The 15-films in competition include four world premieres: China-HK co-production Claustrophobia directed by Ivy Ho, big budget Chinese disaster film Super Typhoon; Japanese entries School Days With A Pig; and Echo Of Silence (Kotoba No Nai Fuyu), the directing debut of actor Atsuro Watabe.
The remaining films are international and Asian premieres. The international premieres are: Jennifer Phang's Half-Life; Iranian film Hamoon And Darya; Cuban-themed Ocean; Spanish-German co-production Planet Carlos; and Johan Kramer's Sing For Darfur.
The Asian premieres are: Jerzy Skolimowski's 4 Nights With Anna; both parts of French crime hit Public Enemy Number One; Italian entry Mid-August Lunch; Sergey Dvortsevoy's Tulpan; Garin Nugroho's Under The Tree; and France's With A Little Help From Myself.
This year the Sakura Grand Prix carries a cash award of $100,000, returning to its 2006 amount after being cut to $50,000 last year.
The competition jury will be headed by actor Jon Voight. He is joined by Chinese filmmaker Jianqi Huo, American producer Michael Gruskoff, Brazilian cinematographer Cesar Charlone, Japanese actress Fumi Dan and Japanese screenwriter Koji Takada.
TIFF has adopted an eco-theme and green carpet for its 21st edition. A new program Natural TIFF features thirty recent and classic green-minded entries. In addition, the Toyota sponsored Earth Grand Prix will be awarded to one film in the main program
As previously reported, TIFF will open with John Woo's Red Cliff and close with Pixar's Wall-E.
The 19-film Special Screenings section offers Japan premieres of upcoming releases with local distributors attached. Titles include Blindness, The Other Boleyn Girl, D-War, Journey To The Center Of The Earth and Elegy.
Local premieres include Kankuro Kudo's The Shonen Merikensack and Shun Nakahara's The Cherry Orchard - Blossoming.
The Winds Of Asia program offers 35 titles from Korea, Hong Kong, China, South-East Asia and the Middle East, featuring retrospectives of Korea's Kim Ki-yeong and Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi.
As previously reported, the 10-film Japan Eyes program features the world premiere of Mamoru Oshii-headed samurai action omnibus Kill . Other world premieres include Jun Ichikawa's Buy A Suit, Kenji Nakanishi's The Blue Bird and Jiro Shono's Time Lost, Time Found.
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