3 film fest programs announced

Raju Maduhar
Staff Reporter
TheStar.com

The Toronto International Film Festival announced lineup details for three of its programs yesterday. Screening info and tickets are now available for the Midnight Madness, Sprockets and Wavelengths portions. The immensely popular Midnight Madness, celebrating its 20th year, is the fun, often cult film-inspired part of the fest.

“It’s a really good way for people to introduce themselves to the film festival, because we’re not all about the galas, the big Hollywood stars or the pretentious art films,” says Colin Geddes, programmer for Midnight Madness. “We’re about delivering fun, high-octane thrills and chills with a crowd that really know how to enjoy and celebrate films.”

The eight announced films include George A. Romero’s zombie fest Diary of The Dead and Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Dainipponjin, a faux doc about Japanese superheroes.

There’s also Canadian/U.S. co-production Stuck, based on the true story of Chante Mallard, a Texas nurse who, after a night of partying, hit a homeless man with her car and left him to die in her garage.

The Sprockets International Film Festival will feature a gala for Terra, an animated film from Canadian Aristomenis Tsirbas, and five other kid-friendly flicks.

In its eighth year, the Wavelengths program is where the experimental and avant-garde reside. This year includes work by Toronto artist Chris Chong Chan Fui, Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul and many more. See tiff07.ca for more details.