TIFF 12 for '12 Preview: The Films That Could

Back again with part five in our weeklong preview of the Toronto International Film Festival. We have talked Galas: The Big Launches, Genre: The Fantastic Side of Things, Asian Cinema: Pacific Rim Offerings, and Documentaries: Big Screen Reality. As we draw ever closer to the kickoff, today we'll look at a handful of the smaller films vying for your attention. Thanks for reading.


THE DEEP
Baltasar Kormakur (CONTRABAND) returns to his native Iceland to dramatize this shocking true story of a miraculous shipwreck survivor.
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INESCAPABLE
Toronto native Ruba Nadda's follow-up to CAIRO TIME is this Middle Eastern political thriller about a man who returns to his native Syria to try to track down his missing daughter. Alexander Siddig (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE) returns alongside Joshua Jackson and a Middle Easterned up Marisa Tomei.
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SLEEPER'S WAKE
TV veteran Barry Berk's feature debut is this interesting looking South African story of a grieving man who falls for an underage girl.
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AT ANY PRICE
Ramin Bahrani's (MAN PUSH CART) corn-country drama has already found plenty of fans at Venice and Telluride. The question is if the Zac Efron, Dennis Quaid, Heather Graham top-lined cast can help Bahrani break out from his typically art house audience. Sony Pictures Classics will give it a shot.


CALL GIRL
Mikael Marcimain served as Second Unit Director on TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY so his 1970s Swedish political thriller feature directorial debut (he's responsible for a few popular TV mini-series in Sweden) may bear some resemblance. Employing the same cinematographer in Hoyte Van Hoytema can't hurt.
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EVERYBODY HAS A PLAN
It's Viggo on Viggo, en espanol, in Ana Piterbarg's Argentinian jungle crime thriller.
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JANEANE FROM DES MOINES
Filmmaker Grace Lee is probably best known for her exploration of other people with her name in THE GRACE LEE PROJECT. She turns her unique sense of humor to politics with this genre-defying part docu/part drama that features Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich.


A HIJACKING
This Danish drama of Somali hijacking on the high seas is directed by Tobias Lindholm, writer of TIFF 2012 (and Cannes) film THE HUNT.
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THE TIME BEING
Wes Bentley and Frank Langella star in Nenad Cicin-Sain's directorial debut about an artist and his wealthy benefactor. Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll co-star.


GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY
The first Jeff Buckley film to hit is Daniel Algrant's (PEOPLE I KNOW) chronicle of the days leading up to the musician's famous 1991 tribute concert to his father. Penn Badgley of GOSSIP GIRL fame stars as Jeff, with Imogen Poots alongside.


UNDERGROUND
Robert Connolly's film is a dramatization of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's early days in 1980s Melbourne. Alex Williams, Rachel Griffiths, Callan McAuliffe, and Anthony LaPaglia star.


WASTELAND
This promising looking UK crime thriller by Rowan Athale stars Luke Treadway, Timothy Spall, Matthew Lewis, and Iwan Rheon.

Just a few other movies you might be hearing about at this year's fest include Mira Nair's first film since AMELIA, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST (with Kate Hudson, Live Schrieber, Kiefer Sutherland, and Riz Ahmed), a hilarious looking teens-turned-drug-dealers drama with James Franco, Selena Gomez, and Vanessa Hudgens: SPRING BREAKERS by Harmony Korinne, and Nick Cassavete's (ALPHA DOG) druggie dramedy YELLOW.

The previews continue tomorrow with a look at some of the very best from the whole festival circuit.