Film4 celebrates six selections at Toronto International Film Festival

26 August 2015

Leading development and financing company Film4 confirmed six feature films from its slate have been selected for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival which will run from September 10-20, 2015.

“We are proud to be working with some of the industry’s most renowned and visionary filmmakers. Having six films invited to Toronto is a wonderful validation of Film4’s commitment to creative excellence on an international scale. Congratulations to all our filmmakers and partners,” said David Kosse, Director of Film4.

The highly anticipated line-up includes Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, based on the novel by J.G. Ballard and starring Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons, which is making its world premiere at the festival.

Three other films will make their North American debuts at the festival following successful world premieres respectively at key festivals earlier this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly which won the Cannes Jury Prize; Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth starring Michael Caine, Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel and Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, which won Silver Bear Acting Awards for both Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

In addition, two films will make their Canadian premieres at the festival: Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, based on the novel by Emma Donoghue and starring Brie Larson, William H. Macy and Joan Allen and the documentary Dark Horse which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Further details on the five films are included below:

 

45 Years

Writer/Director: Andrew Haigh

North American Premiere

US Distributor: IFC Films/Sundance Selects

Release Date: Fall 2015

Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay

45 Years is based on a short story by David Constantine and follows Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay) in the week leading up to a party to celebrate their 45th anniversary. But when the body of Geoff’s first love, Katya, is found in a Swiss glacier where he lost her 50 years earlier, it brings up some long buried insecurities about the foundation of their relationship.

 

Dark Horse

Writer/Director: Louise Osmond

Documentary; Canadian Premiere

US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Louise Osmond's documentary is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a working men's club who take on the elite 'sport of kings' and breed themselves a racehorse.

 

High-Rise

Director: Ben Wheatley

Writer: Amy Jump, based on the novel by J.G. Ballard

World Premiere

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons

Highly anticipated follow up to Sightseers, High-Rise centers around Robert Laing, a young doctor (Tom Hiddleston) who is seduced by a residential tower block and its visionary creator (Jeremy Irons), who has designed the building as a luxurious world apart from the problems of the city it stands in. But when discord sets in among the residents and they split into tribal factions, Laing finds himself in the middle of the mounting violence.

 

The Lobster

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Writer: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou

North American Premiere

US Distributor: Alchemy

Release Date: Fall 2015

Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw

A love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel.  There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days.  If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods.  A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules.

 

Room

Director: Lenny Abrahamson

Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue

Canadian Premiere

US Distributor: A24 Films

Release Date: October 16, 2015

Cast: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, William H. Macy

Both highly suspenseful and deeply emotional, Room is a unique and unexpectedly tender exploration of the boundless love between a mother and her child under the most harrowing of circumstances.

 

Youth

Writer/Director: Paolo Sorrentino

North American Premiere

US Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Release Date: December 4, 2015

Cast: Michael Caine, Rachel Weisz, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda

Youth explores the lifelong bond between two friends vacationing in a luxury Swiss Alps lodge as they ponder retirement. While Fred (Michael Caine) has no plans to resume his musical career despite the urging of his daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz), Mick (Harvey Keitel) is intent on finishing the screenplay for what may be his last film for his muse Brenda (Jane Fonda). And where will inspiration lead their younger friend Jimmy (Paul Dano), an actor grasping to make sense of his next performance? From Italy’s Oscar-winning foreign language film writer and director Paolo Sorrentino, Youth asks if our most important and life-changing experiences can come at any time — even late — in life.

 

About Film4:

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.   

Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award-winners such as Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

Film4’s recent releases include Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy, Daniel Wolfe’s Catch Me Daddy, John Maclean’s Slow West and Asif Kapadia’s box office record breaking documentary, AMY. Forthcoming releases include Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, Susanna White’s Our Kind of Traitor, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise and Free Fire, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk, Benedict Andrews’ Blackbird and Andrea Arnold’s American Honey.

For further information visit www.film4.com/productions