Scholars from University of Toronto's Munk School for Global Affairs to lead conversations about 5 Contemporary World Cinema films
Toronto – The Contemporary World Cinema programme delivers cinematic gems from around the globe at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival®. Offering a variety of filmmakers’ voices and perspectives from around the world, the lineup draws from Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, India, Japan, Mozambique, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Canada and more. This smorgasbord of global trends in cinema also features the world premieres of films by directors such as Sara Johnsen, Kasia Rosłaniec, Edward Burns, Sion Sono, Robert Connolly, John Akomfrah, Saïd Ould-Khelifa, Annemarie Jacir, Jo Sung-hee and Licinio Azevedo.
This year, TIFF brings together the worlds of film and education by partnering with the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs on the Contemporary World Speakers series. This initiative pairs five films in the Contemporary World Cinema programme with expert scholars from the Munk School. Audiences will have the chance to interact with filmmakers and scholars in extended discussions, following each film’s second public screening. Here, the films serve as springboards to facilitate a deeper understanding of film aesthetics in relation to the broader issues facing the world today. Speakers include Ron Deibert, Janice Gross Stein, Ron Levi, Brian Stewart and Michael Ignatieff. The Contemporary World Speakers series is programmed in conjunction with the TIFF Adult Learning department. From exhibitions and presentations to hands-on workshops, TIFF Adult Learning provides students, teachers and the community with innovative ways to engage with the moving image on a year-round basis.
3 Pablo Stoll Ward, Uruguay/Germany/Argentina
North American Premiere
For Rodolfo (Humberto de Vargas), life at home feels empty and cold, as if he doesn’t belong. Meanwhile, his first wife, Graciela (Sara Bessio) and their teenage daughter Ana (Anaclara Ferreyra Palfy) are living through defining moments in their lives. Subtly, Rodolfo will try to slip back into the place he once had next to them — the one he walked away from 10 years ago. 3 is a comedy about three people and the absurd fate to which they are doomed: being a family.
A Hijacking Tobias Lindholm, Denmark
North American Premiere
In A Hijacking, Tobias Lindholm turns his attention to a current topic: piracy at sea. The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbour when it is boarded and captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship's cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who, along with the rest of the seamen, are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars, a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates.
A Werewolf Boy Jo Sung-hee, South Korea
World Premiere
Summoned by an unexpected phone call, an elderly woman visits a cottage she used to visit when she was a young girl. Half a century before, she moved to a peaceful village and discovered a “wolf boy” hiding in the darkness. She recalls teaching the boy how to wear clothes, how to speak and how to write along with other human behaviours. However, when threatened, he let loose his bestial instincts and became the subject of the villagers’ fears. In order to save the life of the boy who risked his to be by her side, she left him with a promise: “Wait for me. I’ll come back for you.”
After the Battle Yousry Nasrallah, Egypt/France
North American Premiere
Mahmoud is one of the “Tahrir Square Knights” who, on February 2, 2011 — manipulated by Mubarak’s regime — charged against the young revolutionaries. Beaten, humiliated, unemployed and ostracized in his neighbourhood near the Pyramids, Mahmoud and his family are losing their footing. It is then that he meets Reem, a young Egyptian divorcée. Modern and secular, Reem works in advertising, is a militant revolutionary, and lives in a nice neighbourhood in Cairo. Their meeting will change their lives.
*Janice Gross Stein, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and member of the Order of Canada, is an internationally renowned expert on conflict management. She will speak about After the Battle in an extended Q&A session, following one of the screenings.
All That Matters is Past Sara Johnsen, Norway
World Premiere
Reunited after years apart, childhood sweethearts William and Janne are forced to confront the dark secrets of their past — and the menacing presence of William's pathologically jealous brother — in this haunting story from celebrated Norwegian director Sara Johnsen.
Baby Blues Kasia Rosłaniec, Poland
World Premiere
Polish director Kasia Rosłaniec follows her controversial, irresistibly scrappy debut Mall Girls with this edgy and disarmingly frank look at teen pregnancy. Natalia is a 17-year-old mom living with her mother and son, Antos. She wanted to have a baby because it was a “cool” thing to do, and feels she would have someone to love; someone who can love her in return. Everything changes when Natalia’s mother decides to move out, giving Natalia a chance to lead a “normal life.”
Barbara Christian Petzold, Germany
North American Premiere
Set in East Germany in the early 1980s, the new film from renowned director Christian Petzold (Jerichow) is a suspenseful chamber piece about an accomplished Berlin physician, banished to a rural hospital as punishment, who is torn between the promise of escape across the border and her growing love for a fellow colleague — who may be planning to betray her to the secret police.
Bwakaw Jun Robles Lana, Philippines
International Premiere
An ornery old retiree — who only came to terms with his homosexuality tragically late in life — leads an isolated existence with only his faithful dog for company, until a chance encounter offers him a final chance for happiness.
Children of Sarajevo Aida Begic, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany/France/Turkey
North American Premiere
Rahima, 23, and Nedim, 14, are orphans of the Bosnian war. They live in Sarajevo, a transitional society that has lost its moral compass, including in its treatment of the children of those who were killed fighting for the freedom of their city. After crime-prone adolescent years, Rahima has found comfort in Islam and she hopes her brother will follow in her footsteps. Everything becomes more difficult the day Nedim gets into a fistfight at school with the son of a local strongman. The incident triggers a chain of events leading Rahima to discover that her young brother leads a double life.
Clandestine Childhood Benjamín Ávila, Argentina/Spain/Brazil
North American Premiere
Argentina 1979. After years of exile, 12-year-old Juan and his family return to Argentina under fake identities. Juan’s parents and his uncle Beto are members of the Montoneros Organization, which is fighting against the Military Junta that rules the country. Because of their political activities, they are being tracked down relentlessly. His friends at school and the girl he loves, Maria, know him as Ernesto, a name he must not forget with his family’s survival being at stake. This is a story about militancy, undercover life and love.
*Brian Stewart, Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an acclaimed foreign correspondent and an expert on foreign affairs and the military. He will speak about Clandestine Childhood in an extended Q&A session, following one of the screenings.
Comrade Kim Goes Flying Anja Daelemans, Nicholas Bonner and Gwang Hun Kim, Belgium/North Korea/UK
World Premiere
Comrade Kim Yong Mi is a North Korean coalminer. Her dream of becoming a trapeze artist is crushed by the arrogant trapeze star Pak Jang Phil, who believes miners belong underground and not in the air. Comrade Kim Goes Flying is a heartwarming story of trying to make the impossible, possible.
The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky Yuki Tanada, Japan
World Premiere
Based on the award-winning novel of the same name, this boldly erotic yet movingly tender portrait of a group of vulnerable, variously wounded people — a depressed housewife, her high-school-aged lover, and his best friend, who is struggling to provide for himself and his senile grandmother — whose intersecting lives yield both sorrow and a fragile, yet enduring, hope for a brighter future.
The Cremator Peng Tao, China
World Premiere
Convinced that he should not die single, lonely cremator Cao resorts to marrying a dead woman when he is diagnosed with lung cancer. The plan is complicated by the arrival of a young girl at the crematorium looking for her missing sister.
Dead Europe Tony Krawitz, Australia
International Premiere
From the producers of Shame and Animal Kingdom, Dead Europe is a tense and moody mystery set on the turbulent streets of contemporary Europe. The film follows a young photographer named Isaac (Ewen Leslie) who — while taking his deceased father's ashes from Australia to Greece — comes to learn that something sinister happened in his family's past. Despite an effort to distract himself with a mix of random sex and drugs, Isaac's world begins to unravel as he realizes that he cannot escape the ghosts of the past. Marking the long awaited second feature of Australian filmmaker Tony Krawitz, with a screenplay by Louise Fox based on the epic novel by Christos Tsiolkas, the film also stars Marton Csokas and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Dust Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala/Spain/Chile/Germany
North American Premiere
In a small Guatemalan village where many "disappeared" during the country's civil war, a troubled young man struggles with the memory of his murdered father — and the nearby presence of the man who turned his father in.
Eagles Dror Sabo, Israel
World Premiere
Alienated from a society that no longer seems to have a place for them, two elderly ex-soldiers undertake a vigilante campaign against
injustice and disrespect on the streets of Tel Aviv.
*Ron Levi, Director of the Master of Global Affairs at the Munk School, is an expert on global justice, and human rights regimes. He will speak about Eagles in an extended Q&A session, following one of the screenings.
Fin (The End) Jorge Torregrossa, Spain
World Premiere
A group of old friends get together for a weekend in a mountain cabin. Years have gone by, and yet nothing seems to have changed between them. But lurking behind the laughter and stories is a murky episode from the past that continues to haunt them. A strange, sudden incident alters their plans, leaving them stranded and with no line of communication to the outside world. On their way for help, the group starts to disintegrate, just as a new natural order is unveiled.
The Fitzgerald Family Christmas Edward Burns, USA
World Premiere
Seven adult siblings from a working-class, Irish-American family must deal with their estranged father's desire to return home for Christmas for the first time since he walked out on the family 20 years earlier. Family rifts emerge: the four oldest siblings were fully grown when the patriarch Big Jim (Ed Lauter) left, while the younger children never had a relationship with their father, and still feel the effects of his exit. Like with any family, Christmas brings a mixed bag of complicated family dynamics. Alliances form, old wounds are reopened or glossed over, and the possibility for a new hope and forgiveness emerges.
Fly With the Crane Li Ruijun, China
North American Premiere
Old Ma, who believes that white cranes will carry buried dead bodies to heaven, is absolutely daunted by the idea of being cremated after death. When the government implements the practice of cremation under a mass urbanization measure, he seeks the help of his grandchildren.
Ghost Graduation Javier Ruiz Caldera, Spain
International Premiere
Modesto is a teacher who sometimes sees dead people. Not only has this cost him a fortune at the shrink, it has also got him fired from every school he's ever worked at. His luck changes when he lands a job at Monforte where five students have turned the prestigious school into a house of horrors. Modesto is charged with getting all five kids to pass their senior year and to get out of there once and for all…but it won't be that easy.
God Loves Caviar Iannis Smaragdis, Greece/Russia
World Premiere
This majestic epic tells the true-life, stranger-than-fiction tale of 18th-century Greek pirate turned merchant Ioannis Varvakis, who rose from humble beginnings to become the head of one of the largest mercantile empires in Europe.
Gone Fishing Carlos Sorin, Argentina
World Premiere
Marco is a travelling salesman and a recovering alcoholic who decides to change the direction of his life after a stay at a detox centre. His counselor suggests he take up a hobby as part of his treatment and Marco decides to try fishing. He then heads to Puerto Deseado during shark fishing season to find his estranged daughter, Ana.
The Great Kilapy Zézé Gamboa, Angola/ Brazil/Portugal
World Premiere
Zézé Gamboa's sardonic historical drama follows a good-hearted, apolitical con man who, on the eve of Angolan independence in the mid-1970s, pulls off a massive swindle at the expense of the Portuguese colonial administration — and soon after finds himself hailed as a hero of the national liberation struggle.
Him, Here, After Asoka Handagama, Sri Lanka
North American Premiere
Returning to his community after defeat in the Sri Lankan civil war, a former Tamil rebel known only as "Him" faces hostility, suspicion and bitter recriminations in Asoka Handagama's beautifully elegiac meditation on the aftermath of war.
*Michael Ignatieff, Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an internationally renowned writer, journalist, former politician, and expert on foreign affairs. He will speak about Him, Here, After in a Q&A session, following one of the screenings.
The Holy Quaternity Jan Hřebejk, Czech Republic
World Premiere
Two ostensibly ordinary middle-aged couples, Marie and Vitek, and Dita and Ondra, are linked by more than just a lifelong friendship, a shared house in a small town and same-aged adolescent children: they are linked by love. Both men, Ondra and Vitek, who are work colleagues, sincerely love their wives, but they both also harbour a secret yearning for the other’s wife. When, by a stroke of fortune, the foursome finds themselves on an almost uninhabited island in the Caribbean, it’s just a matter of time before their long-suppressed feelings come out.
Imagine Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland/France/Portugal
World Premiere
Ian, a new instructor at a well-known Lisbon clinic for the visually impaired, starts to teach spatial orientation to his international group of blind patients. For him, the key to getting around and living a fulfilling life lies in the mind and the imagination — and not sensory perception. However, his methods — although successful — may prove to be too challenging.
In The Fog Sergei Loznitsa, Germany/Russia/Belarus/The Netherlands/Latvia
North American Premiere
In this eerie, dreamlike World War II drama from Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy), a partisan suspected of being a traitor is apprehended by his comrades and taken out into the woods to be executed — but as the night fog closes in, the difference between darkness and light (and innocence and guilt) becomes ever more murky.
In the Name of Love Luu Huynh, Vietnam
World Premiere
In this dark love triangle that proceeds with the inexorable logic of a Greek tragedy, a dedicated wife in a small Vietnamese fishing village secretly turns to another man when her husband is unable to give her the child they both crave — but the surrogate father's crazed jealousy will have fateful consequences.
Jackie Antoinette Beumer, The Netherlands
International Premiere
Twin sisters Sofie and Daan, 33, have been raised by their two fathers. When they receive an unexpected phone call from their hitherto unknown biological mother Jackie (Holly Hunter) in the United States, they embark on an amazing adventure that alters their assumptions about everything they once believed to be true. The trip with the strange and ill-adjusted Jackie will change Sofie’s and Daan’s lives for good.
Jump Kieron J. Walsh, Ireland/United Kingdom
International Premiere
Jump follows the lives of four 20-somethings whose lives collide one fateful New Year's Eve in a night of fast talk, accidents and intrigue. At its heart it is a story of impossible love, a Brief Encounter for our times.
Just the Wind Bence Fliegauf, Hungary/Germany/France
North American Premiere
A Romani family struggles to continue their simple daily routine amid the anxiety of a series of suspected racially-motivated murders of their neighbours. Just the Wind is inspired by real events, a powerful social statement from the acclaimed director of Womb, Dealer and Milky Way.
Juvenile Offender Yikwan Kang, South Korea
World Premiere
Ji-gu is a 15-year-old juvenile offender under probation who lives with his ailing grandfather. When he is caught committing a crime, he is sent to the juvenile reformatory. Upon his grandfather’s passing, Ji-gu is reunited with his mother — whom he believed to be dead. Together they set out to make up for lost time.
Key of Life Kenji Uchida, Japan
North American Premiere
When Kondo, a wealthy contract killer accidentally hits his head in a bathhouse, an unemployed actor named Sakurai switches their locker keys. Sakurai takes on Kondo's identity, while Kondo, who is suffering from amnesia, assumes the impoverished life of Sakuria. The reversal of fortune becomes complicated when Sakurai finds himself embroiled in a hit gone wrong, while Kondo meets the lovely Kanae, an ambitious magazine editor who is looking for a simple, honest man to be her husband.
Kinshasa Kids Marc-Henri Wajnberg, Belgium
North American Premiere
Kinshasa, Congo. About 30,000 children are accused of witchcraft and expelled from home. Living on the street, little José and his fellow friends, along with a crazy impresario called Bebson — all considered to be witch children — decide to form a music band to ward off bad luck. Together, they will rock Kinshasa!
The Land of Hope Sion Sono, Japan
World Premiere
In a typical Japanese village, Yoichi Ono lives with his wife, Izumi and his parents. The Ono family lives a frugal but happy life as dairy farmers in the peaceful village. One day, the worst earthquake in history strikes, causing a nearby nuclear power station to explode. Their neighbours, who live within the range of the nuclear power station, are forcibly ordered by the government to evacuate. But the Ono family, whose property sits half in and half out of the designated range, must decide whether or not to leave their home.
Middle of Nowhere Ava DuVernay, USA
International Premiere
What happens when love takes you places you never thought you'd go? Winner of the Best Director Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Middle of Nowhere chronicles a young woman caught between two worlds, and two men, in the search for herself. Ruby, a bright medical student, sets aside her dreams when her husband is incarcerated. This new life challenges her to the very core. Her turbulent path propels her in new, often challenging, directions of self-discovery.
Museum Hours Jem Cohen, Austria/USA
North American Premiere
A Vienna museum guard befriends a foreign visitor who has been called to Austria because of a medical emergency. The grand Kunsthistorisches Art Museum becomes an enigmatic crossroads which sparks explorations of their lives, of the city, and of the ways artworks reflect and shape the world.
Once Upon a Time Was I, Verônica Marcelo Gomes, Brazil/France
World Premiere
This film follows the reflections of Verônica, a recently graduated medical student going through a time of uncertainty. She questions not only her career choices, but also her most intimate bonding and even her ability to cope with life in contemporary urban Brazil.
Paradise: Love Ulrich Seidl, Austria/Germany/France
North American Premiere
Perennial provocateur Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days, Import/Export) explores the politically charged issue of sex tourism in the sun-kissed "paradise" of Kenya, where a middle-aged Austrian voraciously samples the wares of the local meat market while searching for true love — the one commodity that's not for sale in this neo-colonial bazaar.
The Patience Stone Atiq Rahimi Afghanistan/France
World Premiere
In a country torn apart by a war, a beautiful woman watches over her husband in a decrepit room. He is reduced to a vegetative state because of a bullet in the neck. One day, the woman starts a solitary confession to her silent husband. She talks about her childhood, her frustrations, her loneliness, her dreams and her desires.
Penance Kioshi Kurosawa, Japan
North American Premiere
Fifteen years ago, tragedy struck a small town when a young elementary school girl Emili (Hazuki Kimura) was abducted and killed by a stranger. Four girls who had been playing with Emili at the time were the first to discover her body. The abductor is never found and the crime goes unsolved. Crazed with grief, Emili’s mother Asako (Kyoko Koizumi) condemns the four girls, none of whom can remember the abductor’s face. She tells them, “Do whatever you have to do to find the killer. Otherwise, you can pay a penance that I approve.” Deeply affected by Asako’s condemnation, the four girls become adults burdened with the curse of “penance,” which eventually triggers a chain of tragic events.
Peripeteia John Akomfrah, United Kingdom/Holland
World Premiere
British filmmaker John Akomfrah imagines the lives of a black man and woman who appear in a 16th-century drawing by German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer.
Road North Mika Kaurismäki, Finland
International Premiere
Timo is an esteemed concert pianist whose personal life is on the rocks. One day Timo finds an older, shabby-looking man at his door. The man, Leo, turns out to be his father who left the country when Timo was three — and hasn't been in touch in 35 years. Leo, an eternal trickster with a positive outlook on life, had to leave his homeland thanks to a series of messy entanglements. Now he's come back to hand over a rather mysterious legacy to his son and to answer questions regarding the past. To do this, the two will have to embark on a trip together and hit the road north.
Shores of Hope Toke Constantin Hebbeln, Germany
International Premiere
In this vivid historical drama set in 1980s East Germany, two dockworkers and best friends who dream of escaping the repressive regime are forced to choose their loyalties when the state police promise them safe passage out of the country — if they inform on their co-workers and union leader.
Sleeper's Wake Barry Berk, South Africa
International Premiere
John Wraith, a man in his mid-40s, regains consciousness in hospital. His wife and daughter were killed in a car accident because he fell asleep at the wheel. He retreats to a remote coastal hamlet to heal, but finds himself embroiled in a dangerous relationship with a beautiful and unpredictable 17-year-old girl.
Smashed James Ponsoldt, USA
International Premiere
Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul) are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and drinking. When Kate's drinking leads her to dangerous places and her job as a school teacher is put into jeopardy, she decides to join AA and get sober. With the help of her friend and sponsor Jenny (Octavia Spencer), and the vice principal at her school — the awkward, but well intentioned, Mr. Davies — Kate takes steps toward improving her health and life. But sobriety isn't as easy as Kate had anticipated. Her new lifestyle brings to the surface a troubling relationship with her mother, the lies she's told her employer, and calls into question whether or not her relationship with Charlie is built on love or is just a boozy diversion from adulthood.
The Thieves Choi Dong-hoon, South Korea
North American Premiere
Bullets fly, barbs are traded and old scores are settled when a Korean master criminal and his crew hightail it to Macao to join his treacherous former partner on a $20-million jewel heist, in this full-throttle action caper from South Korean director Choi Dong-hoon.
The Tortoise, An Incarnation Girish Kasaravalli, India
International Premiere
In Girish Kasaravalli's gently philosophical character piece, a humble, low-level civil servant cast as the lead in a popular TV serial chronicling the life of Gandhi finds uncanny echoes between his own life and that of the legendary leader — and sets out to correct their mutual failings.
Three Kids Jonas d'Adesky, Belgium
World Premiere
Best friends Vitaleme, Pierre and Mikenson are 12 years old and live in a home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Vitaleme is haunted by his memories as a child servant and obsessed by the idea of freedom. When the town is struck by an earthquake, they find themselves on the street and have to get by on petty crime.
Three Worlds Catherine Corsini, France
North American Premiere
Al, a young man from a modest background is about to marry his boss’s daughter and succeed him as the head of a car dealership. One night, he is guilty of a hit-and-run accident. The next day, a remorseful Al decides to inquire about his victim, not knowing that Juliette, a young woman, has witnessed the accident.
Thy Womb Brillante Mendoza, The Philippines
North American Premiere
Shaleha Sarail is a barren woman who believes that to fulfill her husband’s greatest wish of having a son is tangible proof of Allah’s grace. She resolves to find the woman who will bear her husband a child.
Underground Robert Connolly, Australia
World Premiere
Set in 1980s Melbourne, Underground is a riveting thriller that focuses on the teenage years of one of the most controversial figures of modern times — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (newcomer Alex Williams in his first major role). The film follows Assange and his gang of close friends — the International Subversives as they call themselves — as they wage a battle from their bedrooms, trying to break into the computer systems of the world’s most powerful organizations. In the process, they are forced to battle authorities and eventually one another. Written and directed by Robert Connolly, the film also stars Anthony LaPaglia, Rachel Griffiths and Callan McAuliffe.
*Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an expert and advisor to governments and organizations on cyber security, cyber-crime, freedom of expression, and access to information. He will speak about Underground in an extended Q&A session following one of the screenings
Virgin Margarida Licinio Azevedo, Mozambique
World Premiere
Veteran filmmaker Licinio Azevedo drew on the stories of real women who endured the Mozambican "re-education camps" for this dramatic and inspiring elegy to the insurgent spirit of women across nations, histories and cultures.
Watchtower Pelin Esmer, Turkey/Germany/France
World Premiere
Haunted by guilt over the death of his family, a man takes a job as a fire warden in a remote tower in the wilderness, and is inexorably drawn towards a young woman with a dark, terrible secret of her own.
What Richard Did Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland
World Premiere
A high school rugby star's life is irrevocably changed when a senseless act of violence leads to a sudden, shocking tragedy.
When I Saw You Annemarie Jacir, Palestine/Jordan/Greece
World Premiere
Jordan, 1967: displaced in a refugee camp after the occupation of their West Bank village, an 11-year old boy and his mother enact the emancipating dream that every refugee has imagined countless times.
Zabana! Saïd Ould-Khelifa, Algeria
World Premiere
Zabana! is an impassioned, meticulously researched account of the short life of Algerian freedom fighter Ahmed Zabana, whose execution in 1956 by French colonial authorities ignited the "Battle of Algiers" — and the crucial phase of Algeria's struggle for independence.
Canadian films previously announced in the Contemporary World Cinema programme include: Rafaël Ouellet’s Camion, Bruce Sweeney’s Crimes of Mike Recket, Sudz Sutherland’s Home Again, Sean Garrity’s My Awkward Sexual Adventure and Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed.
New this year, the Festival presents the Contemporary World Cinema package that includes all five films and extended Q&As in the Contemporary World Speakers series. $90 (adult), $75 (student/senior). Purchase Festival ticket packages online 24 hours a day at tiff.net/festival, by phone Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, or visit the box office in person from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The 37th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 to 16, 2012.
EIGHT WORLD PREMIERES AMONG ADDITIONAL GALAS AND SPECIAL
PRESENTATIONS ANNOUNCED AS PART OF A STELLAR LINEUP
Festival’s Closing Night Film is Paul Andrew Williams’ A Song for Marion
Toronto – The Toronto International Film Festival® announces the addition of 3 Galas and 18 Special Presentations, including 8 World Premieres, to its slate. The Festival will close with Paul Andrew Williams’ A Song For Marion, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. Festival-goers will be treated to an exciting programming lineup of diverse titles and genres from around the globe, including works from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iraqi Kurdistan, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.
Toronto audiences will be among the first to screen remarkable pieces of cinema by directors Dan Algrant, Paul Thomas Anderson, Dante Ariola, Yvan Attal, Susanne Bier, Nick Cassavetes, Daniele Ciprì, Lee Daniels, Brian De Palma, Bahman Ghobadi, Harmony Korine, Patrice Leconte, Spike Lee, Scott McGehee, Claude Miller, Henry-Alex Rubin, Walter Salles, Valeria Sarmiento, Pablo Trapero, Peter Webber, and Paul Andrew Williams.
This announcement brings the final number of Galas to 20, and the final number of Special Presentations to 70, including 48 world premieres.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012.
GALAS
Closing Night Film
Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams, UK
World Premiere
A feel-good, heart-warming story about how music can inspire you. Song for Marion stars Terence Stamp as Arthur, a grumpy pensioner who can't understand why his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) sees something special in the reluctant Arthur and refuses to give up on him. As she coaxes him out of his shell, Arthur realizes that it is never too late to change.
Emperor Peter Webber, Japan/USA
World Premiere
In the aftermath of Japan's defeat in World War II and the American occupation of the country, a Japanese expert (Matthew Fox) on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) is faced with a decision of historic importance, in this epically scaled drama from director Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring).
What Maisie Knew Scott McGehee, David Siegel, USA
World Premiere
Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view. Starring Joanna Vanderham, Onata Aprile, Alexander Skarsgård, Julianne Moore, and Steve Coogan.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Arthur Newman Dante Ariola, USA
World Premiere
Wallace Avery is tired of being a loser. Once a hot shot in the world of competitive amateur golf, Wallace was dubbed ‘The Choker’ when he hit the pro circuit. Unable to shake off a monumental loss of nerve on the greens, Wallace retired from the pro tour and slipped into the ranks of the quietly desperate. Deciding to address a radical problem with a radical solution, he stages his own death, buys himself a new identity as Arthur Newman, and sets out toward his own private Oz of golf. An offbeat love story set in a perfect storm of identity crisis, Arthur Newman looks at how two people try to remake themselves and come around to owning up to some basic truths about the identities they left at home. Starring Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, and Anne Heche.
Bad 25 Spike Lee, USA
North American Premiere
Bad 25 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Michael Jackson “Bad” album with unseen footage, content shot by Jackson himself, and a treasure chest of findings. The documentary is divided into two parts: artists today who were influenced by Michael, and people who worked by his side – musicians, songwriters, technicians, engineers, people at the label – all committed to Michael and the follow-up to the biggest record of all time, “Thriller.” Interviewees include: Mariah Carey, L.A. Reid and Sheryl Crow.
Disconnect Henry Alex Rubin, USA
North American Premiere
Disconnect interweaves multiple storylines about people searching for human connection in today’s wired world. Through poignant turns that are both harrowing and touching, the stories intersect with surprising twists that expose a shocking reality into our daily use of technology that mediates and defines our relationships and ultimately our lives. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball), and starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård, and Max Theriot, as well as Jonah Bobo, Colin Ford and Haley Ramm.
Do Not Disturb Yvan Attal, France
World Premiere
Jeff unexpectedly shows up on Ben's doorstep at 2am. Since their college days, they've taken very different paths. Jeff is still the wild man, a serial lover, an artist and eternal vagabond who's never stopped roaming the world. Ben has settled down with chilled-out and wonderful Anna; they bought a small and comfortable house in the suburbs and started trying to make a baby. But this quiet life is disrupted by the whirlwind that is Jeff, especially when he takes Ben to a wild party, from which they return at dawn, having made a decision that is about to turn all of their lives upside down. This provocative, hot and funny new film by award-winning French director Yvan Atta stars François Cluzet and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Greetings from Tim Buckley Dan Algrant, USA
World Premiere
Greetings from Tim Buckley follows the story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he learns to embrace all of his feelings toward the father who abandoned him – longing, anger, forgiveness, and love. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time. Starring Imogen Poots and Penn Badgley.
Lines of Wellington Valeria Sarmiento, Portugal
North American Premiere
After the failed attempts of Junot and Soult in 1807 and 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte sent a powerful army, commanded by Marshal Massena, to invade Portugal in 1810. The French easily reached the centre of the country, where the Anglo-Portuguese army, led by General Wellington, was waiting. Starring John Malkovich, Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, Marisa Paredes, and Victoria Guerra.
Love is All You Need Susanne Bier, Denmark
North American Premiere
Love Is All You Need is a new film by Academy Award-winner Susanne Bier. Philip (Pierce Brosnan), an Englishman living in Denmark, is a lonely, middle-aged widower and estranged single father. Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is a Danish hairdresser, recuperating from a long bout of illness, who's just been left by her husband for a younger woman. The fates of these two bruised souls are about to intertwine, as they embark for Italy to attend the wedding of Philip's son and Ida's daughter. With warmth, affection and confidence, Bier has shaken a cocktail of love, loss, absurdity, humour and delicately drawn characters who will leave only the hardest heart untouched. This is a film about the simple yet profound pains and joys of moving on – and forward – with your life.
On The Road Walter Salles, France/Brazil
North American Premiere
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Walter Salles and based on the iconic novel by Jack Kerouac, On The Road tells the provocative story of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), a free-spirited, fearless, fast-talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou (Kristen Stewart). Traveling cross-country, Sal and Dean venture out on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism engulfing them in search of the unknown, themselves, and the pursuit of it – the pure essence of experience. Seeking unchartered terrain and the last American frontier, the duo encounter an eclectic mix of men and women, each adding meaning to their desire for a new way of life. The screenplay is by Jose Rivera (Academy Award nominee for The Motorcycle Diaries), while Executive Producer Francis Ford Coppola has been developing the project since 1978. Also stars Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst.
Passion Brian De Palma, France/Germany
North American Premiere
An erotic thriller in the tradition of Dressed To Kill and Basic Instinct, Brian de Palma's Passion tells the story of a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business. Christine possesses the natural elegance and casual ease associated with one who has a healthy relationship with money and power. Innocent, lovely and easily exploited, her admiring protégé, Isabelle, is full of cutting-edge ideas that Christine has no qualms about stealing. They're on the same team, after all... But when Isabelle falls into bed with one of Christine's lovers, war breaks out. Starring Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Karoline Herfurth and Paul Anderson.
Rhino Season Bahman Ghobadi, Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey
World Premiere
After thirty years spent in prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel finally walks free. Now the one thing keeping him alive is the thought of finding his wife Mina, who thinks he is long dead and has since moved to Turkey. Sahel sets out on an Istanbul-bound search. Starring Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci and Yilmaz Erdoğan.
Spring Breakers Harmony Korine, USA
North American Premiere
Four sexy college girls plan to fund their spring break getaway by burglarizing a fast food shack. But that’s only the beginning. During a night of partying, the girls hit a roadblock when they are arrested on drug charges. Hung over and clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge but are bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local thug who takes them under his wing and leads them on the wildest spring break trip in history. Rough on the outside but with a soft spot inside, Alien wins over the hearts of the young spring breakers, and leads them on a spring break they never could have imagined. Starring Selena Gomez, James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens and Heather Morris.
The Master Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
North American Premiere
A striking portrait of drifters and seekers in post World War II America, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master unfolds the journey of a Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future — until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Starring Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Dern.
The Paperboy Lee Daniels, USA
North American Premiere
A chilling sex-and-race-charged film noir, The Paperboy takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen and his partner Yardley Acheman chase a sensational, career-making story with the help of Ward’s younger brother Jack and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Zac Efron.
The Son Did It Daniele Ciprì, Italy/France
North American Premiere
The Son Did It is the story of the Ciraulos, a poor family from South Italy whose young daughter is mistakenly killed by the Mafia. As compensation, they receive a large amount of money from the State but this sudden richness will change their life in a completely unexpected way. Starring Toni Servillo, Giselda Volodi, Alfredo Castro and Fabrizio Falco.
The Suicide Shop Patrice Leconte, France/Belgium/Canada
International Premiere
Imagine a shop that for generations has sold all the accoutrements for the perfect suicide. This family business prospers in all its bleak misery, until the day it encounters joie de vivre in the shape of younger son, Alan. What will become of The Suicide Shop in the face of Alan's relentless good cheer, optimism and determination to make the customers smile? Starring Bernard Alane, Isabelle Spade, Kacey Mottet Klein, Isabelle Giami and Laurent Gendron.
Thérèse Desqueyroux Claude Miller, France
International Premiere
In the Landes region of France, near Bordeaux, marriages are arranged to merge land parcels and unite neighbouring families. Thus, young Thérèse Larroque becomes Mrs. Desqueyroux. But her avant-garde ideas clash with local conventions and in order to break free from the fate imposed upon her and live a full life, she will resort to tragically extreme measures. Starring Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier.
White Elephant Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain
North American Premiere
In a poverty-stricken and highly dangerous Buenos Aires slum, two men – both friends, both priests, both deeply respected by the local community for their tireless endeavours on behalf of the poor and the dispossessed – take very different paths in their struggle against violence, corruption and injustice. Starring Martina Gusman, Ricardo Darin and Jérémie Renier.
Yellow Nick Cassavetes, USA
World Premiere
Nick Cassavetes' seminal work, Yellow, is a searing take on modern society and the demands it makes on people. Centered on Mary Holmes, a young woman who has a difficult time feeling things, and swallowing twenty Vicodin a day doesn’t help. We enter her hallucinatory world, peopled with Busby Berkeley dancers, Cirque du Soleil, Circus freaks, and human farm animals where nothing is quite what it seems. Starring Sienna Miller, Gena Rowlands, Ray Liotta, David Morse, Lucy Punch, Max Theoriot, Riley Keough, Daveigh Chase, Heather Wahlquist and Melanie Griffith.
The Closing Night ticket package is on sale now. Single tickets are available as of September 2, 2012.
Purchase Festival ticket packages online 24 hours a day at tiff.net/festival, by phone Monday to Friday from 10 am to 7 pm ET at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, or by visiting the box office in person from 10 am to 10 pm ET at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The 37th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 to 16, 2012.
THE FESTIVAL’S WAVELENGTHS PROGRAMME SHOWCASES INNOVATION IN FILM AND VIDEO WITH PROVOCATIVE ARTISTS AND YOUNG AUTEURS
Including works by Ben Rivers, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Carlos Reygadas, Heinz Emigholz, Thomas Demand, Francesca Woodman, Ernie Gehr, John Gianvito, Matías Piñeiro, Wang Bing, Mati Diop, Nathaniel Dorsky, Jean-Paul Kelly, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige, and more
Toronto – Wavelengths, the Toronto International Film Festival’s curated presentation of the best in international avant-garde film and video expands its reach with 47 films of various lengths, including in this year’s lineup titles that would previously have been seen in the Visions programme. The programme widens its spectrum to include formally inventive, daring narratives, and documentary features. Four thematic shorts programmes screen over the Festival’s opening weekend (September 7 to 10), with work by legendary experimental filmmakers, emerging talent and internationally renowned artists such as Thomas Demand, Francesca Woodman, William E. Jones and Luther Price (who also has an exhibition as part of the Festival’s Future Projections programme).
“In bringing the audiences for Wavelengths and the former Visions programmes together," said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, "I want to further that conversation among critics, film professionals and a general Festival audience around innovative cinema. Andréa Picard's knowledge, passion and taste make her the perfect person to guide this section."
Longer works screen over the duration of the Festival. Highlights include Nicolas Rey’s 16mm philosophical fable differently, Molussia; the Chris Marker-esque The Last Time I Saw Macao by Portuguese duo João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata; anthropologist-artist-filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paraval’s tour de force portrait of commercial fishing, Leviathan; world premieres by Matías Piñeiro, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, as well as the Locarno Film Festival’s double-award winner When Night Falls by Ying Liang. Launching with rapturous cinephile favourites, Wavelengths sets the framework for experimentation of all kinds at the Festival.
“With this year’s exciting expansion, Wavelengths remains committed to experimental and avant-garde shorts, and to showcasing some of the world’s foremost artists working in film and video. Inspired by the late great programmer Amos Vogel who argued for ‘more adventurous programming, for more daring, greater open-mindedness, and audacity’ and put Jack Smith on the same footing as Luis Buñuel, we’ve increased our focus on boundary-flouting filmmakers,” says TIFF Programmer Andréa Picard, who heads the section. “We encourage the adventurous audiences that have made Wavelengths so successful to discover vital and original forms of cinema across different registers. This year’s selection includes an impressive and diverse range, though one can certainly point to the prevalence of politics, the pull of documentary, and inspired collaborative filmmaking — certainly befitting of the times.”
SHORT FILM PROGRAMMES
Wavelengths 1: Under a Pacific Sun
Bookended by Thomas Demand’s astonishing 100-second animation Pacific Sun and legendary experimental filmmaker ErnieGehr’s no-holds-barred trip into painterly abstraction, this programme traverses fabricated worlds marked by shifting weather patterns, stylized mythic backdrops, paper folds and cross-cultural magic carpet rides.
In the fall of 2010, a YouTube video of an Australian Pacific Sun cruise ship that was struck by tempestuous waters in the Tasman Sea, causing its furniture and passengers to sway back and forth in an eerie, otherworldly cadence, went viral. In one of his most ambitious works yet, internationally celebrated German visual artist Thomas Demand (known for his trompe l’oeil photographs of threedimensional paper models of real spaces and settings) has recreated the Pacific Sun video using a full-scale set constructed completely out of paper. The 100-second video comprises 2,400 frames, shot frame-by-frame with a team of animators who retraced the vacillations of each item several millimetres at a time. Fifteen months in the making, Pacific Sun is as meticulous as it is bewitching, an ode to the forces that lie outside of our comprehension but seduce our imagination.
Equally uncanny and visually enthralling is Shambvani Kaul’s 21 Chitrakoot, which exhumes a mystical land composed of 1980s chroma-key backdrops from a famous Indian television series. With barely tempered chaos, melancholia replaces nostalgia, while abstraction and narrative duel for eminence in a fractured, abandoned utopia.
Dedicated to Akira Yoshizawa, the grandmaster of origami, Blake Williams’ Many a Swan collapses fifteen years of Grand Canyon history and 65 years of 3-D cinema by way of curious folding anaglyphic video planes that, not unlike Demand’s work, suggest paper worlds.
From folding to flying, Fern Silva’s globe-trotting, 16mm Concrete Parlay uses a green-screened magic carpet against footage shot in Egypt, Turkey, France and the US to reflect upon cross-cultural ideas of travel, immigration and geographic displacement — doing so with a disjunctive and disarming vigour that redefines casual “sightseeing.”
From a train trip home, legendary experimental filmmaker Ernie Gehr creates a triptych cum structural trajectory in which composition and perception convene into a “phantom ride.” While Departure sharpens the senses as it penetrates a recognizable yet reframed landscape, Gehr’s Auto-Collider XV, from his ongoing series devoted to vehicular form and movement, is a no-holds-barred trip into painterly abstraction — where an Agnes Martin painting meets a rapid-fire back-and-forth Gerhard Richter squeegee and the world is swiftly sent asunder.
Wavelengths 2: Documenta
A diverse grouping of resuscitated materials and curios simultaneously partakes in today's pervasive archive fever and points to forever changing contexts and attendant shifts in meaning.
One of the major discoveries of this year's Whitney Biennial, Luther Price's handmade 35mm glass slides are individual miniature collages that incorporate battered or decaying 8mm found footage with assorted detritus (glitter, candy, strands of hair, insects), creating miniature worlds that transcend their thrifty materials with an intense, sombre beauty. A selection of Price's original slides from his ongoing Sorry series (starring Jesus Christ) will be shown alongside a set that radically recycles the artist's fascinating collection of movie trailers.
Evoking the still photographs that mysteriously punctuate his feature Two Years at Sea, Ben Rivers' Phantoms of a Libertine is an enigmatic portrait (channeling Marcel Broodthaers as much as Raymond Depardon) of a lost friend, told through two sets of photographs — professional and private — and the objects that remain.
Shot on Super 8mm using a multi-plane camera setup (much like early Fleisher or Disney animations), Jean-Paul Kelly's A Minimal Difference presents receding-depth images — both metaphorical and factual (political protests in Bangkok, bodies piled after the 2010 Haitian earthquake, destruction in Gaza) — with each tableau separated into planes that mimic the perception of optical distance based on a parallax error.
A master of ironic archival recovery, William E. Jones in Shoot Don't Shoot adapts a law enforcement instructional film that trains officers to decide whether or not to fire their guns at “a black man wearing a pinkish shirt and yellow pants.”
Luther Price's 16mm Sorry-Horns bookends a found footage scene with abstract inkblots, creating an odd sensation in disjunction.
Using footage from Cocteau's Orphée, Mary Helena Clark's outtakes (Orpheus) optically prints an interstitial space where the ghosts of cinema lurk beyond and within the frames.
The all-seeing, omniscient late Syrian president Hafez El Assad is the subject of Ali Cherri’s cunning docu-collage Pipe Dreams, which unearths a historic phone call between the eternal leader and Syrian astronaut Mohammad Fares, at a time when statues of El Assad were being dismantled as a precaution during recent upheavals.
Blasting off into cosmic visual abstraction, pioneering computer artist Lillian Schwartz's recently restored UFOs (shown here in eyepopping 3-D) is a kinetic tour-de-force whose innovative pixel pigmentation predated advances in stereoscopic technology by decades.
Wavelengths 3: I am micro
Rendered in raw, intimiste strokes, these portraits participate in the paradoxical experience of being an artist with aspirations belonging to this world, as much as beyond.
An exquisite essay on independent filmmaking in India, Shumona Goel and Shai Heredia’s shot-on-16mm I Am Micro has finally been blown up to 35mm — after languishing for far too long on video, as the closures of labs temporarily consigned its fate to a sad irony — allowing us to relish the astonishing beauty of its sulfurous images.
In Class Picture, Filipino artist collective and “photography film” aficionados Tito & Tito converts a single 16mm colour strip into a washed-out 35mm; the sea — like history — swallows but also spawns.
Known for the signature mix of classical-surreal in her startlingly precocious self-portraits, the late Francesca Woodman also created a series of recently revealed videos during her brief but prolific career. This compilation — generously made available thanks to George and Betty Woodman — attests to Woodman’s playful and performative tendencies, which have too often been overlooked by critical mythologizing.
Photographer-filmmaker Friedl vom Gröller has long been documenting her intimate life, including serial self-portraits and those of her family members. Startling in its use of sound (a rarity for this artist), Me too, too, me too (Ich auch, auch, ich auc) is a phantasmal encounter with vom Gröller’s frail, aging mother.
Vincent Grenier’s Waiting Room transforms a dolphin-adorned pediatric ward into pulsating, hot, disembodied yellow rhythms; the disjunction between the fluorescents and the video image resulting in small-scale transcendence.
Nicky Hamlyn’s celestial overture Transis of Venus is one of eleven diptych documents of this astronomical phenomenon, one shot in black in white in the U.K., the other capturing a stunning Italian blush sunset.
Nathaniel Dorsky’s August and After is dedicated to two recently departed friends: legendary filmmaker George Kuchar and actress Carla Liss. The film shows them vibrantly, resiliently alive, shortly before their passing, and then sets off in search of soothing beauty — yielding searing 16mm images awash in colours both belonging to and transcending our natural world. Well into the twilight years of 16mm filmmaking, Dorsky continues to present textures and hues that are indispensible to the art of cinema. We will be poorer without them.
Wavelengths 4: From the Inside Out
Influential intermedia artist Aldo Tambellini’s 1960s revolutionary Black films (currently being restored and archived by the Harvard Film Archive) have lost none of their acuity. Through its suggestion of a cosmological beginning via pulsing abstraction and a series of non-camera techniques, and its use of television as a subversive artistic force, Tambellini’s pioneering work sought to represent “the expansion of consciousness in all directions.” A dual 16mm split screen projection of one of Tambellini’s greatest works, his prescient and intense Black TV, sets the tempo for a programme exploring contours through holes, legacies through sustained viewing, and dynamic force fields from the inside out.
Named for the taboo-breaking film by Kenji Onishi, Josh Solondz's Burning Star is an entrancing colourful implo/explosion of a twelve-sided star.
Paolo Gioli's When Bodies Touch (Quando I Corpi Si Toccano) uses footage from an old porn film to transform copulating bodies into a mesmerizing, competitive dance with celluloid.
With Ritournelle, Peter Miller and Christopher Becks have fashioned a miniature gem from a 16mm corps exquis exercise; an experiment in inside-out filmmaking, which began with a surreptitiously pre-struck soundtrack.
Marking a bifurcation in the programme from abstraction to figuration, Jim Jennings' first (spectral) video work Watch the Closing Doors — a continuation, yet striking variant upon the filmmaker's unique city symphonies, this time with synch sound — partakes in the august photographic tradition of capturing commuters unaware on the New York subway.
Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebran de Haan's glorious 35mm View from the Acropolis extends the Dutch artists' interest in Europe's shifting power dynamics by offering a monumental meditation on the original Turkish site of the Pergamon Altar, now stowed in the famous Berlin museum.
Anna Marziano's intelligent, quietly moving The mutability of all things and the possibility of changing some (De la mutabilité de toute chose et de la possibilité d'en changer certaines) explores our human adaptability in light of catastrophe (the earthquake in Aquila) by way of seminal literature passages implying a transitory social body (from Marguerite Yourcenar, Hannah Arendt, et al.).
In his first film made outside of his native Austria, Johann Lurf spent several months documenting the Morris Reservoir near Asuza, California, which functioned for decades as a military torpedo-testing site. Now decommissioned and rife with resulting infrastructural oddities, the oft-documented site is here transformed in Reconnaissance through subtle movements by Lurf's sly investment in visual perception play. The world is anything but static…
Pairings
The Capsule Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, 37’
A bevy of gorgeous Gothic goddesses vie for the attention of their headmistress on the Greek island of Hydra, in this fetishistic fashionfilm fantasy by Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg).
Followed by
Walker Tsai-Ming Liang, China/Hong Kong, 26’
A metaphor for mourning and spiritual searching as much as it is a reminder to slow down, Tsai Ming-liang’s stunningly beautiful Walker features his acteur fétiche Lee Kang-sheng as a red-robed monk barely locomoting through the bustling streets of Hong Kong.
Viola Matías Piñeiro, Argentina, 65’
Young Argentine auteur Matías Piñeiro continues his fascination with Shakespeare in this dazzling riff on Twelfth Night, which launches a host of intersecting characters into a roundelay of dalliances, intrigues and burgeoning revelations.
Preceded by
Birds (Ὄρνιθες) Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, 17’
Gabriel Abrantes inventively transposes Aristophanes’ Ὄρνιθες (The Birds, from 414 B.C.) to a mournful, present-day Haiti shot in luminous 16mm.
Mekong Hotel Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, 57’
The new film from Thai master and Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul is at once a soothing lullaby, a film à clef, fragments from an unrealized project, and a fascinating experiment in collaboration.
Preceded by
Big in Vietnam Mati Diop, France, 27’
Up-and-coming French actress-filmmaker Mati Diop’s Tiger-award winning film is a strange and sensual short about a fraught adaptation of Les Liaisons dangereuses, where disappearances yield new beginnings.
FEATURES
The Last Time I Saw Macao (A Última Vez Que Vi Macau) João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rul Guerra da Mata, Portugal/France, 85’
North American Premiere
Part memoir, part city symphony, part noir-ish B-movie adventure, the new feature from critically acclaimed Portuguese filmmaking duo João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata (To Die Like a Man) is a sensual, shape-shifting ode to one of the world’s most mythic, alluring and exoticized cities.
differently, Molussia (autrement, la Molussie) Nicolas Rey, France, 81’
Canadian Premiere
autrement, la Molussie is an award-winning philosophical fable that draws on Günthers Anders’ amazingly prescient anti-fascist novel The Molussian Catacomb and is presented on nine reels of dreamy 16mm film shown in random order.
Bestiaire Denis Côté, Canada/France, 72’
Canadian Premiere
Visionary filmmaker Denis Côté (Curling) offers a strikingly beautiful contemplation of the caged denizens of a zoo in this intriguing cinematic inquiry into the mysterious rapport and insuperable gulf between animals and humans.
Far From Afghanistan John Gianvito, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Soon-Mi Yoo, Travis Wilkerson, USA, 129’
North American Premiere
Taking inspiration from the collaborative 1967 militant anthology film Far from Vietnam (screening for free as part of the Festival’s new TIFF Cinematheque programme), five of the boldest and most prominent American militant filmmakers unite to create this searing (and seething) omnibus work, employing a variety of approaches to reveal the hidden costs of the United States’ most expensive and longest-running war.
The Fifth Season Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth, Belgium/The Netherlands/France, 94’
North American Premiere
In their follow-up to the remarkable Altiplano, co-directors Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth create a mystifying, surrealistic tale of a mountain village where spring refuses to come, inspiring the villagers to ever more desperate and bizarre measures to save their land and their lives.
The Lebanese Rocket Society Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige, Qatar, 93’
World Premiere
Lebanon's brief flirtation with space travel in the 1960s becomes a poignant metaphor for the Arab world's utopian dreams in this riveting documentary by internationally acclaimed artist duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.
Leviathan Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, France/United Kingdom/USA, 87’
North American Premiere
In the very waters where Melville’s Pequod gave chase to Moby Dick, Leviathan captures the collaborative clash of man, nature, and machine on a dozen cameras—tossed and tethered from fisherman to filmmaker. A cosmic portrait of commercial fishing as it’s never been seen and heard.
Perret in France and Algeria Heinz Emigholz, Germany, 110’
North American Premiere
Lauded artist-filmmaker Heinz Emigholz (Schindler’s Houses) offers an exquisite visual study of the work of pioneering French architect Auguste Perret, including privileged views of his innovative concrete structures in Algeria and such magnificent landmarks as Paris’ Art Deco Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
Post Tenebras Lux Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/The Netherlands/Germany, 120’
North American Premiere
Maverick director Carlos Reygadas presents his most ambitious, personal and controversial work yet with this disorienting, kaleidoscopic vision of a family torn between tenderness and violence.
Tabu Miguel Gomes, Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France, 110’
North American Premiere
A temperamental old woman, her Cape Verdean maid and a neighbour devoted to social causes live on the same floor of a Lisbon apartment building. When the old lady dies, the other two learn of an episode from her past: a tale of love and crime set in an Africa straight from the world of adventure films.
Three Sisters Wang Bing, China, 153’
North American Premiere
The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing (West of the Tracks) is an intimate, observational portrait of a peasant family who ekes out a humble existence in a small village set against the stunning mountain landscapes of China's Yunnan province.
When Night Falls (Wo hai you hua yao shuo) Ying Liang, South Korea/China, 70’
North American Premiere
Inspired by the notorious case of a young man's 2008 murder of six Shanghai police officers, the remarkable new film from independent Chinese auteur Ying Liang focuses on the killer's mother, as she both struggles to comprehend her son's heinous act and is persecuted by a state that willfully ignores its own laws. Winner of the Best Director and Actress awards at the Locarno Film Festival.
The Wavelengths Package is now on sale and includes six screenings (4 shorts programmes and 2 features) for $70 (adult) or $60 (student/senior) (not including taxes and fees). Purchase Festival ticket packages online 24 hours a day at tiff.net/festival, by phone Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, or visit the box office in person from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The 37th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 to 16, 2012.
FESTIVAL’S 2012 FUTURE PROJECTIONS PROGRAMME HITS THE STREETS OF
TORONTO WITH RIVETING MOVING-IMAGE ARTWORKS
TORONTO — Future Projections fuses cinema’s moving image with the gallery’s visual arts for a provocative city-wide programme at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival®. Featuring contemporary works by a solid roster of established Canadian and international artists, the lineup includes installations from Callum Cooper, Jeroen Eisinga, Sook-Yin Lee, Peaches, Luther Price, Kelly Richardson, Ming Wong and Liang Yue.
Free and open to the public for the duration of the Festival, the Future Projections programme will showcase installations at various destinations throughout downtown Toronto, including TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Ming Wong: Making Chinatown, 2012
New Site-Specific Installation
Video artist Ming Wong recreates selected scenes from Roman Polanski’s Chinatown with himself cast in each role, and then projects the resulting films onto photographically-altered sets reminiscent of studio lots. This funny and occasionally shocking installation addresses race, gender and sexuality while deconstructing cinema conventions and their ability to shape identity. Presented in collaboration with the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West. September 6 to 16.
Kelly Richardson: Mariner 9, 2012
North American Premiere
Kelly Richardson’s Mariner 9 transforms the Royal Ontario Museum’s Thorsell Spirit House into an immersive environment, transporting the viewer into the centre of a Martian dust storm several centuries in the future. The Martian landscape becomes a battlefield of real and imagined spacecraft in this panoramic video installation that is at once dystopian and alarmingly beautiful. Presented in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Culture, Royal Ontario Museum. Thorsell Spirit House, 100 Queen's Park. September 6 to 16.
Jeroen Eisinga: Springtime, 2011/2012
International Premiere
Withstanding a swarm of over 250,000 bees, Daredevil Dutch artist Jeroen Eisinga transforms himself into a living shroud of buzzing insects in this spellbinding, monumental film performance. The unstable, flickering image draws to mind a host of rich and varied arthistorical references, from medieval portraiture and 19th-century freak show catalogues to Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon. Springtime will be shown alongside a suite of rare, never-before exhibited photographs. Presented in collaboration with MOCCA, 952 Queen Street West. August 24 to September 16.
Callum Cooper: The Constant and the Flux, 2012
Special TIFF Commission
Random Torontonians, projected and spinning, occupy TIFF Bell Lightbox’s giant atrium wall — along with the unique apparatus that multi-talented Australian artist Callum Cooper used to capture them on film — each evening of the Festival. Both formally rigorous and dizzyingly fun, Cooper applies his practice to this specially-commissioned new work for the Festival, referencing everything from turnof-the-century bioscopes to YouTube. Presented in the TIFF Bell Lightbox atrium (after 6 pm), Reitman Square, 350 King Street West. September 6 to 16.
Luther Price: Number 9 and Number 9 II, 2012
International Premiere
One of the major discoveries of this year’s Whitney Biennale, American artist-filmmaker Luther Price’s glass slides are born from his radical filmmaking, but exist as stunning works of their own. In his most recent slide series, individual collages of transformed found footage, ants, and other detritus including dust and hair are held within the slides; materiality gives way to abstraction and textured compositions as light passes through them. Presented in collaboration with CONTACT Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 310. September 6 to October 6.
Liang Yue: The Quiet Room, 2012
International Premiere
This serene installation by leading Chinese photographer and filmmaker Liang Yue recalls the most dramatic and ethereal of landscape-based art, profiling Canada in winter through both image and sound. The work focuses on the textures of snow and the mechanics of condensation, coupled with a surprisingly dramatic soundtrack of carefully recorded and amplified winter sounds. Presented in collaboration with the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West. September 6 to 16.
Sook-Yin Lee: We Are Light Rays, 2012
International Premiere
Canadian musician, filmmaker and visual artist Sook-Yin Lee explores the power of montage and the thrall of narrative in her new installation. She underlines the fragility of narrative resolution by contrasting a series of “micro-movies”— paired still photographs housed within light boxes that create a wealth of mysterious connections — with a rough video sketch for an abandoned film. Presented in collaboration with Keep Six Exhibits, Oz Studio, 134 Ossington Ave. September 6 to 16.
Peaches, in collaboration with Vice Cooler: Peaches Does the Drake, 2012
International Premiere
Singer/songwriter and performance artist Peaches — Canada’s favourite gender-bending, electro-punk icon — collaborates with TIFF and the Drake Hotel to present new projection-based work for the duration of the Festival, and a group of collaborative performances for one night only. This one-time event follows the world premiere of her first feature film, Peaches Does Herself, which screens as part of the Festival’s Vanguard lineup. Performances include a special laser harp show by Peaches and her band Sweet Machine. Presented in collaboration with the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West. Video installation runs from dusk to dawn, September 6 to 16. Peaches Does the Drake, site-specific performances by Peaches and friends, takes place on September 14.
TIFF INDUSTRY PRESENTS A FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING LINEUP EXPLORING CROWD-SOURCED DISCUSSION TOPICS AND FEATURING GUESTS INCLUDING OLIVIER ASSAYAS, TESSA ROSS, JEREMY THOMAS AND DAVID BORDWELL
Toronto – TIFF Industry today announced its programming line-up that will run during the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Sessions include a Master Class with French auteur Olivier Assayas; Moguls sessions with Film4’s Tessa Ross, FilmNation founder and CEO Glen Basner and Academy Award®-winner Jeremy Thomas; and a keynote address by renowned and revered film scholar David Bordwell. From new cinema technologies to Video on Demand, from marketing indie films to microbudgeting and creative distribution, many of this year’s panel discussion topics were crowd sourced from attending industry delegates from around the world. A predominant theme in this year’s programming is the increasing impact and influence of digital technologies, and their ability to transform and multiply the opportunities available to filmmakers, from crowdfunding for independent films to increasing the distribution of African cinema. Panel participants include Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer of The Walking Dead, Ira Deutchman, Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures, Founder and CEO of BOND Strategy and Influence Marc Schiller, independent filmmaker Edward Burns, Academy Award® winner Gareth Unwin, producer of The King’s Speech, Dolby’s Stuart Bowling, IMAX’s Mark Welton, Cineplex’s Dan McGrath and writer/director/experience designer Lance Weiler.
TIFF Nexus, TIFF’s year-round series where the worlds of Film, Gaming and New Media converge, presents public programming including Renga — the world’s first 100-player co-op laser game, as well as a free mini arcade.
FILMMAKERS’ LOUNGE
Filmmakers’ Lounge, located in the TIFF Industry Centre on the Mezzanine level of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, is a meeting space for Festival filmmakers and industry professionals. Filmmakers’ Lounge is the site for panels and industry sessions, as well as a place to meet, work or take a break. The Lounge features free WIFI and a variety of meeting spaces, not to mention a daily Happy Hour (September 7 to 11 from 5 pm to 6 pm). Filmmakers’ Lounge is open to all Festival delegates and runs from Thursday, September 6 through Friday, September 14, from 9 am until 7 pm, and 9 am to 12 pm on Saturday, September 15.
MASTER CLASS
Master Class is a learning series that gives emerging filmmakers, students and industry delegates a chance to take lessons from veteran international filmmakers or producers. Master Class will take place in TIFF Bell Lightbox and is open to all Sales & Industry, Guest and Press delegates.
Olivier Assayas
In an intimate interview with TIFF Cinematheque Programmer, Brad Deane, ardent cinephile and acclaimed auteur Olivier Assayas discusses his favourite films and key influences, reflects on clips from his past work, analyses his principles and politics, and engages in an in-depth discussion of his latest film, Something in the Air.
MOGULS
This series of intimate, one-on-one sessions with some of the most powerful and influential movers and shakers of the film world offers a rare opportunity to get up close and personal. Gain insight into the inner workings of the creative and business minds that help shape the industry. Moguls sessions will take place in the Filmmakers’ Lounge and are open to all Sales & Industry, Guest and Press delegates.
Moguls sessions include:
Tessa Ross
Tessa Ross, Channel 4’s Controller of Film and Drama, is considered by many to be the godmother of contemporary British cinema. With films like Slumdog Millionaire, In Bruges, Happy-Go-Lucky, The Iron Lady, Hunger, This is England, 127 Hours, Four Lions, The Motorcycle Diaries, Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland to her credit, it’s easy to see why. She is admired for her enviable ability to spot appealing stories, develop projects from the ground up, and nurture internationally acclaimed talent – all on Film4’s $23 million annual budget. Join Indiewire’s Anne Thompson in conversation with one of the world’s leading film executives.
Glen Basner
In only four short years, FilmNation founder and CEO Glen Basner has built his fledgling sales company into a film industry powerhouse. With four films in this year’s Festival (Looper, Midnight’s Children, Aftershock, To the Wonder) and a slate of titles that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide in the last year and a half, the veteran international film executive sits down with Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming to discuss FilmNation’s versatile and innovative approach.
Jeremy Thomas
One of world cinema’s leading independent producers, Academy Award®-winner Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, Kon-Tiki) has created a highly diverse body of work, including artistic and commercial successes by some of cinema’s leading auteurs. His production shingle, Recorded Picture Company, and his leading international sales, distribution and marketing company, Hanway Films, are both a testament to his fiercely independent spirit and entrepreneurial passion. Join us for a journey through his adventurous career.
INDUSTRY DIALOGUES
Industry Dialogues is a speaker series examining the current state of the film industry and the craft of filmmaking. Industry Dialogues are open to all Sales & Industry, Press and Guest Relations Pass holders and run from September 7 to 13 in the Filmmakers’ Lounge.
Industry Dialogues include:
Keynote Address: Back to the Drawing Board: Digital Cinema and Film History
Renowned film scholar and historian David Bordwell (the Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, Emeritus in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) addresses how filmmaking, film distribution, and film viewing have been affected by the conversion of theatres to digital projection.
It's Easy Being Green: Simple Steps to Greening Your Production
Presented in partnership with the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival Learn efficient, economical and socially responsible ways to make your film production more environmentally sustainable.
• Moderator: Melissa Felder — Program Lead/Consultant, Green Screen Toronto
• Avi Federgreen — Founder, Federgreen Entertainment, Indiecan Entertainment; producer, One Week, Score: A Hockey Musical
• Gale Anne Hurd — CEO, Valhalla Motion Pictures; producer, The Walking Dead, Armageddon, Aliens
• Lydia Dean Pilcher — Chair, PGA Green East; producer, The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Board Member for The New York Production Alliance
Case Studies: International Co-Productions
Learn the benefits of playing well with others in this informative and insightful crash course on co-productions moderated by Mark Musselman, Executive Producer, Serendipity Point Films.
Case studies include:
• Lore (Australia, UK, Denmark) with producer Liz Watts
• Zaytoun (UK, Israel, France) with Academy Award-winning producer Gareth Unwin (The King’s Speech)
Case Studies: The Art of the Screenplay
From conception to composition to collaboration, learn how the ins and outs of the creative process shaped some of this year's stellar screenplays.
• Moderator: Franklin Leonard — Creator, Blacklist.com and Vice-President, Overbrook Entertainment
Bigger, Brighter, Better: Enhancing the Cinema Experience
The principal players in film exhibition discuss how changes in cinema technologies will soon revolutionize the movie-going experience.
• Stuart Bowling — Senior Manager of Worldwide Technical Marketing, Dolby
• Dr. Paul Salvini — Chief Technology Officer, Christie
• Mark Welton — President, IMAX Theatres
• Dan McGrath — Chief Operating Officer, Cineplex Entertainment
• Moderator: John Helliker, Founder & Director of Sheridan College’s SIRT Centre
The Social Network: Marketing Indie Films Online
Be one of the cool kids — the kind who go on to rule the world with their media savvy, technological know-how — by learning how to master the medium and the message when marketing your film online.
• Marc Schiller — Founder and CEO, BOND Strategy and Influence
• Moderator: Ira Deutchman — Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures; Professor of Professional Practice in the Graduate Film Division of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, where he is the Chair of the Film Program; Founder of Fine Line Features; Co-Founder of Cinecom
VoD Killed the DVD Star: The Future of Independent Distribution
Video on demand is poised to replace DVD and theatrical as the main distribution channel for independent films. Learn how to properly position your film in the marketplace and maximize the potential of this burgeoning platform.
• Phillip Knatchbull — CEO, Curzon Artificial Eye
• Edward Burns — director, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
• Tom Quinn — Weinstein Company
Creative Distribution: Thinking Outside the Four Walls
From hybrid distribution to semi-theatrical releasing and theatrical-on-demand, learn about the latest, innovative ways to get your film to an audience.
• Pablo Gonzalez — COO, Tugg
• Janet Brown — CEO, Cinetic Rights Management / Film Buff
• Evan Husney — Director of Acquisitions, Drafthouse Films
• Moderator: Jeremy Kay — US Editor, Screen Daily
Alternative Africa: Filmmakers in Markets Without Infrastructure
Making films and getting them seen is hard. Doing it in countries with virtually non-existent film industries is harder. Find out how these innovative artists and enterprising entrepreneurs are getting it done.
• Aziz Cissé — director, The Walls of Dakar
• Enrico Chiesa — Head of AfricaFilms.tv
• Joslyn Barnes — Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Louverture Films
• Helen Kuun — Head of Content, Acquisitions & Strategy, Indigenous Film Distribution
• Moderator: Jean-Michel Frodon — journalist, Slate
Microbudgeting: Doing More With Less
Turn a funding shortfall into a creative surplus by learning from the experts how to make the most of a shoestring budget.
• Katriel Schory — Executive Director, Israel Film Fund
• Atif Ghani — Producer, Ill Manors
• Karine Martin -— President, Mediabiz International
• Avi Federgreen — Founder, Federgreen Entertainment, Indiecan Entertainment; producer, One Week, Score: A Hockey Musical
• Moderator: John Galway — President, Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund
Transmedia: Storytelling Without Boundaries
TIFF Studio launches with an in-depth discussion on cross-platform content, featuring filmmakers on the forefront of transmedia.
• Mahyad Tousi — Co-Founder and CEO, Boomgen Studios
• Alex Barkaloff — Executive Producer, Digital Media, Lionsgate
• Lance Weiler — Writer, Director & Experience Designer for Film, TV, and Games
• Caitlin Burns — Transmedia Producer and Editorial Lead, Starlight Runner Entertainment
Yours to Discover: Fantastic First-Time Feature Directors
Join Screen International's Wendy Mitchell for an intimate and insightful discussion with some of this year's most promising debut directors from the Discovery programme.
Sourcing the Funds, Funding the Source: The New Age of Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding, crowdsourcing — two sides of the same coin. Learn how to finance your film and build your audience, all at the same time.
• Elisabeth Holm — director, Film Program, Kickstarter
• Guneet Monga — producer, Peddlers, Monsoon Shootout, Gangs of Wasseypur
• Lynette Howell — producer, The Place Beyond the Pines
• Moderator: Scott Roxborough — journalist, The Hollywood Reporter
Independent India
Bullocks to Bollywood! Today's hottest Indie-an filmmakers trumpet the DIY aesthetic and the merits of Mumbai.
Manjeet Singh — director, Mumbai Cha Raja
• Vasan Bala — director, Peddlers
• Ashim Ahluwalia — director, Miss Lovely
• Guneet Monga — producer, Peddlers, Monsoon Shootout, Gangs Of Wasseypur
• Moderator: Patrick Frater — journalist, Film Business Asia
TIFF Nexus: Renga and the Future of Interactive Cinema
Renga is being hailed as a breakthrough in cinematic interactivity. Go behind the scenes with the creators and join in on a live 100-player game using laser pointers!
• Adam Russell — Co-founder, wallFour
• John Sear — Co-founder wallFour
Additional panelists and moderators will be confirmed in coming weeks.
TIFF NEXUS
The critically acclaimed TIFF Nexus series — where the worlds of Film, Gaming and New Media converge — presents Renga, an interactive cinematic game experience, as well as a mini-arcade of games conceived during the Nexus “creative jam” series. Supported by the Ontario Media Development Corporation and several programming partners, TIFF Nexus has blossomed into a popular series of interactive media conferences, creative jams and hands-on technology workshops uniting a range of industry, academic and community partners across diverse sectors.
In addition to the TIFF Nexus: Renga and the Future of Interactive Cinema Industry Dialogue, TIFF Nexus initiatives taking place during the Festival include:
Renga
The world’s first 100-player co-op laser game, Renga is about finding a way home: ambushed and left for dead in deep space, the audience must build a ship, confront their nemesis and journey home. A breakthrough in big-screen interaction, Renga turns massively-multi-player on its head, challenging the crowd to collaborate to form teams and share controllers in this heart-racing mashup where arcade game-play meets feature-length adventure.
TIFF Nexus Mini-Arcade
Metro Hall Rotunda, 55 John Street, Toronto
Open daily from September 7 to 15, 7:30 am – 9:30 pm
Videogame developers, filmmakers, artists, interactive designers and hackers of all kinds came together during the TIFF Nexus creative jams to explore cross-sector innovation among select themes. The mini-arcade is free to the public. For information on the concepts, their creators and presentation times, visit tiffnexus.net.
ADDITIONAL INDUSTRY PROGRAMMING AND INITIATIVES
indieWIRE @ Filmmakers' Lounge
September 8 to 11
4 pm – 5 pm
indieWIRE’s popular Q&A sessions with some of the most notable actors and directors at the Toronto International Film Festival return to Filmmakers’ Lounge.
Telefilm Canada's Talent to Watch
Filmmakers’ Lounge, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Toronto
Telefilm Canada’s Talent To Watch sessions promise to be a lively, insightful and surprising look at why Canadian cinema is applauded around the world.
Class Of 2012: Canadian Directors To Watch
The future of Canadian cinema is here and it is now: meet the young directors – emerging onto screens at home and abroad – and hear how they got here and where they intend to go.
First We Take Manhattan: Canadian Films In The U.S
An increasing number of Canadian films are being enjoyed by American audiences and traction for our talent is increasing south of the border. This panel will address the opportunities and realities of the US market for our films.
Looking At The World: Canadian Cinema Beyond Its Borders
From tales of Canadians in settings far from home, to new narratives emerging from our endlessly evolving cultural realities, our stories – both in what they are telling and how they are told – resonate beyond our borders.
Not Short On Talent
The Toronto International Film Festival’s inspired and audacious selection of shorts is the focus of this session featuring Canadian directors revealing that they are so… Not Short On Talent.
About TIFF
TIFF is a charitable cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world through film. An international leader in film culture, TIFF projects include the annual Toronto International Film Festival in September; TIFF Bell Lightbox, which features five cinemas, major exhibitions, and learning and entertainment facilities; and innovative national distribution program Film Circuit. The organization generates an annual economic impact of $170 million CAD. TIFF Bell Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including Founding Sponsor Bell, the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel and Susan Michaels), The Daniels Corporation and RBC. For more information, visit tiff.net.
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