Vatican thriller 'Conclave' drums up Oscars buzz in Toronto

How do Catholic cardinals choose a new pope? What happens in their closed-door meetings? That is the premise of Vatican thriller "Conclave," starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, which screened at the Toronto film festival on Sunday.

The fictionalized account of high-stakes Holy See horse-trading, based on a Robert Harris novel, imagines how the death of a pope sends the church's various factions into battle for its future.

Fiennes, Tucci and John Lithgow lead a powerhouse cast that is generating serious Oscars buzz, as is director Edward Berger, whose "All Quiet on the Western Front" won four Academy Awards last year.

Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, who is tasked with organizing the so-called conclave, the ultra-secret assembly of cardinals that elects a pontiff. Tucci and Lithgow play two of the men vying to ascend the papal throne.

"No sane man would want the papacy," says Cardinal Bellini (Tucci), a liberal who nevertheless wants the job, in the hopes of thwarting the conservatives who he believes would take the church backwards socially.

Twists and turns abound as the holiest of men reveal their sins and misdeeds in the film, which had its world premiere about a week ago at Telluride, another of the industry's key fall festivals.

A pulsating score from Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann (for "All Quiet on the Western Front") propels the film's taut pace, building to an unexpected conclusion.

Fiennes, 61, is a two-time Oscar nominee for "Schindler's List" and "The English Patient," but never a winner.

Pundits are already suggesting this could be the film that brings him an Academy Award -- he figures on every expert's short list for an Oscar nod for best actor on awards prediction website Gold Derby.

- 'No film looks like this' -

Meanwhile "The Wild Robot," the latest from DreamWorks Animation, which had its world premiere Sunday in Canada's biggest city, is also sure to be in the awards conversation.

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o stars as intelligent robot Roz, who is marooned on an uninhabited island when a typhoon upends a cargo ship.

In order to survive, she must befriend the menagerie of woodland animals perplexed by her arrival.

She takes a particular shine to gosling Brightbill, who must learn how to fly in order to migrate with the rest of his flock.

"Sometimes to survive, we must become more than we were programmed to be," says Roz, who overwrites some of her own code as she draws closer to her unexpected new friends.

The A-list cast working under director Chris Sanders ("Lilo & Stitch") also includes Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Catherine O'Hara and Stephanie Hsu.

The film, based on a popular book of the same name by Peter Brown, features amusing animal sidekicks, but far less dialogue than usual in an animated movie, instead relying on a score from Kris Bowers.

The lush forest landscape, with crashing waves at the shore, is animated in a way that looks almost painted.

"It's a fable, it's also an amazing story, and we broke the mold visually -- no film looks like this," Sanders told AFP on the red carpet.

After the premiere, Nyong'o explained that Sanders wanted to cast her because he liked the "warmth" of her voice.

"We knew that we would end up somewhere closer to my natural sound," she told the audience at Roy Thomson Hall in a Q&A session.

"There was always the intention of her voice reflecting her arc into individuality, but also finding that robotic version of empathy."

The Toronto International Film Festival runs through September 15.