Oscar-nominated director Marjane Satrapi brings magic to the screen once again with Chicken with Plums, her second full-length movie co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, which opens in Los Angeles on August 31st.  It’s a stylish, timeless fable filled with humor, caprice and melancholy about a talented musician who loses his will to live.  Adapted from Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same name, Chicken with Plums is the second volume in a trilogy that began with Persepolis and stars Mathieu Amaric with Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Isabella Rossellini and Edouard Baer.

In an exclusive interview, Satrapi talked to us about the graphic novel that inspired the film, what it was like shifting from animation to live action direction, what fueled her creative collaboration with Paronnaud, and how she dealt with the challenges of marrying distinctly different visual styles and genres in a non-linear storyline.  She also discussed her upcoming project, Tale of the Hanging Head.  Hit the jump for more.

David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet is a masterpiece, one of the great achievements of cinema. But as the new Blu-ray suggests, making it involved getting the exact right balance of tone – 52 minutes of newly discovered deleted scenes are included and they show that Lynch had to get the right mix between the standard mystery/noir plot and his more out there sensibilities. He found it, but any one of those additional scenes might have ruined that balance.

Kyle MacLachlan stars as Jeffery Beaumont, who comes home from college after his father has a stroke. While sorting out his feelings, he finds an ear, which he takes to the cops. From there he’s sucked into a different world featuring a singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a madman (Dennis Hopper). Our review of the Blu-ray of Blue Velvet follows after the jump.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival has announced the films playing in their Canadian Features line-up and the seven films from first-time filmmakers in the “Canada First!” line-up.  Notable movies in the Canadian Features program include Edwin Boyd (starring Scott Speedman, Kevin Durand, and Brian Cox), Goon (starring Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, and Liev Schreiber), and Guy Maddin’s new film Keyhole (starring Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini).  Previously announced films A Dangerous Method and Take This Waltz will play as part of the Canadian Galas program.

Hit the jump to check out the full line-up for the Canadian Features and Canada First! programs.  Click here for the Galas and Special Presentations and click here for the Documentaries, Midnight Madness, and other TIFF programs.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18th.

The first images from Guy Maddin’s (The Saddest Music in the World) latest film Keyhole have hit the web. The film stars Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier (Blade) and Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall) and tells the vastly twisted tale of a deadbeat father/gangster on an odyssey to his bedroom. So, “vastly twisted” may have been a bit of a understatement. Hit the jump to check out some of the images as well as a synopsis for the flick.