TIFF 2012 Cinematic Buffet Has Distinct Irish Flair

The sprawling buffet that is this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is a particularly full table, particularly if the discerning cineaste has a taste for Irish cinema. Seven films with ties to the Emerald Isle are tantalizing TIFFattendees and generating buzz in the blogosphere.

Irish cinema 2012 sends its best films to Canada
Ireland’s brightest films to shine at Toronto International Film Festival 2012

CLICK HERE for Brave New Hollywood’s recent coverage of TIFF 2012.

Irish director Lenny Abrahamson's film "What Richard Did" screens in Toronto 2012
Golden Boy: actor Jack Reynor is Richard in “What Richard Did,” a high school rugby star whose life falls apart – Element Pictures

Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan star in Byzantium for director Neil Jordan, which TIFF programmers describe as a “deliciously depraved supernatural drama,” while What Richard Did is a coming-of-age drama featuring a mix of up-and-coming actors—Sam Keeley, Roisin Murphy, Jack Reynor—from writer Malcolm Campbell, who worked on the hit U.K. series Shameless and Skins. Both films made their world premieres at the fest.

Irish cinema presents its best at Toronto Interational Film Festival 2012
Martin McCann in “Jump” directed by Kieron J. Walsh – Hostshot Films, Blinder Films

Also on tap: Jump from Kieron J. Walsh, described by the Irish Film Board as a “modern urban fairytale”; political thriller Call Girl, a co-production with Norway and Sweden that is the feature debut of acclaimed director Mikael Marcimain; and feature-length documentaries Men at Lunch from Sean O’Cualain; and the alluringly titled The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology from Sophie Fiennes, a sequel to The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006) that utilizes the filmmaker’s “inventive interpretation of moving pictures to examine ideology—the collective fantasies that shape our beliefs and practices.”

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of Gods from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), an Irish-U.S. co-production, traces the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church from its roots to the present day.

New 2012 documentary investigating the Catholic church sex scandal with Jamey Sheridan, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke,
Alex Gibney’s “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House of God” – Jigsaw Production, Wider Film Projects, Irish Film Board, Below The Radar Films

James Hickey, Chief Executive of the Irish Film Board, praised the annual event as “one of the industry’s most prestigious and respective festivals. To have seven Irish films included in the lineup is a testament to the quality and the international appeal of Irish filmmaking today.”

CLICK HERE for Irish Film Board’s news on TIFF 2012 line up.

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