Ang Lee Film Tops Toronto Film Fest
T O R O N T O, Sept. 17, 2000 -- After 10 days and more than 300 movies at theworld’s ultimate “people’s” film festival, the people havespoken.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee’s historicalaction-romance, was named the winner Sunday of the People’s ChoiceAward at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Lee is a native of Taiwan best known for such English-languagemovies as The Ice Storm and Sense and Sensibility. Hiscurrent film, however, is set during the Qing dynasty in China andstars Chow Yun-Fat as a martial arts warrior who longs to retire.
“There’s an innocence, a pure magic of movement to thismovie,” said festival director Piers Handling. “It takes you backto your childhood days, when people fly across rooftops and havesword fights in trees.”
The Dish, an Australian comedy about the 1969 moon landing,finished second among audience voters. Previous winners haveincluded American Beauty, Shine and Life is Beautiful.
Power to the People This was the 25th year of the festival, which ended Saturday,and it was marked by appearances from Gwyneth Paltrow, Al Pacino,Ed Harris and many other celebrities. But what defined the 25thfestival is what has defined it from the start: the public.
Unlike Cannes, Toronto is where filmmakers get to show theirwork to a general audience. For the past 10 days linesformed in lobbies, down stairwells, around street corners and backagain. Film lovers woke up early, went to bed late, used upvacation time and came out to see everything from “MidnightMadness” horror screenings to comedies in the morning.
“I cut out of work to see a couple of movies,” admitted27-year-old Andrew Egan, a bank programmer who stood in the latesummer cold one morning to catch a showing of The Dish.
Once a far more intimate affair, the Toronto festival can belikened to a small business that grows beyond its own expectations.The challenge becomes how to handle all the extra customers withoutlosing what made it special in the first place.
“We were very worried a few years ago that the industry sidewould crowd out the public side,” Handling said. “So we justadded press and industry screenings. In fact, it was press peoplewho had a hard time getting to see movies.”
Toronto has been known to “make” films. In 1999, response toAmerican Beauty was widely believed to be a major step to itsAcademy Award success six months later. In previous years,productions such as Robert Duvall’s The Apostle and the Germanaction film Run Lola Run picked up U.S. distributors thanks tothat mysterious, essential aura known as “buzz.”
This year, however, there were no obvious favorites. Festivalbees buzzed among several movies, including the Australian romanceInnocence, the British comedy Billy Elliott and theAmerican political drama The Contender.
Let’s Make a Deal
For salespeople, the 25th Toronto festival was the busiest yet;Toronto now challenges Cannes and Sundance as an industry showcase.From the Iranian drama The Circle to the Thai gangster movieBangkok Dangerous, films received distribution deals all overthe world.
“This is my 10th festival and it was the most successful sofar,” said Wouter Barendrecht, chair of Fortissimo Film Sales, acompany based in Hong Kong that represented Bangkok Dangerousand several other releases.
Before Night Falls, painter Julian Schnabel’s tribute to thelate Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, was acquired by New Line. LionsGate picked up Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water, whichstars Sean Penn and Elizabeth Hurley.
Other movies attracting strong interest included IronLadies, a trans-gender comedy from Thailand; The Princess andthe Warrior, by Run Lola Run director Tom Twyker; and theCanadian horror movie Ginger Snaps.
“We’re dealing with more markets than ever; every singlecompany wants to come here,” said Kelley Alexander, director ofthe festival’s industry center. “That only makes it better forfilmmakers.”