TIFF – Movies Based on Real Life You Shouldn’t Miss

Starting September 5th, and for ten glorious days, Toronto will welcome the world’s top talent in film as it hosts the 38th Toronto International Film Festival. If you love movies as much as I do, this is the highlight of the year. TIFF presents a fantastic opportunity to see films from all over the world – and to spot celebrities too.

This year, you can choose among 366 features from 70 countries on 34 screens. So where does one start?

Here’s a glimpse of what I found interesting on the programming schedule this year. One clear theme has emerged: many films are based on real-life. I confess, I’m always drawn to films like these because watching something  based on real life adds a certain validity. Of course, as a documentary lover, I also highlighted two films which profile a couple of fascinating people as well.

The Fifth Estate

This film will open TIFF and it’s ripped right from the headlines. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as controversial WikiLeaks editor and founder Julian Assange.  The dramatic thriller is based on real events and reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power. The story chronicles how an internet upstart gained access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history and became this century’s most fiercely debated organization.

The film also stars David Thewlis, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie and Dan Stevens.

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12 Years a Slave

This is the kind of movie that is so powerful and documents such an injustice, I know it will be difficult for me to watch. Directed by the amazing Steve McQueen (Shame) it tells the incredible true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841 and finally freed in 1853. The story is a triumphant tale of one man’s courage and perseverance to reunite with his family that serves as an important historical and cultural marker in American history.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti and Alfre Woodard.

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

As the 95 year-old Nelson Mandela lies in hospital in critical but stable condition, this movie is a timely homage to the anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician. Based on the South African President’s autobiography of the same name, the film chronicles his early life, coming of age, education, and 27 years in prison before working to rebuild his country’s once-segregated society. Truly inspiring.

Starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela, and Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela.

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Rush

This racetrack rivalry drama will have a gala screening as it makes its North American premiere. The film is a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). It also reunites two-time Academy Award winning director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) with two-time Academy Award–nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen).

The film also features Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara and Pierfrancesco Favino.

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Dallas Buyers Club

This is the film for which Matthew McConaughey lost a lot of weight to play a real-life man who fights AIDS. That sounds like Tom Hanks in Philadelphia doesn’t it? And that got Hanks an Oscar. Let’s see if this has the same effect. McConaughey stars as Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1992. With medications still restricted in the US and the country still divided over how to combat the virus, Ron procured non-toxic alternative treatments from all over the world through both legal and illegal means. Before his death, he started the Dallas Buyers Club for fellow HIV-positive people, giving them access to his supplies of drugs.

Also stars Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto.

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Also stars Michael C. Hall, David Cross, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Elizabeth Olsen and Kyra Sedgwick

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Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (documentary)

TIFF will be the world premiere of director Barry Avrich‘s portrait of Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione. Through his lens, Guccione witnessed, influenced and played a starring role in easily one of the most controversial and socially and sexually revolutionary eras in modern history. Reclusive, yet outspoken, Guccione used his art, his fortune and his outspoken views on sexuality and politics to create scandal, change and debate. Unlike his publishing rivals, Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt, there is more to Guccione than meets the eye.

 Finding Vivian Maier (documentary)

The story of a mysterious nanny, who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers and discovered decades later, is now considered among the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Vivian Maier’s strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never before seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.

Produced and Directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel

The Toronto International Film Festival® is the leading public film festival in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+ countries every September. The Festival has become the launching pad for the best of international, Hollywood and Canadian cinema. TIFF runs from September 5 -15th 2013 and tickets go on sale September 1st at 9 am. For more information or to order tickets, please visit http://tiff.net/gettickets.