2006 Toronto International Film Festival
The 31st Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people [sic] through the eyes of a father and daughter."[2][3][4][5][6]
Opening film
Toronto International Film Festival Group
352 films
September 7, 2006 (2006-09-07)–September 16, 2006 (2006-09-16)
English
In a press release dated June 27, 2006, twenty-six international film selections were announced which previously premiered at major film festivals worldwide. Of the films announced, twenty-five of them will receive their North American premiere.[7]
Among the many anticipated films were Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Volver by Pedro Almodóvar, Election 2 (a.k.a. Triad Election) by Johnnie To, The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky and The Host by Bong Joon-ho.
Bella took top prize at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival by winning the highly coveted "People's Choice Award", a distinction which puts them in the company of such Oscar-winning films as Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hotel Rwanda. Last year's winner of the "People's Choice" Award, Tsotsi, won an Oscar for best foreign-language film.
Bella marks the feature directorial debut for Alejandro Monteverde, who also co-wrote its original screenplay with Patrick Million. Bella features Manuel Perez, Angélica Aragón, Jaime Terelli and Ali Landry. Bella was produced by Sean Wolfington, Eduardo Verastegui, Leo Severino, Alejandro Monteverde and Denise Pinckley and executive produced by J. Eustace Wolfington, Ana Wolfington and Stephen McEveety. The film was financed by producers Sean Wolfingtonand Eustace Wolfington. McEveety (Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Passion of the Christ) consulted on the script and signed on as an Executive Producer to help market the movie. Bella is McEveety's first release under his nascent Mpower Films moniker and marks his first feature since ankling Mel Gibson's Icon productions.
The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature, presented to 's On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi).
Noël Mitrani
The Toronto – City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, presented to Jennifer Baichwal's documentary .
Manufactured Landscapes
The Short Cuts Canada Award, presented to for his short film Les Jours.
Maxime Giroux
The Swarovski Cultural Innovation Award, presented to Özer Kýzýltan's TAKVA - A Man's Fear of God.
Bruno Podalydes, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas, Christopher Doyle, Isabel Coixet, Nobuhiro Suwa, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuaron, Olivier Assayas, Oliver Schmitz, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Wes Craven, Tom Tykwer, Frederic Auburtin, Gerard Depardieu, Alexander Payne
Paris, Je T'aime
These Girls (Egypt)
Tahani Rached
Shame (Pakistan/USA)
Mohammed Naqvi
(USA) Larry Charles
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
(USA/Japan/Canada) Cunningham/Dante/Gaeta/Hellman/Russell
Trapped Ashes
À l’ombre,
Simon Lavoie
L’Air de rien, Frédérick Pelletier
Aruba,
Hubert Davis
The Broken Hearted, Antoinette Karuna
By the Hour,
Bill Marchant
Christ in Wood, Alexander Winfield
Cloudbreaker,
Adam Garnet Jones
Couldn't Be Happier, Jackie May
The Double Woman, Carla B. Guttmann
Down Payment on a Dead Horse, Jason Britski
The Ecstasy Note, Geoffrey Uloth
Elizabeth,
Deco Dawson
The Eyes of Edward James, Rodrigo Gudiño
If I See Randy Again Do You Want Me to Hit Him with the Axe?, Vivieno Caldinelli
Intolerable, Alison Maclean
The Last Bang, Emmanuel Shirinian
A Life of Errors, Nicholas Pye and Sheila Pye
Love Seat,
Kris Elgstrand
The Man Who Waited (L’Homme qui attendait),
Theodore Ushev
Ninth Street Chronicles, Megan Martin
Où est Maurice?, Alek Rzeszowski and
Matthew Rankin
Patterns 2,
Jamie Travis
Patterns 3,
Jamie Travis
Plume,
Chelsea McMullan
Pretty Broken, Cline Mayo
The Runner, Robert Delaskie
Saskatchewan Part 3, Brian Stockton
, Anthony Green
Screening
Starlight Tour, Evan Crowe
Supposed To, Aleesa Cohene
Suspect,
Patricia Rozema
Tell Me Everything,
Brian D. Johnson
La Tête haute, Ivan Grbovic
True Love, Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany
The Wait, Ann Verrall
TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list, its national critics and festival programmers poll of the ten best feature and short films of the year, was released in December 2006.[11]