Ararat to open Toronto Festival

Jul 02, 2002 by Ian Evans

For those of you who mark these things on your calendars, the 27th Toronto International Film Festival is just 65 days away.

Toronto is suffering from the three H’s right now — heat, haze and humidity — so a cool (free) beer and a press conference in an air-conditioned building were the perfect mix.

The 27th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to the 14th, 2002 and even though these are just the beginning announcements, it’s already starting to look good.

Atom Egoyan’s Ararat will open the Festival, the third time one of the Canadian director’s films has had this duty. Ararat is the contemporay story of two estranged families and their search for reconciliation and the truth. It stars David Alpay, Eric Bogosian, Brent Carver, Marie-Josée Croze, Bruce Greenwood, Arsinée Khanjian, Elias Koteas and Christopher Plummer. The film also stars Charles Aznavour as a filmmaker trying to reconstruct the tragic events that befell the Armenian people in 1915.

Other announcements made today include:

• David Cronenberg’s Spider will make its North American premiere at the Festival. It’s a psychological thriller about a man who must face the demons of his childhood. It features Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, Lynn Redgrave, John Neville and Bradley Hall.
• Another world premiere Gala will be Peter Kosminsky’s White Oleander starring Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfieffer, Renée Zelleweger, Billy Connolly and Noah Wyle.
• The Festival will also feature the world premiere of Moonlight Mile from writer/director Brad Silberling. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ellen Pompeo.
• South Korea the featured country at this year’s festival and Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaseon will have its North American premiere as a Gala Presentation.