The Toronto International Film Festival has completed its 2015 lineup, adding 30 new titles that will play at North America’s biggest film festival this September. Among the new additions are Simon Fitzmaurice’s Irish drama My Name is Emily and Michael Lennox’ A Patch of Fog.
My Name is Emily itself is a road movie and love story between two teens, as Emily escapes from her foster home with the help of Arden, and sets out to find her father Robert, a visionary writer locked up in a psychiatric institution.Evanna Lynch, best known for her role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, stars in the title role as Emily, with support from acclaimed Irish actor Michael Smiley (Kill List, A Field in England) as her father Robert, and newcomer George Webster as Arden.
In 2008, award-winning film director, writer, and father of 5, Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (ALS). The news came shortly after his 2nd short film The Sound Of People screened at the Sundance Film festival. Despite his illness, Simon remained determined to write and direct a feature film, completing the script for My Name is Emily with the aid of iris-recognition technology. This same technology allowed him to direct the film, as well as write a best-selling book, It’s Not Yet Dark. My Name is Emily is produced by Irish companies Newgrange Pictures and Kennedy Films, with financing from the Irish Film Board, BAI, TV3, and the Irish tax incentive. Co-production finance comes from Sweden and Norway. Last November the Irish producers ran a highly successful crowd-funding campaign, which raised over €100,000 towards the costs of enabling Fitzmaurice to realise his film.
[quote title=”Simon Fitzmaurice – Director”]I’m absolutely thrilled that My Name is Emily has been selected by TIFF. It’s means a great deal to me and everyone involved in the making of our film. I’m going to try my best to go to the festival![/quote]
A Patch of Fog is a psychological thriller about a celebrated novelist and television personality who finds his reputation on the line and his life invaded by a lonely security guard when caught shoplifting. The film stars Stephen Graham (Get Santa), Conleth Hill (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), Arsher Ali (Four Lions) and Ian McElhinney (Leap Year).
A Patch of Fog is the feature debut of Northern Irish director Michael Lennox, who was Academy Award nominated for his short film Boogaloo and Graham last year. The screenplay for A Patch of Fog, by Michael McCartney and John Cairns, was developed through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme. Robert Jones (The Hooligan Factory), Wayne Marc Godfrey (The Anomaly), and David Gilbery (X Moor) produce, with funding from the UK’s The Fyzz Facility, the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and the British Film Institute. LA-based 13 Films has acquired the international sales rights for the film, which it will attempt to sell at TIFF.
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10th to 20th.