TIFF announces its 2012 summer season

TIFF has announced its lineup of summer programming, which promises to provide Toronto film lovers a reason to stay in town this season. TIFF’s diverse range of programming is designed to appeal to all age groups and interests.

First Peoples Cinema: 1500 nations, One tradition is a featured retrospective, tracing the history of first nations filmmaking from around the world. The programme features a free galley exhibition, Home on Native Land, featuring the works of First Peoples from around the world. The popular TIFF Cinematheque series returns with Summer in France, a celebration of classic French cinema.

Filmmaker James Ivory (Howard End, The Remains of the Day) will visit the Bell Lightbox to kick off his co-created series, James Ivory: Elegant Pairings, that pairs a Merchant Ivory classic with a second film that inspired it, complements it or casts it in a new light Once Upon a Time, Lebanon: Visions of Postwar in New Lebanese Cinema will explore the rich and diverse cinema emerging from Lebanon.

Additional summer series include Schwarzenegger/Stallone: The Rise of Beefcake Cinema and Hollywood Classics – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Blonde in Fifties Hollywood Cinema.

Canadian special effects and makeup design genius Gordon Smith’s groundbreaking work on X-Men will be on display in the gallery exhibition X-Men Master: Gordon Smith. Canadian Open Vault reintroduces audiences to Terrance Odette’s debut Heater and Ron Mann’s Listen to the City.

TIFF will also be bringing classic comedies outdoors with TIFF In the Park: Screwball Comedies. Packaged Goods’ Girls of Film edition examines the work of female commercial and music video directors while The Art of the Edit explores the crucial and creative role of the film editor.

The Bell Lightbox will also welcome guests to its stage to look back on their career. Featured performers include Oscar-nominated Canadian actor Graham Greene and comedy legend Andrea Martin.