Film4 behind seven new titles at Toronto Festival

27 July 2011

Today it emerged that the Toronto International Film Festival has invited no fewer than seven Film4-backed films to screen at the festival this year. The Festival, which takes place between 8th and 18th September 2011 has, in the past, been an important launch for Film4 films including The Last King of Scotland, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.

Some of Film4's most anticipated films will have their North American premiere at this year's festival, including Pawlikowski's Woman in the 5th , Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea, Steve McQueen's Shame , and Debbie Tucker Green's Random.  Also screening, though not for the first time, will be Ben Wheatley's Kill List, Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur, and Joe Cornish's recent SXSW Audience Award winner Attack the Block.

All of the films will be in the running for the prestigious People's Choice Award, voted for by the festival-going populace, which in recent years has exceeded 250,000 people. Film4's much-garlanded Slumdog Millionaire won the award back in 2008.

On this year's festival line up, Channel 4's Controller of Film and Drama, Tessa Ross, said: ‘2011 has seen some fantastic new projects which demonstrate the range of talent and audience that we support.  Needless to say we are delighted to be premiering so many of them at what has become one of the most prestigious festivals in the world. 

 

The films are:

Attack The Block
A fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing estate into a sci-fi playground, a tower block into a fortress under siege and teenage street kids into heroes. It's inner city versus outer space.

 

Kill List
Horror film from Ben Wheatley. When a British soldier returns home from Kiev, he joins an old friend, a contract killer, in what proves to be an ominous liaison as his disturbed past resurfaces and he begins to spin out of control.

 

Tyrannosaur
Tyrannosaur is the story of Joseph (Peter Mullan), a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction. As Joseph's life spirals into turmoil a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah (Olivia Colman), a Christian charity shop worker. Their relationship develops to reveal that Hannah is hiding a secret of her own with devastating consequences for both of them.

 

Woman in the Fifth
Harry Ricks' (Ethan Hawke) life is in flux. Separated from his wife, he heads to Paris in search of his daughter and the bohemian life of a would-be writer. But a series of encounters with the wrong kind of people start to push him towards free fall, until he meets mysterious émigré, Margit (Kristin Scott Thomas), who seduces him and appears to offer him the hedonistic and uncomplicated life he craves...

 

The Deep Blue Sea
Terence Davies' long-awaited return to the screen with his interpretation of Terence Rattigan's classic 1952 stage play of the same name. Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale star in this intense period drama about the wife of a judge who embarks on an affair with an RAF pilot.

 

Shame
Co-written and directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger), the drama sees Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a 30-something man living in New York City, struggle in controlling and managing his sexual compulsions once his willful younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves in.

 

Random
One Family. One Day. One Random Act. The directorial debut from Debbie Tucker Green, adapted from her critically acclaimed play at London's Royal Court Theatre, is a gripping drama starring Nadine Marshall.

 

Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television's feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the U.K., whether new or established. Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, films like Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, Steve McQueen's Hunger, Mike Leigh's Another Year, Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go, Chris Morris' Four Lions and Peter Mullan's NEDS.

Film4's 2011 releases have included Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle, Richard Ayoade's Submarine and Joe Cornish's directorial debut Attack The Block which recently won the Midnight Screening Audience Award at SXSW. Ben Palmer's The Inbetweeners Movie, Lone Scherfig's One Day,  Miranda July's second film The Future, Paddy Considine's debut feature Tyrannosaur, Ben Wheatley's Kill List and Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea will all be released in the UK later this year. 

Film4's current productions include Pawel Pawlikowski's The Woman In The Fifth, Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady, Steve McQueen's Shame, Walter Salles' On The Road, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights and Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio.

For further information visit www.film4.com/productions