The Underground TIFF GAT PR Press Summary

Streel Films The Underground World Premiere at TIFF 2014 GAT PR Press Summary

Interviews Completed

Monday August 11

Go Social Film Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Thursday August 21

Toronto Star Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Friday August 22

Women and Hollywood – Indiewire Michelle Latimer

Tuesday August 26

The She View Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Montage Magazine Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Friday August 29

Urban Native Mag Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Wednesday September 3

The Stephen Holt Show Interviewed: Omar Hady

Thursday September 4

CHCH TV Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Friday September 5

Quill and Quire Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Saturday September 6

Independent Film Channel Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Tribute Media Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Tribute Media Interviewed: Omar Hady, Tara Woodbury

Independent Film Channel Interviewed: Omar Hady

SceneCreek Interviewed Michelle Latimer

Monday September 8

Showbiz Monkeys Interviewed: Omar Hady

Ward and Al – Sirius XM Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Wednesday September 10

Birks/Telefilm Red Carpet Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Thursday September 11

Now and Then – CBC Interviewed: Rawi Hage

Up North – CBC Interviewed: Michelle Latimer

Toronto International Film Festival Reveals Slate of Canadian Features and Short Films

By Casey Cipriani – 08.06.2014 http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto-international-film-festival-reveals-slate-of-canadianfeatures-and-short-films-20140806 “The Underground,” Michelle Latimer, 13’ World Premiere Araz, an Iranian refugee, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse. Inspired by the bestselling novel written by Rawi Hage, The Underground is a visceral portrayal of one man’s struggle to fit into Western culture as he battles past demons. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, Araz turns inward in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

Xavier Dolan’s ‘Mommy’ Leads Canadian Line-Up Of New TIFF 2014 Announcements

By Kevin Jagernauth – 08.06.2014 http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/xavier-dolans-mommy-leads-canadian-line-up-of-newtiff-2014-announcements-20140806 “The Underground,” Michelle Latimer, 13’ World Premiere Araz, an Iranian refugee, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse. Inspired by the bestselling novel written by Rawi Hage, The Underground is a visceral portrayal of one man’s struggle to fit into Western culture as he battles past demons. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, Araz turns inward in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

MacKay, St. Jules films to get world bows at TIFF

By Julianna Cummins – 08.06.2014 http://playbackonline.ca/2014/08/06/mckay-st-jules-films-to-get-world-bows-attiff/#ixzz3B8NnhXJc The festival also released the names of four Canadian short films to screen in the Wavelengths program: Alexandre Larose’s brouillard – passage #14, Jean-Paul Kelly’s The Innocents, Blake Williams’ Red Capriccio, and Malena Szlam’s Lunar Almanac. brouillard – passage #14, The Innocents, and Red Capriccio will all get their world premieres in the program, while Lunar Almanac, a Canada-Chile coproduction, will get its Toronto premiere at TIFF. The festival’s Short Cuts Canada program will feature 42 shorts, including the world premieres of Michelle Latimer’s The Underground and Ryan J. Noth’s A Tomb with a View.

Roots Canada: TIFF Adds Latest From Dolan, Maxime Giroux, Ruba Nadda & Rodrigue Jean

By Leora Heilbronn – 08.06.2014 http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/roots-canada-tiff-adds-latest-from-dolanmaxime-giroux-ruba-nadda-rodrigue-jean The luxurious banquet hall in Toronto’s Royal York hotel was electric with excitement as TIFF senior programmers including Steve Gravestock and Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo announced the robust lineup of Canadian films (several world preems) at this year’s TIFF plus the 40+ titles (out of an astounding 840 short films – an increase of over 200 titles from last year) that will screen at the prestigious festival.

“The Underground,” Michelle Latimer

Cannes Winner ‘Mommy’ Heads Canadian Slate at Toronto Film Fest

By Steve Pond – 08.06.2014 https://www.yahoo.com/movies/s/cannes-winner-mommy-heads-canadian-slate-toronto-film184500763.html The festival also announced 42 Canadian short films that will make up the Short Cuts Canada program.

SHORT CUTS CANADA “The Underground,” Michelle Latimer

TIFF Short Cuts Canada Capsules: ‘Me and My Moulton’, ‘Entangled’, ‘Liompa’ & More

By Jared Moborak – 09.07.2014 http://thefilmstage.com/features/tiff-short-cuts-canada-capsules-me-and-my-moultonentangled-liompa-more/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign =Feed%3A+thefilmstage+(The+Film+Stage) Forty-two short films were selected as part of the Toronto International Film Festivals 2014 iteration of Short Cuts Canada. Showcasing a slew of up-and-coming talent residing within the titular nation, each block exposes you to animated, documentary, and fiction work with faces familiar and new.

• The Underground, dir. Michelle Latimer, 13 min.

TIFF announces selections for Talent Lab Toronto, Telefilm Canada’s PITCH THIS!, Rising Stars

By David Eng – 08.06.2014 http://www.chinokino.com/2014/08/2014-tiff-announces-selections-for.html Congratulations to Talent Lab participant, director Andrew Cividino, on the selection of his film Sleeping Giant in the 2014 Short Cuts Canada programme, and to the following Talent Lab alumni with films in the Festival’s 2014 selection.

Michelle Latimer, Director, The Underground

“‘Anna and the Tower’ To Run Daily During TIFF” 08.07.2014 http://www.arabtimesonline.com/RSS/tabid/69/smid/414/ArticleID/208306/Default.aspx The festival also announced the 42 Canadian short films that will make up the Short Cuts Canada program. The selection includes “My and My Moulton” from Oscar-winning director Torill Kove (“The Danish Poet”) and the short documentary “Red Alert” from Barry Avrich. The complete list of shorts can be found below, and in greater detail on the TIFF website.

SHORT CUTS CANADA “The Underground,” Michelle Latimer

Short Cuts Canada Programme 6 08.06.2014 http://tofilmfest.ca/films/?by=Film&at=Short_Cuts_Canada_Programme_6&yr=2014#Short_Cu ts_Canada_Programme_6 The Underground A young Iranian man struggles to fit into a new culture, his poverty and isolation leading him to imagine himself as an insect, absorbing the world through its senses. Inspired by Rawi Hage’s bestselling novel Cockroach, this visceral tale of alienation and delirium creates a magical-realist aesthetic that is both gritty and poetic.

Trailer for short film by Michelle Latimer 08.06.2014 http://www.veooz.com/videos/WHOKqa8.html Trailer for the short film by Michelle Latimer I worked on. Screening at #TIFF14 #cancon #theundefground

2014 TIFF Announces Canadian Film

By David Eng – 08.06.2014 http://www.chinokino.com/2014/08/2014-tiff-announces-selections-for.html The Underground Michelle Latimer, 13’ World Premiere Araz, an Iranian refugee, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse. Inspired by the bestselling novel written by Rawi Hage, The Underground is a visceral portrayal of one man’s struggle to fit into Western culture as he battles past demons. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, Araz turns inward in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

TIFF Showcases New Talent with Canadian Line-up 08.06.2014 http://www.cinemablographer.com/2014/08/tiff-showcases-new-talent-with-canadian.html The Underground Michelle Latimer, 13’ World Premiere Araz, an Iranian refugee, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse. Inspired by the bestselling novel written by Rawi Hage, The Underground is a visceral portrayal of one man’s struggle to fit into Western culture as he battles past demons. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, Araz turns inward in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

Trailer for The Underground 08.09.2014 http://www.traileraddict.com/the-underground-2014/trailer

A young Iranian man struggles to fit into a new culture, his poverty and isolation leading him to imagine himself as an insect, absorbing the world through its senses. Inspired by Rawi Hage’s bestselling novel Cockroach, this visceral tale of alienation and delirium creates a magical-realist aesthetic that is both gritty and poetic.

Oscar winner Torill Kove among big talents unspooling short films at TIFF

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://tiff.ctv.ca/news/Torill_Kove_TIFF Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

Oscar winner Torill Kove among big talents unspooling short films at TIFF

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://www.cp24.com/features/tiff-2014/oscar-winner-torill-kove-among-big-talentsunspooling-short-films-at-tiff-1.1982247 Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

TIFF 2014 Lookahead: A Surge of Short Films

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://www.macleans.ca/culture/movies/tiff-2014-lookahead-a-surge-of-short-films/ Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

TIFF short films feature big talent

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://www.ourwindsor.ca/whatson-story/4804801-tiff-short-films-feature-big-talent/ Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

TIFF short films feature big talent

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://www.insidehalton.com/whatson-story/4804801-tiff-short-films-feature-big-talent/ Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

TIFF short films feature big talent The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://blackburnnews.com/bri-entertainment/2014/08/29/tiff-short-films-feature-big-talent/ Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

Oscar winner Torill Kove among big talents unspooling short films at TIFF

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press – 08.29.2014 http://www.lillooetnews.net/entertainment/horoscopes/oscar-winner-torill-kove-among-bigtalents-unspooling-short-films-at-tiff-1.1333801 Some short films are based on existing work, like Michelle Latimer's "The Underground," adapted from the bestselling novel "Cockroach" by Rawi Hage. The film follows an Iranian refugee who experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only creature that will survive after the apocalypse.

TIFF 2014 Preview

By Anya W. – 08.31.2014 http://www.spotsintoronto.com/tiff-2014-preview/ The Underground – Michelle Latimer Canada World Premiere A visceral portrayal of an Iranian man’s struggle to fit into Western culture. The Underground is a new short film by critically acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Michelle Latimer, which is set to have its World Premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Araz, an Iranian refugee in Canada, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach. Having fought to escape the warzone he once called home, and destined for a fresh start, Araz arrives in Canada to find that North American life is not what he had dreamed of. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, he turns inwards in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

Canada Reads 2014 finalist Cockroach inspires TIFF short film 09.02.2014 http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/09/canada-reads-2014-finalist-cockroach-inspires-tiff-shortfilm.html Each year, the Toronto International Film Festival highlights "short cuts" - short films by upcoming Canadian film makers. Included in the 2014 line-up is The Underground, a film by Canadian actor and filmmaker Michelle Latimer. The 13-minute film was inspired by Rawi Hage's novel, Cockroach, which was a Canada Reads contender in 2014 and defended by comedian and The Daily Show star Samantha Bee. The film, like the novel, is about an Iranian immigrant who relocates to Canada. But instead of finding a better life, he struggles with poverty, depression and isolation.

"I love [Hage's] ability to be both poetic and gritty. He's not afraid of difficult or dark subject matter and he has a strong social consciousness," Latimer said in a press statement.

"The unnamed protagonist in Cockroach could be perceived as unsympathetic, but I thought he was quite beautiful and very true to life. Hage's writing is so descriptive - it draws you into a raw, visceral experience that you can't shake free from."

In addition to Canada Reads, Cockroach was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize,the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

20 NSI grads and two NSI-developed projects screening at TIFF 2014

By Laura Friesan – 08.11.2014 http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2014/09/the-nsi-guide-to-tiff-2014/ Big Bang Baby and The Underground, both NSI-developed projects, are premiering next month at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Congratulations also go out to writer/director Michelle Latimer and producer Kerry Swanson who developed The Underground through NSI Drama Prize in 2013. NSI grads Danis Goulet (NSI Drama Prize) and Paula Devonshire (NSI Totally Television, NSI Features First) are executive producers on The Underground.

The Underground, based on the novel Cockroach by Canadian writer Rawi Hage, is the story of Araz, an Iranian refugee who experiences the disillusionment of North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse.

The NSI guide to TIFF 2014 09.03.2014 http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2014/09/the-nsi-guide-to-tiff-2014/ The Underground – developed through NSI Drama Prize by writer/director Michelle Latimer and producer Kerry Swanson. NSI grads Danis Goulet (NSI Drama Prize) and Paula Devonshire (NSI Totally Television, NSI Features First) are executive producers.

14 lit-inspired films to watch for at TIFF 2014

By Julie Baldassi – 08.26.2014 http://www.quillandquire.com/book-culture/2014/08/26/14-lit-inspired-films-to-watch-for-at-tiff-2014/

The Underground: CanLit makes an appearance in Toronto-based filmmaker Michelle Latimer’s short-film adaptation of Rawi Hage’s Giller-nominated novel Cockroach. Staged in a magicalrealism style, the film is inspired by Hage’s tale of a young Iranian immigrant in Montreal whose encounters with everyday racism and intolerance lead him to imagine living as an insect.

Tiff 2014 Review: Short Cuts Canada Programme 6

By Ada Wong – 09.10.2014 http://thetfs.ca/2014/09/10/tiff-review-short-cuts-canada-programme-6-3/#.VHOKVYvF_-h Other films featured in Short Cuts Canada Programme 6 include The Barnhouse by Caroline Mailloux of Quebec, about a woman who suspects her young son might know something about the disappearance of a local boy; the Canadian & Norwegian animation Me and My Moulton, about a girl whose dreams of a bicycle in order to be like the other kids are hampered by her unconventional parents; and The Underground, based on Rawi Hage’s book The Cockroach, about an isolated immigrant who begins to envision himself as an insect.

Michelle Latimer’s adaptation of Rawi Hage’s Cockroach premieres at TIFF

By Sue Carter Flinn – 09.11.2014 http://www.quillandquire.com/book-culture/2014/09/11/michelle-latimers-adaptation-of-rawihages-cockroach-premieres-at-tiff/

Toronto filmmaker and social-rights activist Michelle Latimer has undertaken the challenge of distilling Rawi Hage’s 2008 novel Cockroach (House of Anansi Press) into a 13-minute film. The Underground premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 11, as part of the Short Cuts programme.

Inspired by the “ugly beauty” and visceral nature of Hage’s writing, Latimer’s magical-realist film follows Iranian refugee Araz as he copes with the isolation of his new Canadian home by imagining himself physically transforming into a cockroach. Araz also collects the insects in jars, which he scrambles to hide after witnessing an exterminator’s truck pulling up to his apartment building.

Latimer took licence with Hage’s narrative to suit the visual medium, while still honouring the novel’s themes of alienation, assimilation, and loss of identity. “The novel’s very experiential in that you really feel like you’re entering the mind of the main protagonist,” she says. “I wanted a way to highlight those themes in a short film. If I were making a feature, we’d have more time and there could be more subtlety.”

The protagonist’s Farsi voice-over, which Latimer refers to as “existential dialogue,” is translated directly from Hage’s novel. “It was really important to have the film in another language for the audience to feel that sense of displacement,” she says. “It’s something you’re not used to hearing – and also it’s another way to hit the theme of loss of culture.”

Hage, who was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize for Cockroach, travelled from Vancouver to assist Latimer in promoting the film. While all three of his novels have been optioned (an international co-production of De Niro’s Game is currently in the works), Latimer’s is the first adaptation to to be completed. Hage says he originally agreed to give Latimer rights to Cockroach because of her past work, and also because she is “politically and socially engaged.”

After viewing the film, he has nothing but praise for Latimer and her work, saying, “She kept the spirit of the novel, and managed to be as authentic as possible. This story of exile is concise and beautifully made.”

Northern Ontario films at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival http://www.thinknorth.ca/ShowArticle.aspx?id=691dedd3-6172-4735-bd5c-25355bc5a28f 2014 Toronto International Film Festival has announced their Canadian film line up, and there are several Northern Ontario films & filmmakers amongst the selections.

-The Underground (Short Film – Director: Michelle Latimer) will play as part of the Short Cuts Canada Program #6 Congratulations to all Cast & Crew for being apart of one of the biggest film festivals in the world!

TIFF Women Directors: Meet Michelle Latimer - 'The Underground'

By Alice Thorpe – 09.11.2014 http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/tiff-women-directors-meet-michelle-latimerthe-underground-20140911

Michelle Latimer, writer and director of the dramatic short The Underground, is an actor, filmmaker, and curator. Her award-winning documentary Alias premiered at the 2013 Hot Docs Film Festival before screening internationally. Her animated short Choke (2010) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, received a Sundance Special Jury Honorable Mention in International Short Filmmaking, was named by Toronto International Film Festival among Canada’s Top Ten of 2012, and nominated for a Genie Award. She stars in the acclaimed television series Blackstone and appears as an industry judge on CBC’s Short Film Face Off. Latimer is currently developing her first dramatic feature in collaboration with Sienna Films and the National Film Board of Canada. (Press materials)

In The Underground, a young Iranian man struggles to fit into a new culture, his poverty and isolation leading him to imagine himself as an insect, absorbing the world through its senses.

(TIFF official site) The Underground will play at TIFF on September 11 and 12.

WaH: Please give us your description of the film playing at TIFF. ML: Inspired by Rawi Hage’s best-selling novel Cockroach, The Underground is about an Iranian refugee who struggles to fit into North American society by imagining himself as a cockroach, the only living creature that will survive after humanity perishes in the apocalypse.

WaH: What drew you to this story?

ML: I love the novel that the film is based on. It lent itself well to the magical realism I wanted to play with cinematically. The existential writing is brave and unforgiving, and it thrust me into the mind of a protagonist who is so beautifully flawed and angry. I was also interested in exploring themes of cultural assimilation and loss of identity, and how the metaphor of the cockroach has prevailed in all genocidal propaganda within the last hundred years.

WaH: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

ML: I’m not particularly fond of cockroaches, so having a few dozen on set at any given time required some deep breathing. I didn’t know that cockroaches actually hiss until I made this film!

WaH: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theatre?

ML: The film challenges ideas of freedom and is quite critical of organized religion, especially in relation to how it has been used as a form of repression throughout the world. It’s always bothered me that, here in North America, we like to think that we are above the kind of conflict we see in other countries. But I would argue that the repression apparent in our society is more subversive.

Despite living in a "free and democratic" country, there still remains a persistent notion of a human underclass. This story illuminates how this notion impacts our humanity and how, as citizens, we have a responsibility to care for one another. My [Native Canadian] Elders say that a society is only as strong as the weakest among us, and I believe that.

WaH: What advice do you have for other female directors?

ML: Speak your truth, and you will find your comrades. And have a place where you can go to refill your solitude -- this is very important.

WaH: What's the biggest misconception about you and your work?

ML: I guess if I could wish for one thing, it would be to be seen and referred to simply as a "director," not an "Indigenous" or "female" or an "Indigenous-female director," but simply as a "director." When’s the last time you heard a guy referred to as "that male director"? I hope we can get to that place one day.

WaH: How did you get your film funded?

ML: This film was supported through the Canadian National Screen Institute’s Drama Prize.

They choose four films a year to support, and ours was one of them. In addition to that, we also received financing from the Canadian Arts Councils, the National Film Board of Canada, as well as private funding from AMAZE Film and Television, and we pre-sold the film for broadcast within Canada prior to production.

We pulled a lot of favors and were very fortunate to have a number of production and postproduction facilities donate resources. We exhausted all our avenues and didn’t take no for an answer, but it took some very creative budgeting to make the film we envisioned.

WaH: Name your favorite women-directed film and why.

ML: I really love the Greek film Attenberg, written and directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari. It’s original and quirky, and I love the physicality of the performances. Lately, I’ve also been frequently referencing The Arbor, the first feature by UK director Clio Barnard. The narrative structure is exceptional, and I love the experimental approach. The film embraces a hybridity between doc and drama where the actors actually lip-synch documentary interview. Whenever I get scared of failing, I watch this film and am reminded how important it is to push boundaries and not to fear the unknown.

TIFF 2014: Three Canadian directors

By Eric Veillette – 08.28.2014 http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/2014/08/28/tiff_behind_the_scenes_with_emergi ng_canadian_directors.html

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Michelle Latimer: Director, The Underground

You spent the month of August in the Yukon, writing a script for an upcoming project. Do you tend to write far from home?

I spent some time in the Yukon recently and found it really conducive to writing. Toronto is wonderful — I really love it — but it has too many distractions for me. I can’t look at the Bell Lightbox schedule. If I hear about a dance show, I get excited. It’s just an overload.

When did the filmmaking bug first hit you?

We had one movie theatre in Thunder Bay but it was really expensive. We were three kids, so that wasn’t happening, but I remember that when we got a VHS player was a big moment. The first movies I remember renting were Annie, and the making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, where they showed them putting contacts in the eyes, the dance choreography — it was the first time I realized there was a craft to filmmaking.

You were initially an actress. When did you make the switch?

It took me a long time to empower myself to become a filmmaker. It was a combination of two things. I’d gotten pretty far in my acting career and I was getting tired of playing the same thing or being part of stories that I wasn’t behind, either emotionally or ethically. It was frustrating. I thought of going to medical school. So in that time I went to Africa to volunteer in a medical clinic for sex trade workers. There was a video camera there and a woman said to me: “You can’t do anything with these drugs, I’m going to die anyway. But that camera, you can do something with that, because I’m going to die before my children ever get to me know me, as a woman, so please record my story and keep it for them. That was the moment.

That’s pretty powerful. What were the next steps?

I came back and enrolled in a documentary filmmaking course. Something in that experience made me realize the depth and power of the medium. I got a job at the Ontario AIDS Network, and I started making community videos for them, things like HIV awareness and safe crack-use videos.

The Underground screens as part of Short Cuts Canada Program 6 on Sept. 11 and 12.

TIFF: Behind the Scenes with Emerging Canadian Directors

By Alison Milward – 08.28.2014 http://embreate.com/?p=1146 As seen on thestar.com Three emerging Canadian directors share their thoughts on the creative craft, the film-submission process, and how first-time directors can get the most out of the festival experience.

Michelle Latimer: Director, The Underground

Hamilton director’s work to premiere at TIFF 09.04.2014 http://www.chch.com/hamilton-directors-work-premiere-tiff/

It’s finally here: the Toronto International Film Festival starts today.

Among the films making its world premiere is The Underground, written and directed by Hamilton native Michelle Latimer. She spoke to CHCH’s Annette Hamm.

Michelle Latimer & Omar Hady Interview The Underground

By Zain Begzhi – 09.09.2014 http://www.tribute.ca/tiff/index.php/2014/09/09/michelle-latimer-omar-hady-interview-theunderground/#.VG-Esb4-AUt

Canadian short film The Underground focuses on an Iranian immigrant who struggles to fit into western culture and transforms into a cockroach to symbolize the hardship of assimilation into North America. Filmmaker Michelle Latimer sat down with tribute.ca to discuss and joke about the casting of the cockroach and the technical aspects that went into filming. Actor Omar Hady discusses the process he went through before filming the scenes, which included fasting and isolating himself from friends and family and what audiences should take away from this film.

TIFF 2014 Interview: Omar Joseph Hady

By Elizabeth Hughes Belzil – 09.24.2014 http://www.showbizmonkeys.com/movies.php?id=2894

Lebanese-Canadian author Rawi Hage published Cockroach: A Novel, in 2008 to generally positive reviews and even snagged a few literary awards. Now, more than half a decade later, the book has a new found prominence: it has been selected for 2014’s Canada Reads and is the inspiration of a short film, The Underground, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Shortcuts Program 6. A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to speak to the film’s young star, Omar Joseph Hady.

The central character of the film imagines himself a scuttling insect, experiencing life as an outsider on the nocturne streets of Montreal. A refugee from Iran, Araz feels tormented by the violence in his past and alienated from his new world. Hady has a relaxed disposition and social ease that starkly distinguishes him from the troubled character he portrays. I asked him about his audition for the role. Though he assured me tardiness is not the norm for him, on the day of the audition there was a mechanical issue with the street car he was riding.

"I show up late and am anxiety ridden. I leave the audition and I'm kicking myself thinking there's no way I'm going to get the part. And I get it. The anxiety I was feeling--using that in some way helped me."

The shoot was over the course of three short but intense days. Though set in Montreal, itwas filmed in Toronto with the use of a green screen to graft famous sites into the background.

The cockroaches that serve as Araz's sole companions were portrayed by real insects (all male in order to prevent a potential population explosion). Hady described his experience working with the arthropods. The director, Michelle Latimer, "asked if I wanted to take one home to get to know it and I was like "no"." Whatever squeamishness he harbored, he successfully emanates a sense of kinship with his antennaed co-stars. "If we were to have an apocalypse it's said that the cockroach is the only one to survive. . . In order for this refugee to adapt to this new culture he imagines himself as a cockroach and with the senses of a cockroach, helps him to adapt to Western culture. " When we tell refugee stories, normally finding safe haven in another country constitutes a triumphant ending. The Underground explores the struggles the immigrant faces after the presumed happily-ever-after.

The character's psychological distress drew Hady to the material. "My personal connection is this stigmatization of mental illness. We fail to really talk about that and that's a really big thing to me right now because I have a lot of close friends, people close to me, that are dealing with that. We are kind of afraid to talk about that and veer away from that subject." The main character "suffers from PTSD and attempting to acclimate to a new culture -- it shines a light on that." Throughout the film the viewer is given glimpses of the nightmare landscape Araz internally inhabits, including a scene where he imagines exterminators raiding his apartment. "It's a product of his imagination and I think it goes back to the PTSD and how sensitive and vulnerable one can be when you suffer from that illness. It's very much like the warzone he grew up in: he relates himself to the cockroach and therefore the cockroach's enemy is the exterminator."

Though the subject matter is dark, Hady describes the making of the film as a pleasure. "This film was like a beating heart. It felt like everyone was a family, so much love. And from that I got the feeling like we were really doing something here." The Underground will next be screened on October 1st as part of a retrospective for director Michelle Latimer by the Toronto based videofag.

Michelle Latimer on The Underground and taking charge of her own destiny

By Kristal Cooper – 08.29.2014 http://www.thesheview.com/michelle-latimer-on-the-underground/

Michelle Latimer is a true renaissance woman.

An actress and sometimes festival programmer, Latimer found her way to filmmaking during a pre-med school stint volunteering with AIDS patients in Africa. After distributing medicines to a patient, the sick woman noticed Latimer’s camera and gave her some advice that she’s carried with her ever since.

“She said, you can’t do anything with those medicines but you can do something with that camera. I’m going to die before this medicine helps me but if you take my story down in a video and show it to my kids, maybe one day they’ll know who their mother was.”

When she returned to Canada, she took a documentary course and the rest, as they say, is history. “I was going to make my own work, I was going to have my own voice and it might be hard and maybe I’ll only get Toronto Arts Council grants for the rest of my life but I’m just going to do it.” Latimer shares of her decision to make movies. “Half of the battle is empowering oneself to do it.”

Latimer went on to direct a feature documentary and three short films, one of which is making its premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The Underground is loosely based on Rawi Hage’s best-selling novel, Cockroach, and tells the story of an Iranian man’s struggle to fit into western culture while also being haunted by the shadows of his violent past. It was a book that grabbed Latimer’s attention while she was reading it but the idea to turn it into something more cinematic didn’t occur to her until years later.

“I read the novel quite some time ago and I had only just started filmmaking at that point so I wasn’t reading books with the idea of adapting them.”

She did, however, keep the book in mind and after revisiting it, realized that it would make an excellent short film…with a few alterations. “I picked up the book again and I started reading it and thought, it’s really difficult to adapt a novel into a short film but what if it was more like a character portrait. Maybe that’s the way to do it.”

The resulting film carries the essence of Hage’s novel while also further exploring the issues of identity, loss of language and assimilation.” I tend to work on all of my films in a very thematic way.” Says the filmmaker, “So, I reread the novel to look for themes that I felt resonated so it eventually becomes more of a tone poem and character portrait than an actual narrative. Then I looked through the book for scenes that I thought supported the themes I was interested in articulating. It becomes very simple when you look at it like that because often in a book there are just a few themes that are the main core of the novel.”

Latimer also points out that it was important to her to have her main character in The Underground speak Farsi to represent his isolation as well as what an important tool language can be. “Language can often be used in propaganda. It can be used as a force for freedom and emancipation but it can also be used as a way to oppress people.”

This is an issue that she’s passionate about as a mixed Indigenous filmmaker whose films often portray subject matter that can Canada’s First Nations community could easily relate to. “I’ve watched how Indigenous people across this country have basically had their language wiped out from residential schools and then the backlash from that and I’m really interested in those themes. I feel I’m addressing things that are very pertinent to the First Nations community in

Canada but looking at it from a refugee’s side of things because there’s a lot of crossover between those two populations and I was interested in exploring that.”

She continues, “I do believe that First Nations artists have a responsibility to the community and to also keep our culture alive and to speak about things that are relevant to us. I think that my films do that but where they depart is that I’m often not approaching things using First Nations content. I’m really interested in that cross-cultural dialogue and how things relate crossculturally because it’s not just the First Nations people who are dealing with some of these things.”

Another thing Latimer understands all too well is how difficult it can be for a woman to be heard and taken seriously in an industry dominated by men. “I’ve dealt with it all. Definitely being hyper-sexualized as an actress; I remember once going in for a commercial and they asked me to stand on my tip-toes on an apple box and I noticed that the camera wasn’t even on my face, it was on my legs.”

She’s quick to point out that she’s also been lucky to have male mentors keen on sharing their knowledge and helping to boost her career.

“I’ve also had these great empowering moments where like, great Directors of Photography who are men are wanting to support me. I feel like I’ve been afforded great opportunities but I think there’s always more room.”

“One thing I think we could be better at as women is supporting each other. A lot of my mentors have been men and I think there’s a lot of room for women to mentor women and not feel like, ‘I’ve been given opportunities and I have to horde this for me.’ I think we can be more generous with each other. Women need to take charge of their destiny and to make sure that our stories are out there and that they’re getting told.”

The Underground screens as part of the Short Cuts Canada programme at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and you can also catch a retrospective of Michelle Latimer‘s short films at Videofag on October 1, 2014.

Michelle Latimer is indeed ‘One to Watch

By Eva Thomas – 08.29.2014 http://urbannativemag.com/michelle-latimer-is-indeed-one-to-watch/ Veteran actress-turned-director, Michelle Latimer, is quickly making a name for herself as a filmmaker. As an actress, her acting career has taken her from stage to screen, including lead roles on TV shows including Moose TV, Paradise Falls and Blackstone.

Latimer (Métis/Algonquin) grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario and she graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance.

“I was acting for a while and I was a bit disillusioned with it,” says Latimer, “I wanted to help people more. I was considering going to medical school, so I went to Africa to volunteer in a HIV clinic for sex-trade workers. And one day, this woman came in to get her medicine and there was little video camera sitting on the desk. She said to me: ‘there is nothing you can do for me with that medicine, I am going to die but you see that camera there, there is something you can do for me, you can record my story so that when my children are older they will know who I am.’ In that moment, I realized that the medium of film can actually be a really powerful tool for healing. That’s when I started to think about filmmaking.”

Latimer came back to Canada and started taking documentary filmmaking classes. In 2008, she founded her own independent production company, Streel Films, based in Toronto, which is focused on the development and production of innovative, socially conscious, character-driven films.

Streel Films released the award-winning documentary, Jackpot, which portrays die-hard regulars at a bingo hall. The film premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival and received two Golden Sheaf Awards for Best POV documentary and Outstanding Emerging Filmmakers.

Jackpot was also nominated for the 2011 Donald Britton Gemini Award for Best Social Political Documentary.

Latimer’s animated short film Choke uses stop-motion animation to portray a fictional young man leaving his First Nation reservation for big city life, only to face isolation and a loss of identity. Choke premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received the Special Jury Honourable Mention in International Short Filmmaking before going on to screen internationally. Choke was nominated for a 2012 Genie Award and was named by the Toronto Film Festival among Canada’s Top Ten films of 2011.

“My experience with the film Choke was very humbling,” says Latimer, “I really did go through a process of thinking no one would ever see the film and then to the exact opposite with the film being everywhere in some degree. It was reminder that you don’t make films for validation from the outside but you do it for something greater. And if you believe in the story and you have something to say, that will prevail. People will come see to the work if there is a voice behind it. So that was a great lesson that I learned from that experience.”

In 2012, Latimer was named among 15 producers chosen to participate in the Toronto Film Festival’s inaugural STUDIO Producers Program. Previously she participated in the Toronto Film Festival’s Talent Lab where she mentored under filmmakers, Danny Boyle, Don McKellar and Miranda July.

Latimer’s next film Alias follows the pitfalls of talented Toronto rappers trying to escape the gangster life by becoming entertainers. Alias premiered at the 2013 Hot Docs Film Festival and ImagineNATIVE Film Festival before screening internationally.

In 2013, Latimer was featured in Playback’s 2013 Ten to Watch list, a compilation of 10 up-andcoming talents in the Canadian entertainment industry. And earlier this year, she just finished the NSI Drama Prize short film The Underground which just screened at Cannes International Film Festival in Telefilm Canada’s Not Short on Talent Showcase.

Currently, Latimer is developing a film about Renée Acoby, Canada’s only female dangerous offender – a designation she earned for crimes, including assaults and hostage-takings, committed while in prison. Latimer is collaborating on the project with iconoclastic filmmaker Peter Mettler (Gambling, Gods and LSD, The End of Time, The Top of His Head).

“The film is about Renée Acoby, who is a Metis woman from Manitoba,” says Latimer, “She was incarcerated when she 18 and pregnant. The film is essentially about her life. And I think it speaks largely to Indigenous woman in prison and the high, high rates of incarceration we have in our community. I am hoping that through telling Renée’s story, it will personalizethe issue and speakto a larger problem that’s happening in Canada.”

The project titled Forgotten was recently one of four projects chosen for the imagineNATIVE Feature Film Lab, a writer-driven program that focuses on the initial stages of feature script development. Latimer plans to develop a hybrid-genre feature film about Renée Acoby and she is now developing the script.

“As Indigenous filmmakers, we can bring a special sensitivity to these stories. But also I think that we can assert own our identity and break some of the stereotypes that have been held around our identity for so long,” says Latimer, “And say: this is an urban Indian’s experience or this is my experience or perspective as an Indigenous person. It has only been a short time since we’ve been able to do that on an international scale. They are calling it the ‘Indigenous New Wave in Cinema.’ It is a really exciting time to be an Indigenous artist in this country.”

Keep your eye out for Michelle Latimer for she is indeed “one to watch.

Stephenholtshow a.k.a. “The Oscar Messenger” Omar Hady “The Underground” TIFF’14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lTEKNrSHeQ

Stephen Holt talks to Omar Hady about his film “Underground” at the Toronto Film Festival 2014.

Camera ~ Graeme Phillips Editing ~ Kevin Teller

TIFF 2014 Review: The Underground

By Charles Trapunski – 09.01.2014 http://scenecreek.com/tiff/tiff-2014-review-the-underground/

Audience members suffering from Katsaridaphobia will be easy to spot at the screening of Canadian actress and director Michelle Latimer’s The Underground, playing as a part of Short Cuts Canada Programme 6. They will be the ones scratching and clawing furiously at their skin, horrified by what they are watching on screen, because The Underground features many shots of cockroaches.

Katsaridaphobia is the fear of cockroaches, but the subtext of the film insinuates that the experience of being an immigrant from Iran (or really, from anywhere in the Middle East) is perhaps more scary, more unsettling, than that of being a cockroach.

Not so much based on author Rawi Hage’s 300 page book, so much as ‘inspired’ by it, Latimer provides impressive shots from a bug’s eye view, and the title of The Underground is brought to light, in this strange, almost absurdly funny short film. Just try not to bug out

TIFF 2014: Short Cuts Canada Program 6 Reviews By: Noah R. Taylor – 09.09.2014 http://dorkshelf.com/2014/09/09/tiff-2014-short-cuts-canada-program-6-reviews/

In The Underground, a man living in almost dire poverty relates more to the cockroaches he keeps in jars than he does to the cold city dwellers around him. At times, he can even become a cockroach, though it’s unclear if this only in his mind or if he’s actually going through a physical transformation. The camera work for the cockroach’s POV is the highlight of this strange, imaginative yet at times perplexing short.

TIFF 2014 Review – Short Cuts Canada: A Tomb with a View, Broken Face (Sale Gueule), The Underground & What Doesn’t Kill You

By Trevor Hogg – 09.11.2014 http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/09/tiff-2014-review-short-cuts-canada-tomb-viewbroken-face-sale-gueule-red-alert-underground-doesnt-kill.html

The Underground, 13 mins, 2014.

Directed by Michelle Latimer.

Starring Omar Hady.

A young Iranian man struggles to fit into a new culture, his poverty and isolation leading him to imagine himself as an insect, absorbing the world through its senses.

A lonely young man who once tried to commit suicide keeps cockroaches in glass bottles; as his mental state deteriorates he envisions what it would be like observing the surroundings from the perspectives of the insect. Some clever visual effects are used such as going down a drain as well as the cockroach camera while the apartment resembles something out of Se7en. The Underground is a strange tale which will crawl under your skin.

Our Favorite Short Films Playing At TIFF 2014

By C.J. Prince – 09.03.2014 http://waytooindie.com/features/our-favorite-short-films-playing-at-tiff-2014/

Inspired by Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach, The Underground follows a young Iranian refugee barely scraping by in Canada. Alone and living in poverty, he begins imagining himself as a cockroach while he wanders the streets looking for food and supplies. Director Michelle Latimer’s short has plenty of style, but it never overpowers the heart of the film. It’s an impressive, evocative story anchored by an impressive performance from Omar Hady.

TIFF: The Underground, Life In a Fishbowl and In Her Place Reviews

By Jacqueline Valencia – 09.02.2014 http://nextprojection.com/2014/09/02/tiff-underground-life-fishbowl-place-reviews/ The Underground (2014) Dir. Michelle Latimer The insect-human metaphor is prevalent in literature and film. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis springs to mind, but in Michelle Latimer’s The Underground, the insect, specifically, the cockroach, takes on a emotive and political skin.

The film’s protagonist, Araz, faces a solitary struggle as a newcomer to a foreign land. Although set in Toronto, it could be any place during the winter in the West. Araz is alone in poverty, watching the world go by with the companionship of cockroaches he’s entrapped in glass jars.

His world becomes so insular that he imagines himself a roach scurrying miniature landscapes regardless of hardships or the world that is disgusted by the insect form sight of him.

This short film is a strong piece that keeps you wondering beyond the metaphor and looking inside ourselves for the sources of our own alienation. A strong soundtrack drives the film, Omar Hady eyes keep us in rapt attention.

TIFF 2014: SHORT CUTS CANADA Reviews 1

By Jonathan Encarnacion – 09.09.2014 http://www.screenrelish.com/2014/09/09/tiff-2014-short-cuts-canada-reviews-1/

THE UNDERGROUND Director: Michelle Latimer Starring: Omar Hady Running Time: 13 minutes Inspired by Rawi Hage’s novel “Cockroach”, THE UNDERGROUND’s protagonist lives out his predicament by imagining himself a cockroach.

Araz (Omar Hady) is an Iranian refugee who has come to North America only to find himself in poverty. He steals, he lives, and no one cares. His sympathies go to that which he relates most: the cockroach, who can ultimately survive anything.

Director Michelle Latimer paints an engaging picture with cinematographer Guy Godfree’s visuals. While the short format wouldn’t serve to explore “Cockroach’s” themes fully, what Latimer chooses to sample succeeds in conveying depth. Exposition is done indirectly in favor of allowing more time with the protagonist. An excellent example of storytelling within the short format.

(4/5)

TIFF 2014: Short Cuts with Sorrow

By Addison Wylie – 09.08.2014 http://wyliewrites.com/tiff-2014-short-cuts-canada-2/

The Underground (DIR. Michelle Latimer) Without some background, The Underground is a film that’s difficult to tag along with. For those finding the short film hard to interpret, it’s a good thing for you director Michelle Latimer has attached an eye-catching style to her short. The “cockroach cam” is pretty darn neat, combining Gasper Noé’s Enter The Void with a commercial for Raid.

Actor Omar Hady takes Latimer’s script, and does what he can with what limited explanation the filmmaker has provided. What results is an intriguing performance of someone who skittishly observes life rather than live it. He has his reasons.

The Underground remains sturdy throughout its duration, and finds all sorts of ways to keep us involved. It’s important to note that the film has been inspired by Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach, so I imagine there’s more detail in the original work to fill in most of the film’s blanks.

TIFF Review: Short Cuts Canada 6 9.10.2014 http://www.cinemablographer.com/2014/09/tiff-review-short-cuts-canada-6.html

Finally, the grand finale of Short Cuts Canada 6 is the impressive The Underground (Michelle Latimer, 13 min.), which takes inspiration from Rawi Hage’s acclaimed novel Cockroach and scurries in and out different worlds with a daring originality of vision. The film follows a young Iranian man named Araz (Omar Hady), who struggles with poverty and isolation in his new life in North America. Araz fights haunting memories from the past and escapes his present alienation by envisioning himself as a resilient cockroach that has the ability to navigate the underworld and escape extermination.

The Underground is inspired and visceral as Latimer creates some powerful point-of-view sequences that envision the world from the cockroach’s perspective as the camera goes low to the ground and hunkers down in the dirt. The bravura cinematography by Guy Godfree creeps around familiar spaces, crawls around refuse, and mimics the cockroaches frenzied survival tactics from a unique perspective. The Underground is a gripping first-person experience, open and tangibly symbolic, as the magical realism of The Underground envisions a familiar world anew. It’s one of the best shorts of the year.

Mynarski Death Plummet, The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer, The Underground: 3 Short Canadian Films at the Toronto International Film Festival

By Greg Klymkiw – 09.13.2014 http://klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.ca/2014/09/mynarski-death-plummet-weathermanand.html The Underground (2014) Dir. Michelle Latimer Starring: Omar Hady What's especially fine in this slice-of-life/slice-of-consciousness dramatic cinematic tone poem is how it presents a contemporary political and social reality that's seemingly the exclusive domain of a very specific segment of our population. Through its careful mise-en-scene, that comes close to overplaying its metaphorical hand, but pulls back in time to maintain the necessary poker face (as it were), The Underground deftly creates feelings that can, indeed, be universal.

Inspired by Rawi Hage's novel "Cockroach", the film feels all of a piece rather than some horrendous calling card for an eventual feature length adaptation. If, God forbid, it's supposed to serve this purpose, it would be a tad disappointing to know, but at least it has a singular integrity that allows it to work as a piece of film art unto itself. Cleverly rooted in simplicity to yield complexity, we follow a young refugee from some Middle Eastern hell hole as he lives out his lonely life in Canada within the isolation of a filthy, cockroach-infested slum apartment.

Part of the reason for the cockroaches could be his fascination with these seemingly vile creatures and his penchant for capturing them and setting up strange domiciles in glass jars. He spends much of his time on the floor of his filthy suite intently examining his "pets", but also experiencing flashbacks to the horror of what must have been his incarceration and torture.

When a notice is slipped under his door to prepare for a visit from a pest control company, the film truly takes on the feeling of a living nightmare.

We become immersed in paranoia through a cockroach-eye-view and indeed, the images of hooded pest-control guys take on the same kind of creepy horror so prevalent in David Cronenberg's very early genre features that featured similarly-masked and/or accoutred killers/exterminators. There's a truly sickening and recognizable sense of fear, paranoia and loneliness so acute one wants the protagonist to scream. He won't, though. His is a silent scream.

And though we might all not be or can even fully comprehend what it's like to be a political refugee in a strange land, the film does make us feel and believe that at some point in our lives, if not for always and for ever, we are all little more than cockroaches in a world hell-bent upon weighing us down. We cower, hugging our floors as if we were a fetus in a blood-lined belly of viscous fluids and we wait for the secret police to drag us out of our home, or our cell, to be ripped from the safety of a womb we've made for ourselves.

And then, and only then, are we plunged into sheer horror.

The Film Corner Rating: ***½ Three-and-a-half Stars

THE UNDERGROUND – a short film inspired by Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach @TIFF 14

By Marion S. – 08.12.2014 http://filmbutton.com/mainpage/?p=14091 Inspired by Rawi Hage’s Award-Winning novel, COCKROACH A visceral portrayal of an Iranian man’s struggle to fit into Western culture, The Underground is a new short film by critically acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Michelle Latimer, which is set to have its World Premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Araz, an Iranian refugee in Canada, experiences North American life by imagining himself as a cockroach. Having fought to escape the warzone he once called home, and destined for a fresh start, Araz arrives in Canada to find that North American life is not what he had dreamed of. In a struggle to overcome poverty and isolation, he turns inward in hopes of experiencing the life that eludes him.

Deeply disturbed by how ethnic assimilation remains at the root of so many humanitarian disasters, Writer/Director Michelle Latimer was fascinated by the prevalence of the cockroach as a symbol in genocidal propaganda, spanning multiple time periods, geographic regions and cultures.

“This story illuminates how the persistent notion of a human underclass impacts our humanity,” says Latimer. “Informed by my Indigenous heritage and inspired by Rawi Hage’s courageous novel, I wanted to challenge and address this idea, while further exploring the issues of identity, loss of language, and assimilation.

TIFF 2014: The Underground 09.01.2014 http://iranianfilmdaily.com/2014/09/01/tiff-2014-underground/#more-432 Torontoan Michelle Latimer will be presenting her short film “The Underground” at TIFF 2014.

In it, a young Iranian man, played by newcomer Omar Hady, struggles to fit into a new culture, his poverty and isolation leading him to imagine himself as an insect, absorbing the world through its senses. The film was inspired by Beirut-born author, Rawi Hage’s bestselling namesake novel. According to the TIFF site, “this visceral tale of alienation and delirium creates a magical-realist aesthetic that is both gritty and poetic.”

The Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 4-14.

Cockroach (2014; 13 “) [Streel Films] Director: Michelle Latimer Country: Canada Producer: Tara Woodbury, Kerry Swanson Principal Cast: Omar Hady Screenplay: Michelle Latimer Production Designer: Nazgol Goshtasbpour

All pictures taken by GAT during the festival are available here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97627695@N03/sets/72157646897043080/

We’ve gathered social media reactions to The Underground here: https://storify.com/gatpr/the-underground-tiff14

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