Spike Jonze And Irffan Khan Heading To Toronto As Part Of The Mavericks Program

TORONTO - The Toronto International Film Festival® has announced a prestigious lineup in this year's Mavericks programme, set to offer audiences in-depth conversations with leaders in the film industry and beyond. Providing recollections, opinions and reactions, participating guests include filmmakers Spike Jonze, Ron Howard, Beeban Kidron, Chuck Workman, Madeline Anderson and Charlie Paul; actor Irrfan Khan; producer Harvey Weinstein; artist Ralph Steadman; Ken Taylor, former Canadian Ambassador to Iran; and Toronto Women & Film Festival founder, scholar and former TIFF programmer Kay Armatage.

"In Mavericks, we look for lively topics and great conversationalists," said Mavericks lead programmer Thom Powers. "This year's lineup includes great cinematic innovators and showcases film intersecting with music, art, technology, and politics. They are one-of-a- kind events."

This year, the Mavericks programme showcases the world premieres of 12.12.12., InRealLife, Made in America, Our Man In Tehran and What is Cinema?, the international premiere of I Am Somebody, the North American premiere of For No Good Reason, and a special preview of clips from Her.

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 to 15, 2013.

12.12.12.

Featuring one of the greatest lineups ever assembled -- including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, The Who, Kanye West, and Alicia Keys -- this extraordinary concert film, produced by Amir Bar-Lev, documents the event that would raise over 30 million dollars to aid the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Following this world premiere screening, the Festival welcomes concert co-organizer Harvey Weinstein for a live discussion.

For No Good Reason

For No Good Reason explores the connection between life and art, seen through the eyes of seminal British artist Ralph Steadman. We take a trip through the wild and dark days of Steadman as he recalls adventures such as travelling with Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S Thompson to see the Rumble in the Jungle; or engaging in gun fights with literary giant William S Burroughs. The framework of the documentary is a visit to Steadman's studio by Johnny Depp. Director Charlie Paul spent 15 years meticulously amassing the footage and creating the remarkable animations for the film to match the same anarchic energy, anger and free spirit of Steadman's pictures. The audience is able to reach to the heart of what makes this artist tick, discover his friendships and fallings out, his love for art and his passion for civil liberties. As part of the Future Projections programme, the Festival also proudly presents the world premiere of the Ralph Steadman For No Good Reason installation at the CIBC Canadian Film Gallery at TIFF Bell Lightbox, which runs daily from September 5 to 15.

In Conversation With... Irrfan Khan
The Festival is delighted to welcome Bollywood screen legend Irrfan Kahn (appearing at the Festival in The Lunchbox and Qissa) for an in-depth onstage discussion of his storied filmography, which includes the Academy Award-winning features Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi.

In Conversation With... Spike Jonze

Since bursting onto the scene with groundbreaking music videos for the likes of Daft Punk, Björk and the Beastie Boys, actor, photographer, and filmmaker Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) has become one of cinema's most inventive, irreverent, and visionary talents. This unique interactive session will survey Jonze's singular career and offer the audience an exclusive preview of his highly-anticipated new project, Her -- an original love story, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, that explores the evolving nature, and the risks, of intimacy in the modern world.

InRealLife

In a short span of time, our lives have been transformed by mobile phones and internet technologies -- what does this mean, particularly for a generation who's never known anything else? Beeban Kidron's (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason) timely and insightful documentary encourages us to think critically about our adoption of technology.

Made in America

Director Ron Howard takes audiences behind the scenes of Jay Z's maiden voyage as curator of an ambitious and wildly diverse music festival in Philadelphia. Made in America examines the roots of Jay Z's vision and unique leadership abilities, the challenges of staging such an event and the individual journeys artists and everyday people had taken to arrive at this point in popular culture. Exciting and inspirational, the film showcases performers from all genres of music including Pearl Jam, Janelle Monáe, Skrillex, Run- D.M.C. and Jay Z himself. Following this world premiere screening, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard will be on-stage for a live conversation.

Our Man In Tehran

Our Man In Tehran -- which chronicles the true story behind Argo's Hollywood embellishments -- reveals new information about the true story of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor and the CIA, the secret dealings between the US and Canadian governments to rescue six fugitive American diplomats, and the covert planning of the military rescue "Operation Eagle Claw" during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979. In conjunction with the world premiere of Drew Taylor and Larry Weinstein's in-depth documentary, the Festival is proud to present a conversation with the venerable Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, who personally sheltered the six Americans in the operation that became known as "the Canadian Caper."

What is Cinema? (Qu'est ce que le cinéma?)
Significant cinema is far more than story-telling. It contains moments of truth that can't be expressed any other way except through cinematic style. Just what cinema is and could be is explored with over 100 clips, many of them surprising, and through interviews with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Bresson and David Lynch, in What is Cinema?, documentarian Chuck Workman's engrossing visual essay about mastery of cinematic form. The world premiere will be followed by an on-stage conversation with the filmmaker.

Women & Film 40th Anniversary
preceded by I Am Somebody
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Toronto Women & Film Festival, founder, scholar and former programmer Kay Armatage joins us for an onstage discussion with director Madeline Anderson, preceded by a special screening of Anderson's short film, I Am Somebody, which screened at the original event. The film documents 400 hospital workers who went on strike to fight for union rights, equal pay for equal work, dignity and respect. All but 12 of the workers were women, and all of them were black. This struggle took place in Charleston, South Carolina and it was one of the last of the coalitions between civil rights and labour.