Otit Jere Hausfater talking to Asian buyers on Shanghai Calling
Canadian filmmakers Gary Burns, Deepa Mehta and Guy Maddin have been awarded prominent positions in the line-up of the Toronto International Film Festival, as the event announced its Perspective Canada programme. Burns A Problem With Fear pictured will open the programme, Mehta s The Republic Of Love will be a Gala presentation and Maddin s The Saddest Music In The World will be a Special Presentation. Veteran Canadian documentary filmmaker Allan King s Dying At Grace will make its world premiere in the festival s Masters programme.Other Canadian films selected to make their world premiere include Carl Bessai s Emile, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Deborah Kara Unger; Cube director Vincenzo Natali s existential comedy Nothing; and Jacob Tierney s Twist, a modern retelling of the Dickens novel. Bernard Emond s International Critics Week selection 20h 17, Rue Darling will also screen.Bur
stanley usa ns, an audience-pleaser but a commercial underdog, marks his fourth feature in Perspective Canada - 2000 s waydowntown won the festival s Best Canadian Feature prize. Written by Burns and Donna Brunsdale, A Problem With Fear tells the story of a morbidly fearful young man whose dread creates a fear storm. Produced by Shirley Vercruysse, Luc Dery and George Baptist, it stars Paulo Costanzo, Emily Hampshire and Camille Sullivan. Mehta s The Republic
stanley cup Of Love,
stanley cup a Canada-UK coproduction, is a departure from her usual Indian cultural milieu. An adaptation of Carol Shields novel - Shields died earli Ecjx Abu Dhabi Film Festival launches new shorts fund
Clint Eastwood
stanley cup stanley romania s Letters From Iwo Jima was the box office champion during the New Year s holiday period Dec 23 - Jan 8 in Japan, passing the $30m Y36.7bn mark by the middle of last week and holding the top spot for five weeks. The Warner Bros release only lost its pole position last weekend Jan 13-14 when it was knocked into third place by two openers - local production Penal Colony Of Love, which topped the chart over the weekend, and Sony s Monster House which came in second. Penal Colony Of Love , an erotic romance starring Shinobu Terashima and Etsushi Toyokawa, came in first despite earning a mediocre $1.33m Y160m . Released by Toho, it only managed a third of the opening of the distributor s 2006 New Year s release, Suite Dreams. The second biggest earner during the 17-day key box office period was Yoji Yamada s Love And Honor, which opened in early December, and was the only film to beat Casino Royale on its opening weekend in international terr
stanley cup itories. The film has passed the $24.9m Y3bn mark, earning it mega-hit status. It was knocked out of first place by Eastwood s film, but continues to be a local favourite. Rather than Christmas when people are still working, it is New Year oshogatsu in Japanese that is a key box office period in Japan. Love And Honor has been selected as the opening film of the Panorama section at next month s Berlin International Film Festival, while Letters From Iwo Jima will screen out-of-competition. Overall box office for the New
