TIFF 2007 Day 5: The next Gen in Filmmaking

Yesterday’s day of coverage began by a morning chat/interview with filmmaker Ramin Bahrani – who was in Toronto to present the North American premiere of Chop Shop – a film that I was very fond and discovered at Cannes (read review here). A pleasurable sit down (the sort that could begin with a glass of vino and finish with 2 polished off bottles). For me its always interesting to discuss the form, structure, narrative strategy and of course all the behind the scenes process of the filmmaking process.     

Unfortunately, moments after the completion of the interview I realized that (and this is where I have that sick to my stomach feeling) I only had a portion of the interview recorded. That feeling falls somewhere between my dog ate my homework and probably how Lodge Kerrigan felt when he lost an entire film in a processing lab disaster. A real shame because Ramin is very passionate person and I was looking to listening to what we discussed once again and of course, transcribing is a lot easier than any other alternative. I’ll have that interview up shortly and summarize the remaining portion post festival. The rest of the day I summoned up the strength to see a trio of films officially making Monday's theme about the next GEN of filmmakers.
 

 
My first public screening had some invited guests in attendance. Filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky and actor Karl Markovics were on hand to answer half dozen questions and present their award-winning film. The Counterfeiters is one more WWII tale worth investigating – a formidable film that is self-contained, not overly dramatic and offers a concentration camp experience that is different from the dozens of other films I might have seen in this setting.

Retaining the same language, I set myself into the follow up movie from Hans Weingartner – his The Edukators was a successful film on so many levels and his newest feature entitled Reclaim your Brain (featuring the male lead in Run Lola Run) was a nightmare to sit through.    

Finally, I partook in Déficit – Gael García Bernal’s directorial debut that amusingly looks at class differences through the eyes and loud mouth the film’s childish lead character – perhaps Bernal’s least challenging role to play in the years I’ve been watching him…but the object of his character's affection is the cutest girl (see above) I've seen on celluloid in years.