Toronto Deals, Part 1

The first three major deals of Toronto have been made, as Kino picks up Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth, IFC buys Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising and The Weinsteins drop seven figures on Tom Ford's A Single Man. It looks as though TWC is going to push A Single Man for this year's award season, gauging Hollywood's love for the tortured homosexuals in prestige pictures. The fashion designer's directorial debut stars Colin Firth (who won the Best Actor prize at Venice a few days ago; though for my money, if I'm going to see Firth gaying it up, my money's with Apartment Zero), Julianne Moore, Ginnifer Goodwin and Matthew Goode. After the Pusher series and Bronson, I can't get excited over anything Nicolas Winding Refn is up to, but I'm extremely excited about the Dogtooth deal. Expect more purchases later this week; Sony Pictures Classics hasn't even made their first bite yet.

Samuel Maoz's Lebanon Takes the Golden Lion

Samuel Maoz's Lebanon, which is set during the First Lebanon War in 1982, took home the Golden Lion in Venice today, wrapping up the annual festivities. Ang Lee, who's won two Golden Lions himself in the past five years (for Brokeback Mountain and Lust, Caution) was the head of this year's jury, which also included Sandrine Bonnaire, Sergei Bodrov, Liliana Cavani, Joe Dante, Anurag Kashyap and Luciano Ligabue. The awards are all listed below.

Golden Lion: Lebanon - d. Samuel Maoz
Silver Lion, for Best Director: Shirin Neshat - Women Without Men
Special Jury Prize: Soul Kitchen - d. Fatih Akin
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: Colin Firth - A Single Man
Coppa Volpi for Best Actress: Xenia Rappoport - La doppia ora
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor: Jasmine Trinca - Il grande sogno
Osella for Best Technical Contribution: Sylvie Olivé, production designer - Mr. Nobody
Osella for Best Screenplay: Todd Solondz - Life During Wartime