Toronto International Film Festival 2016 Talking Movies

those stories on the BBC sport website. We will have more for you

throughout the afternoon. Hello and welcome to the Toronto

International Film Festival. In today's programme we look back

at some of the highlights of this The government knows that we have

these documents now! Movies based on real

stories and real people - plenty of those at Toronto this

year. As well as pictures touching on

racism and the havoc it can reach. Plus a report on Nigerian cinema

that is quite different And a personal documentary looking

back at the eavesdropping days And an animation from Canada

in which a young girl travels to Iran to uncover

much about her father. Plus, the pictures coming out

of Toronto that have the potential All that and more in this Toronto

edition of Talking Movies. Nearly 400 films are shown

at Toronto and the general view was that there were indeed some

quite fine movies to be seen. But, alas, there wasn't active

love for the festival's opening-night feature -

a remake of the classic 1950 western We will let that picture kick

off our overview of the festival. The Magnificent Seven premiere

brought out the stars eager to promote their new film inspired

by the 1950 John Sturgess to promote their new film inspired

by the 1960 John Sturgess western of the same name,

which was itself a remake Directed by Antoine Fuqua,

the cast of the new film includes Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke,

Chris Pratt and Peter Saarsgaard - the villain in the story who plays

a greedy industrialist, I actually see my character more

as the idea of fear. How people will fall

in line behind fear, how people will just

abandon their own world beliefs The only reason he has got any kind

of people following him Some critics liked The Magnificent

Seven, others found it uninspired and questioned

the need for a remake. A lot of factors govern

the choice of any festival's It is not always to showcase

fresh, innovative cinema. Often it is a picture that will just

put stars on the red carpet I think you're looking for something

that is going to appeal to a mass audience, something that is big,

something that is going to fill the screen, something

that is entertainment but also smart at the same time and I think that

all of those qualities It has taken the original

and twisted it a little way in terms of its casting,

but at the end of the day, it is one of my favourite

genres, the western. And I think it says a lot

about America, that genre, and here is someone reworking it,

an African-American Whether it was a film retelling

the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico,

or a sympathetic portrayal of the former NSA intelligence

leaker Edward Snowden, films based on real stories

were in plentiful supply in Toronto. Snowdon was directed

by Oliver Stone, who co-wrote the screenplay

inspired by two books. Joseph Gorgon-Levitt gives an expert

depiction of Snowdon. He maintains the film brings

audiences an impression of Snowdon more complete

than existing media accounts. One thing a lot of people don't know

about Edward Snowden is that in 2004 He wanted to go fight

in the Iraq war. To see a man change from that,

"I want to go fight He broke both of his legs in basic

training so he couldn't go fight so, he was always good computers,

so he joined the CIA and the NSA and the things that he

saw changed his mind. You say it is a drama,

but is it a balanced drama? Because there are a lot of people

who do view Edward Snowden as being a traitor, but not much

weight is given to that viewpoint I am not sure there is a lot

of weight to that point of view I actually have not really heard any

specific ways in which something The government knows that we have

these documents now. That is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's point

of view, one no doubt endorsed He thinks this Toronto launch film

could help his client I don't think the government's

claims about harm to national So one of these days

we are going to see Edward Snowden return home and be broadly accepted

as the whistle-blower that he is. I do think that this film

will help hasten that day. Snowdon had definite fans

in Toronto, but many would agree it just didn't match any of Stone's

more celebrated films like Platoon or Born On The Fourth

Of July from years ago. I say to you quite tastelessly that

more women died on the back-seat of Senator Edward Kennedy's car

at Chappaquiddick than ever died Another Toronto film based

on real events was Denial. It was inspired by the trial that

emerged after author David Irving sued an American academic

Deborah Lipstadt for libel on the grounds that she had referred

to him as a Holocaust denier. A formidable portrait came

from Britain's Timothy Spall, David Irving is an incredibly

polarising figure and I wonder to what extent you having your own

views about him affected your No, in the end, your job when you're

playing someone is not to play the consequences of their actions

or take your objective view of it. Your job is just to jettison

all that and try and That is your job as an actor,

for good or bad, whatever I have got $1000 to give anyone

who can show me a document that Do you think the film does touch

on something that is quite prevalent in the culture,

that these people making assertions We made it because it is a fully

democratic idea to say that everybody's opinion

is equally valid. Obviously, that is

the internet's idea. But not everybody's opinion

is equally valid. You have the right to say anything

but you have to produce facts We have come to thank

you for your word and your will. Another Toronto film

rooted in the real world was the Birth Of A Nation,

which was greeted with a standing It was inspired by a slave uprising

in 1831 lead by a man Nate Parker, the film maker

who co-wrote and did an stars in the picture about the find

the story personally This thing, this snap Turner journey

is so important. Just seeing the separation, I think this country is

more segregated than it has been in moments in the past. To see a film

speaking to that and progressing the conversation, it is inspiring and

encouraging. Hey, the owner, how used your life.

Then there were pictures trying to portray real African stories without

resorting to stereotypes. Queen of Katwe was one of these. Do you see

the film representing progress in the sense that it is American backed

but it was made in Africa without white but agonists and relying on

African people? Absolutely. There is such a paucity. You never see the

Africa that I live in, the everyday dignity and power and joy of life in

act come Palace Street, or any street, forget about the Hollywood

screen. I immediately loved making Queen of Katwe because it is not

about a White saviour coming in and teaching us how to build a well or

have water in our taps. It is about real people who have real issues.

Toronto was much more than reality -based mass audience cinema. Part of

the festival was far from the mainstream. Our flourishing section

of the programme is wavelengths, focusing on experimental cinema with

a broad range of offerings. We have four short grams and a selection of

feature films, including documentaries. Those documentaries

that really push boundaries, are very as a stick. We are looking for

films with personal subjectivity, that take risks, narratively, that

challenge, are provocative. Toronto was full of films that held great

promise for the forthcoming Oscars race. The festival has long been

seen as a starting point in the mad scramble. The leader of the pack was

Lala land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. It is seen as a tribute

to the golden age of the US physical, set in present-day Los

Angeles. Moonlight, a coming-of-age tale of a young African-American

from Miami, has a story that smashed stereotypes and demonstrated the

importance of intimacy in people's lives. Then there was a rifle, an

alien invasion movie starring Amy Adams -- Amy Adams, which many

thought and masterpiece and a strong awards contender, especially with

the performance of Amy Adams. What happens now? They arrive.

This year, Toronto but the focus on one of the world's most prolific

movie hubs, temp one in Nigeria. Lagos was a subject of the

festival's city programme. If you are looking for hidden gems

at the Toronto International film Festival, one of the best ways is to

bind them is in the city to city programme. Every year the festival

highlights a different global city with a thriving film industry. This

year it focuses on Lagos, Nigeria. We need to make a movie. Green white

green tells a funny high-energy story about a group of young artists

trying to make a film about the country's obligated culture and this

post-modern approach to cinema is a big step forward for a film culture

that is only a few decades old. We are at the beginning of RM assaults

right now. Production quality is getting better. Style of

storytelling is not your typical. 90% of Nollywood films are usually

drama but here I am making satire. Yes, there is kind of a revolution

going on right now. It is a small percentage, but definitely we are

here at the Toronto film Festival, so it signify something big to come.

Abbott have of the films produced in Nollywood never get a theatrical

release. Instead they go straight to DVD. They have lower budget and your

ambitions than most of the film screening here in Toronto. As the

industry grows, so does the artistry and will only be a matter of time

before a film-maker from Lagos five success of the global stage.

Adventures, or the matrix? And intriguing aspect of Nigerian film

culture is how deeply it is influenced by American movies. The

characters in green white green name check the avengers and the matrix

and were they don't yet have the skills of the budgets to match the

achievements of those films, the fascination with Hollywood culture

adds another ingredient to the already complex Nigerian character.

No, I will try to convince him and show that I can do something. The

film-makers that emits an Lagos, they travelled, they are completely

fluent in the culture and the pop culture especially of the UK and

North America and in some cases Asia as well. They are watching Bollywood

movies, Nollywood movies, European arthouse films. That is a part of

what they bring to making Nigerian films. That mixes really what we're

showing in the city to city Spotlight. If the Toronto

International film Festival prompt an interest in Nigerian films

worldwide, it would be a boon for the country's film industry and the

economy as a whole and movies like we might green, which paint a unique

portrait of its country's culture could help viewers understand

today's Nigeria a little better. Toronto had many engaging

documentaries, one of them was a rather story of a woman

investigating whether or not her father was a member of the Stasi,

the Ministry for State Security in the former East Germany. The Stasi

is everywhere, hidden in the crowd. The cameras trained on enemies and

agitators. The documentary: city shows that 27 years after the fall

of the Berlin Wall, many of those who were then living in east Germany

still find it hard to grapple with what life was like under communism.

The Stasi, the secret police of the Soviet aligned government,

orchestrated the most comprehensive surveillance state in history. After

the Edward Snowden revelations, the film-maker, who grew up in East

Germany, felt compelled to investigate what the Stasi had done.

The NSA operates in a democratic society where I can walk on the

street and I am not going to be arrested because I criticise them,

but the Stasi was a tool in an oppressive system were bad things

would have happened to me if I would have said anything against them. The

film: city, named after her East German hometown, now restored to its

original name, seeks to reconstruct what life was like under the threat

of constant surveillance. But it is not just political, it is personal

for her because she always have the suspicion that her father, who

committed suicide in 1999, may have been a Stasi informant himself.

Through her documentary, she hoped to find a definitive answer. If I

would have known that he had tried to commit suicide, I mean, surely I

would have asked some questions. One thing that is clear about it is at

this past has been very much arrears, it has gone and her

father's labels also like that. He made a real effort to destroy

everything in his life, to banish it and I think to see the past, to see

the world we have to really reduce it to its bare elements, just like

the architecture. One inside that emerges from: city is that the act

of observing also inevitably involves a search for meaning. If

you watch someone closely enough you will find yourself speculating on

their motivations. Motivation to its often can come across as sinister.

That is actually the creepy thing about surveillance, pre-emptive

surveillance, you can find anything about someone. You can make stuff

up. You just collect all of this material and you can go back later

and interpreted in so many ways so anybody can become the enemy

instantaneously. The one thing that most of the documentaries at the

Toronto International film Festival have in common, contemporary

relevance. Commerce City is no exception, because of the

proliferation of social media. I am amazed how easily people are willing

to give up their privacy without even having to do so. We were

thinking about what would the Stasi do if they would have had this book?

It were just all be available and it wouldn't even have to go wide and

collective, which is amazing. Of course, they could use basically all

information against you in any context. Many from former East

Germany would rather move on and forget about their lives under

surveillance, but: city suggest that not only are we doomed to repeat

history if we forget it, we have the tools that at our disposal to repeat

that history of surveillance and much more easily.

One animation that made of an impact at Toronto this year came from a

film-maker who has been to the festival before. Essentially it is a

coming-of-age story involving a young Canadian girl who travels to

Iran. Anne-Marie Fleming is a veteran Canadian animator within

youth film at Toronto this year that follows the adventures of a young

poet. I have been invited to a poetry Festival in Iran. In around?

She is invited to her poetry Festival in Iran but she finds out

the many stories about the father who she thought the band and her

when she was a small child. Why choose to set the story during a

poetry Festival? Rosie is a young poet, she doesn't know much about

anything, not about poetry, history, herself. She is surrounded by people

who are immersed in poetry and history and culture and they all

want teacher something. Our heroine goes on a journey and she meets all

of these people and the all have a little message for her and a lot of

these messages through poetry. My father abandoned me when I was

seven. But you are looking for his story, yes? So you will find that

everywhere. Rosie meets many people who know her father and variable to

filling the gaps in her knowledge of family history and introduced her to

Iranian culture, which it is not familiar with even though it is part

of our heritage. Cultural authenticity was heavily on the

film-maker's mind. I do a lot of research. I have consultants on

this. I wrote it, I showed it to people, I got everybody's input

because I am not aware of the nuances of things and they just

needed to have the seal of approval of all of the Iranian people

involved in the film. That is a very important audience for me. Not only

am I not Iranian, I have never been to Iran. The audience learns about

Iran through the eyes of Rosie. Her imagination is Sean and animations

created by several different artists that the director collaborated with.

In one scene Rosie learns about an ancient Iranian port that you can

emphasise with because like her, he also lost a parent at a fragile

moment in his life. Anne-Marie was especially excited when she

collaborated with an animator who was also connected to the story. I

approached this Iranian film-maker now based in Vancouver. He knows

this story so intimately. We had some many discussions about what

could be sure, what shouldn't be sure, and he was able to take this

paper cuts out technique that he had experimented with is a visual artist

and bring it into the world of animation. You had some very

traditional Persian artistic stylings in a form that you would

not expect, which is both paper and animation. Iran is often demonised

in the media. This your from paint a different picture? I think my film

paints a picture of around as a rich culture where poetry is important,

were family is important. I wanted to go right into that and make a

film that was completely not political and just talk about that

incredible rich culture and talk about people.

Well, that brings this special edition of the programme to a close.

We hope you have enjoyed the programme. Please remember he can

always reach us online and you can find us on Facebook, too. From the,

Tom Brook and the rest of the production team here in Toronto, it

is goodbye and we leave you with a clip from Lala land, a film that was

a big hit here in Toronto. Good afternoon. We have lost those

severe storms that brought a deluge for some yesterday and replaced it

with some sunshine. The best of the sunshine today in