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SCREENINGS
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ONE LAST DEAL by KLAUS HÄRÖ Drama / Finland / 2018 SCREENINGS - CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA Sep. 8th at 4 :30 pm in Scotiabank 11 (World Premiere) Sep. 11th at 10 : 00 am in Jackman Hall (Public) Sep. 15th at 12:15 pm in Scotiabank 14 (Public)
Sep. 7th at 4 : 45 pm in Scotiabank 6 (Press & Industry) Sep. 13th at 8: 45 am in Scotiabank 6 (Press & Industry)
CELESTE
THE BOBOT
Drama / Australia / 2018
Family Sci-Fi / Ukranie / 2018
LAND OF GLASS Children, Fantasy / Denmark / 2018
LevelK in Toronto: September 7-10 / The Scandinavian Stand, Hyatt Industry Office Lauren Valmadre
Debra Liang
lauren@levelk.dk
debra@levelk.dk
www.levelk.dk
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Capstone goes Public with Emilio Estevez BY JEREMY KAY
Christian Mercuri’s Capstone Group has launched talks with international buyers on Emilio Estevez’s ensemble drama The Public, which has its world premiere on September 9. Estevez wrote, directed and produced the Gala title, which takes place in a Cincinnati library where patrons — many of whom are marginalised homeless — organise a sitin that escalates into a confrontation with police. Estevez stars alongside Alec Baldwin, Jena Malone, Taylor Schilling, Christian Slater, Gabrielle Union and Jeffrey Wright. Lisa Niedenthal, Alex Lebovici and Steve Ponce produced with Estevez. CAA and Cassian Elwes represent North American rights.
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Global Road’s demise shakes indie landscape BY JEREMY KAY
Thursday’s filing for bankruptcy protection by Global Road’s US distribution business has turned the spotlight once again on the viability of independent distribution. Management met with employees yesterday to field questions and at time of writing it was understood no further action was taken beyond the 45 or so lay-offs that were implemented in the Los Angeles and London offices last week. “We are seeing the narrowing of independent distribution outlets,” said one Los Angeles producer whose film premieres at TIFF in the coming days. “It takes a very
special movie to break through the clutter.” Buyers are well aware they can take nothing for granted, especially heading into a Toronto where curiosity over untested packages such as Knives Out, Eve and Ruin, and yesterday’s private screenings of out-of-festival films such as Stan & Ollie and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, can overshadow the appeal of available festival titles. Silicon Valley looms over the film business, and producers and rival traditional distributors are feeling the heat. “Do we all want to become employees of Netflix?”
one producer noted, adding: “If they are the only game in town, they can capture the market and drive down prices.” The industry is still trying to fathom the game plans of the established streaming titans, let alone other potential entertainment giants. YouTube has just snapped up TIFF selection Museo, while Apple is — yet again — rumoured to be circling the acquisitions arena. According to several people, Facebook has sent a handful of buyers to Toronto. “We’re in a whole new world,” said one producer, “and we’re trying to figure out what works as entertainment.”
Hubert Boesl
Thumbs up for Denis French filmmaker Claire Denis will receive the fifth annual Roger Ebert Golden Thumb Award at TIFF. Denis, whose sci-fi drama High Life will premiere in Gala on September 9, joins previous recipients Martin Scorsese, Ava DuVernay, Agnes Varda and Wim Wenders.
‘Popular’ Oscar canned
Pure Flix reaches Pinnacle Pure Flix has launched Pinnacle Peak Pictures to champion inspirational stories, kicking off with Little Women, a modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic. It is set to open in the US and Canada on more than 600 screens on September 28. Pure Flix hosts buyers at a special screening scheduled for today.
Chris Pine walks the red carpet for TIFF’s opening night film Outlaw King at Roy Thomson Hall. The actor stars as 14th-century Scottish freedom fighter Robert the Bruce in director David Mackenzie’s biopic.
WestEnd jumps into ring with boxing doc Katie UK-based sales outfit WestEnd Films has boarded Katie, the feature documentary about Irish boxer Katie Taylor. The film chronicles the athlete’s unbeaten career over 10 years, which has seen her win a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics
Vox Lux, review, page 16
NEWS Submarine man Documentary sales ace Josh Braun on the new normal for docs » Page 4
REVIEWS Kursk Thomas Vinterberg’s strickensubmarine drama is lacking thrills » Page 10
Vox Lux Brady Corbet’s rumination on pop stardom shows he’s the real deal » Page 16
FEATURE Fright night On the set of Midnight Madness entry In Fabric » Page 20
Indie Sales, lead actor join Mathematician BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
TIFF BRIEFS
AMPAS said on Thursday it would not introduce its widely derided ‘popular’ Oscar category at the 91st Academy Awards on February 24, 2019. After announcing the idea last month, the body said it would continue to debate the merits of a prize for outstanding achievement in popular film. “We recognise the need for further discussion,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.
TODAY
and establish a professional career. Ross Whitaker (Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story) directed the feature, which premiered at Ireland’s Galway Film Festival, winning the best Irish doc prize. Producers are Aideen O’Sullivan and Whitaker. Executive
producers are Andrew Freedman, Lesley McKimm, Patrick O’Neill and Cliona O’Leary. The acquisition will come under WestEnd’s banner WeLove, which is focused on content for female audiences. Tom Grater
Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired world rights to German director Thorsten Klein’s English-language debut Adventures Of A Mathematician, inspired by the life of PolishAmerican scientist Stanislaw Ulam, whose work contributed to the development of the hydrogen bomb as well as computers. Polish-French actor Philippe Tlokinski has been cast as Ulam alongside French actress Esther Garrel. Tlokinski replaces Jakub Gierszal. Born into a wealthy Jewish-Polish family, talented young scientist Ulam fled to the US before the 1939 Nazi invasion, where he played a central role in developing the country’s nuclear weapons. Principal photography starts on September 10 on the production, which is adapted from Ulam’s autobiography; Lena Vurma of Dragonfly Films is lead producer. Sam Keeley and Joel Basman co-star. “We’re very excited to get on board this ambitious European coproduction,” said Indie Sales chief Nicolas Eschbach. “It’s a very unusual view on the Second World War, revolving around the many European scientists who crossed the Atlantic during the conflict and showing how their lives were an adventurous ride, in the vein of The Imitation Game.”
NEWS
Memento lines up Mendoza’s Alpha BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Jirga
Visit Films on tour with Afghanistan-shot Jirga BY JEREMY KAY
Visit Films has come on board to represent worldwide rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to the Pashto- and Englishlanguage drama Jirga ahead of its North American premiere at TIFF. The Discovery selection screens to press and industry tomorrow and won the top award at CinefestOZ 2018 following its world premiere at Sydney Film Festival in June. Sam Smith stars as a former Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan to make peace with the family
of a civilian he killed accidentally during combat, and puts himself in the hands of the jirga village justice system. Director Benjamin Gilmour shot the film guerrilla-style with former Taliban members in the mountains of Jalalabad in Afghanistan. John Maynard produced for Felix Media. “Jirga is a rare film shot entirely in Afghanistan that takes the audience right into the heart of the country and its people,” said Gilmour. “At this moment, I think audiences are craving authentic stories of reconciliation and peace.”
Memento Films International (MFI) has boarded sales on Filipino director Brillante Mendoza’s Manilaset thriller Alpha, The Right To Kill, ahead of its world premiere in Competition at San Sebastian Film Festival (September 21-29). Set against the backdrop of the Philippines government’s war on drugs, the thriller revolves around small-time pusher turned informant Elijah and corrupt police officer Espino.
The pair provide intelligence for an operation to take down one of Manila’s biggest drugs kingpins, setting off a series of events that risks both men’s reputations, families and lives. “We have long admired Mendoza, a meticulous chronicler of the unprivileged who don’t have many options and certainly can’t indulge in the luxury of moral justice,” commented MFI sales chief Tanja Meissner. “Alpha feels like his most fierce feature.”
Harron, Turner peel Orange BY GEOFFREY MACNAB
Director Mary Harron and her writer partner Guinevere Turner, who unveiled their controversial Charles Manson film Charlie Says in Venice last week, are collaborating next on The
Orange Eats Creeps, an adaptation of Grace Krilanovich’s cult novel about feral homeless teenagers. “It’s a very underground, experimental novel that I thought was interesting,” Harron said of the
Mendoza produced the film under the banner of his Center Stage Productions alongside longtime collaborator Carlo Valenzona. It is his first feature since 2016 drama Ma’ Rosa which premiered in Competition in Cannes. MFI will launch sales on Alpha at TIFF. Festival titles on its slate include Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows, which screens as a Gala Presentation, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree, which plays in Masters.
project, which is being developed with New York’s Greencard Pictures. She is planning it as her next feature following Salvador Dali project Dali Land starring Ben Kingsley, which is due to shoot in spring next year. Ed Pressman is producing that film.
TIFF BRIEFS Farrell, Common join Chastain on Eve Colin Farrell and Common have joined the upcoming Jessica Chastain action drama and hot TIFF sales package Eve from Voltage Pictures and Freckle Films. The Help director Tate Taylor reunites with Chastain on the project and production is scheduled to begin in Boston on September 24. Voltage fully finances and is in talks with buyers in Toronto.
CMPA honours Canadian producers The Canadian Media Producers Association honoured Simone Urdl, Jennifer Weiss and Caitlin Grabham at its 2018 Indiescreen Awards last night. Weiss and Urdl — whose Falls Around Her premieres at TIFF on Sunday — won the established producer award for their contribution to Canadian film while Grabham won the emerging producer award.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS JOSH BRAUN, SUBMARINE ENTERTAINMENT New York-based documentary sales ace Submarine launched 19 years ago and is run by Josh Braun and his twin brother Dan. The company will be in Toronto with the Canadian premiere of Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev on September 10.
Josh Braun
How has Submarine evolved of late? We have grown out of necessity. One area is series derived from documentary-based projects like Wild Wild Country, Evil Genius and The Keepers — these are all projects that we were selling and developed. We were involved in production to varying degrees in all three cases. Now we have two more series quietly in production.
What’s your fall festival strategy? We don’t have that many films in Toronto this year but it’s interesting: we really made the decision that if we’re not 100% feeling it’s the right film then we’re not going to sign films just to have them. So our line-up is spread out between the LA Film Festival, Toronto, Telluride and Venice. We have Meeting Gorbachev in Toronto and it also played Telluride.
So are we going to see more television from you?
Will you be bringing promo reels here? We have a couple of surprise projects we’ll be screening in Toronto.
Three docs became North American box-office hits this summer — Three Identical Strangers, which Submarine licensed to Neon, as well as Won’t You
choices to [play against] a blockbuster. People are ready to embrace non-fiction storytelling if they think it’s going to be as good if not better than the other choices.
Be My Neighbor? and RBG. Why did they work at the box office? They’re critically well received — all three were 100% on Rotten Tomatoes or close to it — and they are viable programming
4 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
It’s not something we ever announced, but now we have a satellite office in Los Angeles. We’re spending so much more time there. We meet with Hulu and Amazon and Netflix and Showtime… There are lulls outside festival launches, but selling series and non-fiction projects is yearround and that’s the greatest area for us that we want to build on.
‘If we’re not 100% feeling it’s the right film then we’re not going to sign films just to have them’ Josh Braun, Submarine
Are you financing content? We’re only financing development in a very small way for a select number of projects. There was a story about us connecting to a fund and it didn’t work out for various reasons. That has been part of our plan in the next year, to have our own fund.
Has the hostile anti-press climate in the US under Donald Trump affected the documentary community? There’s no doubt it absolutely has. Documentary [makers] as a whole embrace fully that their work is non-fiction and the opposite of fake, and you have to keep those standards and keep that priority.
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Screen Scotland is the new dedicated partnership for screen in Scotland, delivering enhanced support for all aspects of Scotland’s screen sector. Join us at Toronto International Film Festival at the UK Film Centre, 9th Floor, Hyatt Regency Hotel. www.screen.scot | @screenscots E locations@creativescotland.com T +44 (0) 141 302 1724 Allt Dearg Burn and Allt Dearg Cottage near Sligachan on the Isle of Skye, with the Black Cuillin Ridge behind. Photo: Scottish Viewpoint
NEWS
Myriad Pictures is in Toronto launching sales on comedy The Chain Breakers starring James Cromwell, Dennis Waterman, Jacki Weaver and Shane Jacobson. Mark Lamprell, who co-wrote Babe: Pig In The City, is set to direct from a screenplay by Luke Preston about four seniors who use skills learned during the Vietnam War to escape from their nursing home. The Chain Breakers was developed with support from Film Victoria, with R&R Films, a new distribution joint venture between Richard Becker and Robert Slaviero, handling distribution in Australia. Antony I Ginnane of FG Film Productions in Australia is producing, with Myriad CEO Kirk D’Amico on board as executive producer. Jeremy Kay
Valhalla
F LO IRS OK T
Myriad locks in Breakers
TrustNordisk tools up Valhalla BY WENDY MITCHELL
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Danish director Fenar Ahmad’s pan-Nordic production Valhalla, which this week wraps its 35-day shoot in Norway after filming in Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. The first image features Roland Moller (Land Of Mine, Atomic Blonde) as Thor. The film is based on Peter Mad-
6 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
sen’s Valhalla comic books, which explored classic Nordic folk tales and were published from 1979 to 2009. The series was adapted into a 1986 animated feature, also titled Valhalla, which Madsen codirected. This new adaptation, which follows two children taken by the gods Thor and Loki to Asgaard, where they band together to save the universe from Ragn-
arok, is being targeted at an older audience. “The original was more of a family film,” said producer Jacob Jarek of Copenhagen-based Profile Pictures. “We’re going up in age, making it a bit darker.” The cast of the Denmark-Iceland co-production includes Dulfi AlJabouri, Stine Fischer Christensen and newcomers Cecilia Loffredo and Saxo Moltke-Leth.
Octane hot for Silencio Octane Entertainment has taken on worldwide sales to the elevated thriller Silencio starring Rupert Graves and Melina Matthews and produced by Mexico’s Barraca Producciones. Octane president Jack Campbell has introduced the project to Toronto buyers. Lorena Villarreal directs and Denisse Chapa serves as producer. Silencio centres on a woman who embarks on a dangerous search for a mystical stone in Mexico’s Zone of Silence — a desert region that, according to urban myth, blocks any type of radio signal or communication. Octane’s slate also includes He’s Out There starring Yvonne Strahovski, Beautiful Darkness with Matthew Broderick and St. Agatha, directed by Saw veteran Darren Lynn Bousman. Jeremy Kay
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A FILM BY
ALEX HOLMES
SCREENINGS
Thur 6 Sept - 20:30 - Scotiabank 14 + Q&A - WORLD PREMIERE Fri 7 Sept - 8:45 - Scotiabank 7 - P&I Sat 8 Sept - 16:00 - Scotiabank 2 + Q&A Wed 12 Sept - 11:15 - Scotiabank 11 - P&I Sun 16 Sept - 18:30 - Scotiabank 9
DOGWOOF at TIFF: Hyatt, 9th floor, UK Films
A 16-hour journey narrated by Tilda Swinton, Jane Fonda and others SCREENINGS - FIRST 4 HOURS
Thur 6 Sept - 14:00 - Scotiabank 13 - P&I Fri 7 Sept - 13:00 - TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 - NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Tue 11 Sept - 20:00 - TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 5 - P&I Wed 12 Sept - 19:00 - Scotiabank 10 Sun 16 Sept - 19:45 - Scotiabank 4
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REVIEWS
» Peterloo p10 » The Accused p12 » Kursk p10 » Non-Fiction p14 » The Sisters Brothers p12 » The River p14
» Never Look Away p16 » Vox Lux p16
Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
Kursk Reviewed by Stephen Whitty
Peterloo Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan Always demanding, often didactic, yet cumulatively rousing, Mike Leigh’s typically rigorous Peterloo richly rewards audiences who give it their full attention. Detailing the events leading up to and including the day of the Peterloo Massacre — August 16, 1819 — when armed forces charged into a crowd of 60,000 demonstrators peacefully agitating for electoral reform in Manchester, this magnificently realised film moves from feeling like a long, dry history lesson to becoming an angrily direct and emotional tribute to the reformers of the past. Backed by Amazon, Leigh’s weighty story of overwhelming social injustice in Industrial Revolution Britain is clearly, with a run-time of 154 minutes, not for the popcorn crowd. The wordiness of the film’s first part, in particular, is a strain. But UK audiences who turned out in their droves for 2014’s 150-minute Mr. Turner (which took more than $9m in the UK) should come back to learn more about this stain on their country’s past, often omitted from the history books. There is no real star of Peterloo, set in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat during the repressive Corn Laws and rotten Regency. UK stage veteran Rory Kinnear, playing anti-poverty and pro-democracy radical reformer Henry Hunt, and Maxine Peake as Nellie, the matriarch of an impoverished family, take two of the larger parts. A wide cast portrays real-life social activists and the brokenveined, braying political and legal elites of the 19th century. Outside the period trappings, the story of social injustice is sharp and painful; the massacre itself all the more violent and horrifying for the time the audience has spent witnessing precisely how it transpired. Peterloo is Mike Leigh’s most expensive film, at a modest $17.8m, and the money has been well-spent. Of note are the opening and closing sequences — Waterloo, with Nellie’s son Joseph standing lost on the battlefield and Peterloo, so-called because it took place in St Peter’s Field in Manchester four years later. Although it is clear where Leigh is leading the viewer, the final hour draws gasps of shock and sadness. The tone may never waver, but the truth is, reliably, always present and the film is all the more painful for it.
10 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
MASTERS UK. 2018. 154mins Director/screenplay Mike Leigh Production company Thin Man Films International sales Cornerstone Films, office@cornerstonefilm. com Producer Georgina Lowe Production design Suzie Davies Editing Jon Gregory Cinematography Dick Pope Music Gary Yershon Main cast Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Philip Jackson, Vincent Franklin, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny
Thomas Vinterberg continues his studies of ordinary communities tested by extraordinary circumstances in Kursk, a fact-based story of two unfriendly nations, a crippled submarine and a single, determined officer just trying to keep his crew alive. Premiering at TIFF and boasting an international cast of stoic heroes, it is a slow-moving English-language drama that may need more than the guest-star appeal of Colin Firth and Max von Sydow to connect with wider audiences. Set during the early days of Vladimir Putin’s first presidency, Robert Rodat’s screenplay kicks off with a working-class wedding. Afterwards the men leave for a scheduled naval exercise, with their submarine — the Kursk — set to fire a few test missiles. But the ship’s torpedoes go off prematurely, blowing up most of the bow. All is lost, apart from the nearly two-dozen men that one surviving officer, Mikhail Kalekov (Matthias Schoenaerts), manages to sequester in the sunken sub’s stern. As it did back in 2000, the disaster becomes a bureaucratic nightmare, with the Russian government refusing to lose face — or any technological secrets — by letting nearby foreign ships assist in the rescue. Yet Russia’s own outdated equipment clearly is not up to the task. Time is ticking and the sub is filling with water. As much as they have studied small communities, Vinterberg’s recent films have also watched denizens yield to their worst elements: the gossipy townsfolk of The Hunt, the hidebound villagers of Far From The Madding Crowd, the backbiting housemates of The Commune. What’s remarkable here is how tightly knit this group of sailors remains. Beyond an obligatory scene of hysterics, this is mostly a story of silent grace under pressure. There is some spectacle, particularly the initial explosions. Schoenaerts and the rest of the actors — including the late Michael Nyqvist — give quietly understated performances. And playing Kalekov’s wife, Léa Seydoux’s full-throated denunciations of duplicitous authority figures are thrilling. But too much of Kursk revolves around scenes of sailors sitting around wondering why someone doesn’t just rescue them — a sentiment that may be shared by some audiences.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Bel-Lux. 2018. 117mins Director Thomas Vinterberg Production companies Belga Productions, Vis Est International sales EuropaCorp, contact@ europacorp.com Producer Ariel Zeitoun Screenplay Robert Rodat Production design Thierry Flamand Editing Valdis Oskarsdottir, Sigurdur Eythorsson Cinematography Anthony Dod Mantle Music Alexandre Desplat Main cast Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux, Colin Firth, Max von Sydow
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Toronto AN IARA BY H U G O LI L JA & P E LLA KÅG E R MAN, ©M ETA F I LM ST U D I O STO C K H O LM AB
Contemporary World Cinema Border by Ali Abbasi Discovery Aniara by Hugo Lilja & Pella Kågerman Short Cuts The Ambassador’s Wife by Theresa Traore Dahlberg Fuck You by Anette Sidor TIFF Cinematheque Persona by Ingmar Bergman
SWEDISH CO-PRODUCTIONS Masters Our Time
Discovery Phoenix
[ M X/ F R / D E / D K/S E]
[N O /S E ]
Special Presentations Tell It To The Bees
TIFF Docs Heartbound
[ U K/S E]
[D K / N L/S E ]
Contemporary World Cinema Stupid Young Heart
Short Cuts Brotherhood
by Carlos Reygadas
by Annabel Jankel
by Selma Vilhunen
by Camilla Strøm Henriksen
by Janus Metz & Sine Plambech
by Meryam Joobeur
[T N /CA/Q A/S E ]
[ F I / N L/S E]
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REVIEWS
The Accused Reviewed by Stephen Whitty
The Sisters Brothers Reviewed by Tim Grierson “This world is an abomination.” That line, spoken in the searching western The Sisters Brothers, could apply to several films of director Jacques Audiard, who finds new inhospitable terrain in a story of disparate discontents negotiating their way through the American gold rush of the 1850s. The Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker’s first movie in English is a meandering, meditative affair, but it is a journey well worth taking as Audiard once again studies how people make peace with their environment and circumstance. A cast led by John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed should draw arthouse crowds when the film hits US theatres on September 21. Fans of revisionist westerns may hop on board as well, although mainstream audiences may be more elusive simply because The Sisters Brothers is low on action. Still, strong reviews should convince the curious to take a chance on a film longer on atmosphere than tight plotting. Taking place mostly in Oregon, the film stars Reilly and Phoenix as Eli and Charlie Sisters, expert hitmen siblings assigned to hunt down Hermann (Ahmed), a chemist who claims to have created a formula that will make gold prospecting far easier. Morris (Gyllenhaal), who is working independently from the brothers to locate Hermann, finds him first, but he becomes so intrigued by the chemist’s proposal that he decides to join forces with him. Audiard (Dheepan, A Prophet) has often been interested in outsiders who must learn to survive in difficult conditions, and Patrick deWitt’s 2011 novel provides him with an excellent backdrop for his thematic concerns. Less a deconstruction of the western than a thoughtful reconsideration of the kind of men who populated the wild west, the film offers us characters whose motivations are not always clear in a world that is indifferent to their anxieties and vulnerabilities. While The Sisters Brothers can be a bit slow, allowing us to get to know these cowboys, Audiard demonstrates considerable skill with the brief, brutal action sequences. The movie sometimes slyly mocks the dusty, broadshouldered clichés of the western but, when the hitmen go about their work, there is a steely efficiency that, like with many of Audiard’s films, highlights the destructive power of violence.
12 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS US-Fr-Rom-Sp. 2018. 120mins Director Jacques Audiard Production company Why Not Productions International sales IMR International, m r ets@m r er cs. com Producers Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat, Michel Merkt, Megan Ellison, Michael De Luca, Alison Dickey, John C Reilly Screenplay Jacques Audiard & Thomas Bidegain, based on the book by Patrick deWitt Production design Michel Barthélémy Editing l ette el n Cinematography Benoit Debie Music Alexandre Desplat Cast John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer
Winning in court is not always about presenting a better case — sometimes it is simply about telling the better story. That is the theme of The Accused, a quietly engrossing drama in which the real question is not whether college-bound protagonist Dolores Dreier (Lali Esposito) killed the hostess of a party; it is the narrative she, her family, her lawyer and her various advisers can sell. Bearing a passing resemblance to the infamous Amanda Knox case, the film is a story of casual sex, brutal murder and careless youth. After Venice and Toronto launches, it should go on to have a solid run in Spanishlanguage territories before hitting the arthouse circuit. The story opens in Buenos Aires two years after the fateful party. Dolores has been charged with the murder of her best friend, who she swears was still alive when she left that evening. With the trial about to start, Dolores’s fiercely loyal family have closed ranks around her. Yet no-one talks about guilt, innocence or even culpability. All they seem to care about is creating a winning narrative. Their biggest challenge in that regard may be the preternaturally chilly Dolores herself, who is unwilling, or unable, to present the sympathetic image they need. The Accused is equally determined to go its own way. Although shot in expansive widescreen, Fernando Lockett’s cinematography is intimate, close-up and even, occasionally, claustrophobic. The story calmly picks up long after the violence, and the trial scenes do not rely on bursts of melodrama. Instead, it is a movie of slowly dawning discoveries. Like watching the way Daniel Fanego, as Dolores’s lawyer, carefully coaches her in her testimony. Or noting how her father, played fiercely by Leonardo Sbaraglia, sacrifices everything for her defence while still resenting the cost. Yet the biggest discoveries may belong to Dolores herself, whose own memories of that night seem mutable — and who is beginning to realise that if her parents have never asked if she did it, it may be because they do not want to hear the answer. As Dolores, Esposito holds together all these disparate threads in a performance that is deliberately muted. Dolores shut down long ago, which makes her difficult to read and easy to suspect. Esposito conveys that dynamic in every sad, silent stare.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA Arg-Mex. 2018. 108mins Director Gonzalo Tobal Production companies K&S Films, Piano, Rei Cine, Telefé International sales Film Factory Entertainment, nfo@filmf ctor .es Producers Leticia Cristi, Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Axel Kuschevatzky, Matias Mosteirin, Matias Roveda, Hugo Sigman Screenplay Ulises Porra, Gonzalo Tobal Production design Sebastian Orgambide Editing Alejandro Carrillo Penovi Cinematography Fernando Lockett Music Rogelio Sosa Main cast Lali Esposito, Gael Garcia Bernal, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Daniel Fanego, Ines Estevez, Gerardo Romano
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REVIEWS
The River Reviewed by Allan Hunter
Non-Fiction Reviewed by Lee Marshall Bracingly Parisian and unrepentantly intellectual, Olivier Assayas’ follow-up to Personal Shopper sees the French director turning a talky chamber drama centring on the crisis facing literary publishing into a sex-andideas comedy. Audiences will no doubt split, however, between those who tune in to the director’s gentle satire of a white bourgeois intellectual bubble and those annoyed by the satirist’s very obvious occupation of the same bubble. Running on quickfire dialogue, Non-Fiction drops us straight into the world of suave, self-confident niche publisher Alain (Guillaume Canet) who is wondering whether his small but influential literary imprint should switch entirely to digital, abandoning the costly printed book in favour of e-books, audiobooks and blogs. It is not clear where that would leave unreconstructed paper authors such as scruffy, analogue Léonard (Vincent Macaigne), whose novels are basically just lightly fictionalised accounts of his life and loves. Juliette Binoche plays Alain’s actress wife Selena, who is locked into a lucrative but stultifying role as a cop (or ‘crisis management expert’, as she constantly corrects people) in a popular TV series. Binoche is on fine form, as sparkily comedic as she was in Claire Denis’ Let The Sunshine In. But it is the final member of the film’s two couples who risks stealing the show — French comedienne Nora Hamzawi, in her first major film role as Leonard’s feisty, independent partner Valerie. Acting as fifth wheel is Laure (Christa Théret), the young ‘head of digital transition’ of Alain’s firm, who also transitions into his bed. Non-Fiction is no mere parody of France’s chattering literati. One of the film’s strengths — indeed its main strength — is that it allows satire to co-exist with intellectual engagement. The questions the characters debate at lunch and dinner, in book signings and radio interviews, are thought-provoking. It is only gradually that Assayas allows his self-penned script to open the comedy throttle, overlaying this strata of ideas with cute, smart, sexy comic strokes, without ever quite undermining it. There is a sense of haste about the exercise nevertheless, and the visuals are mostly workmanlike. Perhaps after the more sombre reflections of Clouds Of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper, the prolific director needed to breeze through this one — and the breeziness can be infectious.
14 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Fr. 2018. 107mins Director/screenplay Olivier Assayas Production companies CG Cinéma, Vortex Sutra, Arte France Cinéma International sales l t me nfo@ l t me. group Producer Charles Gillibert Production design Francois-Renaud Labarthe Editing Simon Jacquet Cinematography Yorick Le Saux Main cast Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Nora Hamzawi, Christa Théret, Pascal Greggory
The final film in Emir Baigazin’s ‘Asian’ trilogy, following Harmony Lessons (Uroki Garmonii, 2013) and The Wounded Angel (Ranenyy Angel, 2016), The River (Ozen) is a quietly mesmerising tale of oppression, liberation and a loss of innocence. Rigorously composed and characteristically austere, it casts a spell that should attract support from adventurous distributors and arthouse admirers of uncompromising auteur cinema. The River unfolds in a remote Kazakh village. The surrounding territory is dry, dusty desert, seemingly devoid of humanity and, in Baigazin’s own cinematography, largely bleached of colour. Five brothers live under the rule of their father (Kuandyk Kystykbayev), a strict disciplinarian who demands obedience, hard work and respect from his sons. They sleep on bare wooden floors and are beaten if they fall below his expectations. His desire to protect them from the wider world looks more like a prison than a sanctuary. The oldest son Aslan (a solemn, stoical Zhalgas Klanov) is being groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps. He has been taught to read and is expected to teach his brothers. His rule is more humane and compassionate. It is Aslan who leads his brothers to a river that becomes a joyous place of carefree escape for the boys. Yet it is also a place of strong currents and hidden dangers. The river is just the first of many intrusions from the outside world that threaten the established order in this warped Eden. The arrival of the mysterious Kanat (Eric Tazabekov) sows further dissent. His tablet and computer games are things of wonder to the boys. A television brings news of conflict from around the globe. There are growing signs of trouble in paradise. This is a film that slowly and steadily beguiles. Baigazin frames the individual brothers in doorways and window frames. They are placed in buildings and deserts like chess pieces on a board, forming patterns and shapes that often make the film feel like a modern dance piece. There is always something to catch the eye in Baigazin’s vision, but his spare style is matched by thought-provoking substance as he explores issues of personal liberty, individual responsibility, temptation and family ties. The result is an acutely realised, constantly challenging work that is never less than intriguing.
PLATFORM Kaz-Pol-Nor. 2018. 108mins Director/screenplay/ editing/cinematography Emir Baigazin Production companies Emir Baigazin Production, Madants, Norsk Filmproduksjon International sales Films Boutique, gabor@ films o t e.com Producer Emir Baigazin Production design Sergey Kopylov Music Justyna Banaszczyk Main cast Zhalgas Klanov, Eric Tazabekov, Zhasulan Userbayev, Ruslan Userbayev, Kuandyk Kystykbayev
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Asian Film Market 6 – 9 October 2018
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Busan International Film Festival 4 – 13 October 2018
REVIEWS
Vox Lux Reviewed by Jonathan Romney
Never Look Away Reviewed by Demetrios Matheou Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s third feature (after the Oscar-winning The Lives Of Others and the less wellreceived Hollywood feature The Tourist) sees the writer/ director return to Germany, the fertile ground of his country’s post-war past, and to a degree of form. Never Look Away is an often moving, thoughtful drama about the correlations between personal experience, politics and art. The Lives Of Others concerned a Stasi agent’s surveillance of two artists (a playwright and an actress) in East Berlin in the 1980s. This new film has a broader, though not dissimilar canvas, spanning the 1930s to 1960s. It follows a young protagonist — supposedly modelled on artist Gerhard Richter — from childhood in Nazi Germany, through student life in the Communist GDR and eventual realisation as an artist in West Germany. Picked up for US release prior to Venice by Sony Pictures Classics, and already selected as Germany’s foreign-language Oscar submission, Never Look Away nonetheless carries a daunting three-hour running time as it embarks on its festival career. The film opens in Dresden, 1937 with the young Kurt Barnard (Cai Cohrs) being taken by his aunt Elisabeth (Saskia Rosendahl) to the notorious Nazi exhibition of ‘degenerate art’, the party’s early salvo at anything that did not conform with its Aryan image. Behind the back of the vile tour guide (a reliably repellent cameo by Lars Eidinger), the independently minded Elisabeth whispers her appreciation of a Kandinsky into the boy’s ear. When Elisabeth starts to suffer problems with her mental health, in keeping with the Nazi eugenics programme and with complicity of the Nazi-sympathising gynaecologist Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch), she will be hospitalised, sterilised, then sent to a gas chamber. A powerful montage centred on the Dresden bombing piles on the boy’s personal losses. But the now young man (Tom Schilling) has a resilient nature, fuelled by his passion for painting. And at art school he falls in love with fashion student Ellie (Paula Beer). It is in Communist Dresden the drama is most effective. Kurt is unaware his new father-in-law, Seeband, is responsible for his aunt’s death. Schilling and Beer make a touching couple, and Koch is a persuasive monster, happy to be a “small cog” in whatever reactionary regime will have him.
16 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Ger. 2018. 188mins Director/screenplay Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Production companies Pergamon Film, Wiedemann & Berg Film International sales et nem et @ et c nem .com Producers Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Jan o to r n er Wiedemann, Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck Production design Silke Buhr Editing Patricia Rommel Cinematography Caleb Deschanel Music Max Richter Cast Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Oliver Masucci, Saskia Rosendahl, Ina Weisse, Lars Eidinger, Cai Cohrs
This challenging, unapologetically cerebral cogitation on pop stardom and post-modern malaise is the second film by actor-turned-writer/director Brady Corbet after 2015’s The Childhood Of A Leader. That film had admirers but left many sceptical — yet its follow-up leaves no doubt about Corbet’s audacity, imagination and intelligence. Vox Lux is an intellectually charged spectacle, with one foot in the Euro-art tradition and the other ankledeep in the pop zeitgeist. With original songs by chartconquering songwriter Sia and a dazzlingly witty, forceful lead from Portman, Vox Lux should sell well wherever there is an appetite for auteur innovation. Corbet’s film begins in 1999 in the US town of New Brighton. Teenager Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) is caught in a shooting attack at her school, emerging as the only survivor. While in hospital, she is taught music by her older sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin), and her artless song at a commemoration event goes on to become a sort of healing anthem for America. This proves the first hit of a hugely successful pop career. Signing up with a short-tempered, foul-mouthed manager (Jude Law), singer Celeste and songwriter Eleanor are whisked off on a recording trip to Sweden, which turns out to be a loss-of-innocence tour for them both. The film then jumps forward to 2017 to show Celeste (now played by Portman) as a well-established adult megastar, on the verge of returning to her hometown for a concert promoting her album ‘Vox Lux’. But things are shaky in her world. She has drug problems and a fragile psyche, is at daggers-drawn with the increasingly sidelined Eleanor, and has a delicate relationship with Albertine, her daughter (also played by Raffey Cassidy, as if the daughter had inherited all the traumas of her mother). Vox Lux is one of those rare films that gets the contemporary pop world right, from its before-the-show scenes to Celeste’s full-tilt performance. Despite her voice sometimes sounding fragile in the mix, Portman’s own singing is exactly right for the style, while her kinetic, quasi-military jerking and stomping with her troupe makes her ballet performance in Black Swan look strictly half-baked. This is a film of intense ambition, dealing with heavyweight themes in a way some might find glib or contentious. Like the film or not, it shows that Corbet is the real thing, and the song he is singing is very much his own.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS US. 2018. 112mins Director/screenplay Brady Corbet Production companies Bold Films, Andrew Lauren Productions, Killer Films, Three Six Zero International sales err ffin t oe @ s err ffin t .com Producers Andrew Lauren, DJ Gugenheim, Michel Litvak, Svetlana Metkina, David Litvak, Brian Young, Gary Michael Walters, Robert Salerno, Christine Vachon, David no os Cinematography Lol Crawley Editor Matthew Hannam Production design Sam Lisenco Music Scott Walker, Sia Main cast Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Stacy Martin, Jennifer Ehle, Raffey Cassidy, Willem Dafoe
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Asian Project Market 7 – 9 October 2018
Business meeting registration available online until 28 September Only for Asian Film Market badge holders
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Asian Film Market 6 – 9 October 2018
Busan International Film Festival 4 – 13 October 2018
SPOTLIGHT OUT OF BLUE
Patricia Clarkson in Out Of Blue
Out of this world Carol Morley’s Platform selection Out Of Blue is a murder mystery that confronts the secrets of the universe. The UK filmmaker tells Wendy Mitchell why she is drawn to multi-layered stories.
Peter Searle
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K writer/director Carol Morley is not afraid of big ideas. Her film Out Of Blue, which has its world premiere in TIFF Platform tonight, is about “cosmology, life and death, things not being what they seem”, she says. In addition, it is a police procedural, a murder mystery and a character study. “Cinema lends itself to being a multitude of things, that’s why I like to make films that are multi layered,” she says, adding with a laugh: “In everything I do, I want to explore about 18 things at once.” Producer Luc Roeg at Independent, who worked with Morley on 2014’s The Falling, introduced her to the project. Roeg had the rights to the source material — Martin Amis’s 1997 novel Night Train — because his father Nic Roeg had considered adapting it years ago. Morley had carte blanche to write an unfaithful adaptation — “I expanded on the characters” — but wanted to stick to the key themes of the book, such as the proposition that “we’re not just in the universe, that the universe is also in us”. Patricia Clarkson has a revelatory lead role as homicide detective Mike Hoolihan, who is called to investigate the shooting of an astrophysicist and black-hole
expert. She is affected by the case in ways she struggles to comprehend. The cast also includes James Caan, Toby Jones, Jacki Weaver, Mamie Gummer and newcomers including New Orleans local Devyn Tyler. Night Train was set in an unnamed US city, and when Louisiana native Clarkson came on board to play the lead role, Morley and her producers thought New Orleans would be the right place to shoot. Louisiana had just rebooted its tax rebate — worth up to 25% of local spend — so it also made financial sense for the 28-day, locationbased shoot. Challenges during the filming included getting accustomed to US crew structures and union rules, as well as the weather — “sometimes in prep, we were knee-deep in water,” Morley recalls. Of course, shooting in a city with so much character has its benefits: “There are great people, the city has an amazing feeling and some of it is naturally supernatural.” Morley tried to bring the themes of the story onto the set. “On the first day of the shoot, I gave a speech and gave everyone on the crew a little black pouch with blue glitter inside it, and told them, ‘We are all stardust, part of the same thing.’”
18 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
(Left) Carol Morley
‘I am a feminist but my dream of film is that a plethora of stories are told in all manner of ways by all kinds of people’ Carol Morley
Morley made sure the script did not go too far into the black hole, letting the audience explore the cosmos through the lens of Mike, a practical detective. “Mike is grounded by procedure and a particular way of doing something, so what if that gets rocked by this sense of something else being there?” The film is also grounded by Clarkson’s performance. As Morley says: “She has a quiet and controlled, brilliant way of bringing a character to life.” A fires Working with producer Cairo Cannon is another key creative collaboration. In 2000, the pair set up Cannon and Morley Productions (CAMP). “Cairo and I are allies,” says Morley. “She is amazingly diligent and committed. When you find those people, you want to work with them again and again.” They both were diligent during the financing of Out Of Blue, which Morley notes was not easy because it is led by a complicated female protagonist of a certain age. The film was developed and
produced with the support of the BFI Film Fund and BBC Films. Picturehouse pre-bought UK rights; Independent handles international sales. So far, Morley’s films have all been about female protagonists. “I don’t want to get pigeonholed in what I do, but of course I am drawn to stories of girlhood and womanhood,” she says, adding: “I am a feminist but my dream of film itself is that a plethora of stories are told in all manner of ways by all kinds of people.” Out Of Blue moves Morley into more ambitious territory after The Falling and the smaller-budget films Dreams Of A Life, Edge and documentary The Alcohol Years. Her next project will be another story of a complex woman. Artist Typist Pirate King, likely to shoot in late 2019, is about the late schizophrenic UK artist Audrey Amiss, and the film was developed as part of Morley’s Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship. She says: “All my films seem different but at the heart of each one is, what is it to be human, to be here in this world, and s what is the truth?” ■ Out Of Blue plays in Platform on September 7 (Public, Winter Garden Theatre, 21:30), September 8 (P&I, Scotiabank 13, 10:45), September 9 (Public, Lightbox 2, 21:15), September 11 (P&I, Scotiabank 10, 12:30), September 14 (P&I, Scotiabank 8, 10:00), September 14 (public, Lightbox 2, 15:45)
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Discovery
Screenings
Blind Spot
09/07/18
7:30PM
Scotiabank 5 (Press & Industry)
09/10/18
6:45PM
Scotiabank 10
09/12/18
9:00AM
Jackman Hall
Sales: TrustNordisk
09/16/18
3:45PM
Scotiabank 9
Norwegian films in Toronto
Minority Co-Productions
Director Tuva Novotny
MARIA
BONNEVIE
SVERRIR
GUDNASON
YLVA
BJØRKAAS THEDIN
Platform The River / Director Emir Baigazin Special Presentations 22. juli * / Director Paul Greengrass
CASPER
FALCK-LØVÅS
PHOENIX
Discovery Rafiki / Director Wanuri Kahiu TIFF Docs Angels Are Made Of Light / Director James Longley
HUMMELFILM PRESENTS ”PHOENIX” A FILM BY CAMILLA STRØM HENRIKSEN STARRING YLVA BJØRKAAS THEDIN, MARIA BONNEVIE, SVERRIR GUDNASON AND CASPER FALCK-LØVÅS CASTING CELINE ENGEBRIGTSEN COSTUME DESIGN ELLEN YSTEHEDE POST PRODUCER ELEONORE ANSELME COMPOSER PATRIK ANDRÉN SCORE PRODUCER JOHAN SÖDERQVIST SOUND DESIGN BENT HOLM LINE PRODUCER TESSA EGGESBØ PRODUCTION DESIGN EVA NORÉN EDITOR SVERRIR KRISTJÁNSSON DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY RAGNA JORMING FSF CO-PRODUCERS ANNIKA HELLSTRÖM, ERIKA MALMGREN AND RAMUNAS ŠKIKAS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS DAVID YATES, YVONNE WALCOTT-YATES AND PAULINA RIDER WILHELMSEN PRODUCER GUDNY HUMMELVOLL WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CAMILLA STRØM HENRIKSEN PRODUCED BY HUMMELFILM CO-PRODUCED BY CINENIC FILM, RIDER FILM AND THE WYCHWOOD MOVING PICTURE COMPANY IN COOPERATION WITH UAB AHIL, SHORTCUT OSLO, C-MORE W/SUZANNE GLANSBORG AND SVT W/AGNETA PERMAN PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE W/WIBECKE RØDSETH AND SWEDISH FILM INSTITUTE W/YABA HOLST
*support from the Norwegian Incentive Programme
ON SET IN FABRIC
Retail therapy Peter Strickland’s TIFF Midnight Madness selection In Fabric sees the UK filmmaker reimagine the iconic department store of his youth, where a cursed dress affects the lives of everyone who wears it. Wendy Mitchell visits the set
In Fabric stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste
I
t is a grey day in November 2017 and, in the dark basement of an abandoned shopping mall in Croydon, south London various mannequins lie scattered across the floor, requiring careful navigation. It is an unglamorous introduction to Peter Strickland’s fourth fiction feature In Fabric, before the appearance of several women with Bride Of Frankenstein-style coiffures, wearing black couture gowns that evoke a gothic witches’ coven as well as Victorian glamour. It is like entering an alternative reality — and the unique mind of Strickland. The writer/director’s three previous films — revenge drama Katalin Varga (2009), the giallo-inspired Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and sapphic S&M story The Duke Of Burgundy (2014) —
were notable for subverting genre conventions and inhabiting their own distinct worlds, and In Fabric looks to continue in that vein. Strickland — that rare dapper director who wears a tie on set — explains In Fabric combines the mundane (a January sale at a suburban department store) with heightened reality and the supernatural. It is the tale of a cursed dress that causes mayhem as it is passed from one person to the next — beginning on screen when a creepy shop clerk sells the red chiffon garment to a single mother to wear on a blind date. Strickland is not playing to the usual clichés of the supernatural. “It’s a ghost story but it’s not the classical idea of a ghost — I was inspired by the MR James
20 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
‘It’s like a British kitchen sink drama being attacked by a European horror film’ Andy Starke, Rook Films
BBC adaptations,” he notes, referencing the groundbreaking and realistic chilling tales that James wrote for a series of collections published in the early 20th century, later adapted by the BBC. “It’s not set in a haunted house or on a misty beach. It’s taking mundane things and putting them in bizarre circumstances.”
“It’s like a British kitchen-sink drama being attacked by a European horror film,” says producer Andy Starke of Rook Films. Inspired by corduroy It was a fateful visit to a charity shop that first sparked the idea for the film, Strickland recalls. “I remember buying a second-hand pair of navy blue corduroy trousers from a charity shop only to later discover a faded come-stain on the inside, which naturally made me imagine all kinds of scenarios regarding the gentleman who owned them prior to me,” he says. Only Strickland could have jumped from stained corduroy trousers to the visually striking world of In Fabric, »
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ON SET IN FABRIC
Alan Simpson/REX/Shutterstock
which takes some cues from 1970s designs but the director insists could be set in the 1990s. Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars while the supporting cast — assembled by casting director Shaheen Baig — includes Fatma Mohamed (who has appeared in all of Strickland’s features), Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, Gwendoline Christie, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Bremmer and Sidse Babett Knudsen, who starred in The Duke Of Burgundy. Steve Oram and Julian Barratt provide comic relief as smarmy bank managers. For Starke, it is an intriguing notion to have actors typically associated with the realistic dramas of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh enter Strickland’s weird world. It was Berberian Sound Studio star Toby Jones who suggested that Strickland scout Jean-Baptiste, who was Oscarnominated for her role in Leigh’s Secrets & Lies before becoming better known in US TV series such as Without A Trace. “I haven’t seen all of Mike Leigh’s films so I had to go out and buy Secrets & Lies, but Marianne blew me away in that,” Strickland recalls. “I adore her in our film, especially when she’s angry. There’s a playfully subtle comic side to the way she delivers many of her lines and, of course, her face is incredibly good at conveying a yearning for love.” And, of course, the dress itself is a major character. “I felt I was moving more and more towards objects in my films, whether it was oscillators or lingerie and it didn’t feel like such a big leap to eventually feature a dress as a main character,” he adds, noting some of his favourite directors such as Sergei Bondarchuk and Luis Buñuel were also obsessed with objects. “That a piece of fabric can provoke feelings of empowerment, desire, disgust, control, sadness or inadequacy in different people is remarkable.” Perfect accessory Strickland’s attention to detail is brought to life in a glossy 300-page catalogue being passed around on set. The fictitious directory for his fictitious store Dentley & Soper appears in the film only for a few brief moments but Strickland has taken the time to assemble stylised photos and write gorgeous catalogue copy on many pages that will never be seen on screen, relishing the wordplay. The cursed dress is described as the “Ambassadorial function dress”, with a “dagger neckline” in “artery red” — perfect for “candlelight glances, canapé conversations”. Strickland worked his share of retail jobs over the years — at newsagents WHSmith, wine shop Threshers, supermarket Waitrose, high-end department store Harvey Nichols and more — but
Fatma Mohamed co-stars
has obsessive memories of visiting the now-closed Jacksons department store while growing up in Reading, Berkshire. “I remember once noticing a shy woman entering the changing room in her somewhat drab daily wear and coming out completely transformed in an evening gown,” he recalls. “Her posture and facial expression also changed and that transformative aspect of clothing, in terms of how one feels rather than looks, left an impression on me. Places like Jacksons were magical and mysterious. Once you entered the premises, which were guarded by mannequins, you were in another world.” In Fabric was developed in association with Ian Benson at Blue Bear Film and Television and is produced by Andy Starke for Rook Films. Backers include the BFI Film Fund, BBC Films and Head Gear Films. Bankside Films handles sales and has already sold it to the UK (Curzon, which will launch In Fabric theatrically in 2019), the Middle East (Front Row), South Korea (Scene & Sound), Switzerland (Praesens), Indonesia/ Malaysia/Vietnam (Sahamongkol) and the Czech and Slovak republics (Association of Czech Film Club). In Fabric is Strickland’s big-
22 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
‘It’s not set in a haunted house or on a misty beach. It’s taking mundane things and putting them in bizarre circumstances’ Peter Strickland
gest budget to date (but, says Starke, still “not that big!”) and shot for just 26 days, an ambitious shoot for what the filmmaker managed to achieve on screen — not just the department store scenes, but also nightclub and bank settings, fires and car crashes. As Starke, who also produced The Duke Of Burgundy, observes, “It was a huge chalgundy lenge to create an alternative universe on a small budget. “So much of Peter’s work is about the whole film — pictures and sound and score,” he adds. “So it’s key that all departments know how he works and understand that process. It makes it tough sometimes but also gives the heads of department the freedom to create some incredible designs.” Key crew on (Left) director Peter Strickland
In Fabric includes cinematographer Ari Wegner (Lady Macbeth), editor Matyas Fekete, costume designer Jo Thompson (Beast), sound designer Martin Pavey, sound recordist Rob Entwistle, production designer Paki Smith, hair/make-up designer Emma Scott and composers Cavern of Anti-Matter. “Time was the main issue, which we all knew in advance,” says Strickland. “In Fabric had all kinds of obstacles I hadn’t dealt with before. Most of the more elaborate set-pieces were planned and were straightforward enough, thanks to Andy Starke and the line producer, Kasia Malipan, putting a great team together and facilitating what was needed.” For Strickland, the film marks a surprise return to his own history. “I wanted to get as far away from [my home town of ] Reading as possible for my first film, but now having lived abroad for many years I can look at it with different eyes and find the beauty and exoticism that often eludes us when it comes to our home towns. If someone told me 10 years ago that I’d be making a film about the January sales in Reading, I would think my leg s was being pulled.” ■ In Fabric plays in Midnight Madness on September 7 (P&I, Scotiabank 6, 19:00), September 10 (P&I, Scotiabank 8, 14:00), September 13 (public, midnight, Ryerson Theatre), September 14 (public, Scotiabank 4, 20:45), September 15 (public, Scotiabank 11, 11:45)
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SPOTLIGHT BLIND SPOT
Pia Tjelta in Blind Spot
Reality check
Swedish filmmaker Tuva Novotny discusses her harrowing, real-time debut Blind Spot, which explores one family’s tragedy around their daughter’s mental health crisis. Wendy Mitchell reports
T
uva Novotny makes her directorial debut with Blind Spot (Blindsone), a harrowing realtime exploration of one family dealing with a tragedy. Pia Tjelta, Anders Baasmo Christiansen and newcomer Nora Mathea Oien star in the story of parents who have a ‘blind spot’ about the mental health crisis of their daughter. The film is shot in one take, as the story unfolds in real time. The professional actors star alongside real healthcare professionals, from ambulance workers to ER doctors. Novotny, born in Sweden but living in Denmark, is also an actress: her recent credits include Alex Garland’s Annihilation and 2017 TIFF opener Borg/McEnroe. She has already shot her second film as a director, the higher budget BrittMarie Was Here, an adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s novel, for SF Studios. TrustNordisk handles sales on Blind Spot, which has its public premiere here on September 10 in Discovery. Following TIFF, Novotny’s debut film will go on to compete at San Sebastian Film Festival. How did the idea come about? There had been some situations in my life with people close to me concerning this topic. This movie just came out in one first draft. I knew exactly how it would be.
Why did you want to tell it in real time? It’s a clear vision of not wanting to dramatise with editing, because editing is such a strong tool. We don’t give time for the eye to discover what we’re watching. I wanted to explore the pauses and silences and the ‘boring’ parts we take away, that’s where we get to understand people and let our imaginations work. What was most important to me was to not overly dramatise a situation that needs to be talked about in such a sober way. Was it really shot in one take or is it a ‘faked’ one take? It’s one take, real time. We had two cameras, one handheld and one Steadicam, which were overlapping. Everything was real time, we just glued two or three frames together when the cameras were overlapping. That sounds like an intense shoot. At first I wanted just one camera, but considering the different locations that was technically impossible. The doctors, the ambulance people knew how to work this situation, where to go, what to do, there was no hesitance in what was going to happen. The biggest challenge was for the actors and the crew to overcome their nervousness [at working this way]. We shot it three times, and the film
24 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
‘The movie’s mission is to open up a discussion about how we talk about things like mental health’ Tuva Novotny
is actually the third shoot. But number two was also magical — we had beautiful snow that day and also the sun was out. But I had promised my psychological supervisors not to romanticise the subject matter.
What research did you do? I talked to professionals from the health sector: psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, neurosurgeons. I had a lot of research from factual people. The movie’s mission is to open up a discussion about how we talk about these things. Why was Blind Spot the right title? I kept talking about the blind spots in our everyday lives, stuff we don’t see or know how to talk about. It’s about how we as grown-ups in society talk about these situations, how do we handle it.
Did you use real doctors? The trauma team inside the operation room are real ER people. The doctor is a real doctor, the nurse is a real nurse. Everyone is a non-actor except the parents and girl and grandfather.
ou e a rea y shot your secon fi m Britt-Marie Was Here. I made my second movie right after this, which is traditionally shot and edited. We’re in the edit now. The story is about a 63-year-old woman who starts over after leaving a 40-year marriage. It’s an important movie in that sense. These days we talk a lot about female representation in our business but we don’t see much of it. This movie will be a good s opportunity to contribute to that. ■
How did you cast Pia Tjelta as the mother? She’s one of my best friends and has acted for 20 years. It’s a difficult role so it was a great strength that we are close friends.
Blind Spot plays in Discovery today (P&I, Scotiabank 5, 19:30), September 10 (public, Scotiabank 10, 18:45), September 12 (public, Jackman Hall, 09:00), September 16 (public, Scotiabank 9, 15:45)
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SCREENINGS
JURY GRID, PAGE 38
Edited by Jamie McLeish » Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
PUBLIC SCREENINGS
09:00 LORO See box, right
09:45 DEAD SOULS
(France-Switzerland) 495mins. Doc & Film International. Dir: Wang Bing. Wang Bing reconstructs a tragic chapter of Chinese history with this haunting eight-hour documentary on the labour re-education camps in the Gobi Desert, where untold numbers died of starvation under the Communist Party’s Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957. Wavelengths Jackman Hall
THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
(Canada) 128mins. Séville International. Dir: Denys Arcand. Cast: Alexandre Landry, Louis Morissette, Maripier Morin, Maxim Roy, Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard, Vincent Leclerc. Denys Arcand’s thematic successor to The Decline Of The American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions centres on a young man whose life is changed when he finds two bags of cash after an armed robbery. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
10:00 STYX
(Germany-Austria) 94mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Wolfgang Fischer. Cast: Gedion Wekesa Oduor, Susanne Wolff. Wolfgang Fischer’s allegory for Western indifference feels only too real when a woman on a solo sailing trip across the Atlantic happens upon a sinking boat full of refugees. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 — Piers Handling Cinema
PUBLIC SCREENING 09:00 LORO
(Italy-France) 150mins. Pathé International. Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Cast: Elena Sofia Ricci, Kasia Smutniak, Riccardo Scamarcio, Toni Servillo. Paolo Sorrentino skewers
12:15 STOCKHOLM
(Israel) 155mins. Keshet International. Dir: Daniel Syrkin. Cast: Dov Glickman, Gidi Gov, Leora Rivlin, Sasson Gabai, Tiki Dayan. Just days before the laureates are announced, a leading contender for the Nobel Prize in Economics is found dead in his bed. His four closest friends decide to keep him alive a little bit longer for the one thing he wanted more than anything. Primetime TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
12:30 VOX LUX
(US) 112mins. Sierra/
26 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
Italian politics in this satirical, profane and imaginative fictionalisation of controversial Italian tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi and his inner circle. Masters TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Affinity. Dir: Brady Corbet. Cast: Jennifer Ehle, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin. Natalie Portman gives a bravura performance in actor/director Brady Corbet’s second feature, which spans decades in the life of a young woman juggling a scandalridden music career, a teenage daughter and an overbearing if doting manager. Special Presentations Elgin Theatre
12:45 MOUTHPIECE
(Canada) 91mins. Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Dir: Patricia Rozema. Cast: Amy
Nostbakken, Maev Beaty, Norah Sadava. Patricia Rozema adapts the award-winning twowoman play by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, about an aspiring writer attempting to reconcile her feminism with the conformist choices of her mother following the parent’s sudden death. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
13:00 ULYSSES & MONA
(France) 82mins. Cercamon. Dir: Sébastien Betbeder. Cast: Eric Cantona, Jean-Luc Vincent, Manal Issa, Marie Vialle, Micha Lescot, Quentin Dolmaire. An art student (Manal Issa) sets out to revive the prospects of a jaded famous artist (Eric Cantona) retired from his life as an artist years ago, in this understated comedy from French director Sébastien Betbeder. Contemporary World Cinema Cinema 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA
(UK) 240mins. Dogwoof. Dir: Mark Cousins. Cast: Tilda Swinton. The monumental but largely unrecognised efforts of female filmmakers across the years are highlighted and celebrated in this latest and epic entry from filmmaker and historian Mark Cousins. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 — Piers Handling Cinema
14:00 SHARKWATER EXTINCTION
(Canada) 88mins. Brian Stewart. Dir: Rob Stewart. Cast: Brock Cahill, Madison Stewart, Regi Domingo, Rob Stewart, Will Allen. Late filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart’s final documentary is a thrilling exposé on the illegal shark-fin industry and a rousing call to save an imperilled animal from the edge of extinction. Special Event Roy Thomson Hall
14:30 MONSTERS AND MEN
(US) 96mins. HanWay Films. Dir: Reinaldo Marcus Green. Cast: Anthony Ramos, Chanté Adams, Jasmine Cephas Jones, John David Washington, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Nicole Beharie, Rob Morgan. When a black man is shot dead by police, three members of his community face different but serious consequences if they reveal their knowledge of the murder or the systemic corruption behind it, in writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s bracing feature debut. Special Presentations Winter Garden Theatre
OUTLAW KING
(US-UK) 137mins. Netflix. Dir: David Mackenzie. Cast: Chris Pine, Aaron TaylorJohnson, Billy Howle. Forced into exile by the English after being crowned king of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the Bruce fights to reclaim » the throne, in the latest www.screendaily.com
SCREENINGS
from David Mackenzie (Hell Or High Water). Gala Presentations Princess of Wales
TEEN SPIRIT
(UK) 92mins. Mister Smith Entertainment. Dir: Max Minghella. Cast: Elle Fanning, Rebecca Hall, Zlatko Buric. A shy teenager dreams of pop stardom and enters an international singing competition as an escape from her small town and difficult family life, in The Handmaid’s Tale actor Max Minghella’s feature directorial debut. Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
15:30 HER JOB
(Greece-France-Serbia) 90mins. Jour2Fête. Dir: Nikos Labot. Cast: Dimitris Imellos, Marisha Triantafyllidou. Nikos Labot’s feature debut offers a compassionate look at a devoted but underappreciated housewife whose brief taste of autonomy as a mall cleaner — where she is a popular, model employee — is threatened by impending layoffs. Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
PROSECUTING EVIL: THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD OF BEN FERENCZ
(Canada) 83mins. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Dir: Barry Avrich. Cast: Alan Dershowitz, Ben Ferencz, David Scheffer, Don Ferencz, Fatou Bensouda, General Wesley Clark, Justice Rosalie Abella, Richard Dicker. Barry Avrich returns to TIFF with a fascinating portrait of Ben Ferencz, the last surviving Nuremberg Trial prosecutor, who continues to wage his lifelong crusade in the fight for law and peace. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
16:15 THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
(US) 91mins. United Talent Agency (UTA). Dir: John Chester.
PUBLIC SCREENING 17:30 HOMECOMING
(US) 114mins. Amazon Studios. Dir: Sam Esmail. Cast: Alex Karpovsky, Bobby Cannavale, Dermot Mulroney, Hong Chau, Jeremy Allen White, Julia Roberts, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Shea Whigham, Sissy Spacek,
Stephan James. A caseworker (Julia Roberts) who helps soldiers transition back to civilian life is interrogated by the Department of Defense after the ambitious demands of her former boss raise suspicion. Primetime Ryerson Theatre
The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.
his parents for bringing him into the world when they couldn’t properly care for him.
TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
See box, above
16:30 CAPERNAUM
(Lebanon) 120mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: Nadine Labaki. Cast: Alaa Chouchnieh, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Cedra Izam, Fadi Youssef, Kawthar Al Haddad, Nadine Labaki, Yordanos Shiferaw, Zain Al Rafeea. Nadine Labaki (2011 TIFF People’s Choice Award winner Where Do We Go Now?) explores the lives of children living on the fringes of Lebanese society, in this political and heartbreaking story of a young boy who sues
28 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
Special Presentations Elgin Theatre
17:30 HOMECOMING 17:45
THE REALM
COMPLICITY
(Spain-France) 122mins. Latido Films. Dir: Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Cast: Ana Wagener, Antonio de la Torre, Barbara Lennie, José Maria Pou, Luis Zahera, Monica Lopez, Nacho Fresneda. Systemic governmental corruption is at the heart of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s fast-paced thriller, which follows a crooked Spanish politician whose lavish lifestyle, made possible through nefarious kickbacks and bribes, threatens to bring down his entire party.
(Japan-China) 116mins. MPM Premium. Dir: Kei Chikaura. Cast: Kio Matsumoto, Sayo Akasaka, Tatsuya Fuji, Lu Yulai. A Chinese illegal immigrant in Japan finds new direction when he fakes his identity and lands an apprenticeship with a master soba chef, in this moving ChinaJapan co-production from director Kei Chikaura.
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 3
18:00 ANIARA
(Belgium-Luxembourg) 117mins. Europa Corp. Dir: Thomas Vinterberg. Cast: Colin Firth, Léa Seydoux, Matthias Schoenaerts. Director Thomas Vinterberg and a formidable cast recreate the tragic final hours of the real-life nuclear submarine explosion that left the boat stranded at the bottom of the Barents Sea, while bureaucratic obstacles impeded rescue and their families searched for answers.
(Sweden) 106mins. Dir: Hugo Lilja, Pella Kagerman. Cast: Anneli Martini, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Emelie Jonsson, Emma Broomé, Jennie Silfverhjelm, Peter Carlberg. A ship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumptionobsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe, in Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja’s eerie and caustic sci-fi adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prizewinning writer Harry Martinson.
Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
Discovery Scotiabank 11
KURSK
Terrified of human intimacy but longing to join a pack, a hardworking countryman hopes to gain the respect of a man and his daughter at any cost, in Natalia Meshchaninova’s followup to 2014’s The Hope Factory. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
DONNYBROOK
(Australia) 125mins. Arclight Films. Dir: Anthony Maras. Cast: Anupam Kher, Armie Hammer, Dev Patel, Jason Isaacs, Nazanin Boniadi, Tilda CobhamHervey. Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi and Anupam Kher star in Anthony Maras’s debut feature, about the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks and its survivors.
(US) 101mins. Sierra/ Affinity. Dir: Tim Sutton. Cast: Frank Grillo, James Badge Dale, Jamie Bell, Margaret Qualley. The fourth feature from writer/director Tim Sutton, this hard-hitting drama tells the story of two men — an ex-marine who struggles to provide for his family and a violent drug dealer with an undefeated fighting record — who are determined to compete in the Donnybrook, a legendary, bare-knuckle brawl with a cash prize of $100,000.
Special Presentations Princess of Wales
Platform Winter Garden Theatre
Discovery Scotiabank 14
HOTEL MUMBAI
18:15 CORE OF THE WORLD
(Russia-Lithuania) 124mins. Indie Sales. Dir: Natalia Meshchaninova. Cast: Dmitriy Podnozov, Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Elena Papanova, Evgeniy Sytyy, Jana Sekste, Stepan Devonin, Vitya Ovodkov.
GWEN
(UK) 84mins. Great Point Media. Dir: William McGregor. Cast: Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Maxine Peake. A mysterious — and suspicious — run of ill fortune plagues a teenage girl (Eleanor
www.screendaily.com
SCREENINGS
Worthington-Cox) and her mother and sister on their hillside farm, in this atmospheric, Walesset period piece from writer/director William McGregor.
PUBLIC SCREENING 21:30 GLORIA BELL
(US-Chile) 102mins. FilmNation. Dir: Sebastian Lelio. Cast: Brad Garrett, Caren Pistorius, Holland Taylor, Jeanne Tripplehorn, John Turturro, Julianne Moore, Michael Cera, Rita Wilson. Sebastian Lelio directs Julianne Moore in this English-language remake of his 2013 film about a middle-aged divorcee hoping to find love on the dance floor.
Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
18:30 BEAUTIFUL BOY
(US) 111mins. FilmNation Entertainment. Dir: Felix van Groeningen. Cast: Amy Ryan, Maura Tierney, Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet. Based on the bestselling pair of memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff, Felix van Groeningen’s film chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
18:45
Special Presentations Princess of Wales
have for her family and career when a scandal threatens to shed light on her affairs, in this introspective drama about the nature, limits and consequences of desire. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 4
GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME
(France-Cambodia) 115mins. Playtime. Dir: Rithy Panh. In the latest exploration by Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture) of the lasting effects of the Cambodian genocide, a 13-year-old boy who loses most of his family begins a search for their graves. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
19:00 LES SALOPES OR THE NATURALLY WANTON PLEASURE OF SKIN
(Canada) 97mins. Filmoption International. Dir: Renée Beaulieu. Cast: Brigitte Poupart, Charlotte Aubin, Guillaume Gauthier, Hubert Proulx, JeanMarie Coudou, Joseph Delorey, Louise Portal, Nathalie Cavezzali, Normand D’Amour, Paul Ahmarani, Pierre Kwenders, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Romane Denis, Sophie Clément, Vincent Lecler. A happily married wife and mother with a promiscuous secret life must confront the consequences her choices
SUMMER SURVIVORS
(Lithuania) 91mins. Heretic Outreach. Dir: Marija Kavtaradze. Cast: Gelminé Glemzaité, Indré Patkauskaité, Paulius Markevicius. A young psychologist bonds with two psychiatric patients and a nurse during a road trip to a seaside clinic, in Lithuanian filmmaker Marija Kavtaradze’s light-hearted and compassionate comedy. Discovery Jackman Hall
THAT TIME OF YEAR
(Denmark) 101mins. TrustNordisk. Dir: Paprika Steen. Cast: Fanny Leander Bornedal, Jacob Lohmann, Karen-Lise Mynster, Lars Brygmann, Lars Knutzon, Paprika Steen, Patricia Schumann, Sofie Grabol. From Danish director and actor Paprika Steen comes a caustic comedy about the deep-rooted grievances that can rip families apart — and the ties that bind them together. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 2
30 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
19:15 BELMONTE
(Uruguay-Spain-Mexico) 75mins. Meikincine Entertainment. Dir: Federico Veiroj. Cast: Gonzalo Delgado, Olivia Molinaro Eijo, Tomas Wahrmann. Federico Veiroj’s feature examines the many, often contradictory layers that make up one’s persona – in this case, a single dad and acclaimed artist who must learn to balance family life with creativity. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 10
20:00 BEAUTIFUL BOY
(US) 111mins. FilmNation Entertainment. Dir: Felix van Groeningen. Cast: Amy Ryan, Maura Tierney, Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet. Based on the bestselling pair of memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff, Felix van Groeningen’s film chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years. Gala Presentations Elgin Theatre
20:45 MOTHERS’ INSTINCT (DUELLES)
(Belgium-France) 97mins. Indie Sales. Dir:
Olivier Masset-Depasse. Cast: Anne Coesens, Veerle Baetens. When a sudden tragedy uproots the lives of two women and their families, they begin to question the relationships they once held so dear, in this psychological thriller from Olivier Masset-Depasse (Illégal). Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
21:00 EMU RUNNER
(Australia) 95mins. Dir: Imogen Thomas. Cast: Georgia Blizzard, Letisha Boney, Lindsay Waites, Mary Waites, Maurial Spearim, RhaeKye Waites, Rob Carlton, Rodney McHughes, Stella Carter, Wayne Blair. A spirited young girl in small town Australia forms a meaningful bond with a wild emu as she tries to cope with her beleaguered father, a naïve social worker and her own painful grief in the aftermath of her mother’s sudden death. Discovery Scotiabank 14
L. COHEN (preceded by short film ARENA)
(Austria, US) 50mins. neugerriemschneider. Dir: James Benning. Described by filmmaker and artist James Benning as a farm field in Oregon on a very special day, L. Cohen is the latest
masterwork by this grand figure of the American avant-garde. Wavelengths TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF CELESTE GARCIA
(Cuba-Germany) 92mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Arturo Infante. Cast: Maria Isabel Diaz, Nestor Jimenez, Omar Franco, Yerlin Perez. Arturo Infante’s film mixes absurd humour and wry political commentary as it follows a kindly planetarium worker who accepts a very special invitation from her neighbour, an extraterrestrial. Discovery Scotiabank 3
WHITE BOY RICK
(US) 110mins. Sony Pictures Releasing. Dir: Yann Demange. Cast: Bel Powley, Brian Tyree Henry, Bruce Dern, Eddie Marsan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jonathan Majors, Matthew McConaughey, Piper Laurie, Richie Merritt, RJ Cyler. Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Dern, Eddie Marsan and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in this fact-based crime drama about a 1980s-era petty hustler who became a drug boss, then FBI informant, before the age of 16. Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
21:15 PHOENIX
(Norway-Sweden) 86mins. Hummelfilm. Dir: Camilla Strom Henriksen. Cast: Casper Falck-Lovas, Maria Bonnevie, Sverrir Gudnason, Ylva Thedin Bjorkaas. In Camilla Strom Henriksen’s startling first feature, a young girl struggles to keep her family together in the aftermath of a tragedy that forces her to grow up far too quickly. Discovery Scotiabank 11
21:30 CONSEQUENCES
(Slovenia-Austria) 95mins. Wide. Dir: Darko Stante. Cast: Blaz Setnikar, Gasper Markun, Lea Cok, Lovro Zafred, Matej Zemljic, Rosana Hribar, Timon Sturbej. A troubled teen must adapt to the harsh hierarchy of a youth detention centre and come to terms with his sense of self and developing masculinity in Slovenian filmmaker Darko Stante’s debut feature, based on his own experiences working with youths in a correctional facility. Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 — Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema
GLORIA BELL See box, above
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30.08.18 13:53
SCREENINGS
LET ME FALL
(Iceland-FinlandGermany) 136mins. The Icelandic Film Company. Dir: Baldvin Z. Cast: Elin Sif Halldorsdottir, Eyrun Bjork Jakobsdottir, Kristin Thora Haraldsdottir, Lara Johanna Jonsdottir, Thorsteinn Bachmann. Drawing on true stories and interviews with the families of addicts, this harrowing portrait of addiction follows Stella and Magnea through the decades as precarious teenage years morph into perilous adulthoods. Contemporary World Cinema Jackman Hall
OUT OF BLUE
(UK) 110mins. Independent. Dir: Carol Morley. Cast: Aaron Tveit, Devyn Tyler, Jacki Weaver, James Caan, Jonathan Majors, Mamie Gummer, Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones, Yolonda Ross. An investigation by a homicide detective (Patricia Clarkson) into the shooting of a leading astrophysicist and blackhole expert destabilises her view of the universe and herself, in the third fiction feature from Carol Morley (Dreams Of A Life). Platform Winter Garden Theatre
THE CROSSING
(China) 99mins. Wanda Pictures. Dir: Bai Xue. Cast: Huang Yao, Sunny Sun, Carmen Soup, Elena Kong May Yee, Ni
PUBLIC SCREENING
Hongjie, Liu Kaichi, Jiao Gang. A 16-year-old student turns to smuggling to raise the necessary funds to join her wealthy friend on holiday, crossing several kinds of boundary in the process. Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 — Piers Handling Cinema
THE HATE U GIVE See box, above
THE PREDATOR
(US) 101mins. 20th Century Fox. Dir: Shane Black. Cast: Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay, Jake Busey, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K Brown, Thomas Jane, Trevante Rhodes, Yvonne Strahovski.
21:30
Johnson, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Sabrina Carpenter. A timely commentary in the Black Lives Matter era, George Tillman Jr’s adaptation of the novel by Angie Thomas follows Starr,
a promising student and cherished daughter whose life is upended, and subsequently galvanised, when a friend is senselessly shot dead by the police.
ROSIE
EDGE OF THE KNIFE
Haig-Brown. Cast: Adeana Young, Tyler York, William Russ. In 19th-century Haida Gwaii, an accident prompts a tormented man to retreat deep into the forest where he becomes Gaagiixiid/Gaagiid — the Wildman — in this landmark first feature made entirely in the two dialects of the Haida language.
(Canada) 100mins. Dir: Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen
Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
THE HATE U GIVE
(US) 129mins. 20th Century Fox. Dir: George Tillman Jr. Cast: Algee Smith, Amandla Stenberg, Anthony Mackie, Common, Issa Rae, KJ Apa, Lamar
In Shane Black’s latest installment of the muchloved Predator series, the destructive extraterrestrials wreak havoc on a small town, forcing an ex-soldier (Narcos’ Boyd Holbrook) and a biologist (Olivia Munn) to take action. Midnight Madness Scotiabank 12
21:45
PUBLIC SCREENING 22:00
Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
(Ireland) 86mins. Protagonist Pictures. Dir: Paddy Breathnach. Cast: Darragh McKenzie, Ellie O’Halloran, Moe Dunford, Molly McCann, Ruby Dunne, Sarah Greene. A mother strives to shield her young family from their new reality when their landlord sells the property and renders them homeless, in Paddy Breathnach’s heartbreaking latest drama.
Discovery Scotiabank 10
32 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
ENDZEIT — EVER AFTER See box, below
THE ACCUSED
(Argentina-Mexico) 108mins. Film Factory. Dir: Gonzalo Tobal. Cast: Daniel Fanego, Gael Garcia Bernal, Gerardo Romano, Ines Estevez, Lali Esposito, Leonardo Sbaraglia. Director Gonzalo Tobal is less concerned with guilt than with the ways media scrutiny can hijack the truth, in this understated crime story about a 20-year-old woman accused of her best friend’s death. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 2
MIDNIGHT NEKROTRONIC
(US) 105mins. 30WEST. Dir: Billy Corben. Cast: Anthony Bosch, Porter Fischer, Tim Elfrink. Billy Corben’s true-crime dramedy investigates Major League Baseball’s infamous doping scandal involving a nefarious clinician and his most famous client: the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.
(Australia) 99mins. Sierra/Affinity. Dir: Kiah Roache-Turner. Cast: Ben O’Toole, Caroline Ford, David Wenham, Epine Bob Savea, Monica Bellucci, Tess Haubrich. A group of hunters known as Nekromancers do battle with evil forces that use social-media apps to demonically possess the masses, in this riotous supernatural romp from Kiah Roache-Turner, director of cult favourite Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead.
TIFF Docs Scotiabank 4
Midnight Madness Ryerson Theatre
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13
ENDZEIT — EVER AFTER
(Germany) 90mins. Dir: Carolina Hellsgard. Cast: Gro Swantje Kohlhof, Maja Lehrer, Trine Dyrholm. Carolina Hellsgard’s chilling feature follows two women fighting for their lives in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies — a future that’s both horrific and hopeful.
22:00
SCREWBALL
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15-18 October 2018 Palais des Festivals - Cannes - France
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SCREENINGS
Doupe, Hilda Fay, Johnny Collins, Lalor Roddy. A young Irish Traveller contends with her recently released from prison father in order to pursue her dreams of being a boxer.
PRESS & INDUSTRY 08:30 MOTHERS’ INSTINCT (DUELLES)
Discovery Scotiabank 8
(Belgium-France) 97mins. Indie Sales. Dir: Olivier MassetDepasse. Cast: Anne Coesens, Veerle Baetens. When a sudden tragedy uproots the lives of two women and their families, they begin to question the relationships they once held so dear.
10:45 JESSICA FOREVER
Special Presentations Scotiabank 11
08:45 MAIDEN
(UK) 93mins. Dogwoof. Dir: Alex Holmes. Cast: Tracy Edwards. In a moving portrait of resilience, Alex Holmes chronicles the unprecedented journey of 24-year-old Tracy Edwards and the first all-female sailing crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race.
PRESS & INDUSTRY 09:15 A STAR IS BORN
(US) 135mins. Warner Bros Pictures. Dir: Bradley Cooper. Cast: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay. Bradley Cooper’s
directorial debut tells the story of a seasoned musician who discovers — and falls in love with — a struggling artist. As her career takes off, he fights an ongoing battle with his own demons. Gala Presentations Cinema 2
TIFF Docs Scotiabank 7
SHOPLIFTERS
woman accused of her best friend’s death.
(Japan) 121mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Cast: Kairi Jyo, Kilin Kiki, Lily Franky, Mayu Matsuoka, Miyu Sasaki, Sakura Ando. Equal parts incisive social critique and nuanced family portrait, the latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda follows a small band of marginalised misfits struggling to make ends meet in a merciless urban environment.
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13
Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 10
THE ACCUSED
HIDDEN MAN
(Argentina-Mexico) 108mins. Film Factory. Dir: Gonzalo Tobal. Cast: Daniel Fanego, Gael Garcia Bernal, Gerardo Romano, Ines Estevez, Lali Esposito, Leonardo Sbaraglia. Director Gonzalo Tobal is less concerned with guilt than with the ways media scrutiny can hijack the truth, in this crime story about a 20-year-old
(China) 137mins. Endeavor Content. Dir: Jiang Wen. Cast: Eddie Peng, Liao Fan, Xu Qing, Jiang Wen, Zhou Yun. On the cusp of the Second Sino-Japanese War, a spy returns to China set on revenge, but finds himself plunged into a high-stakes game of intrigue.
09:00 BULBUL CAN SING
(India) 95mins. Dir: Rima Das. Cast: Arnali Das, Bonita Thakuriya, Manabendra Das, Manoranjoan Das, Pakija Begam. A visceral coming-of-age drama about a young girl in rural India, fighting love and loss as she figures out who she really is.
RAFIKI
(Kenya-South AfricaFrance-Lebanon-NorwayNetherlands-GermanyUS) 82mins. MPM Premium. Dir: Wanuri Kahiu. Cast: Dennis Musyoka, Jimmi Gathu, Nini Wacera, Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva. The latest from Wanuri Kahiu charts a precarious love story between two young Kenyan women in a society where homosexuality is banned. Discovery Scotiabank 14
havoc on a small town, forcing an ex-soldier and a biologist to take action. Midnight Madness Scotiabank 12
09:15 A STAR IS BORN See box, left
ANIARA
(Sweden) 106mins. Dir: Hugo Lilja, Pella Kagerman. Cast: Anneli Martini, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Emelie Jonsson, Emma Broomé, Jennie Silfverhjelm, Peter Carlberg. A ship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumptionobsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe, in Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja’s eerie and caustic sci-fi adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prizewinning writer Harry Martinson. Discovery Scotiabank 9
THE PREDATOR
Gala Presentations Scotiabank 3
34 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
(US) 101mins. 20th Century Fox. Dir: Shane Black. Cast: Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay, Jake Busey, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K Brown, Thomas Jane, Trevante Rhodes, Yvonne Strahovski. In Shane Black’s latest instalment of the Predator series, the destructive extraterrestrials wreak
OUTLAW KING
(US-UK) 137mins. Netflix. Dir: David Mackenzie. Cast: Chris Pine, Aaron TaylorJohnson, Billy Howle. Forced into exile by the English after being crowned king of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the Bruce fights to reclaim the throne, in the latest from David Mackenzie. Gala Presentations Scotiabank 1
THE THIRD WIFE
(Vietnam) 96mins. m-appeal. Dir: Ash Mayfair. Cast: Mai Thu Huong Maya, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Nu Yen Khe Tran, Phuong Tra My Nguyen, Vu Long Le. A 14-year-old girl struggles with family politics, her own agency and the prospect of motherhood after she becomes the third wife of a wealthy landowner, in director Ash Mayfair’s debut feature set in 19th century rural Vietnam. Discovery Scotiabank 6
09:30 BIRDS OF PASSAGE
(Colombia-DenmarkMexico-France) 125mins. Films Boutique. Dir: Ciro Guerra, Cristina Gallego. Cast: Carmiña Martinez, Greider Meza, Jhon Narvaez, Jose Acosta, Jose Vicente Cotes, Juan Bautista, Natalia Reyes. Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent) again team up for this exquisitely detailed story of a Wayuu man’s downward spiral as he becomes increasingly involved in northern Colombia’s drug trade. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 4
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY
(Ireland) 101mins. WestEnd Films. Dir: Carmel Winters. Cast: Dara Devaney, Hazel
(France) 97mins. mk2 Films. Dir: Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel. Cast: Aomi Muyock, Lucas Ionesco, Paul Hamy, Sebastian Urzendowsky. Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s visually striking debut feature presents a dystopian world where violent misfits reign supreme, counterbalanced by one woman and her makeshift family of rehabilitated marauders fighting for peace. Platform Scotiabank 11
11:00 FIRECRACKERS
(Canada) 93mins. Séville International. Dir: Jasmin Mozaffari. Cast: Karena Evans, Michaela Kurimsky. An intense drama about two young women desperate to escape their repressive small town, whose friendship is challenged after a night of debauchery threatens to undo their grand plans for freedom. Discovery Scotiabank 14
11:15 BEFORE THE FROST
(Denmark) 104mins. TrustNordisk. Dir: Michael Noer. Cast: Bertil de Lorenzi, Clara Rosager, Elliott Crosset Hove, Ghita Norby, Gustav Giese, Jesper Christensen, Magnus Krepper, Oscar Dyekjaer Giese, Rasmus Hammerich. The heart-wrenching story of a struggling farmer in 19th-century Denmark, who must go against his morals and make a deal with a wealthy neighbour in order to secure his family’s survival over a harsh winter. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7
www.screendaily.com
KURSK
(Belgium-Luxembourg) 117mins. Europa Corp. Dir: Thomas Vinterberg. Cast: Colin Firth, Léa Seydoux, Matthias Schoenaerts. Director Thomas Vinterberg and a formidable cast recreate the tragic final hours of the real-life nuclear submarine explosion that left the boat stranded at the bottom of the Barents Sea, while bureaucratic obstacles impeded rescue and their families searched for answers. Special Presentations Scotiabank 13
11:30 FAHRENHEIT 11/9
(US) 120mins. AGC Studios. Dir: Michael Moore. Palme d’Or-winning documentarian Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) turns his attention to another significant date, examining the legacy of Trump’s ascension to the US presidency on November 9, 2016. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 2
GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME
(France-Cambodia) 115mins. Playtime. Dir: Rithy Panh. In Rithy Panh’s latest exploration of the lasting effects of the Cambodian genocide, a 13-year-old boy who loses most of his family begins a search for their graves. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 10
WORKING WOMAN
(Israel) 93mins. m-appeal. Dir: Michal Aviad. Cast: Liron Ben Shlush, Menashe Noy, Oshri Cohen. While her husband struggles to keep his restaurant in business, a mother of three lands a job as an assistant to a powerful but sexually harrassive realtor. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
11:45 FIG TREE
(Israel-Germany-FranceEthiopia) 93mins. Films Boutique. Dir: AalamWarqe Davidian. Cast:
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Betalehem Asmamawe, Kidest G/Selasse, Mareta Getachew, Mitiku Haylu, Rodas Gizaw, Tilahune Asagere, Weyenshiet Belachew, Yohanes Muse. Aalam-Warqe Davidian’s unflinching feature debut, set at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War, follows a Jewish Ethiopian teenage girl as she attempts to save her Christian boyfriend from being drafted, even as she and her family are poised to flee the country. Discovery Scotiabank 6
12:00 EMU RUNNER
(Australia) 95mins. Dir: Imogen Thomas. Cast: Georgia Blizzard, Letisha Boney, Lindsay Waites, Mary Waites, Maurial Spearim, RhaeKye Waites, Rob Carlton, Rodney McHughes, Stella Carter, Wayne Blair. A spirited young girl in small-town Australia forms a meaningful bond with a wild emu as she tries to cope with her beleaguered father, a naïve social worker and her own grief in the aftermath of her mother’s sudden death. Discovery Scotiabank 8
THE FRONT RUNNER
(US) 113mins. Sony Pictures Releasing. Dir: Jason Reitman. Cast: Alfred Molina, Hugh Jackman, JK Simmons, Vera Farmiga. Jason Reitman’s biopic about US senator Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign and his scandalous affair that derailed it.
a prospector accused of stealing from a tyrannical crime boss. Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
12:15 ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH
(Canada) 87mins. Séville International. Dir: Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier. Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, and Edward Burtynsky follow up Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark with a sobering meditation on psychedelic potash mines, expansive concrete seawalls, mammoth industrial machines and other examples of humanity’s massive re-engineering of the planet. Special Presentations Scotiabank 4
by his own memories and shot on stunning 16mm. Wavelengths Scotiabank 5
12:30 A PRIVATE WAR See box, below
13:00 THE OTHER STORY
(Israel) 117mins. Foresight Unlimited. Dir: Avi Nesher. Cast: Joy Rieger, Maya Dagan, Nathan Goshen, Sasson Gabai, Yuval Segal. Two rebellious women, one fleeing the chaos of secular hedonism for the disciplined comforts of faith, the other desperate to transcend her oppressive religious upbringing for sexual and spiritual freedom, cross paths with startling consequences. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 11
13:15 MOUTHPIECE
RAY & LIZ
(UK) 108mins. Luxbox. Dir: Richard Billingham. Cast: Deirdre Kelly, Ella Smith, Joshua MillardLloyd, Justin Salinger, Patrick Romer, Sam Gittins, Tony Way. Renowned photographer Richard Billingham makes his feature-film debut with this intricate family portrait, inspired in part
(Canada) 91mins. Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Dir: Patricia Rozema. Cast: Amy Nostbakken, Maev Beaty, Norah Sadava. An aspiring writer attempting to reconcile her feminism with the conformist choices of her deceased mother. Special Presentations Scotiabank 14
13:45 MONROVIA, INDIANA
(US) 143mins. Doc & Film International. Dir: Frederick Wiseman. Legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s study of small-town Midwesterners who tilted the 2016 US election. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 9
THE CROSSING
(China) 99mins. Wanda Pictures. Dir: Bai Xue. Cast: Huang Yao, Sunny Sun, Carmen Soup, Elena Kong May Yee, Ni Hongjie, Liu Kaichi, Jiao Gang. A 16-year-old student turns to smuggling to raise the necessary funds to join her wealthy friend on holiday, crossing several types of boundary in the process. Discovery Scotiabank 7
14:00 CAPERNAUM
(Lebanon) 120mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: Nadine Labaki. Cast: Alaa Chouchnieh, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Cedra Izam, Fadi Youssef, Kawthar Al Haddad, Nadine Labaki, Yordanos Shiferaw, Zain Al Rafeea. Nadine Labaki explores the lives of children on
Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
COMPLICITY
(Japan-China) 116mins. MPM Premium. Dir: Kei Chikaura. Cast: Kio Matsumoto, Sayo Akasaka, Tatsuya Fuji, Lu Yulai. A Chinese illegal immigrant in Japan finds new direction when he fakes his identity and lands an apprenticeship with a master soba chef. Discovery Scotiabank 6
STYX
(Germany-Austria) 94mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Wolfgang Fischer. Cast: Gedion Wekesa Oduor, Susanne Wolff. Wolfgang Fischer’s allegory about Western indifference feels only too real when a woman on a solo sailing trip across the Atlantic happens upon a sinking boat full of refugees. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13
14:15 FLORIANOPOLIS DREAM
(Argentina-BrazilFrance) 106mins. Film Factory. Dir: Ana Katz. Cast: Andrea Beltrao, Caio Horowicz, Gustavo Garzon, Joaquin Garzon, Manuela Martinez, Marco Ricca, Mercedes Moran. When a family growing apart decides to take a road trip from Argentina to Brazil in the hope of fixing a broken marriage, what begins as an awkward experience soon turns into a vacation that opens up each member to exciting experiences.
Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
THE SISTERS BROTHERS
(US-France-RomaniaSpain) 120mins. IMR International. Dir: Jacques Audiard. Cast: Carole Kane, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, John C Reilly, Rebecca Root, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer. Jacques Audiard’s adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s award-winning western novel about the picaresque adventures of two brothers sent to kill
the fringes of Lebanese society, in this political and heartbreaking story of a boy who sues his parents for bringing him into the world when they couldn’t properly care for him.
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
PRESS & INDUSTRY 12:30 A PRIVATE WAR
(US) 106mins. Aviron Pictures. Dir: Matthew Heineman. Cast: Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, Stanley Tucci,
Tom Hollander. Rosamund Pike stars as war correspondent Marie Colvin in a fact-based film that follows Colvin and photojournalist Paul Conroy to the front
lines of conflicts around the globe, culminating in a fateful trip to the besieged Syrian city of Homs in 2012. Gala Presentations Scotiabank 3
WHEN ARABS DANCED
(Belgium) 84mins. R&R Productions. Dir: Jawad Rhalib. Cast: Hiam Abbas, La Diva Live, Love & Revenge, Mourade Zeguendi, Sachli Gholamalizad. »
September 7, 2018 Screen International at Toronto 35
SCREENINGS
Writer, director, and journalist Jawad Rhalib presents a timely exploration of Muslim identity in relation to artistic expression and harmful stereotypes, through archival footage, interviews and evocative performances. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 10
14:30 WOMAN AT WAR
(Iceland-FranceUkraine) 100mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Benedikt Erlingsson. Cast: David Thor Jonsson, Halldora Geirhardsdottir, Magnus Trygvason Eliasen, Omar Gudjonsson. Halla is an undercover eco-terrorist trying to save Iceland’s natural landscapes from industrialist destruction, but when a child becomes available for adoption, she must choose between the greater good and her own dreams. Discovery Scotiabank 4
14:45 THE REALM
(Spain-France) 122mins. Latido Films. Dir: Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Cast: Ana Wagener, Antonio de la Torre, Barbara Lennie, Jose Maria Pou, Luis Zahera, Monica Lopez, Nacho Fresneda. A fast-paced thriller that follows a crooked Spanish politician whose lavish lifestyle, made possible through kickbacks and bribes, threatens to bring down his party.
15:15 VITA & VIRGINIA
(UK-Ireland) 110mins. Protagonist Pictures. Dir: Chanya Button. Cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Gemma Arterton, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Ferdinando, Rupert Penry-Jones. Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki shine as socialite and author Vita Sackville-West and literary icon Virginia Woolf, respectively, in a sumptuous double portrait of two uncompromising women and the unconventional affair behind one of Woolf ’s greatest novels. Special Presentations Scotiabank 3
15:30 COLETTE
(UK) 112mins. HanWay Films. Dir: Wash Westmoreland. Cast: Denise Gough, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson, Fiona Shaw, Keira Knightley, Ray Panthaki, Robert Pugh. Historical drama about the eponymous French novelist, whose provocative debut — falsely credited to her husband — becomes the toast of Paris, triggering a battle for identity, equality and selfdetermination at the dawn of the feminist age. Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
MADEMOISELLE DE JONCQUIERES See box, right
THE FACTORY
(US) 123mins. Rocket Science. Dir: Karyn Kusama. Cast: Bradley Whitford, Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany, Toby Kebbell. When a new case uncovers traumas from a past undercover operation, an LAPD detective is forced to face her personal and professional demons, in this genre-defining work from Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body).
(Russia-France-Armenia) 109mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: Yury Bykov. Cast: Alexander Bukharov, Alexander Vorobiev, Alexey Komashko, Andrey Smolyakov, Denis Shvedov, Dmitry Kulichkov, Ivan Yankovsky, Kirill Polukhin, Petr Barancheev, Vladislav Abashin, Yury Tarasov. After a local oligarch purchases a factory in a small Russian town and announces its closure, the blue-collar workers decide to kidnap him in order to get what’s theirs.
Platform Scotiabank 1
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 11
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 5
15:00 DESTROYER
36 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
16:00 WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE?
(Italy-US-France) 123mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Roberto Minervini. Cast: Ashley King, Dorothy Hill, Judy Hill, Kevin Goodman, Michael Nelson, Ronaldo King, The New Black Panthers Party For Self Defense, Titus Turner. Shot in luminous black and white, Roberto Minervini (The Other Side) delves into the everyday lives of Black Americans fighting for justice and survival in the summer of 2017, weaving between storylines in New Orleans and Jackson County, Mississippi. Wavelengths Scotiabank 7
16:30 COLD WAR
(Poland) 90mins. Protagonist Pictures, mk2 Films. Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski. Cast: Agata Kulesza, Borys Szyc, Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot. This romantic drama follows two musical performers in postwar Eastern Europe whose discontinuous love story is hindered by obstacles of time, space and politics. Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
TRANSIT
(Germany) 101mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Christian Petzold. Cast: Franz Rogowski, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Mariam Zaree, Paula Beer. Adapted from Anna Seghers’ Second World War refugee novel, Christian Petzold weaves a haunting tale of identity, exile and emigration in this love story, set during an unspecified time that bears an eerie resemblance to the present day. Masters Scotiabank 13
16:45 GRETA
(US-Ireland) 98mins. Sierra/Affinity. Dir: Neil Jordan. Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Colm Feore, Isabelle Huppert, Maika Monroe, Stephen Rea. A psychological thriller about a mysterious widow whose friendship with a naïve young woman takes on an increasingly obsessive and sinister air. Special Presentations Scotiabank 4
LIONHEART
(Nigeria) 95mins. MPM Premium. Dir: Genevieve Nnaji. Cast: Genevieve Nnaji, Nkem Owoh, Onyeka Onwenu, Pete Edochie. In order to save her
PRESS & INDUSTRY 15:30 MADEMOISELLE DE JONCQUIERES
(France) 110mins. Indie Sales. Dir: Emmanuel Mouret. Cast: Alice Isaaz, Cécile De France, Edouard Baer, Laure Calamy, Natalia Dontcheva. father’s ailing bus company, perennially overlooked Adaeze must work alongside feckless uncle Godswill, in the sharp and comically observed directorial debut from Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji. Discovery Scotiabank 8
ONE LAST DEAL
(Finland) 95mins. LevelK. Dir: Klaus Haro. Cast: Amos Brotherus, Heikki Nousiainen, Pertti Sveholm, Pirjo Lonka, Stefan Sauk. An ageing art dealer — left behind by the corporatisation of his industry and estranged from his family — hopes an undervalued icon will turn his fortunes around. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 6
SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN
(Germany-France)
When a romance between a widow and a notorious libertine takes an unexpected turn, Mademoiselle de Joncquieres becomes instrumental to one lover’s plans for revenge. Platform Scotiabank 14
99mins. Cinema Management Group. Dir: Margarethe von Trotta. Cast: Daniel Bergman, Ingmar Bergman Jr, Liv Ullmann, Olivier Assayas, Ruben Ostlund. In honour of groundbreaking director Ingmar Bergman’s centennial, Margarethe von Trotta presents a detailed account of his life in filmmaking through excerpts of his work and interviews with family and contemporaries. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 10
17:00 ROSIE
(Ireland) 86mins. Protagonist Pictures. Dir: Paddy Breathnach. Cast: Darragh McKenzie, Ellie O’Halloran, Moe Dunford, Molly McCann, Ruby Dunne, Sarah Greene. A mother strives to shield her young family from
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FILMS FROM ISRAEL
AT THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2018 DISCOVERY
their new reality when a landlord sells the property and renders them homeless. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
17:30 ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE
(Lebanon) 76mins. mec film. Dir: Ghassan Halwani. Ghassan Halwani’s debut feature ruminates on the thousands who disappeared during the Lebanese Civil War and their still-present absence in the lives of their loved ones. Wavelengths Scotiabank 5
18:45 FOLKLORE: A MOTHER’S LOVE & POB
(Indonesia-ThailandSingapore) 112mins. Home Box Office (Singapore). Dir: Joko Anwar, Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Cast: Arswendy Bening Swara, Marissa Anita, Max Yanto, Muzakki Ramdhan, Nuttapon Sawasdee, Parama Wutthikornditsakul, Thomas Burton Van Blarcom. Singaporean director Eric Khoo transforms the concept of ‘folklore’ by assembling some of Asia’s best genre directors to tell horror tales that speak to their respective cultures. Primetime Scotiabank 7
RED JOAN
(UK) 110mins. Embankment Films. Dir: Trevor Nunn. Cast: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes. Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson take on the complex persona and legacy of Joan Stanley, the seemingly demure physicist who was also a longserving British spy for the KGB. Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
19:00 IN FABRIC
(UK) 118mins. Bankside Films. Dir: Peter Strickland. Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie, www.screendaily.com
Hayley Squires, Julian Barrett, Leo Bill, Steve Oram. This haunting phantasmagoria from Peter Strickland (The Duke Of Burgundy) follows the misfortunes afflicting customers who come into contact with a bewitched dress at an eerie department store. Midnight Madness Scotiabank 6
THE BLACK BOOK
(Portugal-France) 103mins. Alfama Films. Dir: Valeria Sarmiento. Cast: David Caracol, Fleur Fitoussi, Jenna Thiam, Lou de Laage, Niels Schneider, Stanislas Merhar. This vibrant period piece tells the intertwining stories of an orphan and his nurse — both with mysterious pasts — as they navigate the shifting social and political landscapes of late-18th century Europe. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
19:15 STUPID YOUNG HEART
(Finland-NetherlandsSweden) 102mins. Dir: Selma Vilhunen. Cast: Abshir Sheikh Nur, Jere Ristseppa, Pihla Viitala, Rosa Honkonen, Ville Haapasalo. When carefree Lenni and his girlfriend find themselves expecting a child, he ends up looking for a role model in all the wrong places as he becomes involved with local right-wing activists. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
19:30 BLIND SPOT
(Norway) 98mins. TrustNordisk. Dir: Tuva Novotny. Cast: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Marianne Krogh, Oddgeir Thune, Per Frisch, Pia Tjelta. Swedish actor Tuva Novotny’s feature directorial debut is an uncompromising confrontation with family tragedy and heartbreak, about a mother’s struggle to understand her teenage daughter’s crisis. Discovery Scotiabank 5
21:15 FREEDOM FIELDS
(Libya-UK-NetherlandsUS-Qatar-LebanonCanada) 99mins. Wide House. Dir: Naziha Arebi. An intimate look at postrevolution Libya through the eyes of an aspiring all-female soccer team, whose struggle to gain mainstream acceptance mirrors the broader challenges facing women in contemporary Libyan society. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 8
FIG TREE Director: Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian Israel / Germany / France Producers: Saar Yogev, Naomi Levari Co-Producers: Felix Eisele, Sandrine Brauer Production Companies: Black Sheep Film Productions/av Medien Penrose/En Compagnie Des Lamas World Sales: Films Boutique E-mail: contact@films boutique.com Web: filmsboutique.com SAT SEP 8 19:00 SCOTIABANK 10 SUN SEP 9 16:45 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 4 SAT SEP 15 13:00 SCOTIABANK 10 PRESS & INDUSTRY FRI SEP 7 11:45 SCOTIANABK 6 WED SEP 12 12:00 TIFF BELL LIGHTHOUSE CINEMA 5 TEL AVIV ON FIRE (TEL AVIV AL HAESH) Director: Sameh Zoabi Producers & Productions Companies: Amir Harel & Ayelet Kait - Lama Films, Israel Bernard Michaux - Samsa Films, Luxembourg / Milena Poylo & Gilles Sacuto - TS Productions, France / Patrick Quinet – Artemis, Belgium World Sales: Indie Sales / E-mail: mgondre@indiesales.eu SUN SEP 9 13:30 SCOTIABANK 3 THU SEP 13 21:30 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 3 SUN SEP 16 18:45 SCOTIABANK 10 PRESS & INDUSTRY SAT SEP 8 21:00 SCOTIABANK 6 TUE SEP 11 09:15 SCOTIABANK 8
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
PUTIN’S WITNESSES
(Latvia-SwitzerlandCzech Republic) 102mins. Deckert Distribution. Dir: Vitaly Mansky. Through testimonies from Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the current Russian president himself, Vitaly Mansky tells the story of how Putin rose to power. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 7
21:30 TITO AND THE BIRDS
(Brazil) 73mins. Indie Sales. Dir: Andre Catoto, Gabriel Bitar, Gustavo Steinberg. Cast: Denise Fraga, Mateus Solano, Matheus Nachtergaele, Otavio Augusto, Pedro Henrique. In this vibrant fantasy created using oil paintings, digital drawings and graphic animation, a young boy and his two friends set out on a mission to find his father’s missing research on bird songs — the one thing that just might save their world from an epidemic where being afraid makes you ill. Discovery Scotiabank 9
21:45 THE STONE SPEAKERS
(Canada-Bosnia & Herzegovina) 92mins. Dir: Igor Drljaca. A visually sumptuous piece that oscillates between sly humour and trenchant analysis while exploring unusual tourism-related attempts to resuscitate economies in Bosnia & Herzogovina and the Balkan region.
REDEMPTION Directors: Joseph Madmony & Boaz Yehonatan Yacov Producers: Marek Rozenbaum, Michael Rozenbaum, Jonathan Rozenbaum Production Company: Transfax Film Productions World Sales: Transfax Film Productions E-mail: sales@transfax.co.il TUE SEP 11 21:00 SCOTIABANK 2 THU SEP 13 14:45 SCOTIABANK 4 SAT SEP 15 21:30 SCOTIABANK 4 PRESS & INDUSTRY SUN SEP 9 09:15 SCOTIABANK 9 THE OTHER STORY Director: Avi Nesher Producers: David Silber, Moshe & Leon Edery, Avi Nesher, David M. Milch Production Companies: United King Films, Metro, Artomas, Mila Media World Sales: Foresight Unlimited E-mail: kyleb@foresight-unltd.com SAT SEP 8 21:45 SCOTIABANK 4 MON SEP 10 15:15 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 2 SUN SEP 16 18:45 SCOTIABANK 3 PRESS & INDUSTRY FRI SEP 7 13:00 SCOTIABANK 11 WED SEP 12 11:45 SCOTIABANK 10 THE DIVE Director: Yona Rozenkier Producers: Efrat Cohen, Kobi Mizrahi Production Company: Gaudeamus Productions World Sales: Nathan Fischer – Stray dogs E-mail: Sales@stray-Dogs.com Web: www.stray-dogs.biz WED SEP 12 19:15 SCOTIABANK 4 MON SEP 14 09:30 SCOTIABANK 3 SUN SEP 16 21:30 SCOTIABANK 11 PRESS & INDUSTRY MON SEP 10 09:15 SCOTIABANK 8 WORKING WOMAN Director: Michal Aviad Producers: Ayelet Kait, Amir Harel, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery Production Companies: Lama Films, United King Films World Sales: M-Appeal E-mail: sales@m-appeal.com Web: www.m-appeal.net/contact TUE SEP 11 18:15 SCOTIABANK 2 THU SEP 13 09:30 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX, CINEMA 1 SUN SEP 16 09:15 SCOTIABANK 1 PRESS & INDUSTRY FRI SEP 7 11:30 SCOTIABANK 9
PRIME TIME STOCKHOLM Creator & Writer: Noa Yedlin Director: Daniel Syrkin Producers: Dafna Prener, Shai Eines Production: Artza Productions World Sales : KI (Keshet International) E-mail: Info@keshet International.com FRI SEP 7 12:15 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX, CINEMA 2 PRESS & INDUSTRY MON SEP 10 14:00 SCOTIABANK 6
SHORT CUTS OLD THING Director, Producer & Production: Rono Bahat Sales Contact: Ron Bahat E-mail: ronobahat@gmail.com FRI SEP 7 18:45 SCOTIABANK 13 THU SEP 13 21:00 SCOTIABANK 13 PRESS & INDUSTRY SAT SEP 8 09:15 SCOTIABANK 5 ISRAEL FILM FUND / TEL: 972 3 562 8180, FAX: 972 3 562 5992 / INFO@FILMFUND.CO.IL / WWW.FILMFUND.ORG.IL THE YEHOSHUA RABINOVICH FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS / CINEMA PROJECT / INFO@CINEMAPROJECT.ORG.IL TEL: +972-3-5255020, +972-3-5254920 / FAX: +972-3-5255130 / WWW.CINEMAPROJECT.ORG.IL Ministry of Culture and Sport
Wavelengths Scotiabank 6
September 7, 2018 Screen International at Toronto 37
★★★
Good
AVERAGE
Excellent
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Le Film Français, France
VINCENT LE LEURCH
Time Out New York, US
JOSHUA ROTHKOPF
Boston Globe, US
LOREN KING
NOW/CTV, Canada
★★★★
RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI
Los Angeles Times, US
THE SCREEN JURY — PLATFORM
JUSTIN CHANG
JURY GRID
★★ Average ★ Poor
✖ Bad
Screen office Fourth floor, meeting room one, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street West, Toronto, ON, M5V 3X5 Editorial Tel +1 310 922 5908
THE RIVER (Kaz-Pol-Nor) Emir Baigazin
JESSICA FOREVER (Fr) Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel
DESTROYER (US) Karyn Kusama
★ ★★
★ ★★
★★ ★★
★★
★★
★★ ★★
3
Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s visually striking debut feature presents a dystopian world where violent ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ misfits reign supreme, counterbalanced by one woman (Aomi Muyock) and her makeshift family of rehabilitated ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ marauders fighting for peace.
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When a new case uncovers traumas from a past undercover operation, a Los Angeles Police Department detective ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ (Nicole Kidman) must face her personal and professional demons. Jennifer’s Body director Karyn Kusama’s cast ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ includes Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell and Scoot McNairy.
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MADEMOISELLE DE JONCQUIERES (Fr) Emmanuel Mouret
Cécile de France stars as an embittered woman who takes revenge on her promiscuous lover (Edouard Baer), ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ a notorious libertine, by throwing him into the arms of Mademoiselle de Joncquieres (Alice Isaaz), a young lady ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ with a chequered past.
DONNYBROOK (US) Tim Sutton
An ex-marine who struggles to provide for his family and a violent drug dealer with an undefeated fight record ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ compete in the Donnybrook, a legendary, bare-knuckle brawl with a cash prize of $100,000. Jamie Bell, Frank ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ Grillo and Margaret Qualley star.
OUT OF BLUE (UK) Carol Morley
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Patricia Clarkson plays a Louisiana homicide detective who investigates the shooting of a leading astrophysicist ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ and black-hole expert, which destabilises her view of the universe and herself. Carol Morley’s feature is a loose ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ adaptation of the neo-noir novel Night Train by Martin Amis.
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Editor Matt Mueller, matt.mueller@screendaily.com, +44 7880 526 547 Americas editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Chief critic and reviews editor Finn Halligan, finn.halligan@screendaily.com, +44 7798 571 270 Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Features editor Charles Gant, charles.gant@screendaily.com Art director, MBI Peter Gingell, peter.gingell@mb-insight.com Sid Adilman mentorship programme Karina Mohammed Advertising and publishing Publishing director Nadia Romdhani, nadia.romdhani@ screendaily.com, +44 7540 100 315 Commercial director Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com International account managers Hettie Halden, hettie.halden@ screendaily.com Ingrid Hammond, ingridhammond@ mac.com Gunter Zerbich, gunter.zerbich@ screendaily.com
ANGELO (Aust-Lux) Markus Schleinzer
Angelo is inspired by the true story of Angelo Soliman, a Nigerian boy born in the 18th century and taken by force ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ from his homeland at the age of 10. He is sold to a European countess and moves into court life in Vienna, falling ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ in love with a young courtesan. Makita Samba stars with Alba Rohrwacher and Christian Friede.
CITIES OF LAST THINGS (Tai-China-US-Fr) Ho Wi Ding
Through a triptych in which the future, the present and the past are told in reverse chronology over several ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ decades, Ho’s tale examines three significant moments in the life of an ordinary man and the circumstances that ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ led to a life-altering decision. The cast includes Jack Kao, Ding Ning, Li Hong-Chi and Louise Grinberg.
THE INNOCENT (Switz-Ger) Simon Jaquemet
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Judith Hofmann stars as a woman who is a committed member of a free church movement. When her former ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ lover, played by non-professional actor Thomas Schüpbach, is released from prison, she questions her family ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ responsibilities and her faith.
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President, North America Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 Business development executive, North America Danny De Lillo, danny.delillo@screendaily.com, +1 917 818 8701 Business development executive, North America Nikki Tilmouth, nikki.screeninternational@gmail.com +1 323 868 7633 Production manager Neil Sinclair, neil.sinclair@mb-insight. com, +44 7703 823 444 Marketing executive Charlotte Peers, charlotte.peers@mbi. london Managing director, publishing and events Alison Pitchford
ROJO (Arg-Braz-Fr-Neth-Ger) Benjamin Naishtat
Set in Argentina during the mid-1970s, this hypnotic drama follows a successful lawyer whose picture-perfect life ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ begins to unravel when a private detective arrives in his seemingly quiet small town and starts asking questions. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ Dario Grandinetti stars with Andrea Frigerio and Alfredo Castro.
HER SMELL (US) Alex Ross Perry
In Alex Ross Perry’s star-studded drama, Elisabeth Moss takes centre stage as Becky Something, a talented ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ but self-destructive musician who seems determined to alienate everyone around her — even at the cost of her ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ band’s success. Cara Delevingne and Amber Heard co-star.
THE GOOD GIRLS (Mex) Alejandra Marquez Abella
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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 Subscription enquiries help@subscribe.screendaily.com +44 330 333 9414
The Good Girls tackles Mexico’s 1982 financial crash, and its impact on a well-to-do socialite and her husband ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ as the social and economic order starts to shift around them. Ilse Salas and Flavio Medina star. Mexican director ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ Alejandra Marquez Abella made a name for herself with Toronto 2015 and SXSW 2016 drama Semana Santa.
38 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2018
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QVISTEN ANIMATION AS IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH DYREPARKEN PRESENTS CATTLE HILL IN COOPERATION WITH THE LIPP, VIGMOSTAD & BJØRKE INVESTOR FILMINVEST ETTE FAYE SCHØLL, FRITJOF SÅHEIM, BJARTE TJØSTHEIM, JAN MARTIN JOHNSEN, MATS ELDØEN, SIGRID BONDE TUSVIK, MARIT ANDREASSEN, CHARLOTTE FROGNER, ARIF OG UNGE FERRARI, ODA OSVOLL AAVATSMARK ANIMATION COMPANY QVISTEN ANIMATION AS LINE PRODUCER ARNFINN MOSENG PRODUCTION DESIGNER ARE AUSTNES ECTOR WILL ASHURST SOUND DESIGNER BAARD HAUGAN INGEBRETSEN COMPOSER GAUTE STORAAS SCRIPT WRITER ANNE ELVEDAL EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OVE HEIBORG, FREDRIK KIØSTERUD, RASMUS SIVERTSEN OG PER ARNSTEIN AAMOT CO-PRODUCER JONAS RØYEM NY PRODUCERS INGVILD EVJEMO OG ANJA NICOLAS DIRECTOR LISE I. OSVOLL