sic novel All the King's Men. Talia Balsam, the daughter of the late Jewish actor Martin Balsam and actress Joyce Van Patten, plays Penn's wife (in real life, Talia was married to heartthrob George Clooney from 1989-1993 and is cur- rently married to actor John Slattery). Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, whose mother is Jewish, co-stars in Little Children, an intense character study about three people whose lives intersect in a small community. Stranger than Fiction is a comedy about an IRS auditor (Will Ferrell) who suddenly finds himself the subject of a narration only he call hear. Co-starring are Jewish actors Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal. British Jewish actress Rachel Weisz, who won an Oscar this year, stars in The Fountain, a very ambitious film that combines elements of science fiction and theology It's about a man (Hugh Jackman) who takes a thou- sand-year journey to save the life of the woman he loves (Weisz). The Fountain is written and direct- ed by Darren Aronfsky, Weisz's Jewish fiance and the father of her new baby. Sure to raise controversy is the wild satire Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit of the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Written by and starring British Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, this is a mock documentary in which Borat, a minor representative of the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, comes to the United States to study and film Americans. In one scene, Borat sings an anti-Semitic song in front of a real audi- ence and some join in. Sacha Cohen's fiancee, Australian actress Isla Fisher, who has been study- ing to convert to Judaism, co-stars in The Pleasure of Your Company. Fisher plays a quirky waitress who gets a marriage proposal out of nowhere from a guy whose heart has recently been broken. Pleasure, a comedy, is written and directed by Michael Ian Black (part of the all-Jewish Stella comedy troupe). Jewish actress Joanna Gleason (daugh- ter of Let's Make a Deal host Monty Hall) has a supporting role. Jewish writer-director Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile) penned and helmed his Toronto offering, Ten Items or Less. It's about a celebrity (Morgan Freeman) who gets lost in a Los Angeles minority community and meets a gro- cery clerk who helps both of them turn their lives around. Our Australian landsman, Paul Goldman, is the director and co-writer of Anarchy. He told the Australian Jewish News: "It's about a young girl who is totally relentless in her pursuit of her own personal gratification and stops at nothing and causes absolute mayhem and anarchy around her. Morally, it's very challenging." French Jewish actress-turned-direc- tor Zabou Breitbart brings her film L'Homme de sa Vie to Toronto. It's about a gay affair between a married man and a friend of his. Breitbart's pre- vious film, The Things I Remember Well, was a French box-office and criti- cal smash. Polish-born director Agnieszka Holland, who now lives in France, is best known for her 1990 film Europa, Europa, about a Jewish boy who sur- vives the Holocaust by pretending to be a German. Based on a real story, Europa earned Holland a best screen- writing Oscar and a National Jewish Cultural Award. Born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, Holland identifies as a Jew in an ethnic sense but is a practicing Catholic. Her new film, Copying Beethoven, is a period piece about a young woman who works for Ludwig Von Beethoven, writing down his musical notes as he composes. Ed Harris plays Beethoven. Jewish Canadian filmmaker Kal Mann covers the life of legendary American designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (who wasn't Jewish) in the largely ani- mated documentary, Tales of the Rat Fink. In the '60s, Roth not only became famous for designing hot rods but for creating a cartoon character called "Rat Fink',' who became a pop culture icon of the decade. Many big stars, including Jay Leno, agreed to narrate the film. Barbara Kopple, the Jewish documen- tarian who has won two Oscars, comes to Toronto with Dixie Chicks, a film about the famous three-woman country band. Another veteran Jewish documen- tary maker, Liz Mermin, is showing her film, Office Tigers, about the cultural interaction of South Indian employees and their American bosses. Jewish filmmaker Tony Kaye, best known for American History X, about a neo-Nazi, takes on another charged subject in Lake of Fire. It is an in- depth look at the American debate about abortion. Jeff Garlin, the Jewish come- dian who co-stars on TV's Curb Your Enthusiasm, is the director of This Filthy World, a filmed record of cult film director John Waters' one-man- show about his life and career. Word is that it is very funny. ❑ For more information on the Toronto International Film Festival, go to www.e.bell.canilmfest/2006. 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