Non-Canadian film to open 2009 Toronto Festival

The 2009 Toronto International Film Festival will be opening with a non-Canadian film for the first time in years.

TORONTO — For the first time in more than 10 years, the Toronto International Film Festival will be launched by a non-Canadian movie with the coveted opening slot going to the world premiere of the U.K. film "Creation," about the life of Charles Darwin.

The opening gala is usually reserved for homegrown artists, but festival co-director Cameron Bailey said Tuesday that programmers fell in love with the Brit biopic and "chose to go a different route."

"This was the one we felt really sets the tone for the kind of conversation we hope will happen around the film festival," said Bailey, noting the movie explores the tension between faith and reason and comes as the world marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

Festival CEO Piers Handling stressed that the selection should not suggest a wavering of support for local talent, adding that Canadian galas would be announced in three weeks.

"Our commitment to Canadian cinema remains unshaken completely," Handling said.

"You'll see exactly the same number of Canadian films throughout the festival.... That commitment is a part of the fabric of this organization and we will not stray from that."

Other films announced for the fall fest include projects from celebrated directors Steven Soderbergh and Jane Campion, and actors Matt Damon, Ricky Gervais, Edward Norton and Clive Owen.

Organizers announced three galas for the annual movie marathon including, "Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire," featuring musicians Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, which won the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Other screenings will include Soderbergh's "Informant!", starring Damon as an employee at an agri-industry giant who exposes a price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, and the world premiere of Gervais's comedy, "The Invention of Lying."

Campion's "Bright Star" is about the secret love affair between poet John Keats and an outspoken student, while Owen stars in "The Boys are Back" about a widower who must raise two sons alone.

Other world premieres include Norton in "Leaves of Grass," in which he plays a pair of twins -- one an Ivy League classics professor, the other a marijuana grower.

It's been 13 years since a non-Canadian film opened the Toronto festival, when the U.S. film "Fly Away Home" kicked off the screenings in 1996.

Paul Gross's "Passchendaele" opened the fest last year, while previous openers included Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" in 2007, Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen" in 2006, Deepa Mehta's "Water" in 2005, and Robert Lantos and Istvan Szabo's "Being Julia" in 2004.

"Creation," which makes its world premiere Sept. 10, was directed by Jon Amiel and stars real-life husband-and-wife team Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as evolutionist Charles Darwin and his religious wife, Emma.

The film is described as part ghost story, part psychological thriller and part heart-wrenching love story as Darwin -- the author of the controversial "The Origin of Species" -- tries to balance his personal beliefs about religion with his wife's. Brian Anthony, chief executive of the Directors' Guild of Canada, said TIFF shouldn't necessarily "be wedded" to always having a Canadian film lead the festival, but said he'll be closely watching the announcement of the homegrown slate, expected Aug. 4. "It's disappointing but we'll wait and see what happens in three weeks," said Anthony. "If this is the exception and not the rule, that's fine, we can all live with that." The Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10 to 19.