Helen Hunt makes first steps in directing

Helen Hunt tries a new job: directing.

Photo: Helen Hunt makes first steps in directing

"Then She Found Me," the filmmaking debut for the Academy Award-winning actress, will play at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

The movie stars Hunt as a New York City teacher whose life suddenly grows complicated after her husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her, the mother (Bette Midler) she never knew comes into her life, and she begins a relationship with a student's father (Colin Firth).

Hunt, a best-actress Oscar winner for "As Good as It Gets," directed the film from a novel by Elinor Lipman.

Four other films were announced Thursday for the lineup of the Toronto festival, which runs Sept. 6-15:

- John Sayles' "Honeydripper," starring Danny Glover as a Southern juke-joint owner in the era when the blues were giving way to rock 'n' roll.

- Playwright David Auburn's directing debut, "The Girl in the Park," with Sigourney Weaver as a woman who takes in a troubled girl (Kate Bosworth) years after her own young daughter vanished.

- Craig Gillespie's "Lars and the Real Girl," starring Ryan Gosling as a social misfit who becomes enamored with a life-size doll.

- Actor Richard Roxburgh's directing debut, "Romulus, My Father," with Eric Bana and Franka Potente in a family drama based on Raimond Gaita's memoir of his difficult upbringing.