A rag­ing polit­i­cal con­tro­versy that refuses to sub­side and the sad news that Indian-origin actress Lisa Ray is fight­ing an incur­able strain of can­cer have cast a long shadow on the 34th Toronto Inter­na­tional Film Fes­ti­val (TIFF).

Even though the ten-day fes­ti­val has quickly warmed up with a slew of Hol­ly­wood stars like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Pene­lope Cruz, Jen­nifer Con­nelly and Megan Fox grac­ing the red car­pet screen­ings of their lat­est films, there have been out­pour­ings of grief from movie­go­ers in the city for Ray.

Cana­dian movie fans have been express­ing shock and despair ever since the 37-year-old, Toronto-born Lisa Ray announced on her blog that she is suf­fer­ing from mul­ti­ple myeloma a type of incur­able cancer.

Lisa Ray who will be attend­ing the world pre­miere of her lat­est film, Dilip Mehta’s Cook­ing With Stella, on Wednes­day, has made it known that she isn’t giv­ing up with­out a fight.

“I’m look­ing for full remis­sion, deep­est crises are moments of great­est opportunity…a place from which to com­bine sur­vival and cel­e­bra­tion,” wrote the actress who will be joined by her co-stars Seema Biswas and Shriya Saran on the red carpet.

On a dif­fer­ent plane, TIFF’s deci­sion to show­case a pack­age of films about and made in Tel Aviv in its inau­gural ‘City to City’ sec­tion has sparked off a debate among oppo­nents and sup­port­ers of the move.

Cana­dian writer Naomi Klein has claimed that the num­ber of artists, film­mak­ers and activists who have put their sig­na­tures on a state­ment decry­ing the Tel Aviv focus has crossed 1000.

How­ever, the pro­test­ers’ stand seems to have only boosted demand for the ten films in the pack­age and tick­ets are fly­ing off the counters.

Sup­port­ers of the Tel Aviv show­case argue that the call for a boy­cott is tan­ta­mount to an unac­cept­able form of censorship.

Detrac­tors have been at pains to assert that they have noth­ing against indi­vid­ual Israeli film­mak­ers and their stand is against the form of apartheid that Israeli state practises.

The pro­test­ers, whose ranks include the likes of vet­eran actress Jane Fonda and film­maker Ken Loach, have accused the TIFF organ­is­ers of falling prey to an Israeli ploy designed to give the sus­pect global image of the coun­try a makeover.

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Halle Berry stays hid­den under­neath her cap and sun­glasses as she vis­its a friend in Los Ange­les on Thurs­day after­noon (August 20).

The 43-year-old actress was just named Sex­i­est Lady by Parade.com’s Annual Sum­mer Pop Cul­ture Poll . The sex­i­est male is Johnny Depp. The sex­i­est lady is Halle Berry (34%). The most nat­ural beauty is Jen­nifer Gar­ner (27%) and the most distinguished-looking gen­tle­man is George Clooney (40%), while Barack Obama came in sec­ond, with 15%!

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It’s rare that we’re inter­ested in a com­puter ani­mated movie that doesn’t con­tain graphic vio­lence and nudity, but that hap­pens to be the case with Wes Ander­son’s The Fan­tas­tic Mr. Fox. Not only does it look incred­i­bly well made and aimed towards our sen­si­bil­i­ties, but it also stars the voices of George Clooney, Bill Mur­ray, AND Owen Wil­son, pretty much the Mount Rush­more of actors who should do voice work.

If our life ever starts get­ting nar­rated like in Stranger than Fic­tion, we hope it’s Bill Murray’s voice doing the narrating.

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• The Fan­tas­tic Mr. Fox: Upcom­ing Movie Trailer (takepart.com)
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• The Fan­tas­tic Mr. Fox (kottke.org)
• George Clooney’s Foxy Face Revealed (cinemablend.com)
• First Look: Wes Anderson’s ‘Fan­tas­tic Mr. Fox’ (cinematical.com)
• Foxy fes­ti­val (guardian.co.uk)

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