2012 tiff masters

TIFF 2012 will show first Bertolucci film in 10 years

The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival has completed its selection for the Masters programme, including new films from Bernardo Bertolucci (The Dreamers), Michael Haneke (Caché), Kim Ki-duk (3-Iron) and the late Raúl Ruiz (Mysteries of Lisbon), among others.

I've highlighted these four directors in particular, because I believe their new films should not be missed.

Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci, who almost ten years ago brought us his last film The Dreamers (a taboo tale of incest, politics and sexuality), returns to the subject of youth with his latest film Me and You. In it, fourteen-year-old Lorenzo plays hookie by ditching a week-long school trip to hide out in the family cellar, where he is discovered by his junkie half-sister Olivia, who has decided to quit narcotics cold turkey. Under these awkward circumstances, the two confront each other and their thorny family history.

Michael Haneke, in a departure from his usual intense thrillers (Funny Games) and mysteries (The White Ribbon), brings us a dramatic story about an elderly couple facing mortality, and how the bonds of their love are tested.

Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk who wrote and directed 3-Iron, one of my top 10 films of all time, returns with Pieta, a dark account of a savage man employed by a bookie who reconsiders his dangerous life after being confronted by a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother. As the two appear to be getting close to one another, the ugly truth of the past comes to the surface.

In Night Across the Street, the final film made before his death, Raúl Ruiz presents a drama centered around a soon-to-be retired office worker who begins to relive his memories, some of which are real, and some which are curiosly embellished.

"These Masters films represent cinema's living legacy," said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. I'll see you in line.

A complete list of the films in the masters programme can be found here. The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6-16.


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