TIFF Revisited / AFI Fest 2007

The 2007 Toronto Film Festival is gone but not forgotten! I have heard from friends who were there about several films that they particularly enjoyed. One is a film that is based on the novel, Jar City (Myrin) by Arnaldur Indridason (available at HBPL). This is a police mystery about a worn-down cop who works to piece together the recent murder of a little girl to a similar case from over 30 years ago. The story is set in Reykjavik, Iceland and was shot on location. That alone may be worth the price of admission.
Another film that sounded particularly intriguing was a documentary called Operation Filmmaker. Soon after the fall of Baghdad in 2003; film student, Muthana Mohmed, stands in the rubble of the city's film school and explains to an American television audience that his dream of becoming a filmmaker has been destroyed. This documentary chronicles what happens to this young man when actor/director Liev Schreiber invites him to Prague to intern on Schreiber’s film, Everything is Illuminated.

Next month festival films come to Los Angeles when the AFI Fest comes to town. It will be November 1st – 11th and happens at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. As of right now, the film title list hasn’t been announced but it should be available shortly. Hopefully these films will be included as part of the festival. One film that has been announced is this years Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu. This is one that you might want to make the trip to Hollywood to see!!