Quiz: Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF Test
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is considered to be the world’s second most important film festival (after Cannes), with many of the films screened in Toronto going on to make an impact with viewers worldwide. In honour of this year’s 32nd edition of TIFF (September 4 to 13, www.tiff08.ca for info), we test your knowledge of Toronto’s annual cinematic extravaganza
By Ingrid Randoja
1. Paul Gross wrote, directed and stars in this year’s opening night TIFF film, the WWI drama Passchendaele. Which of the following Canadian films did not open TIFF?
a) Dead Ringers
b) Stardom
c) Away From Her
2. This year’s TIFF entry The Other Man stars Liam Neeson as a husband who discovers that his wife (Laura Linney) is exchanging emails with a mystery man (Antonio Banderas). Neeson and Linney co-starred in a film that screened at TIFF in 2004. Name the film.
3. TIFF often programs films that end up winning Oscars. One year was particularly noteworthy, as the Toronto fest screened Oscar-winning pics American Beauty (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor), Boys Don’t Cry (Best Actress) and The Cider House Rules (Best Supporting Actor). The year was:
a) 1998
b) 1999
c) 2000
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4. James McAvoy and Keira Knightley are seen here (left) posing before
the gala presentation of their 2007 TIFF film. Which film was it?
5. Canadian director Bruce McDonald (whose Ponytypool unspools at this year’s festival) picked up a $25,000 cash prize when his film Roadkill
won Best Canadian Feature at the 1989 edition of TIFF. In his speech he
said the money would buy a “big chunk of ________________”?
a) film stock
b) studio time
c) hash
6. Which 1992 crowd-pleasing TIFF flick featured a pair of
mismatched ballroom dancers taking on Australia’s dancing establishment? |
7. Denys Arcand’s The Decline of the American Empire won two awards at the 1986 edition of TIFF. In total, how many Arcand-directed films have been screened at TIFF?
a) three
b) five
c) seven
8. Which director’s 1990 breakthrough film, An Angel at My Table, was screened at TIFF?
a) Jane Campion
b) Jonathan Demme
c) Jim Jarmusch
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9. Here (left), Naomi Watts lights up the red carpet prior to the 2007 TIFF screening of Eastern Promises. For which film did Watts attend TIFF in 2003? Clue: It co-starred Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro.
10. In 1987 TIFF staff had to construct a theatre seat twice the size of a regular seat to accommodate one of the stars of The Princess Bride. Who was the star?
11. Don McKellar, who wrote the screenplay for, and stars in, this year’s TIFF flick Blindness,
used to work for TIFF as an usher and remembers one star who was late
for his own premiere because he refused to stop playing a piano located
backstage. That star was:
a) Jeff Goldblum
b) Johnny Depp
c) Richard Gere
12. True or False: The Big Chill won TIFF’s People’s Choice Award in 1983.
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13. Viggo Mortensen returns to TIFF with two pics — the western Appaloosa, and the euthanasia-themed drama Good. Last year he wowed TIFF audiences with his turn as a Russian mobster in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. Which other movie directed by David Cronenberg and starring Viggo Mortensen rocked TIFF in 2005?
14. The lovely Anne Hathaway is the star of this year’s TIFF film Rachel Getting Married, about an acerbic woman (Hathaway) attending her sister’s wedding. In Brokeback Mountain, which took TIFF by storm in 2005, Hathaway played Jake Gyllenhaal’s young wife. What was her character’s name?
a) Lureen
b) Lauren
c) Missy
15. If TIFF had a resident filmmaker, it would have to be Atom Egoyan, who has screened 10 films at TIFF over the years. This year he returns with Adoration, starring Scott Speedman. Which of the following Egoyan films takes place primarily inside a strip club and pet store?
a) Family Viewing
b) Exotica
c) Where the Truth Lies
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ANSWERS:
1. c
2. Kinsey
3. b
4. Atonement
5. c
6. Strictly Ballroom
7. c. Arcand has screened The Crime of Ovide Plouffe, The Decline of the American Empire, Jesus of Montreal, Love and Human Remains, Stardom, The Barbarian Invasions and Days of Darkness
8. a
9. 21 Grams
10. Andre the Giant
11. c. Richard Gere. In 1988 he left audiences waiting for the premiere of his film Miles From Home while he tickled the ivories
12. True
13. A History of Violence
14. a
15. b
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FESTIVAL ROUNDUP
Toronto serves as ground zero when it comes to film festivals, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other festivals taking place across the country this season
Atlantic Film Festival
Halifax, Nova Scotia
September 11-20
www.atlanticfilm.com/aff/
Cinéfest Sudbury
Sudbury, Ontario
September 15-23
www.cinefest.com
Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ottawa, Ontario
September 17-21
www.ottawa.awn.com/index.php
Antimatter Underground Film Festival
Victoria, British Columbia
September 19-27
www.antimatter.ws/
Calgary International Film Festival
Calgary, Alberta
September 19-28
www.calgaryfilm.com
Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver, British Columbia
September 25-October 10
www.viff.org/home
Edmonton International Film Festival
Edmonton, Alberta
September 26-October 4
www.edmontonfilmfest.com
Festival Nouveau Cinéma
Montreal, Quebec
October 8-19
www.nouveaucinema.ca/EN