Fugitive Pieces scores opening night gala at 2007 Toronto film fest

The film adaptation of bestselling Canadian novel Fugitive Pieces will take the opening slot at this fall's Toronto International Film Festival, organizers announced Thursday.

The Canadian movie, directed by film and TV director Jeremy Podeswa and produced by film mogul Robert Lantos, will have its world premiere on Sept. 6, the opening night of the annualfestival's 32nd edition.

Piers Handling, TIFF's director and CEO, hailed the film as "a fine example of the strength of our national filmmaking talent," while co-director Noah Cowan called the drama "touching and powerful."

Creating a film version of the Anne Michaels novel has been a project Lantos and his company, Serendipity Point Films, has been working on for years. It will be the 10th Lantos-produced film to open the prestigious Toronto festival, following in the footsteps of titles such as In Praise of Older Women, Black Robe, Whale Music, The Sweet Hereafter and Being Julia.

Fugitive Pieces tells the story of a Jewish man haunted by his past: as a child in Poland, he witnessed his family's massacre during the Second World War. After he escapes, he is rescued by a Greek archeologist, who proceeds to raise him as his own son in Greece and in Canada.

The film's cast includes Stephen Dillane, Rade Sherbedgia and Rosamund Pike.

Within monthsof its release in 1996, Fugitive Pieces was an international hit. It is considered among the bestselling Canadian novels of all time.

The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 6-15.