The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, the 32nd annual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from September 6, 2007, to September 15, 2007."Toronto film fest lineup". The Province, July 6, 2007.
The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4,156 submissions. The selection included 275 mid- to feature-length films, of which 234 were premieres, with 71 by first-time directors.
The festival opened with the world premiere of Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces, a film based on the international bestselling novel by Anne Michaels, and closed with Paolo Barzman's Emotional Arithmetic, marking the first time in the festival's history that the opening and closing slots were both held by Canadian films in the same year.Guy Dixon, "Closing gala to feature Canadian content". The Globe and Mail, July 19, 2007.
Film reception Critical favourites included No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days which were equally well received at the Cannes Film Festival, plus the Joy Division biopic Control which, along with the eponymously titled documentary on the band, Joy Division, was picked up by The Weinstein Company. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star named Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead a major Oscar contender. The audience favourite, David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, won the top prize at the festival. The New York Times pointed out that two previous winners had gone on to win Best Picture Oscars.Best Picture winners American Beauty and Chariots of Fire had both previously won the People's Choice Award.
Highly discussed but divisive films among the public and critics include comedies Juno and Margot at the Wedding, the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There and Brian De Palma's Iraq War documentary Redacted. Films expected to stir controversy for their transgressive sexual content, such as Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Alan Ball's Nothing Is Private and Martin Gero's Young People Fucking, did divide audiences but without fanfare. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Across the Universe both won their share of supporters despite previous reports of shooting delays and director-studio clashes.
Awards Award Film Director Ref People's Choice Award Eastern Promises David Cronenberg People's Choice Award, First Runner Up Juno Jason Reitman People's Choice Award, Second Runner Up Body of War Ellen Spiro, Phil Donahue Best Canadian Feature Film My Winnipeg Guy Maddin Best Canadian First Feature Film Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil) Stéphane Lafleur Best Canadian Short Film Pool (Kolam) Chris Chong Chan Fui FIPRESCI Award La Zona Rodrigo Plá Discovery Award Cochochi Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán NETPAC Award Encarnación Anahí Berneri
In addition, film director and historian Peter Bogdanovich was given a special award by the International Federation of Film Archives for his contribution towards film preservation. The award was presented at a screening of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937) which Bogdanovich selected to illustrate the importance of film restoration.Peter Howell, "This is just a fraction of the familiar faces you might bump into at next month's TIFF". Toronto Star, August 23, 2007.
Programme Gala Presentations Gala Presentations spotlights prestige films of Canadian, American and foreign-language origins in equal measure. They are often world or North American premieres and are screened at the Roy Thomson Hall. Twenty films were selected.
David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises received the Cadillac People's Choice Award.
English title Original title Director(s) Production country Across the Universe Julie Taymor United States Battle for Terra Aristomenis Tsirbas United States Blood Brothers Tian Tang Kou Alexi Tan Taiwan, China, Hong Kong Caramel Nadine Labaki Lebanon, France Cassandra's Dream Woody Allen United Kingdom Cleaner Renny Harlin United States Closing the Ring Richard Attenborough United Kingdom Days of Darkness L'Âge des ténèbres Denys Arcand Canada Eastern Promises David Cronenberg Canada Elizabeth: The Golden Age Shekhar Kapur United Kingdom Emotional Arithmetic Paolo Barzman Canada Fugitive Pieces Jeremy Podeswa Canada The Jane Austen Book Club Robin Swicord United Kingdom The Last Lear Rituparno Ghosh India Michael Clayton Tony Gilroy United States Rendition Gavin Hood United States Reservation Road Terry George United States The Second Wind Le Deuxième souffle Alain Corneau France Sleuth Kenneth Branagh United States The Walker Paul Schrader United States, United Kingdom
Special Presentations English title Original title Director(s) Production country 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 4 luni, 3 sǎptǎmâni şi 2 zile Cristian Mungiu Romania Angel François Ozon France, United Kingdom, Belgium The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Andrew Dominik United States Atonement Joe Wright United Kingdom Battle in Seattle Stuart Townsend United States Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Sidney Lumet United States Before the Rains Santosh Sivan United States Bill Melisa Wallack, Bernie Goldmann United States The Brave One Neil Jordan United States, Australia Captain Mike Across America Michael Moore United States Chaotic Ana Caótica Ana Julio Medem Spain Death Defying Acts Gillian Armstrong United Kingdom, Australia The Girl in the Park David Auburn United States Grand Illusion La Grand Illusion Jean Renoir France Here Is What Is Adam Vollick, Daniel Lanois, Adam Samuels Canada Honeydripper John Sayles United States I'm Not There Todd Haynes United States In Bloom Vadim Perelman United States In the Valley of Elah Paul Haggis United States Into the Wild Sean Penn United States Juno Jason Reitman United States Lars and the Real Girl Craig Gillespie United States Love Comes Lately Bis später, Max! Jan Schütte Germany, Austria, United States Lust, Caution Sè, Jiè Ang Lee United States Mad Detective Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai Hong Kong Man from Plains Jonathan Demme United States Margot at the Wedding Noah Baumbach United States Married Life Ira Sachs United States Mongol Sergei Bodrov Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia My Winnipeg Guy Maddin Canada Nightwatching Peter Greenaway Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, United Kingdom No Country for Old Men Joel Coen, Ethan Coen United States Nothing Is Private Alan Ball United States Persepolis Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi France Poor Boy's Game Clement Virgo Canada Rails & Ties Alison Eastwood United States Reclaim Your Brain Free Rainer - Dein Fernseher Lügt Hans Weingartner Germany Redacted Brian De Palma United States Romulus, My Father Richard Roxburgh Australia The Savages Tamara Jenkins United States The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Le Scaphandre et le papillon Julian Schnabel France Shadows Milcho Manchevski Macedonia, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain Shake Hands with the Devil Roger Spottiswoode Canada Silk François Girard Canada The Sun Also Rises Tai Yang Zhao Chang Sheng Qi Jiang Wen China The Take Brad Furman United States Then She Found Me Helen Hunt United States To Each His Own Cinema Chacun son cinéma Theo Angelopoulos, Olivier Assayas, Bille August, Jane Campion, Youssef Chahine, Chen Kaige, David Cronenberg, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Manoel de Oliveira, Raymond Depardon, Atom Egoyan, Amos Gitai, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Aki Kaurismäki, Abbas Kiarostami, Takeshi Kitano, Andrei Konchalovsky, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, David Lynch, Nanni Moretti, Roman Polanski, Raúl Ruiz, Walter Salles, Elia Suleiman, Tsai Ming-liang, Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders, Wong Kar-wai, Zhang Yimou France The Visitor Tom McCarthy United States When Did You Last See Your Father? Anand Tucker United Kingdom, Australia
Contemporary World Cinema The Contemporary World Cinema programme features films from around the world. It included premieres and prize-winning films from other festivals. Sixty-two films were selected, including eight from Canada.
English title Original title Director(s) Production country All Hat Leonard Farlinger Canada American Venus Bruce Sweeney Canada And Along Come Tourists Am Ende kommen Touristen Robert Thalheim Germany The Band's Visit Bikur Hatizmoret Eran Kolirin Israel, France The Banishment Izgnanie Andrey Zvyagintsev Russia Barcelona (A Map) Barcelona (un mapa) Ventura Pons Spain Battle for Haditha Nick Broomfield United Kingdom Before I Forget Avant que j'oublie Jacques Nolot France Breakfast with Scot Laurie Lynd Canada Brick Lane Sarah Gavron United Kingdom California Dreamin' (Endless) California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit) Cristian Nemescu Romania Chop Shop Ramin Bahrani IUnited States The Counterfeiters Die Fälscher Stefan Ruzowitzky Austria, Germany Days and Clouds Giorni e nuvole Silvio Soldini Italy, Switzerland The Edge of Heaven Auf der Anderen Seite Fatih Akin Germany, Turkey Empties Vratné Lahve Jan Svěrák Czechia Erik Nietzsche The Early Years Erik Nietzsche de unge år Jacob Thuesen Denmark Faro, Goddess of the Waters Faro, la reine des eaux Salif Traoré France, Canada, Germany, Mali, Burkina Faso Forever Never Anywhere Immer Nie am Meer Antonin Svoboda Austria Garage Lenny Abrahamson Ireland A Gentle Breeze in the Village Tennen Kokekkō Nobuhiro Yamashita Japan Gone with the Woman Tatt av kvinnen Petter Næss Norway Happiness Haeng-bok Hur Jin-ho South Korea The Home Song Stories Tony Ayres Australia In Memory of Myself In memoria di me Saverio Costanzo Italy Intimate Enemies L'Ennemi intime Florent-Emilio Siri France Iska's Journey Iszka utazása Csaba Bollók Hungary Jar City Mýrin Baltasar Kormákur Iceland, Germany Jellyfish Meduzot Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret Israel, FRance Just Like Home Hjemve Lone Scherfig Denmark King of California Mike Cahill United States Kings Tom Collins United Kingdom The Last Mistress Une vieille maîtresse Catherine Breillat France The Mourning Forest Mogari No Mori Naomi Kawase France, Japan Munyurangabo Lee Isaac Chung United States Mutum Sandra Kogut Brazil My Brother Is an Only Child Mio fratello è figlio unico Daniele Luchetti Italy, France New York City Serenade Frank Whaley United States Normal Carl Bessai Canada On the Wings of Dreams Swopnodanay Golam Rabbany Biplob Bangladesh Our Private Lives Nos vies privées Denis Côté Canada Philippine Science Pisay Auraeus Solito Philippines The Pope's Toilet El Baño del Papa Enrique Fernández, César Charlone Uruguay, Brazil, France Run, Fat Boy, Run David Schwimmer United Kingdom Secret Sunshine Miryang Lee Chang-dong South Korea The Secrets Avi Nesher Israel, France The Shock Doctrine Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, Naomi Klein Canada, United Kingdom Slingshot Tirador Brillante Mendoza Philippines Son of Rambow Garth Jennings France, United Kingdom, Germany Starting Out in the Evening Andrew Wagner United States The Stone Angel Kari Skogland Canada A Stray Girlfriend Una novia errante Ana Katz Argentina Summit Circle Contre toute espérance Bernard Émond Canada To Love Someone Den Man Älskar Åke Sandgren Sweden The Trap Klopka Srdan Golubović Serbia, Germany, Hungary The Trial Begins L'ora di punta Vincenzo Marra Italy Two Ladies Dans la vie Philippe Faucon France Under the Same Moon La Misma Luna Patricia Riggen Mexico, United States Unfinished Sky Peter Duncan Australia Unfinished Stories Ravayat haye na tamam Pourya Azarbayjani Iran Weirdsville Allan Moyle Canada Wolfsbergen Nanouk Leopold Netherlands
Masters The Masters programme features films by world-renowned filmmakers. Twenty films were selected.