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 through the eyes of a father and daughter."
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.TIFF.net | Home . Tiffg.ca. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
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.
Awards Awards presented during the film festival included: The People's Choice Award, presented to Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's Bella. The Diesel Discovery Award, presented to Joachim Trier's Reprise. The Fipresci Prize, presented to Gabriel Range's Death of a President. The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature, presented to Noël Mitrani's On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi). The Toronto – City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, presented to Jennifer Baichwal's documentary Manufactured Landscapes. The Short Cuts Canada Award, presented to Maxime Giroux for his short film Les Jours. The Swarovski Cultural Innovation Award, presented to Özer Kýzýltan's TAKVA - A Man's Fear of God.
Programme
Gala Presentations After the Wedding (Denmark/Sweden) Susanne Bier #LosSerrano15 All the King's Men (USA) Steven Zaillian Amazing Grace (UK/USA) Michael Apted Away from Her (Canada) Sarah Polley #LosSerrano Babel (USA) Alejandro González Iñárritu The Banquet (China) Feng Xiaogang Black Book (Netherlands) Paul Verhoeven #LosSerrano5 Bobby (USA) Emilio Estevez #LosSerrano3 Bonneville (USA) Christopher N. Rowley Breaking and Entering (USA) Anthony Minghella #LosSerrano9 Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (USA) Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck For Your Consideration (USA) Christopher Guest A Good Year (UK) Ridley Scott Infamous (USA) Douglas McGrath #LosSerrano24 The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (Canada/Denmark) Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn Mon Meilleur Ami (France) Patrice Leconte #LosSerrano26 Never Say Goodbye (India) Karan Johar Penelope (USA/UK/Germany) Mark Palansky Volver (Spain) Pedro Almodóvar #LosSerrano13 The White Planet (Canada/France) Thierry Piantanida, Thierry Ragobert, Jean Lemire
Special Presentations 10 Items or Less (USA) Brad Silberling #LosSerrano17 Alatriste (Spain) Agustín Díaz Yanes Begone Dull Care (Canada) Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart Bernard and Doris (USA) Bob Balaban Blinkity Blank (Canada) Norman McLaren Brand Upon the Brain! (Canada/USA) Guy Maddin The Bubble (Israel) Eytan Fox Catch a Fire (United Kingdom/South Africa/USA) Phillip Noyce #LosSerrano3 A Chairy Tale (Canada) Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra Congorama (Canada) Philippe Falardeau Das Leben der Anderen (Germany) Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck #LosSerrano7 The Dog Problem (USA) Scott Caan El Cantante (USA) Leon Ichaso Exiled (Hong Kong) Johnnie To The Fall (India/UK/USA) Tarsem Singh Fay Grim (USA/Germany) Hal Hartley #LosSerrano24 The Fountain (USA) Darren Aronofsky #LosSerrano17 Golden Door (Italy/France) Emanuele Crialese #LosSerrano24 Hana (Japan) Hirokazu Koreeda #LosSerrano28 Hen Hop (Canada) Norman McLaren L'Homme De Sa Vie (France/Italy) Zabou Breitman Horizontal Lines (Canada) Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart Jindabyne (Australia) Ray Lawrence #LosSerrano27 Kabul Express (India) Kabir Khan The Last King of Scotland (UK) Kevin Macdonald #LosSerrano8 The Last Kiss (USA) Tony Goldwyn Little Children (USA) Todd Field #LosSerrano6 Love and Other Disasters (France/UK) Alek Keshishian The Magic Flute (UK) Kenneth Branagh #LosSerrano14 Manufactured Landscapes (Canada) Jennifer Baichwal Le Merle (Canada) Norman McLaren Mon Colonel (France/Algeria/Belgium) Laurent Herbiet The Namesake (USA) Mira Nair #LosSerrano21 Neighbours (Canada) Norman McLaren Nue Propriete (Belgium/France) Joachim Lafosse #LosSerrano26 Opening Speech (Canada) Norman McLaren Pan's Labyrinth (Spain) Guillermo del Toro Paris, Je T'aime 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 #LosSerrano8 Pas de Deux (Canada) Norman McLaren The Pleasure of Your Company (USA) Michael Ian Black The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (China) Ann Hui Quelques Jours en Septembre (France) Santiago Amigorena Seraphim Falls (USA) David Von Ancken Snow Cake (Canada/UK) Marc Evans Stars and Stripes (Canada) Norman McLaren Stranger Than Fiction (USA) Marc Forster #LosSerrano3 Synchromy (Canada) Norman McLaren This Is England (UK) Shane Meadows #LosSerrano3 A Crime (France) Manuel Pradal Venus (UK) Roger Michell #LosSerrano8 Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (USA) Ari Sandel Woman on the Beach (South Korea) Hong Sang-soo
Masters The Wind That Shakes the Barley (France/Ireland/UK/Italy/Spain/Germany) — Ken Loach The Caiman (Italy) — Nanni Moretti EMPz 4 Life (Canada) — Allan King Lights In The Dusk (Finland/Germany/France) — Aki Kaurismäki The Optimists (Serbia) — Goran Paskaljević
Real to Reel Blindsight (United Kingdom) Lucy Walker These Girls (Egypt) Tahani Rached Remembering Arthur (Canada) Martin Lavut Shame (Pakistan/USA) Mohammed Naqvi
Discovery Bliss (China) Sheng Zhimin Reprise (Norway) Joachim Trier Vanaja (India/USA) Rajnesh Domalpalli Out of the Blue (New Zealand) Robert Sarkies Sharkwater (Canada) Rob Stewart
Visions Flandres (France) Bruno Dumont Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (Japan) Takashi Miike Ten Canoes (Australia) Rolf de Heer Taxidermia (Hungary/Austria/France) György Pálfi Bamako (France/Mali/USA) Abderrahmane Sissako Time (South Korea) Kim Ki-duk
Contemporary World Cinema The Last Winter (USA/Iceland) Larry Fessenden Red Road (UK) Andrea Arnold 12:08 East of Bucharest (Romania) Corneliu Porumboiu Invisible Waves (Thailand/Netherlands/Hong Kong) Pen-Ek Ratanaruang To Get to Heaven, First You Have to Die (France/Germany/Switzerland/Tajikistan) Djamshed Usmonov White Palms (Hungary) Szabolcs Hajdu Summer Palace (China/France) Lou Ye Summer '04 (Germany) Stefan Krohmer The Bothersome Man (Norway) Jens Lien Retrieval (Poland) Slawomir Fabicki Cronica De Una Fuga (Argentina) Israel Adrián Caetano Slumming (Austria/Switzerland) Michael Glawogger Shortbus (U.S.A.) John Cameron Mitchell Copying Beethoven (UK/Hungary) Agnieszka Holland Bella (U.S.A.) Alejandro Monteverde
Midnight Madness Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (USA) Larry Charles Black Sheep (New Zealand) Jonathan King All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (USA) Jonathan Levine Trapped Ashes (USA/Japan/Canada) Cunningham/Dante/Gaeta/Hellman/Russell The Abandoned (Spain) Nacho Cerdà The Host (South Korea) Bong Joon-ho Severance (UK) Christopher Smith Princess (Denmark) Anders Morgenthaler S&Man (USA) JT Petty Sheitan (France) Kim Chapiron
Vanguard Macbeth (Australia) Geoffrey Wright Chacun Sa Nuit (France) Pascal Arnold/Jean-Marc Barr Jade Warrior (Finland/China/Estonia) Antti-Jussi Annila Bunny Chow (South Africa) John Barker Shortbus (USA) John Cameron Mitchell Renaissance (France/UK/Luxembourg) Christian Volckman Election (Hong Kong) Johnnie To Election 2 (Hong Kong) Johnnie To Drama/Mex (Mexico) Gerardo Naranjo 2:37 (Australia) Murali K. Thalluri Suburban Mayhem (Australia) Paul Goldman Sleeping Dogs Lie (USA) Bobcat Goldthwait
Canada First! Acts of Imagination, Carolyn Combs Cheech, Patrice Sauvé La Coupure, Jean Châteauvert End of the Line, Maurice Devereaux Everything's Gone Green, Paul Fox Fido, Andrew Currie Mercy, Mazdak Taebi On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi), Noël Mitrani A Stone's Throw, Camelia Frieberg
Short Cuts 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 Days (Les Jours), Maxime Giroux The Dead Water (Les Eaux mortes), Guy Édoin 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 In the Dark (À l'ombre), Simon Lavoie 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 Nobody (L'air de rien), Frédérick Pelletier Nude Caboose, Guy Maddin 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 The Saddest Boy in the World, Jamie Travis Saskatchewan Part 3, Brian Stockton Screening, Anthony Green Starlight Tour, Evan Crowe Supposed To, Aleesa Cohene Suspect, Patricia Rozema Tell Me Everything, Brian D. Johnson La Tête haute, Ivan Grbovic The Tragic Story of Nling, Jeffrey St. Jules True Love, Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany The Wait, Ann Verrall
Canada's Top Ten 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."'Away From Her' makes list of Top 10 Canadian films of 2006". Times & Transcript, December 15, 2006. Away from Her — Sarah Polley Congorama — Philippe Falardeau The Journals of Knud Rasmussen — Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn Manufactured Landscapes — Jennifer Baichwal Monkey Warfare — Reginald Harkema On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi) — Noël Mitrani Radiant City — Gary Burns, Jim Brown Sharkwater — Rob Stewart A Sunday in Kigali (Un dimanche à Kigali) — Robert Favreau Trailer Park Boys: The Movie — Mike Clattenburg
References
External links
Official website tiffreviews.com TIFF 2006 coverage at TheGATE.ca 2006 Toronto International Film Festival at IMDb