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Non-MX Articles: Tom McCamus (8/09 Cairo Time's TIFF Award)

Excerpt from The Globe and Mail 8/5/09: Tom McCamus (Pictures at Toronto Life and Zimbio)

TIFF to feature 70 homegrown films: Lineup includes world premieres by Egoyan, Mehta and Nadda
Gayle MacDonald
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Wednesday, Aug. 05, 2009 04:00AM EDT

The Toronto International Film Festival will feature 70 Canadian films at this year's 10-day event, including world premieres of Atom Egoyan's thriller Chloe , Dilip Mehta's New Delhi-based comedy Cooking With Stella and the much-anticipated romantic drama Cairo Time from Montreal's Ruba Nadda.
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Nadda's $4-million film Cairo Time features an international cast, including Oscar-nominated Patricia Clarkson ( Pieces of April , Far From Heaven ), Sudanese-born actor Alexander Siddig ( Syriana , Kingdom of Heaven ), Spain's Elena Anaya ( Savage Grace , Sex and Lucia ) and Winnipeg's Tom McCamus ( The Sweet Hereafter , Shake Hands With the Devil ).

Written and directed by 36-year-old Nadda, whose earlier work includes 2005's Sabah , it's the story of Juliette (Clarkson), a woman in her late 40s who arrives in Cairo to meet her United Nations-employed husband (McCamus) for a vacation, only to be told that he has been delayed in Gaza. He sends his friend Tareq (Siddig), a retired Egyptian police officer, to pick her up – and the romantic tale unravels from there.

© The Globe and Mail

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Excerpt from Canadian Press 9/20/09: Tom McCamus

'Precious' nabs audience prize at Toronto film festival, stoking Oscar predictions
By Cassandra Szklarski (CP) – 11 hours ago

TORONTO — A raw film about an abused teen named Precious won the audience choice award on the last day of the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, stoking predictions that the harrowing, Oprah Winfrey-backed tale is Oscar-bound.

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," snagged the coveted award at a luncheon that also named "Cairo Time," from Toronto director Ruba Nadda, the best Canadian feature.
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Nadda, who gets $30,000 as part of the best Canadian feature prize for "Cairo Time," said her film very nearly didn't get made.

She noted that roughly $1.5 million in funding fell through just two weeks before filming was to start in Egypt. She recalled getting the news from her producer saying the production, starring Patricia Clarkson and Tom McCamus, was dead.

"I went into shock and called him back and I was crying and I was like, 'I'm begging you, I'm begging you, I'm begging you - please figure this out," recalled Nadda, who also wrote the screenplay.

In 48 hours, they were back on track with the help of Telefilm.

"This is why I feel like I've won the lottery, I really have," said Nadda, who has made 18 films but makes her debut appearance at the fest with her tale about a married magazine editor who is tempted to have an affair.

"Cairo Time," is due for release Oct. 9.

© Canadian Press

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Excerpt from Screen Daily 9/20/09: Tom McCamus

Precious takes coveted audience award at Toronto
20 September, 2009 | By Denis Seguin

Lee Daniel’s Precious: Based On The Novel “Push” By Sapphire won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award as the 34th Toronto International Film Festival wrapped on the weekend.
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Best Canadian Feature Film honours went to Ruba Nadda’s Cairo Time, starring Patricia Clarkson, Tom McCamus and Alexander Siddig. Burdened with the title ‘the City of Toronto and Astra Media’s The Movie Network Award’, the C$30,000 prize recognized what the jurors described as a “superbly directed lyrical waltz of longing and desire across disparate worlds”.

© Screen Daily