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SCREENINGS
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Producer: Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies) Cast: Lindsay Burdge (A Teacher), Peter Vack (6 Years), Keith Poulson (Somebody Up There Likes Me)
VANGUARD
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Writer/Director: Harrison Atkins
I SMILE BACK
Cast: Sarah Silverman (Take This Waltz, The Sarah Silverman Program), Josh Charles (The Good Wife), Thomas Sadoski (The Newsroom)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
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Sep 12 / 9:45 / Scotiabank 13 (P&I) Sep 16 / 19:00 / Princess of Wales Sep 17 / 13:00 / Elgin/Winter Garden Theatres Sep 19 / 18:45 / The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Director: Adam Salky (Dare)
A MONTH OF SUNDAYS
Cast: Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Lantana), Julia Blake (Innocence), Justine Clarke (Look Both Ways)
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Writer/Director: Matthew Saville (Felony, Noise)
MY NAME IS EMILY
DISCOVERY / NEXT WAVE
Cast: Evanna Lynch (the Harry Potter series), George Webster (City of Dreamers), Michael Smiley (Kill List, A Field in England) SCREENING TIMES:
Writer/Director: Simon Fitzmaurice
TANNA
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JUST ADDED BY DEMAND IN TORONTO *Buyer and Festival Screening* Sun. Sep 13 at 13:00 Royal Cinema, 608 College St, Toronto “Captivating simplicity and yet richly cinematic (...) a haunting love story.” – The Hollywood Reporter Directors: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler (Contact)
MOM AND ME
“A universally accessible and emotionally affecting romantic drama.” – Variety
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SPEAR Drama / 84 min. / Australia / 2015
SCREENINGS (Discovery) Press & Industry 1, Thursday Sep. 10th, 1:45PM, Scotiabank 6 (137) Press & Industry 2, Thursday Sep. 17th, 9:15PM, Scotiabank 6 (137 Public 1, Friday Sep. 11th, 6:00PM, Isabel Bader Theatre (452) Public 2, Saturday Sep. 12th, 9:00AM, Jackman Hall (200) Public 3, Friday Sep. 18th, 6:30PM, Jackman Hall (200)
MEN & CHICKEN
DOWNRIVER
Black Comedy / 100 min. / Denmark / 2014
Drama / 99 min. / Australia / 2015
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Press & Industry 1, Friday Sep. 11th, 4:14PM, Scotiabank 14 Public 1, Monday Sep. 14th, 9:00PM, Scotiabank 1 Public 2, Wednesday Sep. 16th, 10:00 PM, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (649) Public 3, Sunday Sep. 20th, 3:30PM, Scotiabank 1
Press & Industry 1, Sunday Sep. 13th, Scotiabank 6 (137) Public 1, Tuesday Sep. 15th, 7:15PM, Scotiabank 13 (314) Public 2, Thursday Sep. 17th, 9:45PM, Scotiabank 13 (314) Public 3, Sep. 20th, 9:15PM, Scotiabank 3 (387)
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Toronto invasion under way BY JEREMY KAY
The Gift
Benelux duo launches distributor BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Former Remain In Light executives Elise Van Marcke and Olivier Van Den Broeck are here in Toronto with new Benelux distributor The Searchers. The outfit is set to acquire six to nine titles per year and will focus on Englishlanguage, cast-driven indie fare. At Remain In Light, the duo acquired titles such as Snowpiercer, Fading Gigolo, While We’re Young and 20,000 Days On Earth. Acquisitions that will now be handled by The Searchers include TIFF opener Demolition, Gaby Dellal’s About Ray, Joel Edgerton’s The Gift, Stephen Gaghan’s Gold, the Mulleavy sisters’ Woodshock and Joshua Marston’s as-yet-untitled drama starring Michael Shannon and Rachel Weisz. The privately backed company will release through the infrastructure of Remain In Light — which will continue to be run by Bert Trentels — and sister company Victory Productions. “Our goal is to bring quality content that will also seduce younger audiences,” the duo said.
Last night’s world premiere of Michael Moore’s new documentary was the hot ticket among buyers looking for that first on-site deal heading into the opening weekend. With US deals already sewn up on marquee selections such as festival opener Demolition, Spotlight, Black Mass, Trumbo, Truth, Beasts Of No Nation and The Martian, Moore’s Where To Invade Next was the early focus. However, with another public presentation and two P+I screenings of Moore’s latest work scheduled for later today, WME Global’s sales team may prefer to entertain offers until after all key buyers have seen it.
Saturday brings Midnight Madness entry Hardcore, handled worldwide by WME Global, and Maggie’s Plan, which CAA and Cinetic Media represent and Protagonist handles internationally. UTA Independent Film Group will be fielding interest on Desierto, the Gael Garcia Bernal starrer that premieres on Sunday. CAA arrives with several promos including one of Michael Apted’s CIA thriller, Unlocked, starring Noomi Rapace and Orlando Bloom. The agents will also talk up packages on Rebel In The Rye, The Circle and The Headhunter’s Calling, which Bloom, IM Global and Voltage sell internationally, respectively.
Hubert Boesl
Midnight Madness, page 22
REVIEW Black Mass Johnny Depp gives a brooding, psychotic performance » Page 10
FEATURE In the grip of fear Meet the Midnight Madness directors scaring up a storm » Page 22
INTERVIEW The transformer Director Tom Hooper reveals his passion for The Danish Girl » Page 24
SCREENINGS
» Page 28
TORONTO BRIEFS O-Scope finds Ma Ma Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired US rights to Julio Medem’s relationship drama Ma Ma ahead of its international premiere here. Penelope Cruz stars. O-Scope negotiated the deal with CAA.
A71 enters Waiting Room A71 Entertainment has picked up Canadian rights to Igor Drljaca’s The Waiting Room, about an actor who dreams of relaunching his career, ahead of its North American premiere here.
IFC scores with Pele IFC has struck a deal with CAA and WME Global for North American rights to footballer biopic Pele: Birth Of A Legend. IFC will release in 2016.
Jake Gyllenhaal at the world premiere of Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition, which opened TIFF last night.
Buyers happy to join Families Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s romantic comedy Families has been snapped up ahead of its world premiere here on Sunday. ARP Sélection and TF1 International have secured sales to Benelux (Cinéart) and Switzerland (Pathé). TF1 International handles world sales and will be repping the film here at TIFF, where it screens in Special Presentations. Families marks Rappeneau’s
WME Global also represents, with K5 International, Danish film-maker Martin Zandvliet’s highly regarded German POW drama Land Of Mine, which has a P+I screening today ahead of tomorrow’s premiere. Meanwhile, US deals were believed to be getting close on Drake Doremus’s Equals and Natalie Portman’s A Tale Of Love And Darkness. Today’s premieres are the much fancied Midnight Madness Turkish horror Baskin, which XYZ Films handles in North America and The Salt Company sells internationally, and WME Global’s Eye In The Sky. eOne sells international rights.
TODAY
first film in more than 10 years, and stars Mathieu Amalric as a French expat who takes a life-changing trip to his home town. The cast also includes Marine Vacth, Gilles Lellouche and Gemma Chan. Producers are Michele and Laurent Pétin of ARP Sélection, which will handle the French release of the film on October 14. Michael Rosser
Edko Films takes smash hit Monster Hunt around the world BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Chinese blockbuster Monster Hunt has been snapped up by territories around the world in a slew of deals secured by Edko Films. The Hong Kong-based firm has sold Raman Hui’s family adventure to German-speaking Europe (Falcom Media), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and CIS and Baltics (Central Partnership). Monster Hunt has also sold to Latin Amer-
ica (Alpha Filmes), Korea (Lumix Media), India and Philippines (Multivision Multimedia) and Indonesia (Encore Films). Edko expects to close French-speaking Europe and Japan during TIFF. At $378.5m (RMB2.42bn), the film looks set to overtake Furious 7 as the highest-ever grossing movie at the Chinese box office. Edko Films is also selling Johnnie To’s TIFF title, Office.
Chicken flies north Drafthouse Films has acquired North American rights from LevelK to Danish black comedy Men & Chicken, starring Mads Mikkelsen and David Dencik, ahead of its TIFF screening.
Stephens joins Journey Toby Stephens is to play former UK prime minister Tony Blair in dramatic comedy The Journey, which IM Global is introducing to international buyers here. Freddie Highmore and John Hurt have also joined the cast.
» Full stories on ScreenDaily.com
News
Condor swoops on Khoo’s Room BY JeReMY KaY
Version Originale/Condor has picked up French rights to Eric Khoo’s drama, In The Room, ahead of its world premiere here on Tuesday and plans an early 2016 release. Set over several decades, the story centres on a maid at a Singapore hotel who is haunted by the memory of a pop star she met one New Year’s Eve. Eric Le Bot, head of Version Originale/Condor, said: “After 12 Storeys and Be With Me, Eric Khoo has created yet again a beautiful picture.” Version Originale/Condor’s acquisitions adviser Aranka Matits of Featurette negotiated the deal with Virginia Leung of Distribution Workshop. The firm currently has the 2014 San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Magical Girl on release and its slate includes Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Journey To The Shore and Vanja D’Alcantara’s Le Coeur Régulier.
Kill Your Friends author opens up Junk Mail BY Michael RosseR
John Niven, author of cult novel Kill Your Friends, has written his first screenplay and will see production begin next year. Junk Mail has been penned with Niven’s writing partner Nick Ball and centres on a twentysomething postman who knows all the secrets of the residents in a rural village after years of rifling through their letters. When a
wealthy family moves to the area, a growing obsession leads to a bloody showdown. Kill Your Friends has been adapted into a feature starring Nicholas Hoult that will screen in TIFF’s City To City London strand tomorrow. Junk Mail marks the first collaboration between the UK’s Fulwell 73 (One Direction: This Is Us) and Heavenly Films, an offshoot
les cowboys gallops to Us BY JeReMY KaY
Cohen Media Group has swooped on US rights to Les Cowboys ahead of tomorrow’s TIFF screening in Discovery. Thomas Bidegain, who wrote the screenplay to Palme d’Or winner Dheepan as well as
UKF_TIFF_Screenad_HP_218x150_Art_DAY2_2.indd 2
4 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Jacques Audiard’s Rust And Bone and A Prophet, makes his feature directorial debut. Les Cowboys premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and tells of an Old West enthusiast in modern-day France who
of the Heavenly Recordings music label. The film will mark the debut scripted feature of Heavenly Films’ Paul Kelly, whose credits include documentaries Lawrence Of Belgravia, Dexys: Nowhere Is Home and How We Used To Live. Junk Mail will be co-produced by Martin Kelly and Justin King of Heavenly Films and Leo Pearlman of Fulwell 73. Production will begin next year.
embarks on a 16-year odyssey to track down his daughter who has run away and converted to Islam. Cohen Media Group plans a second quarter 2016 release after SVP John Kochman negotiated with Muriel Sauzay of Pathé, which represents international sales here.
SND joins Omar Sy’s Family Paris-based SND has picked up world sales on Hugo Gélin’s Two Is A Family, starring Omar Sy (Intouchables) as a television stuntman left to bring up a baby girl on his own. It is the latest production from Philippe Rousselet of Vendome Production, whose recent credits include this year’s breakout hit La Famille Bélier and Tommy Wirkola’s upcoming sci-fi thriller What Happened To Monday?, both of which SND also handles. Mars Film is also on board as a producer, and sister company Mars Distribution will release the film in France. Pantelion Films has picked up Latin America. Principal photography is due to start in France this month before moving to London for five weeks. Melanie Goodfellow
08/09/2015 17:04
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Film Väst congratulates its co-productions in TIFF 2015!
THE HERE AFTER By Magnus von Horn
MY SKINNY SISTER By Sanna Lenken
THE PARADISE SUITE By Joost van Ginkel
MY NAME IS EMILY By Simon Fitzmaurice
THE WAVE By Roar Uthaug
ONE FLOOR BELOW By Radu Muntean
GIRLS LOST By Alexandra-Therese Keinings
EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE By Wim Wenders
MEN & CHICKEN By Anders Thomas Jensen
Your Scandinavian Partner in Co-Productions Film Väst is one of Europe’s leading regional film funds, located on the Swedish west coast in Västra Götaland. Film Väst is active as Co-Producer and Investor in International and Swedish film and TV-drama. WWW.FILMVAST.SE
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NewS
Volga enters sales arena
Seagal cracks Code
By andreas Wiseman
By Jeremy Kay
Russian distributor Volga Films, whose acquisitions include The Hunger Games franchise, is entering the international sales arena with local-language horror title Queen Of Spades: The Dark Rite. Deals have closed with South Korea (Line Tree Entertainment) and Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos (Purple Plan) while negotiations are ongoing with the UK, Germany, Japan, Turkey and Middle East. Volga releases in Russia this week. Volga will sell predominantly local-language fare but is selling eastern Europe rights to US family sci-fi Earth To Echo, which it picked up from Relativity, and may in the future add further English-language titles for international sales. London-based Anna Krupnova will act as a full-time sales consultant for Volga, reporting to Los Angeles-based CEO Sergei Yershov.
Premiere Entertainment Group has concluded a raft of sales on action thriller Code Of Honor starring Steven Seagal. Premiere will show Toronto buyers the first trailer from the inhouse production, which wrapped earlier this year. Deals have closed in France (Metropolitan), Benelux (Just Bridge), Spain (Flins y Piniculas), Italy (Minerva) and Canada
Code Of Honor
(VVS). Rights have gone to China (DDDream), eastern Europe and CIS (MGN/Paradise), Middle East (Eagle Films), Japan (Klockworx), South Korea (Joy N Contents), Malaysia (Suraya), Turkey
monkey swings down Under London-based sales outfit SC Films has inked a deal with Transmission for Australia and New Zealand rights to Chinese box-office smash Monkey King: Hero Is Back. At TIFF, SC Films will screen a newly dubbed version of the family film, featuring the voices of James Hong, Nika Futterman and
Joey Richter. It has grossed more than $150m in China where it has become the highest-grossing animation ever. SC’s TIFF slate also includes Get Squirrely 3D, which has its first market screening, and FrightFest feature Road Games. Andreas Wiseman
(Fida Film), Thailand (Coral) and Africa (Daro). Seagal stars as an ex-military commander who sets out to rid the city of crime. Premiere’s sales portfolio includes Sundance 2014 selection Little Accidents starring Elizabeth Banks, comedy drama Match with Patrick Stewart and family comedy Good Ol’ Boy with Jason Lee. The company is in post-production on survival thriller Abandoned starring Dominic Purcell.
Schwan makes Covert move Paul Hanson’s new financing, production and sales firm Covert Media has brought on former Grosvenor Park and Sierra/Affinity sales vet Elizabeth Kim Schwan as president of international. Schwan will join Covert Media at TIFF as the team meets potential distribution and production partners.
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History’s Future - Fiona Tan
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Vision Films bolsters slate By andreas Wiseman
Los Angeles-based distributor Vision Films has bolstered its line-up with a trio of acquisitions. Comedy drama A Year And Change stars Bryan Greenberg as a man who decides to make wholesale changes in his life after an accident at a New Year’s Eve party. In John L’Ecuyer’s romcom A Date With Miss Fortune, Ryan Scott plays a man whose luck changes after meeting a Portuguese woman (Jeannette Sousa). Music documentary Sam Smith: Dreams Come True will see a multi-continent release in partnership with distributor Odeon Entertainment Group in the UK. Vision Films partnered with Content Media to simultaneously launch doc William Shatner Presents: Chaos On The Bridge and UK thriller Containment in North America and UK/Ireland, a strategy the company is to build on.
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IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN
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Screenings PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS TODAY / Sep 11th / 1.45 p.m. / Scotiabank 14 Thursday / Sep 17th / 4.45 p.m. / Scotiabank 7 WORLD PREMIERE TOMORROW / Sep 12th / 10.00 p.m. / Scotiabank 2 PUBLIC SCREENINGS: Monday / Sep 14th / 3.30 p.m. / Scotiabank 10 Friday / Sep 18th / 3.00 p.m. / Scotiabank 2
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Reviews Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
» Black Mass p10 » Spotlight p12 » Equals p12
» He Named Me Malala p16 » Sherpa p16
» Lolo p18 » Men & Chicken p18
Black Mass Reviewed by Lee Marshall Black Mass turns Aviator shades and a receding hairline into one hell of a scary combo. But Johnny Depp’s broodingly psychotic turn as convicted Boston crime lord James ‘Whitey’ Bulger is not the only tasty thing about Scott Cooper’s tale of the unholy alliance between a south Boston Irish mobster and the FBI. An Irish-American GoodFellas? Sure, but in the end, despite getting lost around its midpoint in the wilderness that so often besets multi-decade true-crime stories, Black Mass shakes off such comparisons to become its own made man. Based on the book of the same name by The Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, whose breaking of the story features briefly at the end of the film, Black Mass will help to relaunch Depp’s leaky career after a series of clunkers, including Transcendence and Mortdecai. But his assured performance — only occasionally disturbed by something a little too Frankenstein’s monster about that prosthetic forehead and wig — is aided and abetted by a series of other strong acting turns, not least that of Joel Edgerton as the crime king’s fellow ‘Southie’ resident and FBI contact. A stylishly dark package, in which Masanobu Takayanagi’s moody photography and Tom Holkenborg’s tense musical soundscapes stand out, will help
10 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
GaLa US. 2015. 122mins Director Scott Cooper Production companies Cross Creek Pictures Contact Warner Bros Pictures Producers John Lesher, Brian Oliver, Scott Cooper, Patrick McCormick, Tyler Thompson Screenplay Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill Cinematography Masanobu Takayanagi Editor David Rosenbloom Production designer Stefania Cella Music Tom Holkenborg Main cast Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard
to grease the slipway when Black Mass is released worldwide on September 18. Framing the action are a series of interrogation-room testimonies by men who turn out to be accomplices of the crime lord at the centre of the story: Whitey Bulger, who when we pick up the action years earlier, in 1975, is a small-time mobster whose Winter Hill gang works various old-school rackets in Boston’s working-class, predominantly Irish southside. It’s a world of clapboard houses in terraced rows and smoky, low-lit drinking dens, and it’s dominated by family bonds and the keen sense of loyalty to a community that unites Southies as diverse as the borderline-psychotic Whitey, his suave, savvy younger brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) — a senator who served for a record 18 years as president of the Massachusetts Senate — and their mutual friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), a street kid who is now a local FBI agent. The neat thing about a script that is cleverer than its episodic structure at first suggests is the way it plays with the dynamics between these three men throughout the course of the film. At first the sheer menacing presence of Whitey, the way he alternately charms, cajoles and threatens his enemies as well as nervous lieutenants such as Kevin (Jesse Plemons) and Flemmi (Rory Cochrane) — both outstanding in these smaller roles — suggests that Black
Mass is essentially a picaresque crime biopic in the Scarface mould. But as the film progresses, and Connolly proposes an alliance with Whitey in exchange for information that will help take down Boston’s Italian mafia — a far more powerful crime syndicate at this juncture — it becomes clear this is as much Edgerton’s film as Depp’s. The kernel of the story is not so much a crime boss’s rise and fall as a morally weak cop’s sneaking admiration for the man he is supposed to be investigating, and misplaced faith in childhood loyalties. With a lot less screen time, Cumberbatch’s character acts as an ambiguous, Machiavellian presence in the background, never allowing himself to be stained by association, yet in his own smooth way as manipulative as his big brother. Sprawling US crime stories often get bogged down in Florida for some reason, and Black Mass is no exception, with a baggy 1980s segment set against the background of the Sunshine State’s jai alai betting scams rescued mostly by Peter Sarsgaard’s rich turn as a smalltime local underworld figure. But in its final third, Black Mass gets its mojo back, especially in two tense consecutive scenes, one featuring the murder of an airhead prostitute who may or may not have grassed to the police, the next set during an uneasy dinner party.
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REVIEWS
Spotlight Reviewed by Tim Grierson A polished, engrossing procedural, Spotlight offers plenty of old-fashioned pleasures — chiefly, the sight of smart, scrappy muckraking journalists stopping at nothing to uncover systematic corruption. With strands of All The President’s Men embedded in its DNA, this reallife drama chronicles how, in 2001, a handful of reporters for The Boston Globe exposed a widespread cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Although director and co-writer Tom McCarthy can fall victim to prestige-picture preciousness and narrative conventionality, Spotlight goes a long way on the strength of superior acting and a crackling tale. Taking place over the course of about six months, the film illuminates the work of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team — editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson (Michael Keaton) and his reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) and Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James) — who can take up to a year digging deep into investigative pieces for the paper. When their new editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) becomes interested in allegations that Cardinal Bernard Law, Boston’s archbishop, shielded priests who raped young parishioners, Spotlight starts tracking down victims and anyone else who has evidence of the decades-long wrongdoing.
SPECiAl PRESENTATiONS US. 2015. 128mins Director Tom McCarthy Production companies Entertainment One, Participant Media, First look Media, Anonymous Content, Rocklin/Faust International sales Entertainment One, cvanweede@ entonegroup.com Producers Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust Screenplay Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy Cinematography Masanobu Takayanagi Editor Tom McArdle Production design Stephen Carter Music Howard Shore Main cast Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup
Much like other fact-based films such as All The President’s Men or The Insider, Spotlight derives much of its low-boil intensity from the stripped-down recounting of how these journalists went about revealing the cover-up. Though there is some attempt to fill in these characters’ personal lives, McCarthy adopts a just-the-factsma’am tone, mostly eschewing huge dramatic moments to let the reporters’ industrious, unglamorous work take centre stage. And because Spotlight is set at a time before the internet was ubiquitous, that means a lot of face-to-face interviews, combing through court
archives and other laborious investigative work that, as filmed by McCarthy and edited by Tom McArdle, has a compelling rigour to it. The film-maker is aided immensely by a cast topped by Ruffalo, who plays Rezendes with all the tenacity and charm of a pit bull. He isn’t much fun to be around — even his wife seems to have abandoned him — but Rezendes comes across as Spotlight’s unapologetically hardnosed hero, a relentless investigative journalist who attacks his job with the avengingangel fury of a man who cannot abide corruption and hypocrisy.
The story takes place in a future, some time after human development has been rerouted following a Great War. In this society, known as ‘the Collective’, everybody is seemingly interchangeable, identities pared down to a bland minimum by medical regulation. But official warnings on omnipresent screens tell of SOS, or Switched-On Syndrome in which the emotions, and most dangerously Love, become operative again. This is exactly what happens to illustrator Silas (Hoult) and his co-worker Nia (Stewart).
The original story, according to the credits, is the director’s, but scriptwriter Nathan Parker isn’t able to muster any of the teasing complexities of his Moon script. Fortunately, the two leads bring some real subtlety, as they push against the inherent restrictions of the premise. But there’s a terribly déja vu feel to this vision of a loveless future. Equals just about passes muster as a solid vignette of love against the odds, but when it comes to futurism, its vision is dustily archaic.
Equals Reviewed by Jonathan Romney One of the most terrifying futures you could contemplate is a world in which imagination has so run dry that people have to recycle old dystopias. That’s more or less where we seem to have got to in Equals, a science-fiction love story set in a world that is visually sheened to evocative perfection — but in which the central premise is creakingly old hat. Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult play a Romeo-and-Juliet couple rediscovering love in a world where emotion has been universally suppressed. Their performances, eking genuine feeling from a glacial milieu — and no less glacial execution — offer the main appeal of a film that gets by on impressive visual style, but that adds nothing new to the annals of nightmare futurism. Director Drake Doremus (Like Crazy, Breathe In) has established a reputation for making serious dramatic mileage out of the agonies of modern love, but the glum and earnest Equals shows him on less certain ground. Adepts of science fiction — even of the upmarket philosophical strain recently represented by Ex_Machina — will probably shun this, while the lack of mainstream appeal is just about offset by the pairing of Stewart and Hoult in offbeat form.
12 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
SPECiAl PRESENTATiONS US. 2015. 101mins Director Drake Doremus Production companies Scott Free, Route One Films International sales Mister Smith Entertainment, info@mistersmithent.com Producers Michael Schaefer, Michael Pruss, Ann Ruark, Jay Stern, Chip Diggins Screenplay Nathan Parker Cinematography John Guleserian Editor Jonathan Alberts Production design Katie Byron, Tino Schaedler Music Sascha Ring, Dustin O’Halloran Main cast Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver
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THE KING OF HAVANA Erotic-Drama/ Spanish / 2015 / 125’ Director: Agustí Villaronga PRIVATE MARKET SCREENINGS TODAY, Friday 11th at 9:30am at TIFF LIGHTBOX-CINEMA 7 Sunday 13th at noon at TIFF LIGHTBOX-CINEMA 6
The new film by master director AGUSTÍ VILLARONGA BARÇA DREAMS Documentary / English / 2015 / 120’ PRIVATE MARKET SCREENINGS Monday 14th at 10:00am at THE ROYAL CINEMA* *ROYAL CINEMA: 608 College St., Toronto
An EXTRAORDINARY DOCUMENTARY about one of the GREATEST FOOTBALL CLUB of all times! BCN CHRISTMAS NIGHT Romantic Comedy / Spanish-Catalan / 2015 / 105’ PRIVATE MARKET SCREENINGS TOMORROW, Saturday 12th at noon at TIFF LIGHTBOX-CINEMA 6 Tuesday 15th at noon at TIFF LIGHTBOX-CINEMA 6
LOVE IS ALL AROUND! LET´S CELEBRATE IT!
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PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS TODAY, Sep. 11 - 2:00PM - Scotiabank 10 Sep. 16 - 9:15AM - Scotiabank 8
PUBLIC SCREENINGS TOMORROW, Sep. 12 - 4:30PM - Isabel Bader Theatre Sep.13 - 8:45AM - Cinema 3 Sep. 19 - 6:00PM - Scotiabank 3
CONTACT FILMAX INTERNATIONAL Ivan Diaz +34 629340070 i.diaz@filmax.com 04/09/15 15:02
REVIEWS
Sherpa Reviewed by Sarah Ward
He Named Me Malala Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan Who is Malala Yousafzai, really? The facts are straightforward: an outspoken activist for female education in her native Pakistan, she was shot in the head by the Taliban on her school bus at the age of 15, and won the Nobel Prize for Peace at the age of 17. Bestselling author, passionate advocate for education, friend of pop stars and politicians and student in Birmingham, England — her father says she was attacked by an ideology, but the word Malala stands for something too. In the slim but powerful documentary He Named Me Malala, Davis Guggenheim attempts to colour in a shy, yet deceptively stout-hearted schoolgirl and her symbiotically close relationship with her father, indicated by the film’s title. ‘He’ named her Malala, after a Pashtun heroine who died on the battlefield. The film was shot over 18 months, starting out in Birmingham in 2013 in the bustling Yousafzai household, where the media-friendly schoolgirl struggles with the unique job of being an activist on the international stage while studying for her GCSE exams (her father Ziauddin recently tweeted her excellent results). She is open and comfortable, sweet, shy, modest and utterly devoted to her father, a sentiment bordering on an obsession, which is reciprocated. The relationship between Malala and her teacheractivist father is complex. He encouraged her to blog for the BBC when she was only 11 years old. The first question Malala asked when she woke up from her coma after the Taliban shooting was, “Where is my father?” He says they have one mind in two bodies. It will be interesting when the time comes for Malala to pull away, because it’s already clear she possesses a will and strength that surpasses her father’s and at times she can seem like the parent. Guggenheim’s documentary is a prestige title for Fox Searchlight, which will undoubtedly position this for awards contention. Less successful are its animated sequences, which fill in geographical and historical context in a simplified manner for audiences who struggle with Malala’s backstory in the Swat Valley, Pakistan.
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TIFF docS US. 2015. 87mins Director davis Guggenheim Production companies Fox Searchlight, Image Nation Abu dhabi, Participant Media, National Geographic channel Contact Fox Searchlight Producers Walter Parkes, Laurie Macdonald, davis Guggenheim Executive producers Mohamed Al Mubarak, Michael Garin, Jeff Skoll, Shannon dill Editors Greg Finton, Brian Johnson, Brad Fuller Cinematography Erich Roland Music Thomas Newman Featuring Malala Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai, Toorpekai Yousafza, Khushal Khan Yousafzai
Veteran high-altitude director Jennifer Peedom climbs Mount Everest to champion mountaineering’s overlooked figures: the Sherpas who do the dangerous work that keeps Nepal’s climbing trade running. This stunning documentary initially sticks to familiar beats of endurance and adversity; but when nature unexpectedly intervenes, Sherpa proves as grippingly human and political as it does visually spectacular. Picked up worldwide by Everest’s studio Universal, Sherpa is certain to appeal to international audiences on multiple levels. When Peedom started shooting, Phurba Tashi Sherpa’s 2014 trek was her primary focus. A successful trip to the summit would mark his 22nd ascent, a world-record feat pursued not for glory, but to make a living. Like many inhabitants of the area, transporting the equipment essential to wealthy Westerners’ attempts to scale the world’s highest peak is his most lucrative line of work. Phurba oversees a team of 25 who work for commercial tour operator Russell Brice. A cruel stroke of fate changes the course of the film when tragedy strikes on April 18, 2014. It remains the blackest day in Everest’s history, with 16 Sherpas killed at Khumbu Icefall. The documentary dives into the impact, implications and aftermath, and while it presents perspectives on either side, those who profit from local labour and lives aren’t afforded much sympathy, the Nepalese government included. Initially motivated by another news-grabbing incident — a brawl between climbers and Sherpas in 2013 — Peedom’s aim was to call attention to the mountain’s unsung heroes, and she achieves her goal in breath-taking fashion. She knows the area — she shot Miracle On Everest in 2008, and was the high-altitude director on Everest: Beyond The Limits, while her most recent credit was codirecting Solo with David Michod. The camerawork on display from Hugh Miller, Renan Ozturk and Ken Sauls is jaw-dropping, even as the human-rights issues at Sherpa’s centre will inspire exasperation. In fact, scaling such heights has rarely felt so intimate and personal, both in the handheld footage and in the plight of the people that, in most other films, are left on the cutting-room floor.
TIFF docS Aus. 2015. 96mins Director-screenplay Jennifer Peedom Production company Felix Media, Arrow Media Contact Universal Pictures Producers Bridget Ikin, Jennifer Peedom, John Smithson Executive producers david Gross, John Maynard Cinematography Hugh Miller, Renan ozturk, Ken Sauls Editor christian Gazal Featuring Phurba Tashi Sherpa, Russell Brice
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REVIEWS
Lolo Reviewed by Tim grierson It’s hard enough to find love in your 40s when you’ve been burned many times before — it’s damn near impossible when your own teenage son starts to conspire against you. Julie Delpy’s latest directorial effort juggles some potentially delicious ideas, but Lolo proves to be an exasperating romantic comedy that flirts with darker terrain it never has the guts or wit to really explore. Despite the sexy, grown-up rapport exhibited by Delpy and co-star Dany Boon, this would-be farce implodes quickly once it becomes clear the film has been constructed so its main characters remain completely oblivious to the obvious machinations of the woman’s clingy child (Vincent Lacoste). At first, Lolo seems to be an opposites-attract study of a fashionable Paris art director named Violette (Delpy) and an unsophisticated computer programmer from the sticks named JeanRené (Boon). Once sparks fly unexpectedly between the two, her 19-year-old son Lolo (Lacoste), who still lives at home, becomes convinced Jean-René is just another loser who’s not good enough for his mum. Lolo shares some surface similarities to the 2010 US indie comedy Cyrus, in which the strangely tight bond between an adult son and his mother disturbs her new boyfriend. But Delpy’s movie, which she co-wrote with Eugénie Grandval, doesn’t delve so much into the
gALA Fr. 2015. 99mins Director Julie Delpy Production companies The Film, France 2 Cinema, Mars Films, Wild Bunch, Tempete Sous un Crane Productions, Manon 5, Cinémage 9, La Banque Postale, Image 8, Apidev 4, France Télévisions, Canal Plus, Ciné Plus D8 International sales Wild Bunch, ndevide@ wildbunch.eu North American sales CAA, filmsales@caa.com Producer Michael gentile Screenplay Julie Delpy, Eugénie grandval Cinematography Thierry Arbogast Editor Virginie Bruant Production design Emmanuelle Duplay Music Mathieu Lamboley Main cast Dany Boon, Julie Delpy, Vincent Lacoste, Karin Viard
creepy/fascinating Oedipal fixation between mother and child, instead setting up Lolo to be a comedy of building hijinks in which Lolo finds more and more ways to sabotage the budding love affair. Disappointingly, although the boy is established as a conniving little twit — Lacoste plays him with maximum snottiness and faux sincerity — none of his plans are particularly clever. He dumps powder into Jean-René’s
clothes to make him really itchy. He drugs the man’s drink at a party so that he behaves ridiculously. But once the schemes become more ambitious and devious, they succeed only because neither Jean-René nor Violette is bright enough to realise the strange behaviour plaguing Jean-René must be the work of an outside party. What begins as a nervous romance between two sympathetic, intelligent fortysomethings soon descends into silliness and idiocy.
Men & Chicken Reviewed by Allan Hunter If Franz Kafka had ever devised a film for the Three Stooges, it might look something like Men & Chicken. Prolific screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen’s first film as a director in 10 years is a joyously eccentric, darkly comic fairytale that combines screwball farce and slapstick violence with philosophical musings on the clash between religion and science. Bracingly original, defying easy classification and often uproariously funny, it will definitely not be for all tastes but has been a significant domestic hit in Denmark, achieving in excess of 350,000 admissions. Hannibal’s Mad Mikkelsen plays Elias, an endearingly unhinged, agitated figure with an exuberant moustache, a head of unruly hair, a short temper and a constant need for sexual release. By contrast, his brother Gabriel (David Dencik) is a quiet, orderly academic. When their father dies, he leaves them a video message revealing he was not their biological father and they are only half-brothers. Their real father is a scientist who resides on the small island of Ork to the south of Denmark. The duo sets off on a trip at the end of which
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VANguARD Den. 2015. 104mins Director/screenplay Anders Thomas Jensen Production company M & M Films International sales Level K, natja@levelk.dk Producers Tivi Magnusson, Kim Magnusson Cinematography Sebastian Blenkov Editor Anders Villadsen Production design Mia Stensgaard Music Frans Bak, Jeppe Kaas Main cast Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Soren Malling, Nicolas Bro
they discover a gloomy, dilapidated sanatorium, a host of family secrets and three other half brothers — Franz (Soren Malling), Gregor (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Josef (Nicolas Bro). The fact all five share certain physical characteristics, including a cleft palate and squashed or swollen noses, instantly confirms the family connection. As Gabriel and Elias are obliged to take up residence in the family home, Men & Chicken starts to resemble classic madcap stage farces such as Arsenic And Old Lace or You Can’t Take It With You. There are shades of Psycho and Hammer horror movies in every nook and cranny of this old dark house. Much of the film’s gleeful humour arises from the similarities and conflict between siblings who tend to express themselves with violence rather than words. But the real joy of Men & Chicken is the way the absurdist comedy can dissolve to expose some intriguing philosophical arguments. As the plot unfolds, we become aware of what has been long suspected but even then the film turns events into a poignant championing of the sanctity of human life, regardless of how adulterated the genetic content might be.
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Join us at London House at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Join2015, us atfor London House at thecelebrating Toronto International Film City Festival (TIFF) a series of events TIFF’s London to City 2015,programme for a seriesand of events celebrating TIFF’s London City to City UK titles selected for this year’s Festival programme and UK titles selected for this year’s Festival LOCATION LOCATION The Program The Program Courtesy of StudioCanal Courtesy of StudioCanal
Maison Mercer, 15 Mercer Street, Toronto, ON M5V 2M9 Maison Mercer, 15 Mercer Street, Toronto, ON M5V 2M9 PROGRAMME PROGRAMME Selling British Film Internationally in assocation with Screen International Selling British Film Internationally in assocation with Screen International Friday 11 September, 10am-11am Friday 11 motivates September, 10am-11am Discover what international buyers Discover what motivates international buyers UK’s Most Exciting Emerging Talent UK’s Most Emerging Talent Saturday 12 Exciting September, 10am-11.30am Saturday 12 September, 10am-11.30am Hear from the directors, producers and actors at TIFF with their latest projects Hear fromUrban the directors, and actors at TIFF withand their including Hymn, producers Kilo Two Bravo, London Road A latest Patchprojects of Fog including Urban Hymn, Kilo Two Bravo, London Road and A Patch of Fog Stephen Frears in Conversation Stephen in Conversation Sunday 13Frears September, 10am-11am Sunday 13 September, The director of The Program talks about his 4010am-11am year career with a focus on making The director of The Program talksfilms about his 40 in the UKyear career with a focus on making films in the UK Jeremy Thomas in Conversation Jeremy15Thomas in Conversation Tuesday September, 11am-12.15pm Tuesday 15 September, The Oscar-winning producer is at TIFF with11am-12.15pm the UK shot High-Rise, and will The Oscar-winning producer is at TIFF with the UK shot High-Rise, and will discuss his career and building international finance discuss his career and building international finance
Sunset Song Sunset Song Courtesy of Hurricane Films Courtesy of Hurricane Films
Filming in the UK: British films at TIFF Filming in 15 theSeptember, UK: British2pm-3.30pm films at TIFF Tuesday 15 September, Take a closer look atTuesday the UK films showing at 2pm-3.30pm TIFF this year, including Terence Take a closer look at the UK films showing at TIFF this year, including Terence Davies’s latest Sunset Song. Producers share their experiences of financing, Davies’s latest Sunset Song. share their experiences of financing, finding locations andProducers studios, and working with UK crews finding locations and studios, and working with UK crews www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk/tiff orwww.britishfilmcommission.org.uk/tiff follow the conversation at #LDNHouse or follow the conversation at #LDNHouse Presented by Presented by
Partners Partners
Kilo Two Bravo Kilo Two Bravo Courtesy of Pukka FIlms Courtesy of Pukka FIlms
Doha Film Institute is proud talent through our film fund
3000 Nights
Dégradé
Frenzy
By Mai Masri Palestine / France / Jordan / Lebanon / UAE / Qatar
By Arab and Tarzan Abunasser Palestine / France / Qatar
By Ermin Alper Turkey / France / Qatar
Discovery 10 Sept, 12:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 14 Sept, 7:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 16 Sept, 3:15 PM, AGO
Contemporary World Cinema 11 Sept, 2:00 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 14 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 16 Sept, 12:30 PM, TIFF Bell Lightbox 17 Sept, 9:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 19 Sept, 9:00 PM, Scotiabank Theatre
The Idol
Lamb
By Hany Abu-Assad Palestine / Netherlands / UK / UAE / Qatar
By Yared Zeleke Ethiopia / France / Germany / Norway / Qatar
Special Presentations 11 Sept, 8:45 PM, Isabel Bader Theatre 12 Sept, 11:00 AM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 13 Sept, 2:00 PM, Bloor Hot Docs 16 Sept, 4:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 19 Sept, 12:00 PM, Scotiabank Theatre
Contemporary World Cinema 10 Sept, 4:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 15 Sept, 7:30 PM, Isabel Bader Theatre 17 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 20 Sept, 6:30 PM, Isabel Bader Theatre
Contemporary World Cinema 11 Sept, 4:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 12 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 14 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 17 Sept, 7:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 19 Sept, 3:00 PM, Scotiabank Theatre
DFI 2015 Screen International- Double Page Spread- DFI Films in TIFF.indd 1
ud to support regional and international unding programmes. Mabrouk!
Mustang
Nasser
By Deniz Gamze Ergüven Turkey / France / Germany / Qatar
By Jihan El Tahri France / South Africa / Qatar
Special Presentations 10 Sept, 9:00 PM, Ryerson Theatre 11 Sept, 2:45 PM, TIFF Bell Lightbox 12 Sept, 9:30 AM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I)
TIFF Docs 13 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 15 Sept, 6:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 17 Sept, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 20 Sept, 9:30 AM, Jackman Hall
Very Big Shot
Waves’ 98
By Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya Lebanon / Qatar
By Ely Dagher Lebanon / Qatar
Discovery 11 Sept, 6:30 PM, Scotiabank Theatre 12 Sept, 4:15 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 13 Sept, 10:15 PM, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 16 Sept, 9:15 PM, Scotiabank Theatre (P&I) 20 Sept, 9:00 AM, Scotiabank Theatre
Short Cuts 15 Sept, 10:00 PM, Cinema 4 16 Sept, 9:15 AM, Scotiabank 5 (P&I) 20 Sept, 12:15 PM, Scotiabank 11
9/6/15 3:23 PM
FEATURE MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Baskin
IN THE GRIP OF FEAR Midnight Madness is showcasing a collection of international genre titles including Baskin, Hardcore and The Devil’s Candy. But horror films don’t always give directors an easy ride, as Tom Grater reports
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oronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness programme — dubbed the ‘wild side’ of TIFF — showcases the latest genre films at late-night screenings throughout the festival. Selections will screen to a packed and enthusiastic audience, becoming part of an increasingly prestigious history since it launched in 1988. This year, there are 11 films in the strand, including three debut features alongside films from genre masters Takashi Miike and Soi Cheang. Screen spoke to three of this year’s Midnight Madness directors about the trials and tribulations of getting a horror feature made: Turkish film-maker Can Evrenol, who has adapted his short film Baskin into a feature of the same name; Russia’s Ilya Naishuller, who presents his entirely POV-shot debut feature Hardcore; and Australia’s Sean Byrne, whose second feature The Devil’s Candy follows his breakthrough The Loved Ones. For Evrenol, getting his first feature into Midnight Madness is a “surreal” feeling. After leaving his native Turkey to study film at the UK’s University of Kent, Evrenol cut his teeth making short films while also pur-
suing a successful career directing adverts. His work with IKEA and Microsoft paid the bills as his shorts were garnering worldwide attention. His 2007 film The Chest (Sandik) played festivals across Europe and was selected by the UK’s Frightfest, which then put money into his next film, To My Mother And Father, going on to screen at HP Lovecraft Film Festival in the US and Sitges Film Festival in Spain. While Evrenol’s shorts cemented his reputation as a promising young director, he received less-desirable attention when his contribution to Frightfest 2012’s ‘Turn your bloody phone off ’ idents, involving a man assaulting a woman in a grotesque manner after she uses her cellphone in the cinema, stirred up online vitriol from many who thought he had crossed a line of taste. “I was really upset that some of the female horror film directors didn’t like it,” he says, “but I kind of enjoy the notoriety; I like the edge.” He also admits it didn’t harm his reputation from a commercial viewpoint. “Controversy is seen as a good thing,” he remarks. Evrenol decided the time was right to embark on his first feature project, but the
22 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
‘With three of my co-writers I wrote the script in eight days and translated it in two days’ Can Evrenol, director
complications of development and financing caused him to instead work his idea into a short film, titled Baskin. It caught the eye of Eli Roth, who himself had Cabin Fever and Hostel selected for Midnight Madness in 2002 and 2005 respectively, and the two met up in Sitges. “Eli said, ‘Do you have a script for a feature?’, and I said yes even though I didn’t. I told him to give me 10 days to translate,” Evrenol recalls. “I went home and, with three of my co-writers, wrote the script in eight days and translated it in two days. The story was done on the backbone of that week. It was an amazing time.” Roth signed a first option to finance the film with Evrenol as director but, shortly after, he went quiet and the option eventually expired. Mike Hostench, co-director of Sitges, then put Evrenol in touch with a Catalan investor, but that deal also fell through. “I was a bit upset,” Evrenol admits. His next move was to get back in touch with Hostench who, along with Todd Brown from XYZ Films (both are credited as executive producers on the film), helped Evrenol to put together a file designed to attract private
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investment from a variety of sources including friends and family. Eventually, it attracted more than $300,000, though Evrenol admits it was less than he would have liked: “I was able to make it for such a low budget, it looks more polished than it is.” Core values For Ilya Naishuller, attracting online attention was an equally important, but less controversial, factor in getting his first feature, Hardcore, made. In 2013 he directed a music video for his Moscow band, Biting Elbows, for their song ‘Bad Motherfucker’. It has, to date, clocked up more than 29 million views on YouTube and is a five-minute thrill ride shot entirely in the POV style and featuring plenty of violence. “It started going viral pretty quickly,” Naishuller recalls. “A couple of days later I got a Facebook message from Timur Bekmambetov.” The Russian-Kazakh directorproducer, whose credits include Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, asked Naishuller if he would consider shooting an entire feature in POV. “It was super-exciting [but] I told him I thought it was a terrible idea. He said that I should think about it.” When Bekmambetov invited him to Los Angeles, Naishuller’s doubts grew. “I’d read those books about Hollywood. I knew how people would operate. I said, ‘If they start to dictate how I’m going to do it, I’ll not get involved.’” However, his fears were allayed when Bekmambetov displayed a flexibility when it came to ideas. “At that point, I knew he was a guy I wanted to work with.” Bekmambetov recruited two private investors from Russia and the project went into development. He also suggested they consider a crowd-funding campaign, but while Naishuller knew his online prominence would almost guarantee success, he didn’t want to rush it. “At that point we had no idea if it was going to work. On the heat of ‘Bad Motherfucker’ we probably would’ve gotten a lot more, but I was terrified of taking money and coming back with a piece-of-shit film.” They decided to push on with the production and revisit the idea of crowd-funding when the project entered post-production. After wrapping the shoot, they sat down with Indiegogo’s head of film, Marc Hofstatter, who told them to “think of it as an equal opportunity to
Hardcore
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The Devil’s Candy by Sean Byrne; (below) director Ilya Naishuller — standing right — on the set of Hardcore with actor Jake Abel in GoPro headgear
raise money for the film, which you need, and get the attention from the press, which you also will need”. The campaign eventually raised more than $250,000 towards completion, and generated plenty of attention. “Some things money can’t guarantee,” Naishuller says. “The fact we did the campaign got us a lot of press coverage.” Devil’s detail Sean Byrne, whose sophomore feature The Devil’s Candy follows his debut The Loved Ones, which premiered at Midnight Madness in 2009 and won the People’s Choice award, found the experience very different the second time around. “I struggled to get money for my first film,” he recalls. “The industry in Australia is primarily government-funded — I received 60% of the budget from them — so you can imagine the competition to access that funding. I had to jump through hoops for years.” It was a simpler process for The Devil’s Candy. “If you’ve done it before and it resonates critically or commercially, it makes things easier. If it turns out OK, that demystifies the whole process.” After developing the idea for the film, Byrne sent a treatment to production company Snoot Entertainment. “I always had Snoot in mind because they have a reputation for having exquisite taste, strong commercial sensibilities, and also for taking risks,” he says. “I always like to take risks, especially with horror films. Horror without danger defeats the whole point.” Snoot responded positively, and the project got the green light. “That’s where it began and ended for me — I didn’t have to source the financing; that’s from the producers, it’s privatised,” says Byrne.
‘I always like to take risks… horror without danger defeats the whole point’ Sean Byrne, director
The director is delighted to once again be part of Midnight Madness. “The top-tier festivals validate the quality of the film, which is a big launch pad for horror,” he notes. “In general, horror can tend to be a sea of mediocrity. Festival selection can tell you that these films have critical value. Insidious came out of Midnight Madness. Look at the success of It Follows, which had a great festival run. It raises awareness and underlines critical acclaim — both those things are invaluable.” Byrne believes, first and foremost, that first-time directors need to focus on quality. “To begin with, all you can really do is make a good film in a viable commercial genre and offer something new to the audience,” he says. He also offers advice to future filmmakers who dream of making a splash at Midnight Madness — advice that reflects the journeys of both Naishuller and Evrenol: “I think anyone out there who’s trying to figure out the easiest way to get money — if you can make a short film that’s either based on the feature you’re trying to make or is very similar tonally, it makes the transition so much smoother because people trust their eyes; s words and a script can only go so far.” ■
September 11, 2015 Screen International at Toronto 23
IntervIew tom Hooper
Eddie Redmayne as transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, with Alicia Vikander as Gerda Gottlieb
The transformer
Reunited on The Danish Girl with Eddie Redmayne and Working Title, Tom Hooper tells Andreas Wiseman about his passion for the project, transgender illumination and Redmayne’s ‘gender fluidity’
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hen director Tom Hooper first read Lucinda Coxon’s initial draft of The Danish Girl about transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, he wept. Three times. Hooper had been slipped Coxon’s script by renowned casting director Nina Gold five years ago, while the long-term collaborators were working on The King’s Speech. “Of all the first-draft screenplays I’ve read, this one stands out as being an extraordinary piece of writing,” recalls Hooper, winner of the 2011 best director Oscar for his film about George VI’s battle against his stammer. Adapted from David Ebershoff ’s 2000 novel of the same name, Coxon’s script charts the life of Elbe (1882-1931), one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Elbe was born in Denmark as Einar Mogens Wegener and became a successful artist under that name. He began transitioning during a passionate relationship with painter Gerda Gottlieb, during which time Wegener started dressing in women’s clothes while filling in as a model for his lover. Wegener travelled to Germany in 1930 for the first of five operations for sex reassignment, virtually unheard of at the time and highly dangerous. While she man-
On the Copenhagen set of The Danish Girl
aged to get her sex and name changed legally, the experimental surgeries took their toll and in 1931, soon after her fifth surgery, she died of transplant rejection. “It’s interesting how you look back at your decisions and in retrospect see patterns,” says Hooper. “The King’s Speech had that same theme of how we overcome the blocks to our true self, or our best self. But there’s something in the DNA of this piece that is a much more extreme and profound version of that. “Like in The King’s Speech, the catalyst of change, or what allows change, is love,” he continues. “In this case, the
24 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
unconditional love that Gerda has for Einar. It’s the kind of love that made the possibility for change at a time when change was largely unthinkable.” The unique story The Danish Girl tells was an awakening for the UK director. “It has been an education for me about courage,” he says. “You’ve got to remember that at the time there was no penicillin, no antibiotics. If you got an infection from an operation, it was very, very dangerous. Her courage was extraordinary.” It is perhaps fitting that a film about identity and transformation has itself gone through multiple incarnations. US
producer Gail Mutrux first optioned Ebershoff ’s novel more than 15 year ago after reading a pre-publication review in Publishers Weekly. “What most attracted me was the love story,” reveals Mutrux, whose producing credits include Kinsey and Donnie Brasco. “At that stage transgender issues were not in the news as much as they are today, so it was difficult to get it together. There were many almosts.” Over the 15-year odyssey, a number of Hollywood’s top actresses were reported to be interested in — and some attached to — the project, including Nicole Kidman, Rachel Weisz, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow and Uma Thurman. Directors Tomas Alfredson and Lasse Hallstrom came and went. Financiers were wary of stumping up the $15m budget for a film so firmly rooted in transgender issues. While Hooper connected with the script early on, he wasn’t officially attached until the beginning of 2014. “It was Tom’s attachment that got the film made,” confirms Mutrux, who had been joined by producer Anne Harrison. Hooper’s passion for the project convinced two of his key collaborators on $442m global hit Les Misérables to jump
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on board: Working Title Films, whose long-term deal with Universal Pictures guaranteed the film’s budget, and UK actor Eddie Redmayne. The similarly indemand Alicia Vikander would join to play Gerda, with Ben Whishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts and Amber Heard also joining the impressive supporting cast. Despite the plethora of female A-listers previously associated with the project, Hooper was never in any doubt as to who should play Lili/Einar. He shared Coxon’s script with Redmayne while the pair were working on Les Misérables. “When I read it that first time, I wanted to cast Eddie. That was my first thought,” declares Hooper, who admits that Redmayne’s journey since Les Misérables — he would go on to win this year’s best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything — made his casting “more possible”. Hooper had first directed Redmayne on the 2005 HBO mini-series Elizabeth I, casting him as Southampton opposite Helen Mirren. “I remember him doing a scene where he’s sentenced to death for rebelling against Elizabeth,” he recalls. “In that scene his contact with his own emotions at hearing his death sentence
was one of the most extraordinary bits of acting I’ve ever witnessed.” Redmayne’s fine features and experience in taking on cross-gender roles also appealed to Hooper. “There’s a certain gender fluidity that I sensed in Eddie, that I found intriguing,” he muses. “I know, quite unusually, he’d been drawn to playing women roles from an early age. He was also in Mark Rylance’s Twelfth Night playing Violet. I felt there was something in him that was drawn to the feminine.” ‘Psychology of the journey’ Hooper’s instincts about Redmayne’s fit for the part chimed with those of the actor, who fell instantly for the project. Between early 2014 and start of shoot in February 2015, Redmayne did as much as he could to immerse himself in Elbe’s mindset. “He wanted a genuine understanding of the psychology of the journey,” remarks Hooper. Lana Wachowski (Redmayne’s director on ), UK trans activist Paris Jupiter Ascending), Lees, former Vogue model April Ashley and blogger Jackson Bird were among Redmayne’s confidantes while preparing for the role. He voraciously read around the subject to prepare for a
‘I felt there was something in Eddie Redmayne that was drawn to the feminine’ Tom Hooper
transformation even more extreme than playing Hawking. Despite his intense study, however, when it came time to shoot Redmayne couldn’t quell his nerves entirely. “He has got a lot of anxiety,” confirms Hooper. “But Eddie has this ability to transcend his anxiety. Utterly. The truly great actors, whatever fears drive them, they can
Tom Hooper
convert that energy into complete freedom in the moment of performance.” The casting of the in-demand Redmayne caught the attention of industry and media alike. It also irked some in the trans community, however, who would have liked to see a trans actor cast as Elbe. “Over the years we thought about a transgender actor playing the part,” confirms Mutrux. “But, unlike now, those great trans actors didn’t appear to us.” “There’s a tremendous pool of talented trans actors,” adds Hooper, who was eager to cast transgender actors in speaking roles in the film — Rebecca Root, who plays Elbe’s nurse, among them. The director nevertheless recognises significant industry shortcomings. “There’s a journey to go on in making sure that talented trans actors have the same access to opportunities both in front of and behind the camera as cisgender actors.” Hooper notes the barriers ahead for transgender equality, but sees light through the cracks. “When I first fell in love with [the idea of] making this film, it was perceived to be a very hard film to finance. Now, in a space of only five or six years, people talk to s me as if it was an obvious film to do.” ■
FIlm/TelevIsIoN
FINANCING www.HollywoodFinanceSolutions.com Reasonable Terms | All Projects Reviewed | Limited Queue
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September 11, 2015 Screen International at Toronto 25
Screenings
Further coverage, see screendaily.com
Edited by Jamie McLeish Screening times and venues are correct at time of press but are subject to alteration
Public
screenings 09:45 A Tale of Love and Darkness
(Israel/USA) 97mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Voltage Pictures (int’l). Dir: Natalie Portman. Cast: Natalie Portman, Gilad Kahana, Amir Tessler. Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman makes her debut as writer and director with this adaptation of the bestselling memoir by Israeli author Amos Oz. Special Presentations The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
10:00 Fireworks (Archives)
(Thailand/Mexico) Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The new installation from Thai film-maker and contemporary artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) fuses the artist’s exploration of memory, ephemeral elements such as light and phantoms, and the malleable nature of history and storytelling, all while exhuming Thailand’s political legacy through an ingenious use of pyrotechnics. Wavelengths Contemporary Galleries
The Forbidden Room: A living poster
(Canada) 119mins. Mongrel International (int’l). Dir: Galen Johnson. Designed to promote Evan Johnson and Guy Maddin’s new film The Forbidden Room, Galen Johnson’s A Living Poster is a looping collection of moving, morphing posters that suggests an anachronistic collision between digitally corrupted video files and a damaged silent-era film print. Wavelengths TIFF Bell Lightbox
Public screening 12:30 London Road
(United Kingdom) 92mins. Protagonist Pictures (US). Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Rufus Norris. Cast: Olivia Colman, Anita Dobson, Tom Hardy.
Welcome to F.L.
(Canada) 75mins. Colonelle films (US). 3.14 *Collectif (int’l). Dir: Genevieve DuludeDe Celles. This feature-length documentary by filmmaker Genevieve DuludeDe Celles offers a candid portrait of the smart, passionate and reflective students at a typical Quebec high school, as they reach the end of their teenage years and contemplate the lives that lie ahead of them. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox, cinema 3
11:00 The Round-Up
(Hungary) 88mins. Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (int’l). Dir: Miklos Jancso. Cast: Zoltan Latinovits, Janos Görbe, Tibor Molnar.
26 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman headline this big-screen adaptation of the stage musical by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork, about the UK’s ‘Suffolk Strangler’ murders in 2006. City to City The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
The first of Hungarian master Miklos Jancso’s historical epics is set in an isolated concentration camp in the 1860s, where imperial authorities use brutal methods to find the nationalist rebels hiding within the ragtag group of prisoners. TIFF Cinematheque TIFF Bell Lightbox, cinema 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
11:30 Hitchcock/Truffaut
(USA/France) 80mins. Cohen Media Group (int’l). Dir: Kent Jones. Cast: Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Arnaud Desplechin. Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, James Gray, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and others discuss the importance of the epochal book that transcribed the week-long 1962 interview
between Alfred Hitchcock and French New Wave luminary Francois Truffaut. TIFF Docs Jackman Hall
12:00 Demolition
(USA) 100mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: JeanMarc Vallée. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper. Grief-stricken after a family tragedy, a New York investment banker (Jake Gyllenhaal) engages in random acts of destruction, in the highly anticipated new film by Canadian film-maker Jean-Marc Vallée. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
Fallen Objects
(USA/India). Dir: Shambhavi Kaul. Presented in partnership with Scrap Metal Gallery, this new installation by Indian-American artistfilm-maker Shambhavi Kaul comprises a large projected video loop and floorbound sculptures, which considers cinematic space outside the cinema and imagines humans inside it. Wavelengths Scrap Metal Gallery
In the Shadow of Women
(France) 73mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Philippe Garrel. Cast: Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Léna Paugam. A Parisian documentary film-maker becomes embroiled in a romantic triangle, in this luminous love story from the great director Philippe Garrel (Frontier Of Dawn, Regular Lovers). Masters TIFF Bell Lightbox, cinema 2
12:30 La Giubba
90mins. Dir: Corin Sworn, Tony Romano. The first major collaboration between Canadian artist Tony Romano and Englishborn, Toronto-raised Corin Sworn, La Giubba follows the interconnected tales of five drifters over the course of two summer days in southern Italy. Wavelengths Clint Roenisch Gallery
London Road See box, above
Roy Assaf, Assaf BenShimon. In the wake of their mother’s death, three Jewish Israeli siblings discover their biological father was a Muslim and set out on a journey across France to locate him. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox, cinema 3
13:30 Where To Invade Next
(USA) 110mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Michael Moore. Cast: Michael Moore, Amel Smaoui, Jenny Tumas. Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore returns with what may be his most provocative and hilarious film yet: the film-maker tells the Pentagon to “stand down”… he will do the invading for America from now on. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 1
14:15 In Jackson Heights
The Kind Words
(Israel/Canada) 118mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Shemi Zarhin. Cast: Rotem Zissman-Cohen,
(USA) 190mins. Zipporah Films (US). Doc & Film International, Zipporah Films (int’l). Dir: Frederick Wiseman. »
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Retribution.indd 1
31/08/15 19:51
ScreeningS
Legendary documentary film-maker Frederick Wiseman (At Berkeley, National Gallery) explores the culture, politics and daily life of the Queens, NYC district of Jackson Heights, which lays claim to being the most diverse neighbourhood in the world. TIFF Docs Jackman Hall
14:30 La GIubba
90mins. Dir: Corin Sworn, Tony Romano. Wavelengths Clint Roenisch Gallery
14:45 MusTanG
(Turkey/France/ Germany/Qatar) 94mins. Kinology (int’l). Dir: Deniz Gamze Ergüven. Cast: Gunes Sensoy, Dogba Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu. Five young sisters living in a coastal Turkish village on the Black Sea are placed under the tyrannical regime of traditional morality by their guardians, in the poignant, award-winning first feature by Turkish director Deniz Gamze Ergüven. special Presentations TIFF bell Lightbox, cinema 2
Public screening 17:00 THe DauGHTeR
(Australia) 96mins. Cinetic Media (US). Mongrel International (int’l). Dir: Simon — under penalty of being transformed into animals should they fail. special Presentations Princess of Wales
15:30 baba Joon
(France) 97mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Diasteme. Cast: Alban Lenoir, Paul Hamy, Samuel Jouy. A racist thug in France’s Front National battles his way from the streets to the backrooms of political power, in this hard-hitting, decades-spanning drama about the rise of Europe’s far right.
(Israel) 91mins. Eastgate Pictures (US). Dir: Yuval Delshad. Cast: Navid Negahban, Viss Elliot Safavi, Asher Avrahami. Chronicling the burgeoning conflict between father and son in a hard-working IranianIsraeli family, Yuval Delshad’s fiction-feature debut is both a fascinating glimpse into a distinctive immigrant experience and a universal story of intergenerational tension.
Platform Visa screening Room (elgin)
Contemporary World Cinema The bloor Hot Docs Cinema
15:00 FRenCH bLooD
THe LobsTeR
(Ireland/United Kingdom/Greece/France/ Netherlands) 119mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos. Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C Reilly. About a curious hotel where the residents are charged with finding a new mate within 45 days
15:45 LeT THeM CoMe
(France/Algeria) 95mins. KG Productions (int’l). Dir: Salem Brahimi. Cast: Amazigh Kateb, Rachida Brakni. In this remarkable adaptation of Arezki Mellal’s novel, a family must defend itself amid the onslaught of violence between government forces
28 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Stone. Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie. A young man returns to his dying home town and discovers a dark family secret that could tear
apart the lives of those he left behind, in this contemporary adaptation of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck.
and radical Islamists in 1980s Algeria.
cinematic past, as they seek to retrieve more than 8,000 hours of film footage that they risked their lives to conceal during the Taliban era.
Contemporary World Cinema TIFF bell Lightbox, cinema 3
16:00 sToRIes aRe MeanInGMakInG MaCHInes
60mins. Dir: Annie MacDonell, Maider Fortune. A lecture performance with music and film projection by Canadian artist Annie MacDonell and French artist Maïder Fortuné, which explores an experimental form of cinematic memory. Wavelengths TIFF bell Lightbox, cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema
16:15 a FLICkeRInG TRuTH
(New Zealand/ Afghanistan) 91mins. The Film Sales Company (US). The Film Sales Company (int’l). Dir: Pietra Brettkelly. Cast: Ibrahim Arify, Isaaq Yousif, Mahmoud Ghafouri. Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins) follows a group of dedicated Afghan cinephiles who are literally excavating their country’s
special Presentations Winter Garden Theatre
TIFF Docs scotiabank 3
16:30 La GIubba
90mins. Dir: Corin Sworn, Tony Romano. Wavelengths Clint Roenisch Gallery
son oF sauL
(Hungary) 107mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Laszlo Nemes. Cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnar, Urs Rechn. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, this powerful Holocaust drama follows a concentration-camp inmate who goes to desperate lengths to secure a traditional Jewish burial for a young boy. special Presentations TIFF bell Lightbox, Cinema 1
17:00 THe DauGHTeR
International (int’l). Dir: André Turpin. Cast: Sophie Nélisse, Mylene Mackay, Lise Roy. The new film from celebrated director and cinematographer André Turpin is an intoxicating cinematic puzzle that intertwines the lives of three seemingly unconnected characters. Vanguard TIFF bell Lightbox, cinema 2
18:00 aRabIan nIGHTs: VoLuMe 2, THe DesoLaTe one
(Portugal/France/ Germany/Switzerland) 131mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Miguel Gomes. Cast: Crista Alfaiate, Adriano Luz, Americo Silva. Part two of Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’s majestic, mutating modern-day folk tale relates how desolation has invaded humanity through stories involving a distressed judge on a night of three moons, a runaway, a teleporting murderer, a wounded cow, a sad, chain-smoking couple in a concrete apartment block and a ghost dog named Dixie. Wavelengths TIFF bell Lightbox, cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema
see box, above
17:45 enDoRPHIne
(Canada) 84mins. Séville
banG GanG (a MoDeRn LoVe sToRy)
(France) 98mins. Films Distribution (int’l).
Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Finnegan Oldfield, Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier. The bold feature debut by French film-maker Eva Husson explores the sexual exploits and awakenings of a group of teenagers on the beaches — and in the beds — of Biarritz. Platform Visa screening Room (elgin)
I saW THe LIGHT
(USA) 123mins. Dir: Marc Abraham. Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen. Biopic of country-music legend Hank Williams. special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
sPeaR
(Australia) 84mins. LevelK (int’l). Dir: Stephen Page. Cast: Aaron Pedersen, Hunter Page-Lochard, Djakapurra Munyarryun. A young man reconciles ancient tradition with the modern, urban world in this debut feature from Stephen Page, artistic director of Australia’s Bangarra Dance Theatre. Discovery Isabel bader Theatre
18:15 DeMon
(Poland/Israel) 94mins. Dir: Marcin Wrona. Cast: Itay Tiran, Tomasz Schuchardt, Andrzej Grabowski. A groom is possessed by an unquiet spirit in the »
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The Netherlands‘ Academy Award Official Entry
World Premiere @ Toronto IFF Sat, 12th at 07:00PM (Scotiabank 6) - Press & Industry Sun, 13th at 09:15PM (Scotiabank 3) - World Premiere! Tue, 15th at 03:45PM (Jackman Hall) Thu, 17th at 08:45AM (Scotiabank 8) - Press & Industry Sun, 20th at 09:15AM (Scotiabank 13)
Visit us! www.medialuna.biz
media luna new films @ German Films umbrella stand in Toronto: Ida Martins • Mobile: +49 170 966 7900 info@medialuna.biz • Office Tel: +49 221 510 91891
ScreeningS
midst of his own wedding celebration, in this clever take on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk. Vanguard The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
18:30 EyE in THE Sky
(United Kingdom) 102mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Entertainment One Features (int’l). Dir: Gavin Hood. Cast: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman. Academy Award winner Helen Mirren stars alongside Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman and Iain Glen in this timely thriller about a terrorist-targeting drone mission that becomes a flashpoint when a civilian girl enters the kill zone. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
MiSS SHaRon JonES!
(USA) 93mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). Submarine Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Barbara Kopple. Cast: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. Two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) follows R&B queen Sharon Jones over the course of an eventful year, as she battles a cancer diagnosis and struggles to hold together her band, the Dap-Kings. TiFF Docs Scotiabank 1
110mins. Deckert Distribution (int’l). Dir: Mika Taanila, Jussi Eerola. This incisive and often savagely funny documentary chronicles the black comedy of errors that transpired when a remote Finnish island was selected as the site of the first new nuclear power plant in the West following the Chernobyl disaster. TiFF Docs Scotiabank 4
THE EnDlESS RiVER
(South Africa/France) 110mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International (int’l). Dir: Oliver Hermanus. Cast: Nicolas Duvauchelle, Crystal-Donna Roberts, Clayton Evertson. A young waitress in a small South African town forms an unlikely bond with a grieving widower whose family has been brutally murdered. Contemporary World Cinema TiFF Bell lightbox, cinema 3
(int’l). Dir: Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya. Cast: Alain Saadeh, Fouad Yammine, Tarek Yaacoub. Looking to go straight, three coke-smuggling brothers are coerced by their crooked boss into a very dangerous last score. Discovery Scotiabank 14
19:00
(Lebanon/Qatar) 107mins. Be for Films
Discovery Scotiabank 13
BoRn To DanCE
(New Zealand) 96mins. Cinema Management Group (US). Cinema Management Group (int’l). Dir: Tammy Davis. Cast: Tia-Taharoa Maipi, Stan Walker, Kherington Payne. A Maori teen faces parental and social pressure while leading his competitive hip-hop dance crew toward the regional championships, in this exhilarating feature directorial debut from New Zealand actor Tammy Davis.
WaVElEnGTHS 1: FiRE in THE BRain
Discovery Scotiabank 3
Wavelengths Jackman Hall
SEMana SanTa VERy BiG SHoT
Abella. Cast: Anajosé Aldrete, Tenoch Huerta, Esteban Avila. In this poignant debut, a young widow’s attempt to bond with both her eight-year-old son and her new boyfriend on a beach vacation becomes a strained exercise in isolation and longing.
(Mexico) 85mins. Mundial (int’l). Dir: Alejandra Marquez
Like a fire in the brain that lights up perceptive powers, a recently discovered and restored anaglyph 3D film by Paul Sharits ignites a mesmerising exchange between space and materiality, setting off a programme of subliminal motion studies featuring films by Kerstin Schroedinger, Charlotte Pryce, Benjamin Ramirez Pérez, Blake Williams and Peter Tscherkassky.
19:15 My GREaT niGHT
(Spain) 100mins. Film Factory Entertainment
un PluS unE
(France) 115mins. Metropolitan Filmexport (US). Mister Smith Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Claude Lelouch. Cast: Jean Dujardin,
ouR BRanD iS CRiSiS
(USA) 108mins. Warner Bros Pictures (US). Warner Bros Pictures (int’l). Dir: David Gordon Green. Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie. Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton star in this story inspired by true events, in which rival American political strategists work to fix a Bolivian presidential election. Special Presentations Princess of Wales
RETuRn oF THE aToM
(Finland/Germany)
30 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Vanguard Scotiabank 2
19:30 EVERy THinG Will BE FinE
(Germany/Canada/ France/Sweden/Norway) 119mins. HanWay Films (int’l). Dir: Wim Wenders. Cast: James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams. A tragic car accident links the lives of a struggling writer (James Franco), his long-suffering girlfriend (Rachel McAdams), a grieving mother (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and a publisher’s assistant (Marie-Josée Croze), in this intricate and beautifully shot 3D drama from master director Wim Wenders (Pina). Masters TiFF Bell lightbox, Cinema 1
Public screening 20:00
(int’l). Dir: Alex De La Iglesia. Cast: Raphael, Mario Casas, Pepon Nieto. The backstage preparations for a New Year’s Eve TV spectacular become a flashpoint for comic mayhem, in the audaciously inventive ensemble comedy from Spain’s madcap maestro Alex de la Iglesia.
Elsa Zylberstein, Christophe Lambert. A successful film composer (Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin, The Artist) falls in love when he travels to India to work
on a Bollywood retelling of Romeo And Juliet, in this glorious romantic drama from the great French director Claude Lelouch. Special Presentations Winter Garden Theatre
20:00 un PluS unE See box, left
20:30 THE aPoSTaTE
(Spain/France/Uruguay) 80mins. FiGa Films (US).
FiGa Films (int’l). Dir: Federico Veiroj. Cast: Alvaro Ogalla, Marta Larralde, Barbara Lennie. A young man finds himself navigating the baffling, labyrinthine bureaucracy of the Catholic Church when he attempts to formally renounce his faith, in this gently absurdist comedy from Uruguay’s Federico Veiroj (A Useful Life). Contemporary World Cinema TiFF Bell lightbox, cinema 2
20:45 THE iDol
(United Kingdom/ Palestine/Qatar/ Netherlands/United Arab Emirates) 100mins. Seville International (int’l). Dir: Hany AbuAssad. Cast: Qais Atallah, Hiba Atallah, Ahmad Qassim. Acclaimed Palestinian film-maker Hany AbuAssad (Paradise Now, Omar) directs this biopic about Mohammad Assaf, the Gazan wedding singer who became a worldwide sensation after winning the Arab Idol singing competition in 2013. Special Presentations isabel Bader Theatre
21:00 BlaCk
(Belgium) 95mins. Be for Films (int’l). Dir: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah. Cast: Martha Canga Antonio, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Emmanuel Tahon. A 15-year-old girl in a black gang in Brussels must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang. Discovery The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
DHEEPan
(France) 114mins. Wild Bunch, Celluloid Dreams (int’l). Dir: Jacques Audiard. Cast: Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby. Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes, this powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone) follows a former Tamil Tiger soldier as he flees from the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war »
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8 DAYS IN NOVEMBER san ta monica
AMERICAN FILM MARKET & CONFERENCES
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ScreeningS
to begin a new life in a Parisian suburb. Special Presentations Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
URban Hymn
(United Kingdom) 114mins. Metro International Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Michael Caton-Jones. Cast: Letitia Wright, Isabella Laughland, Shirley Henderson. The London riots of 2011 serve as the backdrop for director Michael CatonJones’ gritty and moving portrait of a pair of disenfranchised teenage girls struggling to survive. City to City Scotiabank 1
21:15 GRanny’S DanCinG On THE TablE
(Sweden) 85mins. Dir: Hanna Sköld. Cast: Blanca Engström, Lennart Jähkel. A young girl living under the heel of her tyrannical religious-zealot father in the depths of the Swedish forests finds strength in the memory of her rebellious grandmother, in this searing feature from Hanna Sköld. Contemporary World Cinema TiFF bell lightbox, cinema 4 — Paul & leah atkinson Family Cinema
lEn anD COmPany
(USA) 97mins. United Talent Agency (US). Seville International (int’l). Dir: Tim Godsall. Cast: Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple, Jack Kilmer. A legendary, reclusive music producer (Rhys Ifans) has his shut-in routine disturbed by the unexpected arrival of his aspiring musician son (Jack Kilmer) and a troubled bubblegum-pop superstar (Juno Temple). Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
Public screening Rivers (Two Years At Sea, A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness) charts a mysterious transformation from observational making-of to inventive adaptation shot against a staggering Moroccan landscape.
21:30 THE maRTian
(USA) 130mins. Dir: Ridley Scott. Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig. Stranded on Mars, a NASA astronaut
THank yOU FOR bOmbinG
struggles to survive on the arid planet while his ground crew races to mount a rescue mission, in this interplanetary epic from Ridley Scott. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
Wavelengths Jackman Hall
21:30 a JOURnEy OF a THOUSanD milES: PEaCEkEEPERS
(USA/Pakistan) 95mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). Submarine Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Geeta Gandbhir, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Documentarians Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Geeta Gandbhir follow the stories of three Bangladeshi policewomen who served with the UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.
THE Sky TREmblES anD THE EaRTH iS aFRaiD anD THE TWO EyES aRE nOT bROTHERS
TiFF Docs Scotiabank 13
(United Kingdom) 98mins. Dir: Ben Rivers. Cast: Oliver Laxe. Partially inspired by Paul Bowles’ story ‘A Distant Episode’, the latest feature by UK film-maker Ben
(United Kingdom) 90mins. The Fyzz Facility (US). 13 Films (int’l). Dir: Michael Lennox. Cast: Stephen Graham, Conleth Hill, Lara Pulver. Conleth Hill and Stephen
Graham star in this anti-bromance about an upstanding professor blackmailed into a onesided friendship after a lonely security guard catches him shoplifting. Discovery Scotiabank 4
EVa nOVa
(Slovakia) 106mins. Dir: Marko Skop. Cast: Emilia Vasaryova, Milan Ondrik, Aniko Vargova. A fallen movie star fights hard to stay sober and make amends with her estranged son, in this compassionate feature debut from Slovakian director Marko Skop. Discovery Scotiabank 10
a PaTCH OF FOG
32 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
SPaRROWS
(Iceland/Denmark/ Croatia) 99mins. Versatile (int’l). Dir: Runar Runarsson. Cast: Atli Oskar Fjalarsson, Ingvar E Sigurdsson,
Kristbjörg Kjeld. In the new film from Icelandic director Runar Runarsson (Volcano), a teenage boy is forced to leave his happy life in Reykjavik and move back in with his dissolute father in a rural town. A shocking event forces him to choose between telling the truth and protecting those he loves. Contemporary World Cinema TiFF bell lightbox, cinema 3
THE maRTian See box, above
21:45 SHORT CUTS — PROGRammE 2
The protagonists in these films long for connection, but their efforts to achieve it are complicated by mixed messages, communication breakdowns and clashing attitudes. Short Cuts Scotiabank 14
(Austria) 100mins. Dir: Barbara Eder. Cast: Manon Kahle, Raphael von Bargen, Erwin Steinhauer. Austrian film-maker Barbara Eder looks at the behind-the-camera lives of three war correspondents on assignment in Afghanistan. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 3
22:00 SiCaRiO
(USA) 121mins. Dir: Denis Villeneuve. Cast: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin. An idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) joins a pair of shadowy government operatives (Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro) in a high-risk, cross-border sting against a Mexican cartel boss, in this gritty drug-war thriller from Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve. Special Presentations Princess of Wales
WE mOnSTERS
(Germany) 95mins. Pluto Film Distribution Network (int’l). Dir: Sebastian Ko. Cast: Mehdi Nebbou, Ulrike C Tscharre, Janina Fautz. A husband and wife struggle with their
consciences after they try to conceal a terrible crime committed by their daughter, in this riveting suspense drama from Germany’s Sebastian Ko. Discovery Scotiabank 2
22:30 TRaPPED
(Iceland) 51mins. Dynamic Television (int’l). Dir: Baltasar Kormakur. Cast: Olafur Darri Olafsson. A murder investigation and an impending snowstorm places a smalltown Icelandic police chief in a dangerously unstable situation. with international implications, in this noir-ish thriller. Primetime TiFF bell lightbox, Cinema 1
23:59 baSkin
(Turkey) 97mins. XYZ (US). The Salt Company Ltd. (int’l). Dir: Can Evrenol. Cast: Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu, Mehmet Cerrahoglu. A squad of unsuspecting cops go through a trapdoor to hell when they stumble on a Black Mass, in this tour-de-force feature. midnight madness Ryerson Theatre
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»
Meet the Leaders in Film, Television and Entertainment September 26 - 27, 2015
e g d e l Know r tunity o p p O de o is c h wit r e t s e at v a Regi s nd a N E om c . t i SCRE m
Keynote Conversations with:
m u s h zuric
Thomas Ebeling CEO, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
Christoph Waltz Two-time Academy Award® Winner
Marc Forster Director of “World War Z“, “Quantum of Solace“, “Finding Neverland“
Steve Golin Producer of “True Detective“, Founder of Anonymous Content
John Lesher Principal of Le Grisbi Productions and Oscar-winning producer of “Birdman“, “Black Mass“
Venue: The Dolder Grand | Zurich, Switzerland Panel Conversations with: Roeg Sutherland, CAA Elke Walthelm, Sky Deutschland Sam Toles, Vimeo Marc Butan, MadRiver Pictures William Feng, Motion Picture Association Alexis Garcia, WME Laura Lewis, CAA
Tao Liu, Huayi Brothers Dan Maag, Pantaleon Entertainment AG Brian Oliver, Cross Creek Pictures Antony Root, HBO Europe Marc Rosen, “SENSE8“ Thorsten Schumacher, HanWay Films John Sloss, Cinetic Media Daniel Steinman, Black Bear Pictures
Hendrik Lesser, Remote Control Productions Christos Michaels, Lee & Thompson LLP Phil Hunt, Bankside Films Jack Gao, Wanda Media Culture Group Dario Suter, DCM Damir Bandalo, Superpopcorn Conrad Fritsch,Tape.tv Lenard Krawinkel, Zoobe
In Association with
Industry Partner
Airline Partner
Hotel Partner
Supporting Partner
Media Partner
screenIngs
Press & Industry 08:30 DemolitioN
(USA) 100mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: JeanMarc Vallée. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper. Grief-stricken after a family tragedy, a New York investment banker (Jake Gyllenhaal) engages in random acts of destruction, in the highly anticipated new film by Jean-Marc Vallée. Gala Presentations Princess of Wales
iNciDeNt liGht
(Argentina/France/ Uruguay) 95mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International (int’l). Dir: Ariel Rotter. Cast: Erica Rivas, Marcelo Subiotto, Susana Pampin. In this poignant period drama set in 1960s Argentina, a young woman struggling to raise her twin daughters alone after the tragic death of her husband accepts the courtship of a charming but mysterious older suitor. contemporary World cinema Scotiabank 10
08:45 GreeN room (preceded by the chickeNiNG)
95mins. Creative Artists Agency (CAA) (US). WestEnd Films (int’l). Dir: Jeremy Saulnier. Cast: Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin. The nail-biting thriller from the director of the cult hit Blue Ruin is preceded by Davy Force and Nick DenBoer’s clucky fast-food horror flick. midnight madness Scotiabank 2
PariSieNNe
(France) 119mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Danielle Arbid. Cast: Manal Issa, Vincent Lacoste, Paul Hamy. Set in 1990s Paris, the new film from FrenchLebanese director Danielle Arbid is a coming-of-age story about a young
Press & industry 09:30 Der Nachtmahr
(Germany) 88mins. K5 International (int’l). Dir: AKIZ. Cast: Carolyn Genzkow, Sina Tkotsch, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht.
09:15
After a wild night out, a Berlin party girl finds herself haunted by a twisted, repellent little creature that no-one else can see.
‘Home’ has many meanings in this globe-spanning selection of short films.
Vanguard Scotiabank 8
Short cuts Scotiabank 5
Short cutS — ProGramme 1
09:30
woman from Beirut whose relationships and encounters reveal different facets of her new country, and of herself. contemporary World cinema Scotiabank 14
09:00 mekko
(USA) 84mins. Dir: Sterlin Harjo. Cast: Rod Rondeaux, Zahn McClarnon, Wotko Long. A Muscogee ex-con living on the streets of Tulsa becomes embroiled in a fateful conflict with a local thug, in director Sterlin Harjo’s intriguing fusion of gritty realism and indigenous legend. contemporary World cinema Scotiabank 6
SParroWS
(Iceland/Denmark/ Croatia) 99mins. Versatile (int’l). Dir: Runar Runarsson. Cast: Atli Oskar Fjalarsson, Ingvar E Sigurdsson,
34 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Kristbjörg Kjeld. In the new film from Icelandic director Runar Runarsson (Volcano), a teenage boy is forced to leave his happy life in Reykjavik and move back in with his dissolute father in a sparsely populated rural town. A shocking event forces him to choose between telling the truth and protecting those he loves. contemporary World cinema Scotiabank 9
the Wait
(Italy) 100mins. Pathé International (int’l). Dir: Piero Messina. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Lou De Laage, Giorgio Colangeli. Juliette Binoche stars in this dazzling, Sicilian-set meditation on grief and perseverance from firsttime feature director Piero Messina. Discovery Scotiabank 3
a Patch of foG
(United Kingdom) 90mins. The Fyzz Facility (US). 13 Films (int’l). Dir: Michael Lennox. Cast: Stephen Graham, Conleth Hill, Lara Pulver. Conleth Hill (Game Of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire) star in this anti-bromance about an upstanding professor blackmailed into a very one-sided friendship after a lonely security guard catches him shoplifting. Discovery Scotiabank 7
Der Nachtmahr See box, above
(Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer) sets out to exact vengeance on the man who murdered his family seven decades earlier, in this compelling thriller from master director Atom Egoyan. Gala Presentations Scotiabank 1
09:45 riVer
(Canada/Laos) 88mins. XYZ Films (US). Dir: Jamie M Dagg. Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Sara Botsford, Douangmany Soliphanh. Accused of murder after intervening in the sexual assault of a young woman, an American volunteer doctor in Laos is forced to go on the run. Jamie M Dagg’s debut feature River takes us on a frantic getaway, from the shores of the Mekong River up to the mountains in the north. Discovery Scotiabank 11
remember
SoN of Saul
(Canada/Germany) 95mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). IM Global (int’l). Dir: Atom Egoyan. Cast: Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau. A nursing-home resident
(Hungary) 107mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Laszlo Nemes. Cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnar, Urs Rechn. Winner of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes, this powerful and gripping
Holocaust drama follows a concentration-camp inmate who goes to desperate lengths to secure a traditional Jewish burial for a young boy. Special Presentations tiff bell lightbox, cinema 2
10:15 our little SiSter
(Japan) 128mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Cast: Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho. After their estranged father’s death, three twentysomething sisters discover they have a teenaged step-sibling, in this gentle, deeply affecting family drama from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda that unfolds with the rhythm of the waves that lap the shore of the seaside town of Kamakura. masters Scotiabank 4
10:45 rabiN, the laSt DaY
(Israel/France) 153mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Amos Gitai. Cast: Ischac Hiskiya, Pini Mitelman, Michael Warshaviak. Lauded director Amos Gitai (Kippur) delves into the prelude and aftermath of the 1995 assassination of Israeli prime minister »
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ScreeningS
Yitzhak Rabin in this gripping docudrama.
from director Baltasar Kormakur.
Masters scotiabank 10
primetime scotiabank 7
11:00
13:15
BaBa Joon
lonDon roaD
(Israel) 91mins. Eastgate Pictures (US). Dir: Yuval Delshad. Cast: Navid Negahban, Viss Elliot Safavi, Asher Avrahami. Chronicling the burgeoning conflict between father and son in a hard-working IranianIsraeli family, Yuval Delshad’s fiction-feature debut is both a fascinating glimpse into a distinctive immigrant experience and a universal story of intergenerational tension.
(United Kingdom) 92mins. Protagonist Pictures (US). Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Rufus Norris. Cast: Olivia Colman, Anita Dobson, Tom Hardy. Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman headline this bigscreen adaptation of the stage musical by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork, about the UK’s ‘Suffolk Strangler’ murders in 2006. City to City scotiabank 4
Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 6
13:30
thE Martian
CroMo
(USA) 130mins. Dir: Ridley Scott. Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig. Stranded on Mars, a NASA astronaut (Matt Damon) struggles to survive on the arid planet while his ground crew races to mount a rescue mission, in this interplanetary epic from director Ridley Scott.
(Argentina) 120mins. Dir: Lucia Puenzo, Nicolas Puenzo. Cast: German Palacios, Guillermo Pfening, Emilia Attias. In this timely eco-thriller, a team of scientists set out to expose environmental crimes in the dangerous wetlands of northern Argentina.
Gala presentations princess of Wales
Press & industry 11:30 Eva DoEsn’t slEEp
(France/Argentina/ Spain) 85mins. Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Pablo Agüero. Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Denis Lavant, Daniel Fanego. Gael Garcia Bernal gives a supremely creepy
performance in the new film from visionary Argentinian director Pablo Agüero, which tells the unbelievable true story of the transport of the embalmed body of the country’s beloved First Lady, Eva Peron. Wavelengths scotiabank 14
thE rounD-up
(Hungary) 88mins. Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (int’l). Dir: Miklos Jancso. Cast: Zoltan Latinovits, Janos Görbe, Tibor Molnar. The first of Hungarian master Miklos Jancso’s historical epics is set in an isolated concentration camp in the 1860s, where imperial authorities use brutal methods to find the nationalist rebels hiding within the ragtag group of prisoners. tiFF Cinematheque tiFF Bell lightbox, cinema 4 — paul & leah atkinson Family Cinema
11:15 lanD oF MinE
(Denmark/Germany) 100mins. K5 International, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). K5 International (int’l). Dir: Martin Zandvliet. Cast:
Roland Moller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman. In this based-on-fact war drama, a group of German POWs are put to work by the Allies defusing their own landmines on the west coast of Denmark in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. platform scotiabank 3
Miss sharon JonEs!
(USA) 93mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). Submarine Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Barbara Kopple. Cast: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. Two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) follows R&B queen Sharon Jones over the course of an eventful year, as she battles a cancer diagnosis and struggles
36 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
to hold together her band, the Dap-Kings. tiFF Docs scotiabank 9
11:30
11:45 Brooklyn
(United Kingdom/ Ireland/Canada) 105mins. HanWay Films (int’l). Dir: John Crowley. Cast: Saoirse Ronan. In the early 1950s, a young Irish woman (Saoirse Ronan) crosses the Atlantic to begin a new life in America, in this exquisitely crafted adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Colm Toibin. special presentations scotiabank 1
CouplE in a holE
thE hErE aFtEr
(United Kingdom/ Belgium/France) 105mins. Dir: Tom Geens. Cast: Paul Higgins, Kate Dickie, Jerome Kircher. A middle-aged couple who have renounced civilisation to live in a cave in the woods are befriended by a local farmer with mysterious ulterior motives, in this remarkable film from Belgium-born film-maker Tom Geens that balances stark realism and an unsettling sense of the absurd.
(Poland/Sweden/France) 102mins. TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Magnus von Horn. Cast: Ulrik Munther, Loa Ek, Mats Blomgren. A gawky teenager faces fear, hostility and danger when he returns to his rural community after serving time for a tragic crime, in the chilling and memorable debut from Swedish director Magnus von Horn.
City to City scotiabank 5
villE-MariE
Eva DoEsn’t slEEp see box, above
Discovery scotiabank 8
(Canada) 101mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Guy Edoin. Cast: Monica Bellucci, Pascale
Bussieres, Aliocha Schneider. Monica Bellucci stars in the second feature by Quebec director Guy Édoin, about four people whose very different lives intersect one fateful night in downtown Montreal. special presentations scotiabank 13
12:00 lEt thEM CoME
(France/Algeria) 95mins. KG Productions (int’l). Dir: Salem Brahimi. Cast: Amazigh Kateb, Rachida Brakni. In this remarkable adaptation of Arezki Mellal’s novel, a family must defend itself amid the onslaught of violence between government forces and radical Islamists in 1980s Algeria. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 11
trappED
(Iceland) 51mins. Dynamic Television (int’l). Dir: Baltasar Kormakur. Cast: Olafur Darri Olafsson. A murder investigation and an impending snowstorm places a smalltown Icelandic police chief in a dangerously unstable situation. with international implications, in this noir-ish thriller
primetime scotiabank 6
honor thy FathEr
(Philippines) 115mins. Dir: Erik Matti. Cast: John Lloyd Cruz, Meryll Soriano, Tirso Cruz III. A pair of married whitecollar swindlers fall foul of their latest victims, in this suspenseful crime drama from celebrated Filipino director Erik Matti. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 9
riGht noW, WronG thEn
(South Korea) 121mins. Finecut Co. Ltd (int’l). Dir: Hong Sangsoo. Cast: Jung Jae-young, Kim Min-hee. The delightful new film from festival favourite Hong Sang-soo (In Another Country) presents two variations on a potentially fateful romantic encounter between a filmmaker and a painter, tracing each to its own very distinct outcome. Masters scotiabank 3
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13:45 A HeAvy HeArt See box, below
CHevAlier
(Greece) 99mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari. Cast: Yorgos Kentros, Panos Koronis, Vangelis Mourikis. In the remarkable film from Greek prodigy Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg), six men confined to a luxurious yacht compete in an absurdist game that lays bare the roots of male antagonism and competitiveness. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7
youtH
(Italy/France/United Kingdom/Switzerland) 123mins. Pathé International (int’l). Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Cast: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz. Two old friends (Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel) reflect on their past, present and the beauty and absurdity of the world during a vacation in the Swiss Alps, in the heartwarming new film from Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino.
Press & industry 13:45 A HeAvy HeArt
(Germany) 109mins. Picture Tree International (int’l). Dir: Thomas Stuber. Cast: Peter Kurth, Lina Wendel, Lena Lauzemis. A former East German boxing champion reduced
to working as a bouncer and debt collector is forced to reflect on his life when he is diagnosed with a fatal disease, in the confident and mature feature debut by Thomas Stuber. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 14
Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
14:00 ArAbiAn nigHtS: volume 1, tHe reStleSS one
(Portugal/France/ Germany/Switzerland) 125mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Miguel Gomes. Cast: Crista Alfaiate, Adriano Luz, Americo Silva. A major hit at this year’s Cannes, this epic threepart contemporary fable by Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes adopts the structure from the classic folk tale ‘Arabian Nights’ in order to explore Portugal’s plunge into austerity. The first volume of this thrillingly inventive triptych includes appearances by cunning wasps, virgin mermaids, an exploding whale, erection-inducing potions and a talking rooster. Wavelengths Scotiabank 5
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Finnegan Oldfield, Agathe Dronne. An Old-West enthusiast in modern-day France embarks on a 16-year odyssey to track down his daughter, who has run away and converted to Islam, in screenwriterturned-director Thomas Bidegain’s inventive update on The Searchers. Discovery Scotiabank 11
Frenzy
(Turkey/France/Qatar) 117mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Emin Alper. Cast: Mehmet Özgür, Berkay Ates, Tülin Özen. In the new film from award-winning Turkish writer-director Emin Alper, an ex-con, just released after serving a 15-year sentence, is recruited as a police informant while political violence grips Istanbul. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
tHe WAve
(Norway) 105mins. TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Roar Uthaug. Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Oftebro. In this pulse-pounding thriller, a geologist tries to prevent a cataclysm when a mountain overlooking a popular Norwegian tourist
destination begins to collapse into the ocean. Special Presentations Scotiabank 13
trumAn
(Spain/Argentina) 108mins. Filmax International (int’l). Dir: Cesc Gay. Cast: Ricardo Darin, Javier Camara. This delicate, intricate film from director Cesc Gay, in which a Madrid man puts his affairs in order during his final days, offers a humorous and honest portrait of courage and acceptance in the face of death. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 10
14:15 leS CoWboyS
(France/Belgium) 114mins. Pathé International (int’l). Dir: Thomas Bidegain. Cast: Francois Damiens,
miSSiSSiPPi grinD
(USA) 108mins. Annapurna International (int’l). Dir: Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden. Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds, Sienna Miller. Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn and Sienna Miller star in this footloose tale about two itinerant gamblers aiming to buy their way into a legendary New Orleans poker game. gala Presentations Scotiabank 2
15:00 FrenCH blooD
(France) 97mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Diasteme. Cast: Alban Lenoir, Paul Hamy, Samuel Jouy. A racist thug in France’s Front National battles his way from the streets to the backrooms of political power, in this hard-hitting,
decades-spanning drama about the rise of Europe’s far right. Platform visa Screening room (elgin)
who became a symbol of hope and generosity in a country plagued by endemic corruption and economic breakdown. Wavelengths Scotiabank 7
16:00 WHere to invADe next
(USA) 110mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Michael Moore. Cast: Michael Moore, Amel Smaoui, Jenny Tumas. Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore returns with what may be his most provocative and hilarious film yet: the film-maker tells the Pentagon to “stand down”… he will do the invading for America from now on. Special Presentations Scotiabank 1 and 4
16:15 loSt AnD beAutiFul
(Italy) 87mins. Istituto Luce Cinecittà (int’l). Dir: Pietro Marcello. Cast: Tommaso Cestrone, Sergio Vitolo, Gesuino Pittalis. Italian auteur Pietro Marcello fuses documentary and fantastical fiction in this tribute to a humble, reallife Campanian shepherd
men & CHiCken
(Denmark) 104mins. LevelK (int’l). Dir: Anders Thomas Jensen. Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Nikolaj Lie Kaas. Two sadsack brothers head to a dilapidated mansion on a remote island to meet their biological father — and their three seriously eccentric siblings. vanguard Scotiabank 14
my nAme iS emily
(Ireland) 94mins. Visit Films (US). Visit Films (int’l). Dir: Simon Fitzmaurice. Cast: Evanna Lynch, Michael Smiley, George Webster. Packed off to a foster home after her father is institutionalised, a rebellious young Irish girl resolves to bust her dad out of hospital, in this spirited coming-ofage tale from celebrated memoirist and first-time feature director Simon Fitzmaurice. Discovery Scotiabank 9
September 11, 2015 Screen International at Toronto 37
»
ScreeningS
16:30 3000 Nights
(Palestine/France/Jordan/ Lebanon/United Arab Emirates/Qatar) 103mins. Intramovies (int’l). Dir: Mai Masri. Cast: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Nadera Omran, Raida Adon. Railroaded into an Israeli prison on a terrorism charge, a young Palestinian woman discovers she is pregnant just as a group of her fellow inmates launch a revolt against the prison administration. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 5
A JourNey of A thousANd Miles: PeACekeePers
(USA/Pakistan) 95mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). Submarine Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Geeta Gandbhir, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Documentarians Sharmeen ObaidChinoy (Academy Award winner, Saving Face) and Geeta Gandbhir follow the stories of three Bangladeshi policewomen who served with the UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake. tiff docs scotiabank 13
the feAr
(France) 93mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Damien Odoul. Cast: Nino Rocher, Pierre Martial Gaillard, Theo Chazal. A young French infantry volunteer is plunged into the maelstrom of trench warfare on the Western Front, in this startlingly subjective vision of the First World War. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 10
16:45 grANNy’s dANCiNg oN the tAble
(Sweden) 85mins. Dir: Hanna Sköld. Cast: Blanca Engström, Lennart Jähkel. A young girl living under the heel of her tyrannical religious zealot father in the depths of the Swedish
Press & industry 19:00 strANger
(Kazakhstan) 105mins. Tursunov Film (int’l). Dir: Yermek Tursunov. Cast: Kuandyk Kystykbayev, Elina Abay Kyzy, Yerzhan Nurymbet. forests finds strength in the memory of her rebellious grandmother, in this searing feature from director Hanna Sköld. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 6
offiCe
(China/Hong Kong) 117mins. Edko Films. (int’l). Dir: Johnnie To. Cast: Sylvia Chang, Chow Yun Fat, Eason Chan. Hong Kong master Johnnie To (Drug War, Mad Detective) directs superstars Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang in this spectacular movie musical about high-level corporate intrigue. special Presentations scotiabank 2
the boy ANd the beAst
(Japan) 119mins. Gaumont (int’l). Dir: Mamoru Hosoda. Cast: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Shota Sometani.
38 Screen International at Toronto September 11, 2015
Orphaned by the brutal Soviet collectivisation campaign of the 1930s, a Kazakh boy takes to the mountains and lives among a pack of wolves.
17:15 box
A young boy in modernday Tokyo stumbles into an alternative dimension and becomes the apprentice to a bearlike warrior, in this stunning animated fantasy from Mamoru Hosoda.
(Romania/Germany/ France) 94mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Florin Serban. Cast: Rafael Florea, Sorin Leoveanu, Nicolae Motrogan. A promising teenage boxer and a struggling thirtysomething actress become entangled in a daily ritual that walks the line between flirtation and stalking, in the provocative new feature from awardwinning Romanian director Florin Serban.
tiff kids scotiabank 11
Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 8
Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 5
the WitCh
(USA/Canada) 90mins. WME Global (int’l). Dir: Robert Eggers. Cast: Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie. The astonishing feature debut by Robert Eggers evokes Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in its tale of a family of settlers in 17th-century New England who encounter mysterious, possibly supernatural forces when they are exiled from their village and forced to live on the outskirts of an ominous forest. special Presentations scotiabank 12
18:00 ArAbiAN Nights: VoluMe 2, the desolAte oNe
(Portugal/France/ Germany/Switzerland) 131mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Miguel Gomes. Cast: Crista Alfaiate, Adriano Luz, Americo Silva. Part two of Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’s majestic, mutating folk tale relates how desolation has invaded humanity through stories involving a distressed judge on a night of three moons, a runaway, a teleporting murderer, a wounded cow, a sad, chain-smoking couple in a
concrete apartment block and a ghost dog named Dixie. Wavelengths tiff bell lightbox, cinema 4 — Paul & leah Atkinson family Cinema
bANg gANg (A ModerN loVe story)
(France) 98mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Finnegan Oldfield, Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier. The bold feature debut by French film-maker Eva Husson explores the sexual exploits and awakenings of a group of teenagers on the beaches — and in the beds — of Biarritz. Platform Visa screening room (elgin)
18:45 kilo tWo brAVo
(United Kingdom) 108mins. Metro International Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Paul Katis. Cast: David Elliot, Mark Stanley, Scott Kyle. A patrol of British paratroopers in Afghanistan find themselves caught in the middle of a deathtrap in this fact-based war drama from first-time feature director Paul Katis. City to City scotiabank 9
our lAst tANgo
(Germany/Argentina) 85mins. Wide House (int’l). Dir: German Kral. Cast: Maria Nieves Rego, Juan Carlos Copes, Pablo Veron. Documentarian German Kral chronicles the seven-decade career of Argentinian tango legends Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves. tiff docs scotiabank 7
the fiNAl girls
(USA) 91mins. Dir: Todd Strauss-Schulson. Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam Devine. A group of young friends are sucked into the onscreen world of a cult 1980s slasher flick, in this clever horror comedy packed with real heart, goofy gore and plenty of laughs. Midnight Madness scotiabank 10
19:00 strANger see box, above
WAVeleNgths 1: fire iN the brAiN
Like a fire in the brain that lights up perceptive powers, a recently discovered and restored anaglyph 3D film by Paul Sharits
www.screendaily.com
ignites a mesmerising exchange between space and materiality, setting off a programme of subliminal motion studies featuring films by Kerstin Schroedinger, Charlotte Pryce, Benjamin Ramirez Pérez, Blake Williams and Peter Tscherkassky.
Screen office Meeting room 12, fifth floor, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street West, Toronto, ON, M5V 3X5 Editorial Tel +1 416 599 8433 ext 2512 editor Matt Mueller, matt.mueller@screendaily.com, +44 7880 526 547
Wavelengths Jackman Hall
19:15
uS editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908
Song of SongS
(Ukraine) 76mins. Dir: Eva Neymann. Cast: Milena Tsibulskaya, Yevheniy Kogan, Arina Postolova-Tihipko. Rooted in the Yiddish folklore of Sholem Aleichem’s short stories, Eva Neymann’s tender third feature is a delicate and affecting comingof-age story set in a Ukrainian shtetl at the beginning of the 20th century. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 6
19:30 Hong Kong Trilogy: PreSCHooled PreoCCuPied PrePoSTerouS
(Hong Kong) 85mins. Dir: Christopher Doyle. Cast: Connie Ming Shan Yuen, Thierry Chow, Ching Man Lip. Renowned cinematographer and artist Christopher Doyle celebrates Hong Kong and its people with this documentary-fiction hybrid that focuses on Hong Kong residents in their childhood, youth and old age. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
Kill your friendS
(United Kingdom) 103mins. United Talent Agency (UTA) (US). Altitude Film Sales (int’l). Dir: Owen Harris. Cast: Nicholas Hoult, James Corden, Georgia King. In this deliriously funny comic romp set in 1990s London, a young record label A&R rep (Nicholas Hoult) does anything and everything to get ahead in the shark tank of the Britpop-era music industry. City to City Scotiabank 11
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news editor Michael Rosser, michael.rosser@screendaily.com, +44 7843 078 926 Chief critic & reviews editor Finn Halligan, finn.halligan@ screendaily.com, +44 7798 571 270 group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Advertising and publishing
Press & industry 21:45 SCHneider vS. Bax
(Netherlands/Belgium) 96mins. Fortissimo Films (int’l). Dir: Alex van Warmerdam. Cast: Alex van Warmerdam, Tom Dewispelaere, Maria Kraakman.
19:45 Zoom
(Canada/Brazil) 96mins. WTFilms (int’l). Dir: Pedro Morelli. Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alison Pill, Mariana Ximenes. Animated and live-action worlds intersect as a film-maker, a comicbook artist and a novelist tell each other’s stories, in this Canada-Brazil co-production starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Mariana Ximenes, Alison Pill and Don McKellar. vanguard Scotiabank 12
21:15 murmur of THe HearTS
(Taiwan/Hong Kong) 119mins. Central Motion Pictures Corporation (US). Central Motion Pictures Corporation (int’l). Dir: Sylvia Chang. Cast: Isabella Leong, Chang Hsiao Chuan, Lawrence Ko, Angelika
Alex van Warmerdam (Borgman) returns with this wickedly inspired black comedy about two contract killers who are pitted against each other. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 11
Lee Sinje, Julian Chen, Wang Shih-hsien. Legendary Taiwanese actress and film-maker Sylvia Chang directs this magical story of estranged siblings whose shared memories of their mother’s fairy tales begin to draw their lives together once again. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
a staggering Moroccan landscape. Wavelengths Jackman Hall
THe TreaSure
(Romania/France) 89mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Corneliu Porumboiu. Cast: Toma Cuzin, Adrian Purcarescu, Corneliu Cozmei. Two neighbours set out to unearth a buried treasure in their own backyard, in this delightful fusion of contemporary fairy tale and political parable from Romanian New Wave master Corneliu Porumboiu. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7
21:30
Thiltges Distribution (int’l). Dir: Hicham Lasri. Cast: Latefa Ahrrare , Jirari Ben Aissa, Fehd Benchemsi. In this audacious feature from Morocco’s Hicham Lasri, a once-famous journalist — desperate to make a comeback — lands a major interview with the dreaded interior minister of the despotic former regime. But the dissension among her camera crew makes it difficult to predict whether they’ll be able to get this controversial show in the can. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 6
21:45 SCHneider vS. Bax See box, above
a young PaTrioT THe SKy TremBleS and THe earTH iS afraid and THe TWo eyeS are noT BroTHerS
(United Kingdom) 98mins. Dir: Ben Rivers. Cast: Oliver Laxe. Partially inspired by Paul Bowles’ story ‘A Distant Episode’, the latest feature by UK film-maker Ben Rivers (Two Years At Sea, A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness) charts a mysterious transformation from observational making-of to inventive adaptation shot against
(China/USA/France) 106mins. CNEX Studio Corporation (int’l). Dir: Du Haibin. This intimate documentary chronicles five years in the life of a young Chinese student, whose fervent idealism and dedication to Mao’s legacy stands in stark contrast to contemporary China’s turn towards state capitalism. Tiff docs Scotiabank 5
STarve your dog
(Morocco) 94mins. Paul
yaKuZa aPoCalyPSe
(Japan) 115mins. Nikkatsu Corporation (int’l). Dir: Takashi Miike. Cast: Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian. Japanese cinematic extremist Takashi Miike (13 Assassins) returns to his gonzo roots with this mind-melter that finds room for vampires, gangsters, earthquakes, volcanoes, monsters, martial arts and even a yakuza knitting circle.
Sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260 international account managers Pierre-Louis Manes, pierre-louis. manes@screendaily.com, +44 7768 237 487 Gunter Zerbich, gunter.zerbich@ screendaily.com, +44 7768 237 487 vP business development, north america Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 uS sales and business development executive Nikki Tilmouth, nikki.screeninternational@gmail. com +1 323 868 7633 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 335 148 events manager Jessica Stacey, jessica.stacey@ mb-insight.com, +44 7468 707 867 Chief executive, mBi Conor Dignam Printer Big Bark Graphics, S/B — 68 Healey Road, Units 1-3, Bolton, ON L7E 5A4 Screen international, london MBI, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 3033 4267 Subscription enquiries help@subscribe.screendaily.com +44 1604 828 706
midnight madness Scotiabank 8
September 11, 2015 Screen International at Toronto 39
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www.creativescotlandlocations.com E locations@creativescotland.com T +44 (0) 141 302 1723/35 Cover: View from Blaven summit towards Black and Red Cuillin hills, the Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides. Photo: Stewart Smith/Scottish Viewpoint