By John Semley

Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman in Richard J. Lewis’s Barney’s Version.

The King Street Hyatt’s Regency Ballroom was electric this morning. Scores gathered around long tables plush with Starbucks coffee, strawberry/banana smoothies, muffins, fresh pineapple, miniature quiches, and novel fresh-squeezed juice combinations (grapefruit and ginger? Whatever!). The wait staff bustled about diligently, clearing cups and plates, re-stocking the urbane continental buffet. George Smitherman and a lavender-clad aide worked the room, hobbing and knobbing, alternatively. The smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel sandwiches were, quite simply, a revelation. After thirty-five years, TIFF really knows how to put on a press conference.
Oh. And a film festival. They’re also great at putting on a film festival.

Toronto International Film Festival co-directors Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey ascended to the stage in the Regency Ballroom this morning to volleys of applause offered up by media types and other guests eagerly awaiting the initial line-up announcement for TIFF 2010. As Handling noted, 2010 is a “watershed year for the festival,” one which marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the festival, the twentieth anniversary of the TIFF Cinematheque (née Cinematheque Ontario), and the ribbon-cutting on the festival’s new digs at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, right next door to the Hyatt at the corner of King and John.
Before launching into the first round of programming announcements, the festival co-directors took turns talking about the Lightbox, which Bailey promised would “bring the festival to life each and every year in a dynamic and permanent space.” Bailey also announced the TIFF For Free program, which will screen 35mm prints of films that the festival has launched throughout its history (i.e. The Big Chill, Crash, Water) as a means of commemorating the thirty-fifth anniversary.

Scene from Score: The Hockey Musical, TIFF’s opening film, which is bound to breed more “shoot” and “score” pun headlines than we can possibly calculate.

But, of course, the big announcements—the reason for all the wonderful hors d’œuvres and exotic juices and general pomp and circumstance—were the films. Most of those announced today were bigger-name, English-language films that fell within the Galas and Special Presentations category. In addition to the earlier announcement that TIFF 2010 will be opening on what the Globe’s Guy Dixon called a “hyper-Canadian note” with Michael McGowan’s Score: A Hockey Musical (which is exactly what it sounds like), about fifty more films were announced today, including those by filmmakers like Michael Winterbottom, Woody Allen, Julian Schnabel, Darren Aronofsky, and David Schwimmer (!!!!).
Some highlights:

• Richard J. Lewis’s adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s Barney’s Version (starring Paul Giamatti as Barney) makes its North American premiere. Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, and Scott Speedman co-star. The film comes courtesy of legendary Canadian producer Robert Lantos, who was in attendance this morning.
• For any Civil War buffs (or hardcore James McAvoy fans), Robert Redford’s The Conspirator makes its world premiere at TIFF. The film tells the story of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright Penn)—the only woman charged in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln—and the idealistic war hero (McAvoy) who comes to her defence.
• Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil makes its North American premiere in the Special Presentations program. It promises to be a gripping thriller from Jee-woon, one of South Korea’s premiere talents. And, as anyone who caught Bong Joon-ho’s Mother at last year’s fest can tell you, South Korea has been turning out awesome hard-boiled thrillers at a pretty steady slip in recent years.
• Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan reunite for their third feature together (following 24 Hour Party People and A Cock and Bull Story) with The Trip. Coogan stars opposite Rob Brydon (another regular in Winterbottom’s stable of comedians) in a road movie set in North England that sounds a lot like a drearier, British take on Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and, by association, Todd Phillips’s forthcoming Due Date).
• A lot of people went nuts over Guillaume Canet’s last feature, 2006’s bloated, intermittently thrilling Tell No One. But maybe his latest, Little White Lies (making its world premiere at TIFF) will see the director living up to all his hype. But being as Canet has been romantically linked to Diane Kruger, and presently, Marion Cotillard, people will really be more interested to see who he shows up with at Roy Thompson Hall’s red carpet (bets on Cotillard, being as they’re dating and, well, she’s in the movie).

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon drive each other crazy in Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip.

While the full lineup will be announced over the next few weeks, there’s enough already to be at least reasonably excited about. Some major question marks still hang over the fest, such as whether Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Palme D’Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives will be scheduled (though it’s a safe bet that it will be). Also missing is any news regarding whether Terrence Malick’s epic Tree of Life, which was supposed to have been ready in time for Cannes but did not premiere there, will debut in Toronto. But, of course, all these and more may (or may not) be added to the line-up of more than three hundred films that will be slowly unveiled in coming weeks.
Also coming in August will be the announcement of the city chosen for this year’s City-to-City programme (which stirred all kinds of controversy last year when it showcased filmmakers from Tel Aviv). And while the co-directors wouldn’t respond to questions about exactly what else is coming, Bailey noted that the festival possesses “the ability to show 3-D movies,” meaning that anyone licking their chops for the Nic Cage vehicular manslaughter movie Drive Angry 3-D being plopped into a Midnight Madness spot can continue to speculate wildly.
The full lineup of films announced today is in a press release on TIFF’s website.
All images courtesy of TIFF.