The 30th Toronto Film Festival, which runs from September 8 to 17, will open with the world premiere of Deepa Mehtas long-in-the-making Water, the third part of a trilogy that includes Fire and 1947: Earth. Director Deepa Mehta, John Abraham and Lisa Ray are scheduled to be in Toronto for the festivals opening night gala.
The Fest also Premiers Ashok Amritrajs Shopgirl, Buddhadev Dasguptas Bengali film, Kaalpurush and Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha-scripted literary adaptation, The Mistress of Spices
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonams Dreaming Lhasa and Shonali Boses Amu will be screened in the Discovery and Contemporary World Cinema sections respectively.
Set in pre-Independence India against the backdrop of Mahatma Gandhis rise
to power, Water tells the story of eight-year old child-bride
Chuyia exiled to a widows ashram. The project angered some Hindu groups already
incensed over the story of two lesbians in Fire.
The
groups were angry that Mehtas film questioned orthodoxy and the treatment of
young widows many decades ago in holy cities such as Hardwar. When she cancelled
the shooting and appealed for support from artists across the world, Star Wars
creator George Lucas and sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar joined a number of
artists in condemning threats against an artist.
Amritraj film Shopgirl starring Steve Martin (he also wrote the novella of the same name), which reportedly cost $25 million, is a funny and poignant love story in the modern age. The film, directed by Anand Tucker who is based in London and whose father was an Indian airline executive, catches a glimpse of the lives of three very different people on diverse paths. But they are all searching for the same thing.
Mirabelle (Claire Danes) is a plain and simple girl working at the glove counter of Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. An artist struggling just to pay the minimum on her credit cards and student loans, Mirabelle keeps mostly to herself, until wealthy elder Ray Porter (Steve Martin) shows up, showering her with affection and bundles of dough. She hopes for a miracle but she is not all that free to choose her destiny, it seems. For she is also being pursued by Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a bachelor who is not quite as cultured and successful as Ray. She has to choose which man is better suited for her.
Buddhadev Dasguptas Kaalpurush (Memories In The Mist) deals with the relationship between a father and son and stars Mithun Chakraborty, Rahul Bose and Sameera Reddy. Dasgupta, a favourite at TIFF, will represent Indian cinema in the prestigious World Masters sidebar. The stars of the films are expected to be in attendance along with the director during the screening in Toronto.
The film centers on family intimacies and global politics in Kaalpurush. Rahul Bose plays a man struggling to come to terms with the memory of his powerful father, which leads him into long-held secrets. The film unmasks a grasping Bengali middle-class, and also offers a critique of the ever present influence of America.
Paul Mayeda Berges, The Mistress of the Spices, centers on a San Francisco woman Tilo, an immortal, born in a mystical, faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of healing with spices. She opens up shop in California, but faces a tough decision when she falls in love with a handsome mortal who could end her healing touch.
Dreaming Lhasa is about a young woman, who grows up in New York City and returns to Dharamsala, home to the exiled Dalai Lama, to make a film about its Tibetan community. It takes a dramatic turn when the woman meets a monk who has escaped from political imprisonment in Tibet. Their journey into Tibets fractured past becomes the womans own voyage of self-discovery.
In Shonali Boses Amu, a 21-year-old Indian American woman returns to India to visit her family and in turn is forced to confront the secrets and lies of her past. The film will be shown in the Contemporary Cinema section.
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