World premieres dominate Toronto

The Canadian film festival will feature early screenings of many of the year's potential Oscar contenders.

Aug 10 2005

The Toronto International Film Festival has an intriguing, star-studded line-up this year, with a slew of world premieres taking place at the nine-day event.

Often the industry's first chance to screen potential award-winners before the silly season gets into full swing, this year's pickings look particularly Oscar-worthy.

'The World's Fasted Indian' definitely falls into that category. Directed by Roger Donaldson, the film tells the tale of Burt Munro, the motorcycling legend who set a land speed record on his modified Indian motorbike. Purported to be powerful and moving biopic, the film also happens to star Oscar-favourite Anthony Hopkins in the title role.

Another Oscar-winner with a film at Toronto is Charlize Theron, whose 'North Country' receives a special gala screening at the event.

A courtroom drama about a sexual harassment case against a small-town mining company, the film also stars Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean.

Neil Jordan's 'Breakfast on Pluto' will also be one of the more high-profile screenings. Based on Patrick McCabe's bestselling novel of the same name, the film stars Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea and Liam Neeson and follows a troubled youngster's efforts to make it as a transvestite cabaret singer in 1970s Ireland.

Another eagerly anticipated film making its debut at the festival is James Mangold's 'Walk the Line'.

A warts-and-all Johnny Cash biopic, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as 'man in black' Johnny, and Reese Witherspoon as his wife June Carter Cash.

And the film that Time Out is most looking forward to is 'Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story', Michael Winterbottom's unusual take on Laurence Sterne's literary classic, with Steve Coogan in the lead role.

Other films likely to cause a stir include 'Mrs Harris', a true-life murder mystery starring Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley, family drama 'Bee Season' which stars Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche and 'The Notorious Bettie Paige', a showbiz biopic featuring Gretchen Mol as the eponymous 1950s pin-up.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 to 17, and we'll have a full report on proceedings nearer the time, so watch this space.

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