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Moore, Coen brothers return to TIFF

CBC News

Films by Michael Moore, the Coen Brothers, Werner Herzog, Oliver Parker and Drew Barrymore have been added to the schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival.

The galas and special presentations, among the most hotly anticipated films of the festival, were announced Tuesday.

Moore returns to the festival with Capitalism: A Love Story, a documentary about the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans.

Moore is a perennial favourite at TIFF, having made his breakthrough at the 1989 festival with his film Roger & Me and returned with films such as Sicko.

Joel and Ethan Coen screened comedy Burn After Reading in 2008 and thriller No Country for Old Men in 2007, which went on to win an Oscar.

They return to comedy this year with A Serious Man. Set in their native Minnesota, it's the story of a Jewish academic who turns to a series of rabbis for advice because his life is beset with problems.

Barrymore is making the world premiere of her directorial debut with Whip It, which stars Canadian actress Ellen Page. Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon and Barrymore herself also star.

Based on the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, it's the story of a rebellious teen who takes up roller derby.

Two galas that could lead to red carpet appearances by Colin Firth and Robin Wright Penn have been announced:

• Dorian Gray, a film based on the Oscar Wilde story by British director Oliver Parker, starring Ben Barnes and Firth.
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by American director Rebecca Miller, starring Wright Penn as a woman who begins a period of personal reflection after her husband (Alan Arkin) has an affair.

German arthouse director Werner Herzog is bringing Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, a twisted detective story set against a New Orleans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

A remake of the 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, it stars Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes.

Among the world premieres to be screened at special presentations are:

• Harry Brown, a modern urban western starring Michael Caine from British director Daniel Barber.
• Triage by Danis Tanovic, starring Colin Farrell as a war photographer.
• Perrier's Bounty by Ian Fitzgibbon, an on-the-lam movie starring Cillian Murphy and Jim Broadbent.
• Women Without Men, the first feature by Shirin Neshat about four Iranian women in the summer of 1953 as a U.S.-led coup reinstalls the Shah.

The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled for Sept. 10-19.