TIFF 2011 Buyer’s Club: The 20 Biggest Buzz Titles

There must be around 120 titles showing at TIFF next week with available North American rights but only there only about two dozen titles that will premium must see titles for ALL acquisition heads. Once again I’ve put together a Top 20 list with the highest item on the list belonging to the title that should fetch the most dollars and perhaps the most heat in terms of a North American distribution deal. I predict what buyers might be looking at before the point of purchase and what they’ll be thinking in terms of audience reach in a field/year that is once again is strong in British and U.S mid-range indie items. So enjoy the list and if you happen to be at one of these premieres take a look at who might be sitting next to you — they may just be one of the most important power players/ distribution heads in the room. We begin the countdown (or count up?) with an unlikely distinctly art-house title that we think might draw plenty of curious buyers.

#20. The Deep Blue Sea 
The Gist: Based on Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play, Tom Hiddleston will play Weisz’s reprobate RAF pilot lover and Simon Russell Beale her stolid husband.

Director: Terrence Davies (His last was the 2008 doc-essay, Of Time And The City)
Sales Agent: Protagonist Pictures
Selling Point/Suited For:The name of Terrence Davies doesn’t conjure up thoughts of impatient studio heads falling all over each other to acquire rights, there’ll only be a bidding war if Rachel Weisz performance is far superior quality wise over the other two films playing during the festival in Page Eight and 360. I’m betting this might be this festival’s season’s equivalent to Tom Ford’s A Single Man – and in a year where the Weinsteins are pushing Michelle Williams and Meryl Streep means distributors looking for a touch of class might want to consider moving on this future BAFTA winner while it’s hot.