TIFF BELL Lightbox Apr 28- May 12

PROGRAMMING AT TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

April 28 – May 12, 2011

TIFF CINEMATHEQUE

The New Auteurs: Wandering, Wondering: The Films of Kelly Reichardt

The New Auteurs series highlights the most important, daring and visionary of contemporary filmmakers. Each installment presents a solo retrospective, a Carte Blanche screening of a film selected by the filmmaker, and the release of their most recent film.

For its second installment, The New Auteurs presents celebrated American independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt and her impressive body of work from May 12 to 17. Reichardt implicitly addresses America’s state of mind with a quietly powerful poetic realism, while radically challenging the country’s founding myths and ideologies. This retrospective begins with a new print of her debut film River of Grass (1993) — a sun-drenched take on film noir — and culminates with the multiple award-winning Old Joy (2006), starring indie folk icon, Will Oldham.  The series also includes the director’s newest release, Meek’s Cutoff (2010), starring Michelle Williams in a twist on the Western genre; Ode (1999), a moody Gus Van Sant-esque reconfiguration of a ‘60s Southern Gothic tale originally shot on Super 8; Wendy and Lucy (2008), which was awarded Best Picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association; and Reichardt’s Carte Blanche pick, Nicholas Ray’s modern-day Western drama The Lusty Men (1952), a lyrical and deeply emotional ode to male nostalgia, loneliness and illusions, presented in a rare archival print.

River of Grass

Thursday, May 12 at 7:00 pm

Hollywood Classics: April 24 to June 7

Focusing on recently restored or newly struck 35mm prints, this selection of Hollywood Classics encompasses a broad spectrum of tones, styles and genres. From Ernst Lubitsch’s droll comedy Cluny Brown (1946), to Joseph H. Lewis’ corrosive crime film The Big Combo (1955). Paul Newman graces the screen in the moody atmospherics of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler (1961), while Jane Russell stars as an ambitious woman transcending the past in Raoul Walsh’s The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). The mini-series of Fritz Lang’s American thrillers continues with Secret Beyond the Door (1948), Lang’s treatment of the classic Bluebeard story coloured by Freudian-Gothic traceries.

The Big Combo Joseph H. Lewis

Tuesday, April 26 at 6:30 pm

Special PresentationS and Film Series

Packaged Goods
Created by guest programmer Rae Ann Fera, Packaged Goods surveys some of the most innovative music videos, short films and TV spots from around the world, revealing the richness and invention of this often overlooked sphere of filmmaking. The first installment opens with a showcase of Unsigned Directors, originally conceived for the Cíclope International Advertising Craft Festival, followed by upstart music video production house Skin Flicks, founded by UK music video veterans Richard Skinner and John Hassay. Special guests include independent director A.J. Bond and Scott Mackenzie, executive producer of Toronto-based commercial production house Radke, who will discuss their ups and downs on the road to directorial success.

Wednesday, May 11 at 7:00pm

In Conversation With…
Tony Palmer on Bird on a Wire: Tuesday, May 10 at 7:00pm
In 1972, British filmmaker Tony Palmer was commissioned to follow Leonard Cohen on his tour of Europe, capturing him in performance, in the studio and “off-duty.” Palmer’s version of the film was heavily re-edited by Cohen himself, and following the brief run of this much-altered cut in 1974, the film was unavailable for decades. Restored by Palmer in 2010 to its nearly original form, Bird on a Wire reveals itself as a fascinating, multifaceted portrait of one of the key figures of modern music. Tony Palmer joins us onstage to present this special screening and to discuss the experience of making (and remaking) this long-lost classic. This screening is co-presented as part of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival’s sidebar series (May 7–15), “The Three Lennys,” spotlighting the lives and careers of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Bernstein and Lenny Bruce.

EXHIBITIONS

Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star - running to July 3, 2011

The inaugural exhibition in TIFF’s new Canadian Film Gallery, Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star chronicles the life and career of one of the first and greatest stars of the silent cinema. Amassed over a 30-year period by private collector Rob Brooks, this exhibition draws on his extraordinary collection of 1,900 items including photographs, posters, memorabilia, postcards, and products endorsed by Pickford. The exhibition is curated by Sylvia Frank, Director of TIFF’s Film Reference Library and Special Collections.