Toronto fest is hotsy for 'Tsotsi'
'C.R.A.Z.Y.' nabs Toronto-City Award for Canadian feature film
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Toronto is a non-competitive fest but does hand out a small number of jury and public-vote awards.
Fest screened 335 films from 52 countries over 10 days but yielded only a handful of high-profile distribution deals, most notably Fox Searchlight's acquisition of Jason Reitman's "Thank You for Smoking" over a still-contentious rival bid from Paramount Classics.
"Tsotsi," which garnered strong critical and industry response and was said to be nearing a domestic distribution deal at the fest's close, is the tale of a gangster -- 'Tsotsi' means thug or gangster in the street language of South Africa's townships -- who steals a BMW only to find a baby in the back seat. The criminal then forces a young mother at gunpoint to take care of the infant. Pic is produced by the UK Film and TV Production Company and Movieworld, with a screenplay by Hood adapted from the novel by South African playwright Athol Fugard.
Award winners were announced Saturday, the last day of the fest's 30th edition.
The Toronto-City Award for Canadian feature film went to Jean-Marc Vallee's "C.R.A.Z.Y.," a French-language pic about a young guy in a family of five boys in Montreal in the 1960s and 1970s who is dealing with a host of issues, including his conflicted sexual identity.
"C.R.A.Z.Y." was the hottest international seller at Toronto, with Paris-based Films Distribution inking deals for 30 territories. The Toronto-City Award comes with a cash prize of $25,000. The jury said it selected "C.R.A.Z.Y." for "its standout acting, its incredible emotional resonance and extraordinary visual inventiveness."
The City-TV Award for first Canadian feature was shared by Louise Archambault's "Familia," a French-language pic about a gambling addict who meets up with a childhood friend, and Michael Mabbott's mockumentary "The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico," the story of a fictional singer with an often-disastrous career The City-TV Award includes a $12,700 cash prize, which will be split between the two filmmakers.
Australian helmer Sarah Watt's first feature, "Look Both Ways," the story of a group of characters confronting a number of crises over one uncomfortably hot weekend, won the Discovery Award, which was voted on by the 750-strong press corps and comes with a $12,700 cash prize.
The Fipresci prize awarded by the Intl. Federation of Film Critics went to helmer Kang Yi-kwan's South Korean pic "Sa-kwa." Pic is about an emotionally damaged woman searching for true love. Prize is given to a feature directed by an emerging filmmaker that is having its world preem at Toronto.
The Bravo!Fact Short Cuts Canada Award was given to Renuka Jeyapalan for her short "Big Girl." Award includes $8,500 in cash.
While buying in Toronto wasn't quite as brisk as many indie pros predicted this year, following a dismal Cannes, the handful of pacts that were sealed came with hefty pricetags.
Fox Searchlight landed Reitman's "Thank You for Smoking" in a multiterritory deal worth about $9 million, then dropped another $8 million in a multiterritory pact for Bart Freundlich's romantic comedy "Trust the Man."
There weren't many other major deals to close at the fest, so the bidding brouhaha over "Smoking" became the biggest headline grabber of the confab. Paramount Classics bid about $6.5 million for "Smoking," and continued at press time to say it had a handshake deal in place with the film's sellers that would make Fox's move moot. But producer David Sacks and his reps say they signed a deal with Fox.
Focus Features picked up the comedy concert pic "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" for its Rogue banner. Bidding hit the $6 million mark for world rights.
New distribution banner Bauer Martinez made a splash when it swooped in with a whopping $4 million bid to pick up David Ayer's "Harsh Times" in another multiterritory deal.
Sony Classics took home two pics -- Andrucha Waddington's "House of Sand" and Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" -- both of which had been screened for buyers prior to Toronto.
Miramax, under new topper Daniel Battsek, made its first buy in the post-Weinstein era, spending about $1 million on the doc "The Heart of the Game." Battsek was quietly circling a number of films, including Sydney Pollack's "Sketches of Frank Gehry" and "Tsotsi."
Deals were said to be in the works as the fest closed Sunday for "Little Fish," "Tsotsi" and "Gehry."
Absent from the deal derby this year were the Weinstein Co. and Picturehouse, two new players that were expected to ignite major bidding wars if the right film sparked their interest.
But acquisitions execs said that overall they saw many Toronto pics as arty, smaller films that wouldn't appeal to wider commercial auds. In a rare twist, the fest spawned a spate of comedy buys for studio subsids Fox Searchlight and Focus.
