Toronto honors Peter Mettler
05.09.2006
At the 31st Toronto International Film Festival, taking place from September 7-16, 2006, a comprehensive showing of Canadian-Swiss director Peter Mettler’s work will be presented. In addition to the retrospective of nine of his films made between 1980 and 2002, a selection of photographs will be featured as well. On the occasion of this homage, the festival is releasing the book «Of this Place and Elsewhere: The films and Photography of Peter Mettler» by Jerry White, Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Alberta.
Born in Toronto in 1958, Peter Mettler, who has Swiss roots and entertains an intensive cultural exchange with Switzerland, is among filmmakers who became known as the «Toronto New Wave» in the 1980ies. He collaborated with Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, and Jeremy Podeswa. His 1982-film «Scissere», in which he dealt with his experience as a nurse in a drug rehabilitation center in Neuchâtel, was given the Norman McLaren Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. «Picture of Light» (1984), in which Mettler reflects on his own filmmaking while seeking for natural wonders, won prizes at the Hot Docs festival – also located in Toronto – as well as at other film festivals. Co-produced with the Swiss company maximage, the documentary film «Gambling, Gods, and LSD» (2002) is a three-hour stream of consciousness, following individuals in Toronto, Nevada, Switzerland, and South India, asking question as to what we live for, and how we view the world as well as heaven. This most recent film by Mettler was given the Grand Priz in Nyon in 2002, and it received the Genie Award in Canada in 2003.
The director of the Toronto International Film Festival, Piers Handling, described Mettler as «an incomparable talent in Canadian cinema.» «The innovation and audacity of his work, his dedication to the cinematic art form, and his ability to conjure up images that remain permanently etched in one’s mind, secures his place as one of this country’s most distinguished contemporary filmmakers.»
Zurich, September 5, 2006
The director of the Toronto International Film Festival, Piers Handling, described Mettler as «an incomparable talent in Canadian cinema.» «The innovation and audacity of his work, his dedication to the cinematic art form, and his ability to conjure up images that remain permanently etched in one’s mind, secures his place as one of this country’s most distinguished contemporary filmmakers.»
Zurich, September 5, 2006