Wednesday, September 10-----After a very quiet Cannes for the British film industry, there are 25 British films (a mix of shorts, documentaries and features) being presented in Toronto this week.

The films range from the big-budget (Saul Dibb's The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Richard Eyre's tale of l'amour fou The Other Man, starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Antonio Banderas) to the aggressively independent (including Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle, Is There Anybody There? by John Crowley and the Colin Firth-starrer Genova by Michael Winterbottom).

Other British films making their North American premieres here include Hunger, the Cannes Camera d'Or winner by video artist Steve McQueen; the IRA drama Fifty Dead Men Walking by Kari Skogland and the latest film from veteran director Mike Leigh, the lighter-than-air Happy Go Lucky.

Nine of the 25 Toronto entries were partially funded by the UK Film Council, which hosted a reception yesterday afternoon to introduce UK film producers to members of the international community and to discuss how the UK can work with the worldwide film industry. "One of the UK Film Council's key objectives is to help nuture and support British film in North America", UK Film Council US Office director Claire Chapman declared. "We are thrilled there is such a strong portfolio of UK films being showcased at Toronto this year."

Sandy Mandelberger, Toronto FF Dailies Editor