Robert Altman has confirmedhis participation in the Maverick programme, part of the events taking place atthe Toronto International Film Festival's Rogers Industry Centre (RIC).

Among the array ofindustry-focused events are panel discussions on current issues facing theindustry, personality interviews with innovators such as Altman and seminars onissues ranging from how to cast stars in lower budget films to How To GetThe Man's Foot Outta Your Ass!

The latter is the title of anew film by actor-director Mario Van Peebles, who along with his filmmakerfather, the legendary Melvin Van Peebles, will take part in the TelefilmCanada-sponsored News and Views programme.

The hottest ticket forculture vultures will be a 90-minute master class conducted by theatre and filmdirector Julie Taymor (Titus, Frida).Her partner, film composer Elliot Goldenthal, who scored those films as well asHeat, Drugstore Cowboy and manyothers, will appear in an onstage interview.
Apart from Altman, other leading independent filmmakers discussing theirmethods and careers in the Mavericks series are Canadian director Ron Mann,indie godfathers John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch; German auteur Margarethe VonTrotta, whose Rosenstrasse makesits North American at the festival; and Sarah Green, the producer of GirlFight as well as a number of filmsby Sayles and David Mamet. Green is the first producer invited to take part inthe series.

Discussions and seminarswill look at such issues as soft money, literary adaptations, sale-and-leaseback, creative financing with a wide range ofparticipants from filmmakers like Deepa Mehta and Vincenzo Natali to authorslike Barbara Gowdy to executives and bureaucrats like Odeon Films' BryanGlisserman and Telefilm Canada executive director Richard Stursberg.
The Doc Salon programme will look at the challenges facing documentaryfilmmakers in such areas as adapting non-fiction prose for the screen, dealingwith profile subjects and converting the buzz of film festivals into ticketsales at the box office.
The programming begins Friday, Sept. 5 with a conversation with Neil Young, theiconic Canadian musician at the centre of the Bernard Shakey film Greendale, which makes its world premiere at the festival.