TIFF Galas Include Films by Clooney, Madonna and Almodovar

The Toronto International Film Festival 2011 (TIFF) takes place from September 8-18, 2011 at downtown theatres. Many of the special ticket packages have been sold out although the 5-film sampler pack, the Closing Night Gala and reception and the VISA Screening Room 3-film daytime pack are still available. This year, some of the Gala movies and special presentations to keep an eye on are:

• A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg and starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley, examines the relationship between Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and the woman who comes between them, Sabina Spielrein.
• We Need to Talk About Kevin is a U.K. entry directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring Tilda Swinton in a tour-de-force performance as a parent dealing with a child doing the unthinkable.
• The Ides of March is directed by and stars George Clooney in a film about an up-and-coming press secretary involved in a political scandal that threatens his candidate’s shot at the presidency. With powerhouse actors Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this movie is a can’t miss.
• The Skin I Live In from Spain’s celebrated director Pedro Almodóvar is a story about a plastic surgeon who tries to invent a new skin that would have saved the life of his wife, burned in a car crash. Antonio Banderas stars.
• Take This Waltz, directed by Canada’s darling Sarah Polley, stars Michelle Williams, the ubiquitous Seth Rogen and Luke Kirby, and examines the effects of long term relationships on love and sex.

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  Friends with Kids, directed by Jennifer Westfeldt and starring her real-life partner John Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Ed Burns and Maya Rudolph, looks at the effects of children on a group of married couples and the decision of the remaining two singles to have a child together yet continue to date others.

• W.E. is Madonna’s directorial debut and tells the fictional story of Wally, an unsatisfied Manhattan wife who obsesses over the life of Wallis Simpson.

Single tickets for TIFF go on sale on September 3, 2011 and cost $19.69 for regular screenings and $38.27 for gala and special presentation screenings. Tickets for TIFF can be purchased online, by phone at 416-599-8433 or in person at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Reitman Square, 350 King St. W.