Maybe it’s the elections coming up south of the border (the Canadian border, that is), but buyers at the Toronto Film Festival seem to be veering towards the red diaper crowd — and leaving some traditional festival fare cold (with notable exceptions like "Exiled"). With the festival entering its final days, the biggest fuss seems to be around movies that take a shot at the political.
"Bush Assassinated!" So goes the "what if" future world of the British film "Death of a President," guaranteed to raise heck in this country as it has already in the UK where the movie will air October 9 on BBC 4. It has been picked up by Netflix and a TBA distributor, and will see theatrical release in the States in coming months. Set in a period of near future unrest and "documenting" the untimely end of President Bush, the film details the violent possibilities of continuing real-world political turbulence, among a slew of films that aim at similar targets. Click here to read the full story from Yahoo News.
From "The Prisoner, or: How I Tried to Kill Tony Blair" a documentary about the Abu Ghraib prison, to "Rescue Dawn," Werner Herzog‘s new film about Vietnam, Toronto has seen an unusual flurry of interest in its more political movies. To the disappointment perhaps of some more star-studded events (though "Rescue Dawn" stars Christian Bale), distributors have been eager to look for that elusive "something different," and maybe playing to a market amid growing political concerns. Click here to read the full story from Variety.
In other news, genre films have also seemed to do well at Toronto. Perhaps a key player in this crowd is the Hong Kong gangster effort, "Exiled." Set on the ever-deadly mean streets of Hong Kong, the action film, directed by Johnny To, is based on To’s own 1999 "The Mission." Media Asia Entertainment Group acquired the English-language rights to distribute the film. Apparently, the film will bring a little je ne sais quoi to the Hong Kong gangster field. Click here to read the Hollywood Reporter story.
Author: Michael Campos-Quinn
