Lower budgets, high hopes

However, just as shoppers tend to look for cheaper products during a recession, the door is still open for low budget and art house films of the type that play at Toronto.

Industry players say high-priced actors are accepting lower pay, which may be benefiting smaller productions.

"I think one of the things at this festival was how many of the smaller films had bigger stars," said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics.

He pointed to Rodrigo Garcia's relatively low-cost "Mother and Child," which stars Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson.

"Defendor" managed to snag Woody Harrelson for a low-budget Canadian film helmed by first-time director Peter Stebbings.

Timed just before Hollywood's Oscar season, the Toronto festival has in the past given a push to small pictures like "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Wrestler," both of which went on to Oscar nominations and awards.

Early buzz this year has surrounded the Oprah Winfrey-backed "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," about a troubled teen growing up in Harlem.

"That's the movie most people have been wowed by in that 'Slumdog Millionaire' kind of way -- the movie that knocks your block off and leaves everybody buzzing," said Tom O'Neil, a veteran Oscar watcher who writes for TheEnvelope.com.

Also getting attention is Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air," Robert Duvall for "Get Low" and George Clooney for acting turns in Reitman's film and in "The Men Who Stare At Goats."

A trio of little known actresses are earning buzz: Carey Mulligan in "An Education," Gabourey Sidibe for "Precious" and in a supporting role, Anna Kendrick for "Up in the Air."

(Agencies via China Daily September 19, 2009)