"Demolition" opens Toronto film festival
September 11, 2015
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) opened on Thursday with "Demolition," a new film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a New York investment banker becoming increasingly unhinged after the death of his wife. The film brought Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee to North America's largest film festival for the third year in a row, following on the heels of 2014's "Wild" and "Dallas Buyers Club," the latter of which saw Matthew McConaughey win an Oscar for his portrayal of AIDS patient Ron Woodruf.
Around 400 feature-length and short films will be screened at the 40th Toronto festival, representing 71 countries. The event is seen as a key point in the Calendar for Oscar-conscious studios, with recent People's Choice winners like "12 Years a Slave," "The King's Speech" and "Slumdog Millionaire" going on to take the top Academy Award in February.
Lacking a jury, this audience-selected prize is the top award at the festival.
LGBT groundbreakers get top billing
The lineup for 2015 includes two highly-anticipated LGBT-themed entries: "The Danish Girl," which stars Eddie Redmayne as transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, and "Freeheld," which stars Julianne Moore and New Jersey police officer Laurel Hester, the latter of whom famously rose to national attention for her deathbed battle to have her pension benefits awarded to her same-sex partner.
Roland Emmerich's "Stonewall," which revolves around the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City and the beginning of the gay liberation movement, will also premiere at the festival.
Other eagerly-awaited films include "Trumbo," which sees Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad" fame take a turn as blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and Ridley Scott's new science fiction epic "The Martian," which stars Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on the red planet.
Documentarian Michael Moore was also set to return with his first film in six years. Entitled "Where to Invade Next," the film takes on the sprawling reach of the US military-industrial complex.
The TIFF runs for ten days, and will close on September 20. On top of the People's Choice prize, awards such as Best Canadian Feature Film and People's Choice for Best Documentary will also be presented.
es/bw (AFP, AP)