TIFF has this cool thing they do where they bring directors to Toronto and get them to talk about the films they themselves love. Just before the festival gets going in September, fans will get an early treat with Guillermo del Toro offering up a series of Gothic Master Classes.
Guillermo del Toro’s no slouch when it comes to gothic thrillers and horror. He burst onto the international scene with 1993’s Cronos, which won nine Ariel Awards in Mexico and the International Critics Week prize at Cannes. His eerie 2001 feature, The Devil’s Backbone, solidified del Toro’s reputation as a masterful storyteller. His unique directorial stamp continued evolving with fan favourites Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II (2008), the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Pacific Rim (2013).
So it’s hardly surprising for him to take up a few gothic cinema classics. On Wednesday, August 26th, he’ll tackle Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). Hitch’s first Hollywood film, the adaptation of Daphne’ Du Maurier’s novel centres on a young wife tormented by the memory of her husband’s first wife. The next day he will look at David Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a superb adaptation of the classic Dickens tale. And he’ll wrap up his trio of discussions on Monday, August 31st with Jane Eyre (1943), directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine.
Each film will screen in its entirety, with del Toro’s introductions and commentary after providing a wonderful opportunity to see how a gifted visionary approaches classics loaded with visual meaning. For more info and tickets, see here.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone video’s the event and spreads it around? All above board, I mean.