Film festival
The 31st 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 ["sic"] through the eyes of a father and daughter."
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.
Among the many anticipated films were "Babel" by Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Volver" by Pedro Almodóvar, "Election 2" (a.k.a. "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 "People's 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, Angélica Aragón, 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:
Canada's Top Ten.
TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list, its national critics and festival programmers poll of the ten best feature and short films of the year, was released in December 2006.
References.
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