bella" marks the feature directorial debut for Alejandro Monteverde, who also co-wrote its original screenplay with Patrick Million. "Bella" features Manuel Perez, Angelica Aragon, Jaime Terelli and Ali Landry. "Bella" was produced by Sean Wolfington, Eduardo Verastegui, Leo Severino, Alejandro Monteverde and Denise Pinckley and executive produced by J. Eustace Wolfington, Ana Wolfington and Stephen McEveety. The film was financed by producers Sean Wolfingtonand Eustace Wolfington. McEveety (Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Passion of the Christ) consulted on the script and signed on as an Executive Producer to help market the movie. "Bella" is McEveety's first release under his nascent Mpower Films moniker and marks his first feature since ankling Mel Gibson's Icon productions.

Awards

Awards presented during the film festival included:
* The People’s Choice Award, presented to Alejandro Gomez Monteverde’s "Bella".
* The Diesel Discovery Award, presented to Joachim Trier’s "Reprise".
* The Fipresci Prize, presented to Gabriel Range's "Death of a President".
* The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature, presented to Noël Mitrani’s "Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi".
* The Toronto – City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, presented to Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary "Manufactured Landscapes".
* The Short Cuts Canada Award, presented to Maxime Giroux for his short film "Les Jours".
* The Swarovski Cultural Innovation Award, presented to Özer Kýzýltan’s TAKVA - "A Man's Fear of God".

Galas

* "After the Wedding" (Denmark/Sweden) Susanne Bier
* "All the King's Men" (USA) Steven Zaillian
* "Amazing Grace" (UK/USA) Michael Apted
* "Away From Her" (Canada) Sarah Polley
* "Babel" (USA) Alejandro González Iñárritu
* "The Banquet" (China) Feng Xiaogang
* "Black Book" (Netherlands) Paul Verhoeven
* "Bobby" (USA) Emilio Estevez
* "Bonneville" (USA) Christopher N. Rowley
* "Breaking and Entering" (USA) Anthony Minghella
* "" (USA) Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
* "For Your Consideration" (USA) Christopher Guest
* "A Good Year" (USA) Ridley Scott
* "Infamous" (USA) Douglas McGrath
* "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen" (Canada/Denmark) Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn
* "Mon Meilleur Ami" (France) Patrice Leconte
* "Never Say Goodbye" (India) Karan Johar
* "Penelope" (USA/UK/Germany) Mark Palansky
* "Volver" (Spain) Pedro Almodóvar
* "The White Planet" (Canada/France) Thierry Piantanida, Thierry Ragobert, Jean Lemire

pecial Presentation

* "Alatriste" (Spain) Agustín Díaz Yanes
* "Bernard and Doris" (USA) Bob Balaban
* "The Bubble" (Israel) Eytan Fox
* "Das Leben der Anderen" (Germany) Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
* "Exiled" (Hong Kong) Johnnie To
* "El Cantante" (USA) Leon Ichaso
* "The Dog Problem" (USA) Scott Caan
* "The Fall" (India/UK/USA) Tarsem Singh
* "Fay Grim" (USA/Germany) Hal Hartley
* "The Fountain" (USA) Darren Aronofsky
* "Hana" (Japan) Hirokazu Koreeda
* "L'Homme De Sa Vie" (France/Italy) Zabou Breitman
* "Jindabyne" (Australia) Ray Lawrence
* "The Last Kiss" (USA) Tony Goldwyn
* "Love and Other Disasters" (France/UK) Alek Keshishian
* "The Magic Flute" (UK) Kenneth Branagh
* "Mon Colonel" (France/Algeria/Belgium) Laurent Herbiet
* "The Pleasure of Your Company" (USA) Michael Ian Black
* "Seraphim Falls" (USA) David Von Ancken
* "Stranger Than Fiction" (USA) Marc Forster
* "10 Items or Less" (USA) Brad Silberling
* "This Is England" (UK) Shane Meadows
* "Un Crime" (France) Manuel Pradal
* "Venus" (UK) Roger Michell
* "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show" (USA) Ari Sandel

Masters

* "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (France/Ireland/UK/Italy/Spain/Germany) Ken Loach
* "The Caiman" (Italy) Nanni Moretti
* "Lights In The Dusk" (Finland/Germany/France) Aki Kaurismäki

Real to Reel

* "Blindsight" (United Kingdom) Lucy Walker
* "These Girls" (Egypt) Tahani Rached
* "Remembering Arthur" (Canada) Martin Lavut

Discovery

* "Bliss" (China) Sheng Zhimin
* "Reprise" (Norway) Joachim Trier
* "Vanaja" (India/USA) Rajnesh Domalpalli
* "Out of the Blue" (New Zealand) Robert Sarkies
* "Sharkwater" (Canada) Rob Stewart

Visions

* "Flandres" (France) Bruno Dumont
* "Big Bang Love, Juvenile A" (Japan) Takashi Miike
* "Ten Canoes" (Australia) Rolf de Heer
* "Taxidermia" (Hungary/Austria/France) György Pálfi
* "Bamako" (France/Mali/USA) Abderrahmane Sissako
* "Time" (South Korea) Kim Ki-duk

Contemporary World Cinema

* "The Last Winter" (USA/Iceland) Larry Fessenden
* "Red Road" (UK) Andrea Arnold
* "" (Romania) Corneliu Porumboiu
* "Invisible Waves" (Thailand/Netherlands/Hong Kong) Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
* "To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die" (France/Germany/Switzerland/Russia) Djamshed Usmonov
* "White Palms" (Hungary) Szabolcs Hajdu
* "Summer Palace" (China/France) Lou Ye
* "Summer '04" (Germany) Stefan Krohmer
* "The Bothersome Man" (Norway) Jens Lien
* "Retrieval" (Poland) Slawomir Fabicki
* "Cronica De Una Duga" (Argentina) Israel Adrián Caetano
* "Slumming" (Austria/Switzerland) Michael Glawogger
* "Shortbus" (U.S.A.) John Cameron Mitchell
* "Copying Beethoven" (UK/Hungary) Agnieszka Holland
* "Bella" (U.S.A.) Alejandro Monteverde

Midnight Madness

* "" (USA) Larry Charles
* "Black Sheep" (New Zealand) Jonathan King
* "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" (USA) Jonathan Levine
* "Trapped Ashes" (USA/Japan/Canada) Cunningham/Dante/Gaeta/Hellman/Russell
* "The Abandoned" (Spain) Nacho Cerdà
* "The Host" (South Korea) Bong Joon-ho
* "Severance" (UK) Christopher Smith
* "Princess" (Denmark) Anders Morgenthaler
* "S&Man" (USA) JT Petty
* "Sheitan" (France) Kim Chapiron

Vanguard

* "Macbeth" (Australia) Geoffrey Wright
* "Chacun Sa Nuit" (France) Pascal Arnold/Jean-Marc Barr
* "Jade Warrior" (Finland/China/Estonia) Antti-Jussi Annila
* "Bunny Chow" (South Africa) John Barker
* "Shortbus" (USA) John Cameron Mitchell
* "Renaissance" (France/UK/Luxembourg) Christian Volckman
* "Election" (Hong Kong) Johnnie To
* "Election 2" (Hong Kong) Johnnie To
* "Drama/Mex" (Mexico) Gerardo Naranjo
* "" (Australia) Murali K. Thalluri
* "Suburban Mayhem" (Australia) Paul Goldman
* "Sleeping Dogs Lie" (USA) Bobcat Goldthwait

Canada First!

* "Acts of Imagination" (Canada) Carolyn Combs
* "Cheech" (Canada) Patrice Sauvé
* "La Coupure" (Canada) Jean Châteauvert
* "End of the Line" (Canada) Maurice Devereaux
* "Everything's Gone Green" (Canada) Paul Fox
* "Fido" (Canada) Andrew Currie
* "Mercy" (Canada) Mazdak Taebi
* "A Stone's Throw" (Canada) Camelia Frieberg
* "Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi" (Canada) Noël Mitrani

External links

* [http://archives.torontointernationalfilmfestival.ca/home/default.asp Official website]
* [http://www.tiffreviews.com/ tiffreviews.com]
* [http://www.thegate.ca/tiff/ TIFF coverage] at The GATE