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THE WOMAN WHO LEFT A Film by LAV DIAZ
2016 - Drama - Philippines - DCP - 1.85 - 226min with Charo
Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz, Michael De Mesa,
Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino ALSO AVAILABLE: A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY
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A Film by GUÐMUNDUR ARNAR GUÐMUNDSSON 2016 - Drama - Iceland/Denmark - DCP - 2.39 - 129min with Baldur
Einarsson, Blær Hinriksson, Diljá Valsdóttir,
Katla Njálsdóttir
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GUILTY MEN A Film by IVAN D. GAONA
2016 - Thriller/Drama - Colombia - DCP - 1.85 - 115min with Willington Gordillo, Heriberto Palacio Santamaria, René
Díaz, Alfonso López, Leidy Herrera, Cristian Hernández
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THE ORNITHOLOGIST A Film by JOÃO PEDRO RODRIGUES
2016 - Drama - Portugal - DCP - 2.387 - 118min with Paul
Hamy, Xelo Cagiao, João Pedro Rodrigues,
Han Wen, Chan Suan, Juliane Elting
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GERMAN FILMS BOOTH @ HYATT SALES - Jean-Christophe Simon +49 173 5915767 simon@filmsboutique.com SALES - Louis Balsan +49 152 54525769 louis@filmsboutique.com ACQUISITIONS - Gabor Greiner +49 177 6770745 gabor@filmsboutique.com www.filmsboutique.com
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AFTERIMAGE A Film by ANDRZEJ WAJDA
2016 - Drama - Poland - DCP - 2.39 - 98min with Boguslaw
Linda, Bronislawa Zamachowska, Zofia Wichlacz
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MARIE CURIE–THE COURAGE OF KNOWLEDGE A Film by MARIE NOËLLE
2016 - Drama - Germany/France/Poland - DCP - 1.35 - 95min with Karolina
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PERSONAL AFFAIRS A Film by MAHA HAJ
2016 - Drama/Comedy - Israel - DCP - 1.85 - 90min with Sanaa
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Hanan Hillo, Ziad Bakri, Amer Hlehel, Maisa Abd Elhadi
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THE LONG NIGHT OF FRANCISCO SANCTIS A Film by ANDREA TESTA & FRANCISCO MARQUEZ 2016 - Drama - Argentina - DCP - 2.35 - 80min with Diego Velázquez, Laura Paredes, Valeria Lois, Marcelo Subiotto,
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TORONTO 2016
FILM IN SCOTLAND FOR THE PERFECT LOCATION For a fast, free, confidential location-finding service, award-winning production companies, experienced crew and great facilities, contact us today. Join us at this year’s Festival 10-15 September, UK Film Centre, Festival Room, 9th Floor, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 370 King Street West
www.creativescotlandlocations.com E locations@creativescotland.com T +44 (0) 141 302 1723/35 The River Croe, Ardgartan, Argyll Forest Park. Photo: Keith Fergus/Scottish Viewpoint.
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Focus, Lionsgate stun TIFF BY JEREMY KAY
King Cobra
The Exchange launches killer King Cobra BY JEREMY KAY
The Exchange has begun talks with international buyers in Toronto on porn industry film King Cobra starring James Franco, Christian Slater and Molly Ringwald. The film premiered in Tribeca’s Midnight strand earlier this year and receives its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival next month. IFC Films holds US rights. Justin Kelly directed the film about the murder in 2007 of a gay porn director by two ambitious producers. Kelly adapted the screenplay from Andrew E Stoner and Peter A Conway’s book, Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder, And The Manhunt To Bring The Killers To Justice.
Heading into the weekend, Toronto has already delivered two headlinegrabbing pre-buys. Focus Features’ $35m worldwide rights swoop on Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled Daniel DayLewis reunion project stirred up interest before the festival even started. CAA brokered that deal and was also fielding intense early interest on Jackie, Pablo Larrain’s Venice critical darling that may trigger a US deal after the North American premiere here tomorrow. The second major pre-buy came on Friday when Lionsgate closed a deal with WME Global and Good Universe on Kin. No Trace Camping
will finance the action thriller to star James Franco and Jack Reynor, and Lionsgate is understood to have paid in the upper $20m range for its Summit Entertainment label. There are more packages floating about. CAA is touting Rebel In The Rye, while WME Global has Johnny Depp starrer Labyrinth with Good Universe and UTA, as well as Goon: The Last Enforcer with Bloom. The question is, will the generally smaller festival films spark a frenzy of activity this weekend? Last night it emerged that Roadside Attractions was closing a North American deal for Venice premiere Through The Wall. Anticipated titles from Friday
included Bryan Cranston in Wakefield, Anne Hathaway in Colossal, Bel Powley in Carrie Pilby, William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth and Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s Stasi documentary Karl Marx City. Today brings first looks for Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts in The Bleeder, All I See Is You starring Blake Lively fresh from the boxoffice success of The Shallows and The Limehouse Golem, based on an adapted screenplay by Jane Goldman. The industry and awards watchers will also have the chance to assess the awards prospects of Lion, The Weinstein Company’s great hope for the season.
Baltasar Kormakur, page 18
NEWS Lean On Pete First look at Andrew Haigh’s follow-up to 45 Years » Page 6
REVIEW Jackie Pablo Larrain humanises a legend with grace and elegance » Page 8
FEATURE Under Oath Baltasar Kormakur steps in front of camera for The Oath » Page 18
SCREENINGS
» Page 26
TORONTO BRIEFS Zurich honour for game changer Wachsberger Patrick Wachsberger, co-chairman of the motion picture group for Lionsgate, will be presented with the Game Changer award at Zurich Film Summit later this month.
Hubert Boesl
Arterton, Cooper plot Savage’s Escape Gemma Arterton and Dominic Cooper will lead The Escape, Dominic Savage’s drama about a woman who leaves her family. Independent has boarded sales.
Netflix grabs Demme’s Timberlake documentary
Mongrel dates Mad Mary Mongrel International has acquired sales rights to A Date For Mad Mary from Irish producers Element Pictures and has begun talks here with buyers. The recent Karlovy Vary world premiere will play in competition at the BFI London Film Festival next month. Darren Thornton directed the film, which was produced in association with the Irish Film Board, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and TV3. The film centres on a woman who returns to an Irish port town after a short spell in prison and resolves to find a date for her role as maid of honour at her friend’s wedding. Element’s credits include Room. Jeremy Kay
TODAY
Leonardo DiCaprio marches towards the premiere of Before The Flood (formerly The Turning Point ). Fisher Stevens’ doc follows DiCaprio’s global role as a climate-change campaigner and UN Ambassador for Peace.
Streaming platform Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Jonathan Demme’s Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids and will release the documentary on October 12 after its TIFF world premiere.
Tucker Tooley hires exec
UK industry figures offer reassurance over Brexit BY TOM GRATER
Opening TIFF’s industry conference, a panel of UK experts moved to calm fears over the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. BFI head of international Isabel Davis, Creative Scotland executive Robbie Allen, the British Film Commission’s EVP, US productions, Kattie Kotok, and producer Paul Webster of Shoebox Films disclosed their opinions on the looming spectre of Brexit to
Screen International’s US editor Jeremy Kay, who set the scene by stating: “We are in unknown territory.” The UK is still at least two years away from leaving the EU, noted Kay. Davies revealed the BFI has put together a taskforce featuring key figures from the film, television and gaming sectors. “Everyone is pulling in the same direction, coalescing over the same few issues,” she stated,
adding that it was “going to take a long time to untangle”. While long-term consequences remain unclear, Kotok believes people will continue to use the UK tax credit — which is enshrined in UK law — at the same rate. Los Angeles-based Kotok is in constant contact with US partners and has heard reassuring messages of continuing investment in the UK, which the US regards as a strong and established talent pool and infrastructure.
Former FilmNation executive Gregoire Gensollen has joined Tucker Tooley’s nascent production company as executive vicepresident of finance and strategy.
Financing forum kicks off The 11th edition of Ontario Media Development Corporation’s International Financing Forum kicks off tomorrow with a panel on digital and theatrical distribution moderated by Screen International and featuring panellists from Netflix and Gamechanger.
NEWS
Bitter Harvest cultivates sales BY JEREMY KAY
Meyers Media Group (MMG) has closed a slew of deals on holodomor drama Bitter Harvest and is continuing talks with Toronto buyers on the love story set against the 1930s genocidal famine in Ukraine. Larry Meyers has licensed rights to Becker Film in Australia, Pandastorm in Germany and B&H Film Distribution in Ukraine. Advance talks are ongoing for other territories. Max Irons, Samantha Barks and Terence Stamp star in the film, which is expected to open in the US via Roadside Attractions in the first quarter of 2017. As previously announced, Arrow Films will distribute in the UK. In two other deals that closed before MMG boarded the project, Tanweer will release in Turkey and Eagle handles the Middle East. “This was a crime against humanity that was hidden by Stalin and the USSR for 50 years,” said Ian Ihnatowycz, the Torontobased businessman and producer who fully financed the project.
BY TOM GRATER
Presenting on the first day of TIFF’s industry conference, Jonathan Olsberg, chairman of London-based creative industries consultancy Olsberg-SPI, has claimed “film and TV dramas punch above every other creative industry” in terms of delivering economic benefits. “There is substantial increased awareness of how the creative industries as a whole are delivering strong, rapid economic growth and contributing to productivity gains,” Olsberg suggested, adding
New Europe Film Sales has sold the newly acquired title Porto, executive-produced by Jim Jarmusch and starring the late Anton Yelchin, to German-speaking Europe (MFA+) and Brazil (Fenix Filmes). Porto tells a story of two outsiders in the titular Portuguese city who discover a passionate connection. Gabe Klinger’s narrative feature debut will play at San Sebastian and London. New Europe also announced Asaph Polonsky’s One Week And A Day has been picked up for Germany and Austria by Temperclay.
that in the UK, for every £1 given out in tax relief to film productions, £12 was generated in return to the country’s economy. “It’s a very smart way to encourage economic activity. It delivers strong economic growth and employment,” he added. Discussing the industries in the UK, US and Canada, Olsberg noted that while the US had the largest overall creative economy (14.2 million employees), it was Canada that had the greatest employment of its workforce in the creative industries (13%).
Haigh wrangles Lean On Pete BY TOM GRATER
Production outfit The Bureau has released the first image from Lean On Pete, Andrew Haigh’s follow-up to his acclaimed drama 45 Years. The film stars Charlie Plummer as a boy who takes a summer job with a washed-up horse trainer played by Steve Buscemi. Chloë Sevigny and Travis Fimmel also feature in the cast. Tristan Goligher is producing for The Bureau, with Film4 co-financing.
New Europe Canada to closes deals on seal place in Porto, One Week Eurimages BY TOM GRATER
that “the core economic benefits delivered by the [film] sector have really come to the fore”. Presenting a new piece of research, Olsberg noted that one of the major findings was that “up to $1 for every $2 spent [on film and TV projects] impacts other creative industries”. He referred to this as the “trickle across effect”, saying that money spent on nurturing talent, screen tourism, building infrastructure and other investments was having a positive impact across the creative industries. Olsberg also pointed out
F LO IRS OK T
Bitter Harvest
Olsberg talks up power of film and TV industry
Canada is to become the first non-European country to join the Eurimages Fund, Eurimages executive director Roberto Olla announced during the European co-production panel at TIFF’s industry conference. The application was made earlier this year and is entering its final phase, with Olla expecting the 37 member states to vote in favour by the end of the year. “We want to provide countries such as Canada with reciprocal opportunities where they can act as lead producer, and have productions shoot in their country.” Tiffany Pritchard
6 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
Pure Flix debuts Hillsong, Columbine pic BY JEREMY KAY
Pure Flix is in Toronto with two new sales titles. Hillsong: Let Hope Rise will open in the US in 800 theatres on September 16 and screens on Monday. The film charts the rise of Australia-based band Hillsong United, whose songs have become an integral part of worship for more than 50 million followers worldwide.
I’m Not Ashamed is set to debut in the US in 500 theatres in October and screens here on Sunday. It tells the true story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, and is told through her own journals and writings. The cast includes Masey McLain, Ben Davies, Sadie Robertson and Mark Daugherty.
Haggis stirred by black Bond BY WENDY MITCHELL
The time is right for a black James Bond, and Eon producer Barbara Broccoli might be brave enough to hire one, said writer/director Paul Haggis, kicking off Friday’s Script to Screen Summit presented by
Winston Baker here in Toronto. Haggis, who co-wrote the screenplays for Daniel Craig outings Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace, said: “I would go for a black Bond. Barbara [Broccoli] is really brave, I think she might do it.”
Flies director proves a triple threat Macedonia-born, Norway-based director Izer Aliu, who premieres his debut feature Hunting Flies in Discovery (sold by LevelK), is editing his second feature 12 Dares and has two other features in the works. 12 Dares, pitched in Haugesund’s Work In Progress last month by Zentropa Sweden, will be finished by the end of the year to screen for 2017 festivals. A Sweden-Norway co-production, 12 Dares is a comedy-drama about a 16-yearold boy in Sweden who has to do 12 misdeeds to prove his loyalty to his gang of mates. Aliu is also making a “freestyle” feature called The Balkan Party, which will shoot in February in Norway, about youth clubs from different ethnic groups organising a joint party. He is also planning a larger-budget period film, Song Of Scabs, about a 1907 Norwegian miners’ strike. It will shoot in late 2017. Wendy Mitchell
Dogwoof fashions Loach, Westwood deals BY TOM GRATER
UK-based documentary specialists Dogwoof has inked a series of sales on three of its titles here in Toronto. Louise Osmond’s biographical film Versus: The Life And Films Of Ken Loach has gone to Australia and New Zealand (Transmission), Portugal (Mida Films), Turkey (Filmarti), Hong Kong (Edko) and airlines (Captive). Lorna Tucker’s portrait of the eponymous fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood: Get A Life, has gone to Germany, Australia and Switzerland (NFP) and Japan (Kadokawa). Dogwoof is in discussions with buyers for the US, Australia and New Zealand on the title. The company has also scored sales on wine-fraud doc Sour Grapes, which has gone to Canada (Blue Ice Docs) and Australia and New Zealand (Rialto).
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Drama / Sweden / 2016
SAMI BLOOD Screenings
Press & Industry 09 / 11 / 16 8.30am Scotiabank 9 (189) 09 / 15 / 16 5.15pm Scotiabank 8 (183)
Public 09 / 12 / 16 9.45pm TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 (353) 09 /14 / 16 6.45pm Scotiabank 10 (224) 09 / 18 / 16 11.45am TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 4 (150) (Paul & Leah Atkinson Family Cinema)
copenhagen
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hong kong
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sydney
LevelK at TIFF: Scandinavian Stand at the Hyatt 1st floor (King Ballroom), September 8th - 13th. Tine Klint
Derek Lui
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REVIEWS Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
» Jackie p8 » Snowden p10 » Lady Macbeth p10
» Colossal p12 » Free Fire p12
» Little Wing p14 » Gaza Surf Club p14
Jackie Reviewed by Jonathan Romney Not so much a biopic as an essay on history and what happens to people who become part of it, Pablo Larrain’s Jackie is an elegant, highly intelligent attempt to humanise a legend — while showing its subject’s acute awareness of what it means to become such a figure. Natalie Portman excels in her most demanding and complex performance to date as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, shown living through the immediate aftermath of her husband’s assassination in 1963. Chilean director Larrain, continuing the semi-docudrama thrust of his No and Neruda, takes to the backstage of US history with grace and stylistic finesse. This sometimes cerebral but moving film should have upmarket clout with awards potential, not least for Portman. The script, by The Maze Runner and Allegiant writer Noah Oppenheim, builds its portrait around a classic device — Jackie is interviewed at home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, shortly after the assassination, by a serious and generally tactful reporter (a fine Billy Crudup), who nevertheless wants the facts of the Dallas shooting from her point of view. Brittle, knowing and quietly in the throes of grief and anger, Jackie takes control of the discussion, making it clear she has learned much about power and publicity during her short spell as First Lady. The film then jumps back to a more callowseeming Jackie as she films the famous 1961 TV programme in which she hosts a tour of the
8 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
PLATFORM US-Chile. 2016. 91mins Director Pablo Larrain Production companies Jackie Productions Ltd, Protozoa, LD Entertainment, Fabula, Wild Bunch, Why Not Productions International sales IMR International, ndevide@ wildbunch.eu Producers Juan de Dios Larrain, Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Liddell, Scott Franklin, Ari Handel Screenplay Noah Oppenheim Cinematography Stéphane Fontaine Production designer Jean Rabasse Editor Sebastian Sepulveda Music Mica Levi Main cast Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt, John Carroll Lynch
White House. This programme is cleverly recreated by Larrain, and shows Jackie playing a gauche, smiling ingénue role that presents at once the ideal archetype of the American homemaking wife and the adept mistress of PR. Other episodes in this fragmented series include moments immediately before and after the Dallas shooting (Portman wearing the pink suit and pillbox hat combination that can, for once, genuinely be called iconic), JFK’s funeral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery, her discussion with a priest (a nicely pensive John Hurt) about her life and marriage and their meaning, and the period just before she leaves the White House, with new president Lyndon Johnson (John Carroll Lynch) now incumbent. Indeed, Johnson’s impromptu inauguration right after the shooting triggers one of the most poignant sequences, as — suddenly stripped of First Lady status — Jackie becomes at once the widow that all eyes are on and an isolated outsider in the kingdom she helped build. Other key figures in the drama include a briefly glimpsed JFK (dead ringer Caspar Phillipson), Jackie’s secretary and confidante Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig) and her brother-in-law, attorney general Bobby Kennedy. He is played by Peter Sarsgaard as a tense, careworn figure aware that he is about to lose power, narcissistically disappointed that the assassination has prevented his family from carrying out their political plans. Portman’s performance — authoritative and multi-hued — balances finely on the opposition
between the approachable, featherlight figure of the 1961 programme and the hardened, historically aware, embattled woman of the interview sequences. Larrain’s highly varied visual invention and command of complex structure serve as a reminder of how vitally an imaginative director can skew what otherwise might have emerged in more mainstream colours. Oppenheim’s script is crammed with insight, although at moments the observations, in some occasionally prolix stretches of dialogue, can seem over-emphatic. One can imagine the same script yielding a more staidly theatrical film like Frost/Nixon, or even something in the Oliver Stone vein. Larrain’s fluid approach to this jigsaw drama makes the most of the script’s nuance. Stéphane Fontaine’s camerawork sinuously cruises the White House corridors and sharply contrasts the faded autumnal colours of the framing interview sequence with the vivid hues characteristic of the Kennedys’ reign at their modernday Camelot — as JFK’s White House court came to be known. Composer Mica Levi follows up her Under The Skin score with orchestrations that, if ostensibly more conventional, are nevertheless richly diverse. All in all, Jackie evokes vividly one woman’s experience of “one brief shining moment” — to quote the theme song from Camelot, pointedly used here — along with the disillusionment that followed and that was, we learn, already present under the surface.
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REVIEWS
Colossal Reviewed by Wendy Ide Anne Hathaway plays Gloria, a woman who realises her beer-sodden nights of misbehaviour are somehow linked to a gigantic lizard that has started to terrorise the city of Seoul. And that is not even the most far-fetched element in a story that gets overtaken by its own giddy invention. While the name recognition of Hathaway and co-stars Jason Sudeikis and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, combined with an out-there premise, will attract interest, this drama from Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes) lacks the crucial kernel of narrative credibility needed to ensure this high concept takes flight. Further festival interest seems likely, particularly if the name talent offers support. Despite its undeniable curiosity value, however, the film may pose a marketing challenge as it is difficult to define and not satisfyingly slick enough to generate Being John Malkovich levels of positive word of mouth. A brief glimpse of the monster at the film’s opening leaves us in no doubt this creature walks in the giant scaly footsteps of Godzilla. The film then skips forward 25 years to contemporary New York, where Gloria is battling her own monsters — most of which can be found in a vodka bottle. Her long-suffering boyfriend Tim (Stevens) has had enough, and
VANGUARD Can. 2015. 110mins Director Nacho Vigalondo Production company Brightlight Pictures International sales Voltage Pictures, office@ voltagepictures.com Producers Nahikari Ipiña, Nicolas Chartier, Zev Foreman, Dominic Rustam, Russell Levine, Shawn Williamson Screenplay Nacho Vigalondo Cinematography Eric Kress Editors Luke Doolan, Ben Baudhuin Production design Susan Chan Music Bear McCreary Main cast Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson
Gloria finds herself in an empty house in the small town where she grew up. By chance, she reconnects with sweet-natured former schoolfriend Oscar (Sudeikis) and, through him, she finds a new gang of drinking buddies. One night, after a particularly heavy binge, Gloria wakes to the news that a giant monster has staggered around downtown Seoul and, in a rare moment of sobriety, identifies an unlikely connection to her own life. The trick to pulling off a narrative device as far-fetched as this is to keep a matter-of-fact, almost mundane realism to the rest of the film. Yet a series of illogical leaps, plus some glaring
inconsistencies in characters undermine the flow of this story. Oscar’s trajectory, from nice guy to something darker, is central to the narrative, but it is a character swing that feels almost as unlikely a plot device as the giant lizard stumbling around South Korea. The special effects are unpolished, but this hardly matters as Vigalondo ensures the creatures are mainly viewed through footage captured on mobile phones. In fact, there is something quite endearing about the B-movie aesthetic of the disaster sequences. But the third act unravels into chaos and, for all its originality, the film fails to leave much of an impression.
chick with a nice line in exasperated eye-rolls. But Frank and Chris make a fatal mistake in bringing along a pair of goons, Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) and Stevo (Sam Riley), as hired muscle. The purveyors of the weapons include South African braggart Vernon (Sharlto Copley), a rodent in a polyester suit, and the middle men are amiable stoner Ord (Armie Hammer, great fun in a role that showcases his comic skills) and his buddy Martin (Babou Ceesay). With so many jostling egos, and unlimited weapons, the surprise is not that the encounter descends into violence but that it takes as long
as it does. Wheatley ekes out the tension, so it is almost a relief when the staccato battery of gunfire commences. There are, however, a couple of overused elements. The grade gives the film the all-toofamiliar thriller colour palette of orange and teal. And there is the ironic use of easy-listening music that has the stamp of Tarantino. Nevertheless, Free Fire could be read as a satire of America’s celebratory approach to gun culture, or simply as a thrill ride designed to stir the blood. Either way, it is a bruisingly effective piece of entertainment.
Free Fire Reviewed by Wendy Ide To describe Ben Wheatley’s latest picture as a blast doesn’t come close to capturing the film’s adrenalised assault on the senses. The arms deal gone beyond bad premise paves the way for a sustained blitzkrieg of action, the characters parrying stabs of wryly comic dialogue, courtesy of Wheatley and writing partner Amy Jump, along with lots of bullets. Free Fire’s world premiere as the opening of Midnight Madness is a near perfect match of material to audience. The cultish appeal of the movie will work best theatrically; the larger and more vocal the audience, the more effective will be the film’s war whoop of energy. The blunt force of the action relies on the collective blood lust of a genre-savvy audience that will pick up on references to films such as Assault On Precinct 13 and not trouble itself with the fact both characters and action border on the cartoonish. The backdrop is a deserted warehouse in Boston, 1978, where nervy camerawork captures the jumpy tensions as two groups meet to broker a gun deal. On one side is the Provisional IRA, represented by old hand Frank (Wheatley regular Michael Smiley) and flintyeyed Chris (Cillian Murphy). Brokering the deal is Justine (Brie Larson), a no-nonsense
12 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
MIDNIGHT MADNESS, OPENING FILM UK. 2016. 90mins Director Ben Wheatley Production company Rook Films, Film4, BFI International sales Protagonist Pictures, info@ protagonistpictures.com Producer Andy Starke Screenplay/editors Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley Cinematography Laurie Rose Production design Paki Smith Original score Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow Main cast Cillian Murphy, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Jack Reynor, Sam Riley, Noah Taylor, Babou Ceesay, Enzo Cilenti, Michael Smiley, Brie Larson
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REVIEWS
Gaza Surf Club Reviewed by David D’Arcy
Little Wing Reviewed by David D’Arcy A girl of 12 with a feckless mother and a missing father finds sanctuary in the perilous sport of equestrian jumping. Little Wing is an odd dramatic cocktail, but writer/ director Selma Vilhunen finds enough unexpected turns to make this tale worth following to the finish line. Little Wing (the title comes from the song by Jimi Hendrix) lurches through the vulnerability and determination of Varpu (Linnea Skog), who weathers the childishness of her single mother (Paula Vesala). Vilhunen’s understated feature debut has charm and realism, and awards at home could come for the film-maker and for young Skog. Theatrical exposure may not get much past arthouses outside Finland, however, although a US version of this story, with a little more energy, could have tentpole potential. Varpu hangs with a crowd of outsiders and, after one boy steals a car and teaches her to drive, the plucky youngster runs away and drives to another town to find her father. When she meets him, he turns out to be an eccentric artist who is also crazy in threatening ways. Vilhunen, nominated for an Oscar for her short film Do I Have To Take Care Of Everything? (2012), admits us gradually into Varpu’s world, as the girl endures insults from her peers and watches her own mother stumble from failure to failure. DoP Tuomo Hutri gives the film a shadowy palette and an ominous mood in wintry Finland, apt for the prospects of a young girl living in poverty and uncertainty while she searches for her father. Yet the script makes unexpected plot pivots, avoiding the boilerplate picaresque clichés of the genre. As the action moves slowly, Varpu’s search for her father gives the audience plenty of psychological nuance to savour, but the pace may seem slow for the younger crowd that the director might want to inspire. The revelation here is the poised Linnea Skog, who plays Varpu. There is a subdued emotion in her observation of her mother and the proper world her mother cannot enter. It brings the film into the respectable company of My Life As A Dog and the tradition of The 400 Blows. Vilhunen skips the moralism and the earnest pro forma salutes to girls’ empowerment here, lingering instead on everyday frustrations and the grit of a 12 yearold who can drive a car. Car thief as role model? If nothing else, that paradox should get the film some attention.
14 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
DISCOVERY Fin-Den. 2016. 100mins Director/screenplay Selma Vilhunen Production companies Making Movies, Final Cut For Real International sales Media Luna New Films UG, idamartins@medialuna.biz Producers Kaarle Aho, Kai Nordberg Cinematographer Tuomo Hutri Editor Samu Heikkila Production design Sattva-Hanna Toiviainen Main cast Linnea Skog, Paula Vesala, Lauri Maijala, Santtu Karvonen
In Gaza, locked away from the rest of the world, the young population yearns to travel beyond their congested strip of land. In the meantime, a few have found another escape — surfing. This charming documentary that follows them into the sea — another militarised zone — will travel widely, riding on its novelty and goodnatured portraits of resilient athletes. Gaza Surf Club should be a crossover hit at festivals, with some indie theatrical potential. Television sales will be strong, with the sports audience boosting its range. It will not hurt the film in the US that William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days surfing memoir just won a Pulitzer, and the documentary’s look at a Muslim girl’s hope against political odds to get on a board, covered from head to toe, offers a new twist on Europe’s burkini debate. The film’s opening shots seize on the special location. Waves crash in slow motion in the Palestinian city on the Mediterranean. As the water splashes into the air, it looks like the fire of incendiary bombs that have been part of life in Gaza for decades. The camera then moves through block after block of ruins, a grim reality check. The film tells its stories through some appealing characters. Ibrahim Arafat, a young man in his twenties with two day jobs, would like to make surf boards but materials are scarce. Mohammed Abu Jayab, now in his forties, sees young surfers living through dreams rather than their everyday reality. One would-be surfer is Sabah Abu Ghanem, a girl of 15 who avoids the beach because of religious disapproval. With support from her father, she practises discreetly from their boat, fully covered. Gaza Surf Club skirts a direct discussion of politics, the landscape of rubble reflects the wider political context, and Sabah’s withdrawal from the sport is a reminder of the weight of the hardline doctrines of Hamas, which controls Gaza. Yet sequences of young men surfing there tell another story, moments of autonomy and escape, and of athletes working with the materials at hand to hone skills associated with places they are unlikely to ever see. Philip Gnadt and his team capture that romance, tracking the surfers in the water. Given how central music is to surf movies, they also manage to make the oud their version of a surf guitar. With peace still far away, the Gaza surfers will have to settle for the waves at home.
PLATFORM Ger. 2016. 87mins Directors/writers Philip Gnadt, Mickey Yamine Production companies Little Bridge Pictures, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Robert Bosch Stiftung International sales XYZ Films, info@xyzfilms.com Producers Benny Theisen, Mickey Yamine, Stephanie Yamine, Andreas Schaap Cinematographer Niclas Reed Middleton Editors Marlene Assman, Helmar Jungmann Music Sary Hany
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Film Submission 30 September 2016
deadline：
Feature films from all over the world are welcomed to join the first ever IFFAM. Log on to (for more information) :
www.iffamacao.com
ao c a am
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if @ o inf
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IFFAM and BFI
29／Nov － 4／Dec 2016
Academy Film Project
A partnership project between IFFAM and the BFI (British Film Institute). The programme is a 6-day film making experience in November / December 2016 which will take place in the run-up to the IFFAM. Twelve of the Macau ’ s most promising young filmmakers will participate in this one week course in which they will work as part of a film crew, led by industry professionals, to make a short film, which will premiere during IFFAM.
Co-o
Industry Hub 9 - 11 December 2016 Industry Hub, taking place from 9th to 11th December, 2016 during IFFAM will include Industry Screenings, Crouching Tigers - an international co-production market, forums on the latest trends in the film industry, business matching, networking events and information on shooting in Macao. Do not miss this exciting new platform for your film business as key investors, buyers, distributors, sales agents, producers mingle with filmmakers and media from around the world in Macao this December. For more information , please contact：
industry@iffamacao.com
PRODUCTION FOCUS MOONLIGHT
Moonlight sonata Telling the tale of a life over three parts — and using three actors — Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is a searing study of how a young person is shaped by a hostile environment. Jeremy Kay meets the film-makers
T
he story behind the making of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ meditation on sexuality and survival in 1980s Miami at the height of the war on drugs, owes much to coincidence. It began in January 2013, five years after Medicine For Melancholy had put Jenkins on the map, when he and college friend and producer Adele Romanski were looking for a project. Jenkins brought up a short piece by the highly regarded young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney that a friend from Miami had given him. It was called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. “[My friend] said it wasn’t my story but it reminded him of me,” says Jenkins, who in the years since Medicine For Melancholy had gone down the well-trodden Hollywood path of seeing several projects fall apart. “It was 45 pages, non-linear and jumped back and forth. There was something about the triptych structure that resonated with me.” What also struck a chord with Jenkins was the setting and tone of McCraney’s three-part story of Chiron, a bullied, gay black youngster struggling to find himself as he lurches from young boy to manhood by way of a tumultuous adolescence. Local knowledge The story took place in Liberty City, the area where, without knowing it, both storytellers had grown up within several blocks of each other. Jenkins had known people like the characters in the play, and would set his film in the same milieu. Jenkins and Romanski had found their idea and in August 2013 Romanski dispatched her friend to Brussels to start writing. Subsequently Jenkins ran into Plan B Entertainment’s Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner in Telluride after he hosted a Q&A at the world premiere of their 12 Years A Slave. Kleiner recalls being “blown away” by the idea of Moonlight and Plan B joined at the end of 2014. By this time, New York-based distributor A24 had signed up for what would become its first production, more out of a sense of opportunism than any choreographed corporate strategy. “It was more a case of ‘right time, right place’,” says
‘There was something about the triptych structure that resonated with me’ Barry Jenkins
with casting director Yesi Ramirez to scout for local talent. After an exhaustive six-month trawl of acting programmes and high schools, they had found their ensemble of local unknowns to complement the more familiar Naomie Harris, André Holland and Mahershala Ali. Barry Jenkins
On the set of Moonlight; (below) the teenage Chiron, as played by Ashton Sanders
head of acquisitions and productions Noah Sacco. “From the inception of the company, we knew we wanted to get into production. It was a question of when, not if. “We were fans of Barry, and in a cosmic way he came up in a meeting. We’d been saying one day how wonderful Medicine was and wondered what Barry was up to. Then Jeremy mentioned this new project and, if memory serves, it was the same week.” A24 committed to fully finance what all parties will only say was a “modest” budget. From the first day, the company adopted a hands-off approach to enable the film-makers to execute on their vision. “We’ve been admirers,” Kleiner says of A24. “They’re committed to independent cinema and over the years [co-founder] Daniel Katz, who’s been putting together interesting businesses around content, said they wanted to start making content
16 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
and not just acquiring it. This just seemed right.” Gardner agrees it was a smooth collaboration with the New Yorkers and Romanski: “They’ve been lovely — it feels like we were working with like-minded souls.” Sacco calls Plan B “some of the best producers on the planet”. Despite a lack of local tax incentives, everyone insisted the October 2015 shoot would take place in Miami. “It was chosen creatively and it feels like it pervades the whole film,” says Kleiner. “Miami is a character and you don’t usually see that.” Speaking of authentic character, back in April 2015 Romanski and Jenkins had flown to Miami
Through the ages Alex Hibbert and Ashton Sanders are impressive as ‘Little’ Chiron and his teenage version in the first two parts of the film, while Jharrel Jerome plays teenage Kevin, an important friend. Much happens in the unseen transitions between Moonlight’s three sections. And so for the redemptive finale, the filmmakers settled on former University of Texas at Austin athlete Trevante Rhodes as ‘Black’, the grown-up Chiron who appears worlds removed from his skinny, victimised younger self. Initially Rhodes read for the part of Kevin, but it was quickly clear which role he was destined to play. “I knew that character would fortify himself between the second and third parts and when I saw Trevante read the part, I bought it,” says Jenkins. “His exterior is so constructed and his eyes are these wells — I couldn’t have found a better personification.” As Chiron’s crack-addict mother, Paula, UK actor Naomie Harris is a revelation as she draws on her Jamaican lineage to affect a Caribbean patois. “Naomie couldn’t be further removed from that character,” says Jenkins. “She doesn’t drink and she doesn’t smoke but that character is a combination of Tarell’s mother and my mother and she got to know the character through getting to know me.” “We tried to keep each act unto itself,” says Romanski. The three actors playing Chiron did
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not meet on set during the tight 25-day production, but scheduling foibles meant Harris had to shoot her two most difficult scenes from different stages in the character’s life on the same day. Another standout performance comes from Ali as Juan, a drug dealer and surrogate parent to Little, whose positive influence on the child is shockingly short-lived. “There were these sorts of father figures,” Jenkins recalls of life growing up in Liberty City. “That person may be morally intact and using immoral means to make their living and they get snatched from people’s lives. I wanted these characters to have this drastic unexpected loss that’s not entirely explained.” That kind of “experiential” point of view was important for the director. “I wanted the audience to receive information the way the characters do.” The score by Nicholas Britell, the composer on The Big Short who Gardner describes as “a musical genius”, distinguishes itself with a seemingly counterintuitive blend of soaring orchestral arrangements and contemporary beats. “I knew in the writing there would be these baroque emotions,” says Jenkins.
‘When we got our hands on the script, it was one of the quickest decisions we’ve ever made’ Noah Sacco, A24
The three Chirons: Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes
“And we have this style called ‘chopped and screwed’ that originated in Houston, which is like hip-hop — you slow it down and the words are deeper and there’s more space for the voices to play.” Turning convention on its head appeals to A24. “When we got our hands on the script, it was one of the quickest decisions we’ve ever made,” says Sacco. A24 intends to champion originality across its nascent production roster. Azazel Jacobs’ portrait of a modern marriage
The Lovers starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts is in post, while Trey Edward Shults is filming It Comes At Night, his horror-mystery follow-up to Krisha. “Our productions and acquisitions are looking quite similar in that we want to continue to support distinctive voices,” says Sacco. “We’re very film-makerdriven and want to work on things that are very original. It transcends genre or size… Depending on timing, it could take shape as an acquisition or a production.”
Once Moonlight arrives in Toronto — where it plays tonight in Platform — after a world premiere in Telluride, head of international Sasha Lloyd will commence talks with buyers. The film is due to open in limited release in the US on October 21 before expanding nationwide in November. Jenkins says he found the process of making Moonlight a taxing one. Now he must take a breath and subject himself to the mercy of the audience. His excitement is reined in slightly by sober reflection of how his mother, who has been HIV-positive for 24 years, might respond. “She hasn’t seen this yet, but it will be interests ing. There may not be much time.” ■
SAVE THE 15-24.10.16 DATE
ISRAEL'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 100,000 ADMISSIONS 3 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS ISRAELI FILM COMPETITIONS & PREMIERES 13th INTERNATIONAL PITCHING FORUM rd 3 INT. CONFERENCE - TV SERIES MEETINGS LIVELY OUTDOOR EVENTS
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September 10, 2016 Screen International at Toronto 17
PRODUCTION FOCUS THE OATH
Under Oath Director Baltasar Kormakur returns to his Icelandic roots for thriller The Oath, which also sees him back in front of the camera. Wendy Mitchell reports from the Reykjavik set
Breaking his oath Kormakur has an acting background in both theatre and film, and he took a small role in his debut feature 101 Reykjavik in 2000 (it won Toronto’s Discovery award). But he took some convincing to take on the lead in The Oath. “I never intended to do this after 101 Reykjavik,” he explains. “I said, ‘I’ll never do it again.’” But so much of The Oath is about the main character that Kormakur realised, “I could be in control of myself… It’s told all from the perspective of this man, so his perspective is the same perspective as the film’s storytelling.” Kormakur makes multi-tasking look easy on set. On the day of Screen International’s visit, he will shoot a scene with other actors and then rush back to the monitor to check everything is to his liking as director before he moves on. The crew calls for him according to what they need: “We need Baltasar the director, we need Baltasar the producer, we need Baltasar the actor,” he says with a laugh. Kormakur has returned to Iceland frequently between his bigger international films: 2012’s shipwreck survival story The Deep was made between Contraband and 2 Guns. The Oath may be much smaller than Everest but it is large
Lilja Jonsdottir for RVK Studios
A
real patient with a real leg injury is wheeled through a hallway at Landspitali hospital in the middle of Reykjavik. A real nurse looks slightly confused at the commotion, as lights and cameras surround Iceland’s most famous film export, writer/director/actor/producer Baltasar Kormakur, in a white lab coat. It is January 2016 and Kormakur is shooting his 11th feature film, The Oath. After the huge summit of Everest, he has returned to his home country for a smaller-scale, lower-budget, Icelandiclanguage psychological thriller. He is also back in front of the cameras — for the first time since 2008’s ReykjavikRotterdam — to play the lead role, a surgeon who tries to save his daughter (Hera Hilmar) when she is sucked into a world of drugs and petty crime. “It’s a strong story, very relatable, and then it takes a turn into a thriller,” says the film-maker.
‘It’s regular people forced into a life of crime because of their kids, it’s relevant not only in Iceland. It’s the real version of Taken’ Baltasar Kormakur
Kormakur moves in front of the camera for The Oath…
…which he directs, co-wrote and produces
Hera Hilmar co-stars in The Oath
for Iceland. “I was going to do a little film but it’s the longest shoot ever in Iceland [at 55 days],” he says. The Oath shot at more than 20 locations, including another hospital in Kel-
18 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
favik, in Lundarreykjadalur valley, and at a Reykjavik house designed by Iceland’s first female architect, Hogna Sigurdardottir. His longtime producer Agnes Johansen, who executive pro-
duces the film, praises the 50-year-old Kormakur for “having a lot of energy” as director, actor and producer. “He felt he could so easily relate to the character, being a father himself, so he got stuck with that idea,” she says. “It was the right part for him.” Kormakur lost a substantial amount of weight to prepare for the role. “His character is supposed to be a bit manic and a perfectionist,” Johansen says. “It’s not a coincidence that he is a surgeon — they are playing god, they have lives in their hands. It’s an interesting element to the story. Baltasar shows the character in an interesting way.” The film, produced by Kormakur’s Reykjavik-based studio RVK, has backing from the Icelandic Film Centre, ZDF Enterprises and Film4, in a rare foreignlanguage film investment. Kormakur, who had collaborated with Film4’s former head David Kosse on Universal projects, says: “Kosse read the script and loved it. He came in and they have been really supportive, great partners.” XYZ Films handles international sales and the film has its world premiere today as a Special Presentation. SENA is releasing in Icelandic cinemas on the same day. Having co-written the script with Olafur Egill Egilsson, who collaborated with Kormakur on 2008’s White Night Wedding, the pair drew on personal connections for The Oath. Egilsson had a similar experience with his own sister, while Kormakur had friends whose kids had become addicted to drugs. “It’s regular people forced into a life of crime because of their kids, it’s relevant not only in Iceland,” he says. “It’s the real version of Taken, it’s not a fantasy badass. Your child is obsessed and you s start losing control.” ■
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AUDI-ENCE AWARD The Audi Dublin International Film Festival, Ireland’s Premiere Film Festival, is dedicated to presenting the very best in international and Irish cinema. Each year, Irish audiences vote for the most popular film at the Audi Dublin International Film Festival. This year’s winner was Viva (Paddy Breathnach), the team from which will be travelling to the Berlinale on an exclusive travel bursary as part of their award. Previous winners include The Salt of the Earth (Wim Wenders), The Raid (Gareth Evans), Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervas) and Once (John Carney).
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ADIFF 16–26th February 2017 Submission platform: FILM FREEWAY For more information: www.diff.ie
INTERVIEW KIM JEE-WOON
The Age Of Shadows
Shadow
maker
Acclaimed director Kim Jee-woon discusses Warner Bros’ first local-language production, and the stark differences between Korean and Hollywood film-making. Jean Noh reports
K
im Jee-woon’s latest film, The Age Of Shadows, is based on a true double-agent story that mirrored the times. Set in the middle of the Japanese Empire’s 19101945 colonisation of Korea, the story follows a Korean member of the Japanese colonial police force (Snowpiercer’s Song Kang-ho) who had previously taken part in, and then abandoned, the independence movement. He is tasked to infiltrate a band of resistance fighters (led by Train To Busan’s Gong Yoo) who are trying to smuggle in explosives to Seoul from China, but wavers as they appeal to his sense of guilt and country. “I was intrigued by this story about an undercover police officer who had to become a spy, who couldn’t help but do this work because of the era he was living in,” says the acclaimed director, whose credits include Cannes titles A Bittersweet Life (2005) and The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008). Setting out to craft a commercial thriller with his first film since making his Hollywood debut with Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle The Last Stand (2013), The Age Of Shadows is Warner Bros Korea’s first local-language production and has been selected as South Korea’s submission to the Oscars’ foreign-language film category. It is screening at TIFF as a Special Presentation following its world premiere in Venice. The film joins other recent Korean titles such as The Handmaiden, Assassination and The Last Princess to have shined a light on the colonial era. They deal with a dark time when Koreans were, for the most part, fighting for liberation, but some were collaborating
Song Kang-ho (far right) in The Age Of Shadows
with their Japanese occupiers. The fact that, after liberation, many of those collaborators acquired powerful positions in government and industry has been a historical sticking point in South Korea. “The nature of history is that there are always parts left for descendants to disentangle. I took that as a point of origin to see what kind of story I could tell about things that had happened, and what kind of meaning that story could have in the present,” says Kim, who shot the film in three studios in Shanghai and on open sets and in folk villages around Korea. “I had to deal with the pain of that era.” Korean dynamism After making The Last Stand, Kim was prepared to work again with another Hollywood studio. “The US system is so different,” he says. “For instance, if you need to build a set, they’ll want a detailed explanation why. For Korean directors, this is absurd. But I’ve been through it, and know to project certain possibilities
20 Screen International in Toronto September 10, 2016
Kim Jee-woon
and contingencies while waiting [for approval] now.” He credits Warner Bros Korea local productions director Jay Choi as “an able control tower” in keeping smooth communication channels between Warner Bros HQ and Korea. The two had previously worked together on Kim’s A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003) and The Good, The Bad, The Weird. In his 18-year career, Kim has seen “tremendous aesthetic and business developments” in the Korean film industry. But he also sees how the growth of conglomerate studios and multiplexes has brought on a system that he says has “narrowed the spectrum for creativity”. “From the mid-1990s to the mid2000s, directors were able to make the films they wanted and critics and audiences would like them,” he says. “But you can’t do that now because creativity has to be standardised and quantified. Despite that, we still have noteworthy directors who can carry off aesthetic achievements that are also industry successes. And we
‘Directors were once able to make the films they wanted but now creativity has to be standardised and quantified’ Kim Jee-woon
get two to three of their films a year. That means Korean cinema’s dynamic energy and staying power is still around.” Up next, Kim is working on a liveaction remake of Japanese animation JinRoh: The Wolf Brigade, which was written by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost In The Shell). “I’m also working on a lowbudget mystery horror with an American company that I can’t reveal yet,” he adds. The Age Of Shadows opened in Korea on September 7 and is released in North s America on September 23. ■
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Supporting Voices in Cinema Worldwide Doha Film Institute continues its commitment to nurturing emerging filmmakers through its Grants Programme. Firstand second-time filmmakers from around the world, as well as established directors from the MENA region, are invited to apply for funding, subject to eligibility criteria. For complete information regarding eligibility and guidelines, please visit: dohafilminstitute.com/ financing/grants/guidelines Facebook: DohaFilm Twitter: @dohafilm Instagram: DohaFilm
‘Divines’ by Houda Benyamina
Doha Film Institute congratulates its funding recipients selected for the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival Special Presentations ‘The Salesman’ by Asghar Farhadi Feature Narrative Iran, France Co-Financing 2016 Contemporary World Cinema ‘Apprentice’ by Boo Junfeng Feature Narrative Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Qatar Spring Grant 2015 ‘White Sun’ by Deepak Rauniyar Feature Narrative Nepal, Netherlands,USA, Qatar Fall Grant 2014 Discovery ‘Blessed Benefit’ by Mahmoud Al Massad Feature Narrative Jordan, Netherlands, Germany, UAE, Qatar Spring Grant 2012
DFI 2016 TIFF Screen Int.indd 1
‘Divines’ by Houda Benyamina Feature Narrative Morocco, France, Qatar Fall Grant 2012, Fall Grant 2015 Wavelengths ‘By The Time It Gets Dark’ by Anocha Suwichakornpong Feature Narrative Thailand, Netherlands, France, Qatar Fall Grant 2013 ‘Mimosas’ by Oliver Laxe Feature Narrative Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar Fall Grant 2015 TIFF Docs ‘Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory’ by Mohanad Yaqubi Feature Essay Palestine, France, Qatar Fall Grant 2013
9/6/16 1:30 PM
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Scotland’s giant strides With its financial incentives, world-class crew and unique locations, Scotland has become a destination of choice for an increasing number of international productions
I
t is no secret the UK’s creative industries are booming, and that an increasing number of major international productions are choosing to utilise its attractive tax incentives, worldclass talent and dedicated facilities and infrastructure. While London may be the epicentre of this activity, however, there is considerable sector growth north of the border. Over the last few years, Scotland has played host to an impressive and varied roster of productions, including Jonathan Glazer’s Bafta-nominated Under The Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson; Marc Forster’s World War Z, starring Brad Pitt; Paul McGuigan’s gothic drama Victor Frankenstein, starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy; Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard; Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG; and Danny Boyle’s hotly anticipated Trainspotting 2, based in Bathgate, West Lothian (see sidebar for more titles). All have benefitted from Scotland’s incredible array of locations, its skilled and tenacious crews and its competitive funding options, which run in tandem with the UK Film, High-End TV, Animation and Children’s Tax Reliefs. “We are really busy,” says Natalie Usher, Director of Screen at Creative Scotland. “There are local productions that have been going on over the course of the year, and others, like The BFG, that come for our locations. There are also a number of international productions that have come here since the launch of the Production Growth Fund.” Path of Growth Launched in 2015, and currently running to March 2017, Scotland’s $2.3m (£1.75m) Production Growth Fund (PGF) is designed to stimulate growth in film and TV production by giving major international producers the incentive to base their productions in the country.
Non-recoupable grants from the Fund are determined by spend in Scotland, giving opportunities to Scottish crew and facilities companies. In just 12 months, the PGF has succeeded in attracting several high-profile productions to Scotland, such as Trainspotting 2. Other titles include Churchill, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, who previously shot The Railway Man in Scotland, and starring Brian Cox as prime minister Winston Churchill in the final days of the Second World War. Although the story is not set in Scotland, the production was based at Castlebrae in Edinburgh and shot at a variety of locations including Glasgow City Chambers, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, Newhailes estate in Edinburgh and Yellowcraig Beach in East Lothian. The production’s build and green-screen stages were located at Livingston, in between Glasgow and Edinburgh. “This was my first time filming in Scotland and the Creative Scotland team, along with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Film Offices, were all vital to the smooth running of the production,” says Churchill producer Piers Tempest. “Creative Scotland was involved on a variety of levels, from providing production finance through the Production Growth Fund, to helping with our locations to sourcing crew.” Tempest also praises the logistics of working in Scotland. “The crew base in Scotland is excellent and, as everything is relatively close and traffic is far less of a problem than in the south, unit moves are quicker and you can significantly enhance production value, particularly with the scale and diversity of locations.” The PGF also enables Scottish producers to keep productions on home soil. One such project is paranormal feature Hush, directed by Olaf de Fleur (City State) and adapted by Ben Ketai (The Strangers 2) from the novella by Eva Konstantopoulos. It stars Florence
22 Screen International in Toronto September 10, 2016
The BFG
Churchill
Pugh and Ben Lloyd-Hughes as siblings running a profitable ghostbusting racket, who are hired to investigate a genuinely haunted house. The film was awa rd e d m o re t h a n $ 3 9 0 , 0 0 0 (£300,000) from the PGF, and has shot at locations throughout Scotland. “Over the years, I’ve used hundreds of thousands of Scottish locations, cast, crew and facilities,” says Hush producer Brian Coffey of Glasgow-based Sigma Films, which has also made films such as The Legend Of Barney Thomson and Citadel in the country. “The very fact we don’t have troublesome traffic means locations can be accessed quickly and easily. If you’re shooting in Glasgow city centre, it’s literally only 20 minutes drive
‘The crew base in Scotland is excellent’ Piers Tempest, producer
to being loch-side or in the rolling hills.” Coffey also has first-hand experience of the crucial support provided by Creative Scotland. “They always go the extra mile for us and our crews; we couldn’t do without the amazing staff they have in the Screen department,” he says. “You can’t put a price on local knowledge and
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FILM IN SCOTLAND A FIVE-YEAR SNAPSHOT Churchill Dir Jonathan Teplitzky; The Etruscan Smile Dirs Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis; Hush Dir Olaf de Fleur; Trainspotting 2 Dir Danny Boyle
2015
Florence Foster Jenkins Dir Stephen Frears; The BFG Dir Steven Spielberg; King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword Dir Guy Ritchie; Swallows And Amazons Dir Philippa Lowthorpe; Whisky Galore! dir Gillies MacKinnon; Tommy’s Honour Dir Jason Connery Neil Davidson
2016
Tommy’s Honour
2014
expertise. The Scots are among the friendliest, most hardworking, resilient people in the world.” Other incentives Alongside the PGF, Creative Scotland also offers production funding, through which it supports high-calibre international film and television projects that promote Scotland, Scottish talent, crews, location and tourism, as well as benefit the Scottish economy. This Screen Funding has an allocation of $5.2m (£4m) for 2016-17, and has five routes to funding: market and festival attendance; single project development funding; production funding; distribution and exhibition funding; and slate development funding. One of Creative Scotland’s recent Screen Funding awards was made to Una, the cinematic adaptation by Scottish playwright David Harrower of his Olivier Award-winning play Blackbird. The film will be screening in Special Presentations at Toronto International Film Festival. In addition, Creative Scotland’s Recce Funding is used to engage and attach Scottish location managers and other professionals to incoming productions. This allows international producers to secure the services of a local line producer, location manager or production manager to adapt budgets to Scottish spend, help with locations, assist with crewing and make essential practical recommenda-
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Iona Dir Scott Graham; The Legend Of Barney Thomson Dir Robert Carlyle; Macbeth Dir Justin Kurzel; Scottish Mussel Dir Talulah Riley; Sunset Song Dir Terence Davies; Victor Frankenstein Dir Paul McGuigan
‘You can’t put a price on local knowledge and expertise’ Brian Coffey, producer
tions, such as accommodation, for the production’s time in the country. Scotland has seen a significant rise in the number of productions shooting in the country, as evidenced by the record $58m (£45m) spent by film and TV producers shooting on location in 2014. This was an increase of $15.6m (£12m) compared to 2013. Creative Scotland anticipates the 2015 figures will be equally buoyant and that 2016 will likely increase. “This rise in production spend is a strong indication that film producers have a growing appetite to base their productions in Scotland,” said Scottish culture secretary Fiona Hyslop when announcing the figures in late 2015. “With our stunning, iconic landscapes, rich culture and heritage, and skilled and talented crew, the £45m [$58m] production spend total for 2014 demonstrates that producers around the world recognise Scotland has much to offer.”
Iona
2013
The Silent Storm Dir Corinna Mcfarlane; Slow West Dir John Maclean; Swung Dir Colin Kennedy; Sunshine On Leith Dir Dexter Fletcher; What We Did On Our Holiday Dirs Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin
2012
Fast & Furious 6 Dir Justin Lin; The Railway Man Dir Jonathan Teplitzky; Filth Dir Jon S Baird; Prometheus Dir Ridley Scott; The Dark Knight Rises Dir Christopher Nolan; Under The Skin Dir Jonathan Glazer
(Left) Una; Under The Skin
»
September 10, 2016 Screen International in Toronto 23
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
A Firm Foundation Creative Scotland is dedicated to developing the country’s screen sector, as well as training the next generation of talent, to ensure Scotland remains a world-class destination
W
Creative Scotland Screen Commission
ith myriad international productions being attracted to Scotland — and with them, a record production spend — the country is fast becoming a major global location. Creative Scotland is building on this firm foundation to ensure the country’s creative sector continues to grow and meet the needs of the increasing number of projects tempted to its shores.
) LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES Scotland is a country of diversity and contrast. It offers film-makers endless, accessible choice, from its stunning coastline and remote highlands to the urban centres of Edinburgh, with its incredible castle and sense of history, and Glasgow, which can double for US cities, as it did for Philadelphia in 2013’s World War Z. “We have an incredible and eclectic mixture of locations,” says Brodie Pringle, Head of Screen Commission at Creative Scotland. “It’s not just the incredible vistas. We have St Peter’s in Cardross, which is one of the best pieces of modernist architecture that you can find in Europe. We have a whole Victorian prison in Aberdeenshire, Peterhead Prison. We have military underground bunkers and urban landscapes like Edinburgh and Glasgow.” Pringle notes that Scotland has had a production industry for well over 40 years, “so we are equipped to film in all these locations. The more Scottish crew you have on board your production, the easier it’s going to be because there’s nothing like the expertise of the locals in these situations. As a location manager for 15 years, I know what it takes to get a production onto one of the remote islands, for example, and also a fairly good idea of what it costs.” One production that took advantage of Scotland’s diverse locations was Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, and location manager David Broder found both landscape and crew were able to meet the film’s challenging needs. “We were based in Skye, and filmed extensively on the island and on the Shiant Isles to the north, to provide the background shots for Giant Land in the film,” Broder says. “We also filmed The BFG’s journey sequences at the A1 at Haddington, East
The BFG filmed extensively on the Isle of Skye
Lothian, at The Old Man of Hoy in the Orkney islands and aerial sequences over Loch Lomond and the Great Glen area. “We had great support from Creative Scotland in the scouting and research process,” Broder continues. “We also had help from National Trust for Scotland, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Edinburgh Film Office, East Lothian Council, the Scottish ministers and the residents and business owners on Skye. We had a real challenge finding accommodation on Skye during the very busy tourist season but, through helpful residents who assisted via recommendations and social media, we managed to find beds for all the crew.”
) STUDIOS AND INFRASTRUCTURE As detailed in strategy document Creative Scotland On Screen: Film Strategy 2014-17, Creative Scotland is dedicated to deliver-
24 Screen International in Toronto September 10, 2016
‘We had great support from Creative Scotland’ David Broder, location manager for The BFG
ing an enhanced studio infrastructure, and is a member of the Film Studio Delivery Group along with the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. Natalie Usher, Director of Screen at Creative Scotland, says: “In order to support all these incoming productions and the continued growth of productions in Scotland, both international and domestic, we have to make sure we have all of the right options for productions
CREATIVE SCOTLAND AT TORONTO Creative Scotland’s Head of Screen Commission, Brodie Pringle, will be at Toronto International Film Festival where you can find her in the UK Film Centre, located in the Hyatt Regency Hotel’s Festival Room, from September 9-13. She will be on hand to offer free, confidential assistance to productions of any size looking to film on location in Scotland, and can assist with everything from location images to practical information and local crew contacts. To book a slot, please contact locations@creativescotland.com Further information www.creativescotlandlocations.com
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— that is purpose-built studio space, converted studio space and build space.” There are already many options for big and small productions looking for dedicated filming space in Scotland, with full-time conversions and build space already open for business. Indeed, the country has a total of 118,000 sq ft of converted stage space, all of which is currently in use with TV drama production. The Screen Commission is also marketing a total of 338,336 sq ft of build space, of which 173,095 sq ft is currently in use.
) WARDPARK STUDIOS Home to Sony Pictures Television’s award-winning historical drama Outlander, Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, has 48,000 sq ft of space across four stages. It will also soon be home to Scotland’s largest dedicated film and TV studio, as North Lanarkshire Council has granted full planning permission for Wardpark to significantly enhance its existing facilities. Two 50ft high sound stages are planned to provide an additional 30,000 sq ft of space, with production offices and ancillary spaces.
) ALTERNATIVE SPACES Alongside the existing and planned traditional studio space, Creative Scotland is always looking at other options and a number of alternative filming spaces are also becoming available. Examples of new filming spaces include the Pelamis building, a former marine power base on the waterfront in Leith, Edinburgh; Pyramids Business Park in Bathgate, West Lothian; Borron Street in Glasgow, which offers useable warehouse space; and Drampac in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. Full details of all
these spaces can be found in Creative Scotland’s Film In Scotland brochure www.creativescotland.com/resources/ our-publications/ marketing/film-in-scotland
) SKILLS DEVELOPMENT In addition to Scotland’s financial incentives, unique locations, versatile filming spaces and dedicated infrastructure, its exceptional home-grown talent is also a major draw for international productions which, in turn, supply increased training opportunities. “The PGF is having a benefit on a number of levels,” says Usher, “not just in productions coming here and spending money, but in offering incredible training opportunities to the next generation of Scottish craft and technical crew. Our commitment to training is one of the key areas of our strategic priorities. We’re looking at how we help people get from education into the workplace.” Creative Scotland promotes such skills development through its Screen Skills Fund, which supports programmes and initiatives from industry and other public bodies that address four priority areas: advanced career development; business development; bespoke skills development, including traineeships and apprenticeships; and access routes into the industry focusing on employability, workforce diversity and emerging talent development. The latest round of Screen Skills funding, in September 2015, awarded a total of $1.3m (£1m) to 12 initiatives, including Initialize Films’ Market Leaders scheme, Step Ahead at Centre For The Moving Image and Film Hub Scotland, and Front Runner at Film City Futures, along with the key schemes profiled in the sidebars (right).
FIX VFX Glasgow-based visual-effects studio Fix VFX has partnered with software providers The Foundry and Escape Studios to offer 10 graduates from Scottish universities a bespoke VFX training course. The skills development programme is intended to make trainees ‘work-ready’ for film and broadcast projects and, as well as supporting skills development, plugs into Creative Scotland’s aim to sustain a new VFX facility in the country. “The film and TV industry is crying out for investment in all areas and Creative Scotland’s Screen Skills Fund has provided a much-needed shot in the arm in terms of capitalising on the great human resource we have in the country,” says Colin Kennedy, MD of Fix VFX. “We have worked with Creative Scotland to find a way of addressing the skills shortage and creating the workforce we need, not just for Fix VFX but for the VFX sector in Scotland.”
SCREEN NETS
Editor Tina Gonzalez and Screen NETS editing trainee Kal Singh Lally
Screen Academy Scotland’s long-running Screen NETS initiative supports skills development in new and existing film and television craft, technical and production grades. It consists of four strands: paid runner work experience for new entrants; a paid apprenticeship programme for new entrants in specific craft, technical or production grades; a targeted skills enhancement programme for industry assistants currently working in camera or post production; and a training/work placement scheme designed to help assistant production co-ordinators and third assistant directors step up to the next level in their careers. “Our strong links with the industry mean we have invaluable support and relationships that allow us to have trainees attached to the most experienced and talented crews,” says Kay Sheridan, professional practice and CPD co-ordinator, Screen Academy Scotland. “Graduates of our programmes continue to work as successful industry practitioners and remain linked to Screen NETS, providing direct input to the paths we take when identifying what the industry needs. The Creative Scotland funding has allowed us to build a comprehensive framework of training and contribute to the growth of our industry.” Further information www.screen-nets.com
OUTLANDER TRAINING PROGRAMME As production on the third series of Outlander prepares to get underway so does the production’s practical trainee scheme, which has run since its first season. This year, 20 Scotland-based trainees have been selected to work on the series, learning from technicians and professionals across a wide-variety of roles, gaining valuable first-hand experience of working in a real filming environment. Glasgow doubled as Philadelphia in 2013’s World War Z
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Outlander
September 10, 2016 Screen International in Toronto 25
SCREENINGS
FURTHER COVERAGE, SEE SCREENDAILY.COM
Edited by Jamie McLeish » Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
PUBLIC
The son and presumptive heir of a criminal clan (Michael Fassbender) comes into conflict with the family patriarch (Brendan Gleeson) when he tries to break away from the outlaw life.
SCREENINGS
8:45AM THE EMPTY BOX
(France/Mexico) 101mins. Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Claudia Sainte-Luce. Cast: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Claudia Sainte-Luce, Pablo Sigal. Mexican film-maker Claudia Sainte-Luce (The Amazing Catfish) directs and stars in her touching second feature, about a young woman in Mexico City who is forced to care for her estranged father as he descends into senile dementia. Discovery Jackman Hall (AGO)
9:00AM CARRIE PILBY
(US) 98mins. Radiant Films International (int’l). ICM Partners, United Talent Agency (US). Dir: Susan Johnson. Cast: Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne. Awkward, isolated and disapproving of most of the people around her, a precocious 19-year-old genius is challenged to put her convictions to the test by venturing out on to the NYC dating scene, in this adaptation of Caren Lissner’s 2003 novel. Special Presentations Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
ELLE
(France) 131mins. SBS Productions (int’l). Dir: Paul Verhoeven. Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny. Isabelle Huppert stars in the daring new film from perennial provocateur Paul Verhoeven, about a high-powered businesswoman whose brutal sexual assault elicits both erotic fantasies and dreams of revenge. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
9:15AM THE REHEARSAL
(New Zealand) 102mins.
Special Presentations Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
12:00PM COLOSSAL
(Canada) 110mins. Voltage Pictures (int’l). Creative Artists Agency (US). Dir: Nacho Vigalondo. Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens. A going-nowhere party girl discovers a mysterious connection between herself and a giant monster wreaking havoc on the other side of the globe.
PUBLIC SCREENING 11:15AM A UNITED KINGDOM
(UK) 105mins. Pathé International (int’l). William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Dir: Amma Asante. Cast: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport. Amma Asante helms this biopic of Seretse Khama Mongrel International Dir: Alison Maclean. Cast: Kerry Fox, James Rolleston, Alice Englert. A young student at a drama school faces a moral conundrum when his budding romance becomes fodder for a final-year performance, in director Alison Maclean’s adaptation of the novel by Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
9:30AM BEFORE THE FLOOD
(US) 93mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: Fisher Stevens. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Fisher Stevens, Brett Ratner. Fisher Stevens’ latest documentary (formerly titled The Turning Point)
26 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
(David Oyelowo), the former African royal who courted controversy with his interracial marriage to Englishwoman Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) and later led his nation to independence from the British Empire as the first president of Botswana. Gala Presentations Winter Garden Theatre
chronicles Leonardo DiCaprio’s campaign to raise global awareness about the dangers of climate change in his role as a UN Ambassador of Peace. TIFF Docs Isabel Bader Theatre
BROOKS, MEADOWS AND LOVELY FACES
(Egypt) 115mins. Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Yousry Nasrallah. Cast: Laila Eloui, Menna Shalaby, Bassem Samra. A family of caterers in a small Egyptian village prepares for a big wedding feast while balancing sibling rivalry, romantic entanglements and culinary ambitions in this charming comedy from veteran
film-maker Yousry Nasrallah. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
10:00AM AMERICAN PASTORAL
(US) 126mins. Lakeshore Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Ewan McGregor. Cast: Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning. Ewan McGregor makes his directing debut and stars alongside Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning in this ambitious adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, about a ‘perfect’ American family that is torn apart by the social and political upheavals of the 1960s. Special Presentations VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)
11:00AM JEFFREY
(Dominican Republic/ France) 78mins. Dir: Yanillys Perez. Cast: ‘Jeffrey’ Joselito de la Cruz, Jeyson de la Cruz, Junior de la Cruz. This feature documentary focuses on a 12-year-old street windshield washer in Santo Domingo who yearns to become
a regueton singer, and with the help of his older brother composes and records songs about his life, his neighbourhood, and his dreams for the future. Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
11:15AM A UNITED KINGDOM See box, left
11:30AM LITTLE WING
(Finland/Denmark) 100mins. Media Luna New Films (int’l). Dir: Selma Vilhunen. Cast: Linnea Skog, Paula Vesala, Lauri Maijala. Frustrated by her mother’s erratic behaviour, a 12-year-old girl sets out on an impromptu quest to find her birth father, in this sharp and touching portrait of adolescence from Oscar-nominated Finnish film-maker Selma Vilhunen. Discovery Jackman Hall (AGO)
11:45AM TRESPASS AGAINST US
(UK) 94mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Adam Smith. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal.
Vanguard Ryerson Theatre
FIRE AT SEA
(Italy/France) 108mins. Doc & Film International (int’l). Dir: Gianfranco Rosi. Cast: Samuele Pucillo, Mattias Cucina, Samuele Caruana. Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the new documentary from Gianfranco Rosi (El Sicario, Room 164) is a startling, on-the-spot document of the European migrant crisis. Masters TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
SNOWDEN
(Germany/US) 134mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Oliver Stone. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in this real-life political thriller from Oscar winner Oliver Stone. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
12:15PM LADY MACBETH
(UK) 89mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l and US). Dir: William Oldroyd. Cast: Florence » www.screendaily.com
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SCREENINGS
Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton. Acclaimed theatre director William Oldroyd relocates Nikolai Leskov’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to 19th-century England, in this Gothic tale about a young woman trapped in a marriage of convenience whose passionate affair unleashes a maelstrom of murder and mayhem on a country estate.
Talent Agency (UTA) (US). Dir: Adam Leon. Cast: Callum Turner, Grace Van Patten, Mike Birbiglia. A young man and woman find love in an unlikely place while carrying out a shady deal, in this charming romantic adventure from writerdirector Adam Leon. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 1
Platform TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
VOYAGE OF TIME: LIFE’S JOURNEY
12:30PM PAN’S LABYRINTH
(Mexico/Spain/US) 119mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Guillermo del Toro. Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdoe. Guillermo del Toro’s darkly beautiful fairy tale — about a young girl who discovers a magical underworld of both beauty and horror in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War — won three Academy Awards and has been hailed as a modern classic. TIFF Cinematheque TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
PUBLIC SCREENING
Submarine (int’l and US). Dir: Shirley Abraham. This lyrical documentary chronicles the vanishing tradition of the mobile ‘tent cinemas’ that bring films to far-flung towns and villages across India. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
2:15PM AMANDA KNOX
(Austria/US) 116mins. Dir: Kief Davidson. Wildlife activists and investigators put their lives on the line to battle the illegal African ivory trade, in this suspenseful doc.
(US/Denmark) 92mins. Dir: Brian McGinn. This gripping documentary recounts the infamous trial, conviction and eventual acquittal of Seattle native Amanda Knox for the 2007 murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Italy.
TIFF Docs Isabel Bader Theatre
TIFF Docs Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
THE IVORY GAME
1:15PM A DEATH IN THE GUNJ See box, above
1:30PM HEADSHOT
(Indonesia) 117mins. XYZ Films (US). Dir: Timo Tjahjanto. Cast: Iko Uwais, Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang. The indomitable Iko Uwais (The Raid) stars in this fast and furious actioner as an amnesiac whose mysterious past as a killing machine comes to the fore when he takes on the henchmen of a vengeful drug lord. Midnight Madness Scotiabank 13
THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS
(India) 96mins.
THE DAY MY FATHER BECAME A BUSH
(Netherlands/Belgium/ Croatia) 90mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Nicole van Kilsdonk. Cast: Celeste Holsheimer, Matsen Montsma, Teun Kuilboer. Adapted from the novel by award-winning author Joke van Leeuwen, The Day My Father Became A Bush tells a story of war as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl. TIFF Kids Scotiabank 9
THE ORNITHOLOGIST
(Portugal/France/Brazil) 118mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Joao Pedro Rodrigues. Cast: Paul Hamy, Xelo Cagiao, Joao
28 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
Pedro Rodrigues. Stranded along a sublime river fjord in northern Portugal, a hunky ornithologist is subjected to a series of brutal and erotic Stations-of-theCross-style tests, in the daring new film from provocative Portuguese auteur Joao Pedro Rodrigues. Wavelengths Jackman Hall (AGO)
2:30PM SOUVENIR
(Belgium/Luxembourg/ France) 90mins. Pathé International (int’l). Dir: Bavo Defurne. Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Kévin Azais, Johan Leysen. Isabelle Huppert stars as a middle-aged factory worker whose long-ago brush with fame comes to the fore again when she begins a romance with a young aspiring boxer. Special Presentations Winter Garden Theatre
TAMARA AND THE LADYBUG
(Mexico/Spain) 107mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Lucia Carreras. Cast: Angeles Cruz, Angelina Pelaez, Mercedes Pascual. Two women, living on the margins of their society, become the unlikely guardians of a lost baby, in director Lucia Carreras’ compelling and heartfelt exploration of loneliness, female friendship, and the social ills afflicting contemporary Mexico. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
1:15PM A DEATH IN THE GUNJ
(India) 110mins. Dir: Konkona Sensharma. Cast: Vikrant Massey, Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin. Award-winning actor Konkona Sensharma makes her feature debut
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
(US) 133mins. Dir: Antoine Fuqua. Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke. An all-star cast — including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun and Peter Sarsgaard — saddles up for this blazing remake of the 1960 western classic from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer), about seven gunslinging mercenaries protecting a small community from a rapacious robber baron. Gala Presentations Scotiabank 12
WHITE SUN
(Nepal/US/Qatar/ Netherlands) 87mins. The Match Factory (int’l and US). Dir: Deepak Rauniyar. Cast: Dayahang Rai, Asha Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya. A former Maoist rebel struggles to reintegrate with his unwelcoming community and move beyond a painful past,
as a writer-director with this coming-of-age story about a shy young Indian student who quietly and fatefully unravels during a family road trip. Special Presentations VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)
in this beautiful social drama from Nepali filmmaker and TIFF Talent Lab alumnus Deepak Rauniyar. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 4
3:00PM MASCOTS
(US) 89mins. Dir: Christopher Guest. Cast: Jennifer Coolidge, Sarah Baker, Bob Balaban. Director Christopher Guest (Best In Show, A Mighty Wind) and members of his beloved stock company — Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Begley Jr and Fred Willard — along with new additions Chris O’Dowd and Zach Woods, usher us into the high-stakes world of professional sports mascots, who are engaged in a cutthroat competition for the annual Gold Fluffy Award. Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
3:15PM TRAMPS
(US) 82mins. WestEnd Films (int’l). United
(Germany) 90mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Terrence Malick. The debut documentary from visionary film-maker Terrence Malick (Tree Of Life) chronicles nothing less than the history of the universe. Special Presentations Princess of Wales Theatre
3:30PM A MONSTER CALLS
(US/Spain) 108mins. Lionsgate International (int’l). Dir: JA Bayona. Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell. Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones star in this adaptation of the award-winning children’s book by Patrick Ness, about a lonely young boy struggling with the imminent death of his terminally ill mother who is befriended by a friendly, shambling monster that arrives in his room nightly to tell him stories. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
THE JOURNEY
(UK) 94mins. IM Global (int’l). Dir: Nick Hamm. Cast: Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, John Hurt. Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) and Colm Meaney (The Commitments) star in this dramatisation of the events preceding the historic 2006 St Andrews Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland after years of violent strife between Unionist and Republican factions. Special Presentations Isabel Bader Theatre
3:45PM PYROMANIAC
(Norway) 98mins.
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SCREENINGS
his equally troubled new companions. TIFF Kids Scotiabank 14
NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW
PUBLIC SCREENING 3:45PM THE WEDDING RING
(Niger/Burkina Faso/ France) 96mins. Dir: Rahmatou Keita. Cast: Magaajyia Silberfeld, Aichatou Moussa, Aichatou Lamine Fofana. Recently returned to her home in the Sultanate of TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Erik Skjoldbjaerg. Cast: Trond Hjort Nilssen, Per Frisch, Liv Bernhoft Osa. Erik Skjoldbjaerg (Insomnia) returns with this slow-burning psychological study about a young arsonist terrorising a rural community. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 3
THE RED TURTLE
(France/Belgium/Japan) 80mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Michael Dudok de Wit. The first international co-production from renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli enlists Dutch animator Michael Dudok De Wit for a wondrous story about the unlikely friendship between a castaway on a deserted island and a sea turtle. Discovery TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
THE WEDDING RING See box, above
4:00PM
Zinder after completing her degree abroad, a young woman suffering from the pain of a lost love finds renewal while awaiting the mystical promise of a new moon. Contemporary World Cinema, Next Wave Scotiabank 10
(int’l and US). Dir: Matt Tyrnauer. This timely and inspirational documentary chronicles legendary writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs’ battle to save historic NYC neighbourhoods from the draconian redevelopment plans of ruthless power broker Robert Moses in the 1960s. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 11
4:15PM IRMA VEP
(France) 96mins. MK2 (int’l). Dir: Olivier Assayas. Cast: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard. Hong Kong megastar Maggie Cheung is divine in the lead of Olivier Assayas’ brilliant behindthe-screen satire, about a beleaguered Parisian film crew struggling to shoot a remake of Louis Feuillade’s silent crime epic Les Vampires. TIFF Cinematheque TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY
POLITICS, INSTRUCTIONS MANUAL
(US) 92mins. Submarine
(Spain) 115mins. Dir:
30 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
Fernando Leon de Aranoa. A fascinating behindthe-scenes documentary about the rise of Podemos, the insurgent Spanish political party founded on the basis of a nationwide anti-austerity movement that dramatically upended the country’s traditional, hidebound two-party system. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 2
4:30PM THE WOMEN’S BALCONY
(Israel) 96mins. Dir: Emil Ben Shimon. Cast: Evelin Hagoel, Igal Naor, Orna Banay. An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gendered rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.
(Canada) 75mins. Vice Media Distribution (int’l and US). Dir: Matt Johnson. Cast: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol. Bad boy Matt Johnson (The Dirties, Operation Avalanche) and co-conspirator Jay McCarrol revive their cult-hit web series about a hapless two-piece Toronto band who will do anything to play a show at The Rivoli — apart from actually writing and rehearsing any songs. Primetime Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
5:00PM MARIE CURIE, THE COURAGE OF KNOWLEDGE
(Germany/France/ Poland) 95mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Marie Noelle. Cast: Karolina Gruszka, Arieh Worthalter, Charles Berling. Polish actress Karolina Gruszka stars in this sweeping biography of the legendary, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist, who courted controversy both by challenging France’s male-dominated academic
establishment and with her unconventional romantic life. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
5:15PM EMBER
(Turkey/Germany) 115mins. Dir: Zeki Demirkubuz. Cast: Aslihan Gurbuz, Caner Cindoruk, Taner Birsel. In this slow-burning psychological drama from Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz, an Istanbul seamstress struggling with the debts left behind by her vanished husband rekindles an old friendship that escalates into an affair. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8
MIMOSAS
(Spain/Morocco/France/ Qatar) 93mins. Luxbox (int’l). Dir: Oliver Laxe. Cast: Ahmed Hammoud, Shakib Ben Omar, Said Aagli. Winner of the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week in Cannes, Oliver Laxe’s mesmerising, minimalist ‘Eastern western’ follows a caravan transporting the body of a sheik to his remote resting place in the perilous wilderness of the Moroccan desert. Wavelengths Jackman Hall (AGO)
5:30PM ARQ See box, below
THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI
(Netherlands/Belgium/ Germany/Jordan) 98mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Mijke de Jong. Cast: Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab. Radicalised by her adopted country’s antiMuslim measures, a Dutch-Moroccan teenager marries a devout jihadist and leaves Amsterdam to join an Islamist cell in the Middle East — only to discover her new community has its own restrictions and prejudices.
(Finland/Germany/ Sweden) 92mins. Les Films du Losange (int’l). Dir: Juho Kuosmanen. The winner of a top prize at this year’s Cannes festival, the irresistibly charming debut feature from Juho Kuosmanen is a funny and forlorn comedy-drama that is inspired by the reallife showdown between Finnish boxer Olli Maki and American champion Davey Moore in 1962 Helsinki.
Platform, Next Wave Winter Garden Theatre
Discovery Scotiabank 4
Orphan Black screenwriter Tony Elliott makes his feature directorial debut with this brain-twisting sci-fi thriller, about a
husband and wife living in a dystopic future who become trapped in a mysterious time loop.
LAYLA M.
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13
4:45PM MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE
(Switzerland/France) 66mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Claude Barras. Cast: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Mura. Director Claude Barras uses gorgeous stop-motion animation to tackle difficult subject matter in this delicately told story about a young boy sent to a group home after the death of his alcoholic mother, who finds comfort, acceptance and hope with
PUBLIC SCREENING 5:30PM ARQ
(US/Canada) 88mins. Dir: Tony Elliott. Cast: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor.
Discovery Scotiabank 12
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United States of America Embassy Warsaw
SCREENINGS
6:00PM BARRY
(US) 104mins. Cinetic Media, Black Bear Pictures (US). Dir: Vikram Gandhi. Cast: Devon Terrell, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Mitchell. Devon Terrell and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) star in this biopic about the young Barack Obama’s college days in New York City Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
RAGE
(Japan) 142mins. Toho, Versatile (int’l). Dir: Sang-il Lee. Cast: Ken Watanabe, Mirai Moriyama, Kenichi Matsuyama. A grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities, in this arresting ensemble thriller from director Sang-il Lee (Unforgiven). Special Presentations VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)
6:15PM
PUBLIC SCREENING 6:15PM JUST NOT MARRIED
(Nigeria) 102mins. Dir: Uduak-Obong Patrick. Cast: Judith Audu, Stan Nze, Rotimi Salami. In this charming caper comedy, a bright but
THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV
broke undergrad striving to escape the slums gets in over his head when his modest criminal enterprise goes a bit too far. City to City Isabel Bader Theatre
AFTERIMAGE
(Poland) 98mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Andrzej Wajda. Cast: Boguslaw Linda, Bronislawa Zamachowska, Zofia Wichlacz. The great Polish director Andrzej Wajda returns with this passionate biopic about avantgarde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski (brilliantly played by Polish superstar Boguslaw Linda), who battled Stalinist orthodoxy and his own physical impairments to advance his progressive ideas about art. Masters Scotiabank 1
JUST NOT MARRIED See box, above
THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS OF ARANJUEZ
(France/Germany) 97mins. Alfama Films Production — France (int’l). Dir: Wim Wenders. Cast: Reda Kateb, Sophie Semin, Jens Harzer. Wim Wenders adapts
long-time collaborator Peter Handke’s play for this engrossing two-handed (and 3D) conversation piece, in which a dialogue between a man and a woman elicits a reverie on love, freedom and beauty.
A veteran junior high school teacher in rural Macedonia finds the ethnic rivalries of his homeland are replicated in microcosm among his unruly student body, in this satirical fable from first-timer Izer Aliu.
Masters TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Discovery Scotiabank 10
6:30PM HELLO DESTROYER
(Canada) 110mins. Dir: Kevan Funk. Cast: Jared Abrahamson, Kurt Max Runte, Joe Dion Buffalo. Jared Abrahamson plays a painfully shy but ruggedly capable enforcer on a minor-league hockey team who discovers the cutthroat nature of his locker-room ‘family’, in the forceful first feature from Canadian director Kevan Funk. Discovery Scotiabank 3
HUNTING FLIES
(Norway) 106mins. LevelK ApS (int’l). Dir: Izer Aliu. Cast: Burhan Amiti.
32 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
LION See box, right
QUEEN OF KATWE
(Uganda/South Africa) 124mins. Walt Disney Studios Pictures (US). Dir: Mira Nair. Cast: David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Madina Nalwanga. David Oyelowo (Selma) and Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave) star in the true story of a young girl from rural Uganda (newcomer Madina Nalwanga) who discovers a passion for chess, and sets out to pursue her dream of becoming an international champion.
(France/Portugal/Spain) 115mins. Capricci Films (int’l). Dir: Albert Serra. Cast: Jose Wallenstein, Filipe Duarte, Jean-Pierre Léaud. Jean-Pierre Léaud takes the title role as the expiring French monarch in the stylistically rigorous and strangely transcendent film from visionary Spanish auteur Albert Serra. Wavelengths TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
6:45PM FRANTZ
(France/Germany) 113mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Francois Ozon. Cast: Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Marie Gruber. Francois Ozon’s elegiac tale of love and remembrance is set in a German town in the aftermath of the
I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE
Film (US). Dir: Osgood Perkins. Cast: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Lucy Boynton. A naive young nurse caring for an ageing, reclusive horror novelist begins to believe her patient’s new novel contains ominous clues about her own fate, in the new film from Osgood Perkins (February).
(Canada/US) 87mins. Paris Film (int’l). Paris
Vanguard Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
First World War, where a woman mourning the death of her fiancé forms a bond with a mysterious Frenchman who arrives to lay flowers on her beloved’s grave. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
7:00PM
PUBLIC SCREENING 6:30PM LION
(Australia) 129mins. The Weinstein Company (int’l). Dir: Garth Davis. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, Rooney Mara. Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman star in the true story
of Saroo Brierley, who was adopted by an Australian couple after being separated from his family in India at the age of five, and then located his original home using Google Earth 25 years later. Special Presentations Princess of Wales Theatre
Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
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TORONTO 2016
NORWEGIAN FILMS
HUNTING FLIES
DIRECTOR Izer Aliu
09/10/16 09/10/16 09/12/16 09/15/16 09/18/16
11:30AM 06:30PM 09:00AM 07:00PM 02:45PM
SCOTIABANK 5 (P & I) SCOTIABANK 10 BELL LIGHTBOX 4 SCOTIABANK 5 (P & I) SCOTIABANK 10
PYROMANIAC
DIRECTOR Erik Skjoldbjærg
09/08/16 09/09/16 09/10/16 09/16/16
08:15PM 08:30PM 03:45PM 09:15AM
SCOTIABANK 10 (P & I) SCOTIABANK 1 SCOTIABANK 3 BELL LIGHTBOX 2
CONTACTS IN TORONTO HUNTING FLIES
International Sales: LevelK, tine@levelk.dk Production company: Storyline Pictures
PYROMANIAC
International Sales: TrustNordisk, susan@trustnordisk.com Production company: Glør Film AS
FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute, so@nfi.no PRESS Norwegian Film Institute, jakob.berg@nfi.no
norwegianfilms.no
SCREENINGS
SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 03
95mins. Short Cuts Scotiabank 14
7:15PM BOUNDARIES
(Canada) 100mins. Indie Sales (int’l). Dir: Chloe Robichaud. Cast: Macha Grenon, Emily VanCamp, Nathalie Doummar. A tiny island nation off Canada’s east coast enters the global arena when its natural resources become the focal point for international wheeling, dealing and politicking, in this energetic political satire from Quebec director Chloé Robichaud (Sarah Prefers To Run). Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 2
FOREVER PURE
(Israel/UK/Ireland/ Norway) 87mins. Dogwoof (int’l and US). Dir: Maya Zinshtein. Maya Zinshtein embeds herself inside the locker room of Beitar Jerusalem football club, which became a flashpoint for controversy in 2012 when the signing of two Muslim players brought down the racist wrath of the team’s hardcore fans. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 13
7:30PM SAFARI See box, above
WAVELENGTHS 2: INCANTATI
79mins. A recently rediscovered Straub-Huillet fragment lends its name to the title of this programme that oscillates between adversity and emancipation, between holding on and letting go. Featuring films by Camilo Restrepo, Joana Pimenta, Ryan Ferko, Kevin Jerome Everson, Tomonari Nishikawa and Joshua Gen Solondz.
PUBLIC SCREENING
Director Mohanad Yaqubi draws on recently discovered and archival found footage to explore the tumultuous history of Palestine and Palestinian film-making in this timely documentary. TIFF Docs Jackman Hall (AGO)
8:00PM THE LEVELLING
(UK) 83mins. Mongrel International Dir: Hope Dickson Leach. Cast: Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton, Jack Holden. After her brother’s suicide, a young woman returns to her family farm to confront her embittered father, in the beautifully controlled and emotionally precise feature debut by Hope Dickson Leach. Discovery Scotiabank 9
8:15PM CATFIGHT
OFF FRAME AKA REVOLUTION UNTIL VICTORY (followed by ‘Breaking Occupation’)
(US) 96mins. MPI Media Group (int’l). Dir: Onur Tukel. Cast: Sandra Oh, Anne Heche, Alicia Silverstone. A reunion between two old schoolfriends (Sandra Oh and Anne Heche) sparks a no-holds-barred war of attrition, in this outrageously madcap black comedy.
74mins. Dir: Mohanad Yaqubi
Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
Wavelengths TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
7:45PM
34 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
8:30PM MOONLIGHT
(US) 111mins. Elevation Pictures. Dir: Barry Jenkins. Cast: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes. The second feature from Barry Jenkins (Medicine For Melancholy) follows its protagonist as he navigates drugs and violence in his depressed Florida neighbourhood, and his complex love for his best friend. Platform, Next Wave Winter Garden Theatre
THE FURY OF A PATIENT MAN
(Spain) 92mins. Film Factory Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Raul Arevalo. Cast: Antonio de la Torre, Luis Callejo, Ruth Diaz. The tentative romance between a gentle Madrid labourer and a working single mother becomes a struggle for survival when the woman’s violent boyfriend returns from prison, in the gritty, debut feature from Spanish actor Raul Arevalo (Ghost Graduation, DarkBlueAlmostBlack). Discovery Scotiabank 4
WEREWOLF
(Canada) 78mins. Dir: Ashley McKenzie. Cast:
Andrew Gillis, Bhreagh MacNeil. The hardscrabble existence of two homeless, twentysomething drug addicts is portrayed with sensitivity and brutal honesty in the debut feature by Ashley McKenzie. Discovery Scotiabank 8
9:00PM I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
(US/France/Belgium/ Switzerland) 93mins. Wide House (int’l). ICM Partners (US). Dir: Raoul Peck. Cast: Samuel L Jackson. Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical, Murder In Pacot) creates a stunning meditation on what it means to be black in America. TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
PERSONAL SHOPPER
(France) 105mins. MK2 (int’l). Dir: Olivier Assayas. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz. Kristen Stewart reunites with director Olivier Assayas (Clouds Of Sils Maria) for this artful ghost story about a grieving young woman trying to reconnect with
7:30PM SAFARI
(Austria) 90mins. Coproduction Office (int’l). Dir: Ulrich Seidl. Cast: Gerald Eichinger, Eva Hofmann, Manuel Eichinger.
the spirit of her departed brother. Masters Scotiabank 1
THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM
(UK) 105mins. HanWay Films (int’l). HanWay Films, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Dir: Juan Carlos Medina. Cast: Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth. In Victorian-era London, an intrepid police inspector (Bill Nighy) investigates a series of brutal killings that seem to be linked to a fearsome creature of Jewish legend, in this atmospheric thriller based on the bestseller by Peter Ackroyd. Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre
9:30PM BELOW HER MOUTH
(Canada) 92mins. Elle Driver (int’l). Cinetic Media (US). Dir: April Mullen. Cast: Natalie Krill, Erika Linder,
Austrian provocateur Ulrich Seidl returns to Africa for this grimly humourous portrait of tourists hunting animals for sport. Masters Scotiabank 11
Sebastian Pigott. One of the boldest and sexiest dramas of the year, the new film by Canadian actor-director April Mullen (Dead Before Dawn) tells the story of an unexpected romance between two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever. Special Presentations Isabel Bader Theatre
IN THE BLOOD
(Denmark) 104mins. LevelK ApS (int’l). Dir: Rasmus Heisterberg. Cast: Kristoffer Bech, Elliott Crosset Hove, Victoria Carmen Sonne. A brilliant but entitled Danish medical student allows his possessive feelings for his best friend to throw his decadent social circle into chaos, in this scathing critique of contemporary upperclass amorality from the screenwriter of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Discovery Scotiabank 3
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»
TIFF . 2016 H y a t t R e g e n c y To r o n t o , S u i t e 1 8 0 3
SCREENINGS
ISRAELI CINEMA IN TORONTO 2016 Gala Presentations NORMAN – THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER
Director: Josesph Cedar Producers: Gideon Tadmor, Oren Moverman, Eyal Rimmon, David Mandil, Lawrence Inglee, Miranda Bailey Production Companies: TA0DMOR Entertainment, MoviePlus Productions, Blackbird, Cold Iron Pictures World Sales: The Solution Entertainment Group Web: thesolutioent.com Mon Sep 12 18:30 Roy Thomson Hall Tue Sep 13 14:45 Scotiabank 2 Press & Industry: Mon Sep 12 12:15 Scotiabank 1 Wed Sep 14 14:30 Scotiabank 2
Contemporary World Cinema BAR BAHAR / IN BETWEEN
Director: Maysaloun Hamud Producer: Shlomi Elkabetz Production Company: Deux Beaux Garcons Films World Sales: Alma Cinema (FR) E-mail: sara@almacinema.com Sun Sep 11 18:30 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 Mon Sep 12 10:30 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 Sun Sep 18 17:45 Scotiabank 10 PRESS & INDUSTRY: Mon Sep 12 18:30 Scotiabank 7 Thu Sep 15 09:00 Scotiabank 10
PAST LIFE
Director: Avi Nesher Producers: Dr. David M. Milch, David Silber, Avi Nesher, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, Ruth Cats Co-Producers: Ellamilch SheriFf, Elad Naggar Production Companies: Metro Communications, Artomas Communicaitons, Ars Veritas Productions, Sunshine Productions WORLD SALES: Beliberg Entertainment E-mail: SALES@bleibergent.com web: www. bleibergent.com Mon Sep 12 15:00 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 Wed Sep 14 11:45 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 Sun Sep 18 09:15 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 PRESS & INDUSTRY: Mon Sep 12 09:00 Scotiabank 9 Fri Sep 16 12:45 Scotiabank 10
THE WOMEN'S BALCONY
Director: Emil Ben Shimon Producers: Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Moahe Edery, Leon Edery Production Companies: Pie Films, United King Films contact: pie films e-mail: osnat@piefilms.co.il Sat Sun Sun
Sep 10 Sep 11 Sep 17
16:30 Scotiabank 13 09:00 Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 4 18:15 Scotiabank 4
PRESS & INDUSTRY: Sun Sep 11 09:00 Scotiabank 8 Wed Sep 14 09:00 Scotiabank 9
(France/Belgium) 106mins. Kinology (int’l). Kinology (US). Dir: Rebecca Zlotowski. Cast: Natalie Portman, LilyRose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger. In 1930s France, two sisters who perform as supernatural mediums cross paths with a visionary film producer. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall
THE HANDMAIDEN
(South Korea) 145mins. CJ Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Park Chan-wook. Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo. A crook-turned-servant falls for the vulnerable heiress she had originally schemed to swindle, in this audacious, visually sumptuous and highly erotic period piece. Special Presentations VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)
THE SKYJACKER’S TALE
discovery SANDSTORM
Director: Elite Zexer Producers: Haim Mecklberg, Estee Yacov-Mecklberg Executive Producers: Rami Yehoshua, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, Ygal Mograbi Production Company: 2Team Productions World Sales: Beta Cinema E-mail: beta@betacinema.com Web: www.betacinema.com Tue Sep 13 18:45 Wed Sep 14 09:15 Sat Sep 17 16:00 Press & Industry: Thu Sep 8 15:15
PLANETARIUM
Scotiabank 13 TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 4 Scotiabank 8
TIFF Docs FOREVER PURE
Director: Maya Zinshtein Producers: Geoff Arbourne, Maya Zinshtein Co-Producers: Alan Maher, Torstein Grude Production Companies: Duckin' Divin' Films, Maya Films, Passion Pictures, Roads Entertainment, Piraya Films AS International & US Sales: DOGWOOF e-mail: anna@dogwoof.com web: www.dogwoof.com Sat Sep 10 19:15 Scotiabank 13 Mon Sep 12 15:45 Scotiabank 10 Sun Sep 18 21:15 Scotiabank 13 Press & Industry: Mon Sep 12 09:00 Scotiabank 10
Short Cuts ANNA
Director: Or Sinai Producer: Lea Tonic Production: The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School Co-Production: Cinephil Distribution and Co-Productions World Sales: Cinephil – Distribution & Co Productions E-mail: info@cinephil.com Web: www.cinephil.com Mon Sep 12 18:45 Scotiabank 14 Sat Sep 17 18:30 Scotiabank 11 Press & Industry: Tue Sep 13 12:15 Scotiabank 6 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
36 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
(Canada) 75mins. Cave 7 International (int’l). Dir: Jamie Kastner. Cast: Ishmael Muslim Ali, Margaret Ratner Kunstler, Michael Ratner. A look at a notorious 1970s trial in the Virgin Islands — where five politicised islanders were convicted of a massacre at a country club — and its dramatic aftermath a decade later, when the culprits’ ostensible leader staged a skyjacking. TIFF Docs Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
X500
(Canada/Colombia/ Mexico) 108mins. Dir: Juan Andres Arango. Cast: Jembie Almazan, Jonathan Diaz Angulo, Bernardo Garnica Cruz. The second feature by Juan Andres Arango (La Playa DC) follows the stories of three unrelated migrants who each experience the death of a loved one. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
9:45PM AYITI MON AMOUR
(Haiti/US) 88mins. Dir: Guetty Felin. Cast: Joakim Cohen, Anisia Uzeyman, Jaures Andris.
A grieving teenager discovers he has a superpower, an old fisherman thinks the cure for his ailing wife can be found in the sea, and a muse struggles to exit the story her author is penning.
KATI KATI
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13
Discovery Scotiabank 11
INTERCHANGE
SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 04
(Malaysia/Indonesia) 103mins. Reel Suspects (int’l). XYZ Films (US). Dir: Dain Iskandar Said. Cast: Shaheizy Sam, Nicholas Saputra, Prisia Nasution. A shell-shocked forensics photographer is drawn into a supernatural murder mystery. Vanguard Scotiabank 10
THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
(Taiwan/Myanmar/ France/Germany) 108mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International (int’l). Dir: Midi Z. Cast: Ko Kai, Wu Ke-Xi. Two illegal Burmese migrants find love with each other while struggling to survive in the bustling cities of Thailand. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
10:00PM BY THE TIME IT GETS DARK
(Thailand/Netherlands/ France/Qatar) 105mins. Luxbox (int’l). Dir: Anocha Suwichakornpong. Cast: Arak Amornsupasiri, Atchara Suwan, Visra Vichit-Vadakan. This delicately poetic film weaves together multiple stories and characters to create a portrait of a beautiful country haunted by its troubled history. Wavelengths Jackman Hall (AGO)
GODSPEED
(Kenya/Germany) 75mins. Rushlake Media GmbH (int’l). Dir: Mbithi Masya. Cast: Nyokabi Gethaiga, Elsaphan Njora A new arrival in the afterlife struggles to recover the past.
93mins. Short Cuts Scotiabank 14
THE BLEEDER
(US) 101mins. Millennium Films (int’l). United Talent Agency (UTA) (US). Dir: Philippe Falardeau. Cast: Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss. Biopic of New Jersey boxer Chuck Wepner, who was the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky. Special Presentations Princess of Wales Theatre
THE OATH
(Iceland) 110mins. XYZ Films (int’l and US). Dir: Baltasar Kormakur. Cast: Baltasar Kormakur, Hera Hilmar, Gisli Orn Gardarsson. Psychological thriller about a father who tries to pull his daughter out of her world of drugs and petty crime. Special Presentations TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
10:45PM VOYAGE OF TIME: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE
(Germany) 90mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Terrence Malick. The IMAX version of Terrence Malick’s new documentary charting the history of the universe. Special Presentations Scotiabank 12
11:59PM
(Taiwan) 111mins. MandarinVision (int’l). Dir: Chung Mong-Hong. Cast: Michael Hui, Na Dow, Leon Dai. A Taiwanese drug mule has his foolproof smuggling method thrown out of whack when he catches a ride with the wrong cab driver.
(US) 88mins. The Safran Company (int’l). Dir: Greg McLean. Cast: John Gallagher Jr, Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona. A group of co-workers are forced into a sick game of kill or be killed by sinister forces who lock down their building.
Vanguard Scotiabank 2
Midnight Madness Ryerson Theatre
THE BELKO EXPERIMENT
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TIFF . 2016 H y a t t R e g e n c y To r o n t o , S u i t e 1 8 0 3
SCREENINGS
THE DAY MY FATHER BECAME A BUSH
PRESS AND Midnight Madness INDUSTRY Ryerson Theatre
See box, below
9:30AM ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE: TRUTH, DECEPTION, AND THE SPIRIT OF I.F. STONE
8:30AM RAGE
(Japan) 142mins. Toho, Versatile (int’l). Dir: Sang-il Lee. Cast: Ken Watanabe, Mirai Moriyama, Kenichi Matsuyama. A grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities, in this arresting ensemble thriller from director Sang-il Lee (Unforgiven). Special Presentations Scotiabank 13
8:45AM MASCOTS See box, right
ZACMA: BLINDNESS
(Poland) 110mins. The Society for Arts/Society Films (US). Dir: Ryszard Bugajski. Cast: Maria Mamona, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Janusz Gajos. Haunted by her ruthless past, a former highranking security officer in Poland’s communist government seeks an audience with the Primate of the Polish Catholic Church, in this compelling drama from Ryszard Bugajski (Interrogation). Contemporary World Cinema, Contemporary World Speakers Scotiabank 11
9:00AM AMERICAN PASTORAL
(US) 126mins. Lakeshore Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Ewan McGregor. Cast: Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning. Ewan McGregor makes his directing debut and stars alongside Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning in this ambitious adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, about a ‘perfect’ American family that is torn apart by the social and political upheavals of the 1960s. Special Presentations Princess of Wales Theatre
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 8:45AM MASCOTS
(US) 89mins. Dir: Christopher Guest. Cast: Jennifer Coolidge, Sarah Baker, Bob Balaban. Director Christopher Guest (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind) and members of his beloved stock company — Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge,
AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN
(India) 95mins. Dir: Khushboo Ranka. Cast: Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav, Santosh Koli. Film-makers Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla follow Arvind Kejriwal, “the Bernie Sanders of India”, as he shakes up the complacent and corrupt status quo of Indian politics as the head of the Common Man’s Party. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 9
NOCES
(Belgium/France/ Luxembourg/Pakistan) 95mins. Jour2fête (int’l). Dir: Stephan Streker. Cast: Lina El Arabi, Sébastien Houbani, Babak Karimi. A teenage girl attempts to juggle the weighty expectations of her traditional Pakistani parents, an unexpected pregnancy and her own
38 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
Ed Begley Jr, and Fred Willard — along with additions Chris O’Dowd and Zach Woods, usher us into the high-stakes world of professional sports mascots, where rivals are engaged in a cutthroat competition for the annual Gold Fluffy Award.
Foot, In the Name of the Father). Gala Presentations Scotiabank 1
9:15AM CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY
idea about where her life should lead, in this touching and intimate film about obligations and their consequences.
(US) 92mins. Submarine (int’l and US). Dir: Matt Tyrnauer. This timely and inspirational documentary chronicles writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs’ battle to save historic NYC neighbourhoods from the draconian redevelopment plans of ruthless power broker Robert Moses in the 1960s.
Discovery, Next Wave Scotiabank 10
TIFF Docs Scotiabank 3
THE SECRET SCRIPTURE
HEADSHOT
(Ireland) 108mins. Voltage Pictures (int’l). William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Dir: Jim Sheridan. Cast: Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave, Jack Reynor. The hidden memoir of an elderly woman confined to a mental hospital reveals the history of her passionate yet tortured life, and of the religious and political upheavals in Ireland during the 1920s and 30s. Rooney Mara, Jack Reynor, Eric Bana and Vanessa Redgrave star in this adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s awardwinning 2008 novel from Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan (My Left
(Indonesia) 117mins.
Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
XYZ Films (US). Dir: Timo Tjahjanto. Cast: Iko Uwais, Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang. The indomitable Iko Uwais (The Raid) stars in this fast and furious actioner as an amnesiac whose mysterious past as a killing machine comes to the fore when he takes on the henchmen of a vengeful drug lord. Midnight Madness Scotiabank 14
(Canada) 91mins. Films Transit (int’l). Dir: Fred Peabody. Cast: Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh, Matt Taibbi. Vancouver-based filmmaker and TV news veteran Fred Peabody explores the life and legacy of the maverick American journalist I.F. Stone, whose long oneman crusade against government deception lives on in the work of such contemporary film-makers and journalists as Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, David Corn and Matt Taibbi. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 8
SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 02
93mins. Short Cuts Scotiabank 6
9:45AM LADY MACBETH
(UK) 89mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Protagonist
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 9:15AM THE DAY MY FATHER BECAME A BUSH
(Netherlands/ Belgium/Croatia) 90mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Nicole van Kilsdonk. Cast:
Celeste Holsheimer, Matsen Montsma, Teun Kuilboer. A story of war as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl. TIFF Kids Scotiabank 5
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TIFF . 2016 H y a t t R e g e n c y To r o n t o , S u i t e 1 8 0 3
SCREENINGS
Pictures (US). Dir: William Oldroyd. Cast: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton. Theatre director William Oldroyd relocates Nikolai Leskov’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to 19th-century England, in this Gothic tale about a woman trapped in a marriage of convenience whose passionate affair unleashes murder and mayhem on a country estate.
LE CIEL FLAMAND
(Belgium) 112mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International (int’l and US). Dir: Peter Monsaert. Cast: Sara Vertongen, Wim Willaert, Esra Vandenbussche. A veteran brothel keeper in Belgium tries to keep her six-year-old daughter from discovering the details of the family business, in this quietly powerful film that asks us how far we would go to keep our children safe.
Platform Scotiabank 4
Discovery Scotiabank 10
10:15AM WEIRDOS
(Canada) 89mins. Dir: Bruce McDonald. Cast: Dylan Authors, Julia Sarah Stone, Molly Parker. Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments) teams with veteran playwright and screenwriter Daniel MacIvor for this offbeat coming-of-age comedydrama, about two Nova
11:15AM
PRESS AND INDUSTRY Scotian teens who hit the road in July 1976 accompanied by the laconic ghost of — the still living — Andy Warhol. Special Presentations Scotiabank 7
11:00AM ALL I SEE IS YOU See box, right
2016_UKF_TIFF_Screenad_HP_218x150_Art_9th.indd 2
40 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
11:00AM ALL I SEE IS YOU
(US/Thailand) 110mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Dir: Marc Forster. Cast: Blake Lively,
CLAIR OBSCUR
Jason Clarke, Yvonne Strahovski. Thriller about a blind woman who regains her sight and begins to discover disturbing details about her life. Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
(Turkey/Germany/ Poland/France) 105mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Yesim Ustaoglu. Cast: Funda Eryigit, Ecem Uzun, Mehmet Kurtulus. Turkish writer-director Yesim Ustaoglu offers a parallel study of two women — a psychiatrist
with a long-time live-in partner and a wife in a conservative, nearly tyrannical household — in this study of the possibilities and limitations that exist for women in Turkey today. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 11
NELLY
(Canada) 101mins. Seville International (int’l). Dir: Anne Emond. Cast: Mylene Mackay, Mylia Corbeil-Gavreau, Mickaël Gouin. Award-winning filmmaker Anne Emond (Nuit #1, Les etres chers) returns to TIFF with this creatively imagined biopic of controversial Quebec writer Nelly Arcan, who scandalised the French literary world with her semi-autobiographical novel based on her experiences as a sex worker. Vanguard Scotiabank 9
05/09/2016 16:03
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EUROPEAN FILM MARKET
IT ALL STARTS HERE. 917 FEB 2017
9,200 Participants 540 Exhibitors 1,600 Buyers 780 Films 1,100 Screenings WWW.EFM-BERLINALE.DE
EFM2017_Screen_245x335mm_RZ.indd 1
19.04.16 12:03
SCREENINGS
TRESPASS AGAINST US
(UK) 94mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Adam Smith. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal. The son and presumptive heir of a criminal clan (Michael Fassbender) comes into conflict with the family patriarch (Brendan Gleeson) when he tries to break away from the outlaw life. Special Presentations Scotiabank 3
11:30AM HUNTING FLIES
(Norway) 106mins. LevelK ApS (int’l). Dir: Izer Aliu. Cast: Burhan Amiti. A veteran junior high school teacher in rural Macedonia finds the ethnic rivalries of his homeland are replicated in microcosm among his unruly student body, in this satirical fable from first-time director Izer Aliu. Discovery Scotiabank 5
THE BELKO EXPERIMENT See box, right
11:45AM THE OATH
(Iceland) 110mins. XYZ Films (int’l and US). Dir: Baltasar Kormakur. Cast: Baltasar Kormakur, Hera Hilmar, Gisli Orn Gardarsson. Icelandic auteur Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband, 2 Guns, Everest) directs and stars in this psychological thriller about a father who tries to pull his daughter out of her world of drugs and petty crime, only to find that danger can be found in unexpected places. Special Presentations Scotiabank 14
12:00PM BLACK CODE
(Canada) 90mins. Dir: Nicholas de Pencier. Cast: Ronald Deibert. Toronto-based documentary film-maker and cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier (Four Wings And A Prayer, Watermark) examines the complex global impact
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 11:30AM THE BELKO EXPERIMENT
(US) 88mins. The Safran Company (int’l). Dir: Greg McLean. Cast: John Gallagher Jr, Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona. Office politics turns into a real-life survival of the fittest when a group of co-workers are forced that the internet has had on matters of free speech, privacy and activism. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 6
CARRIE PILBY
(US) 98mins. Radiant Films International (int’l). ICM Partners, United Talent Agency (UTA) (US). Dir: Susan Johnson. Cast: Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne. Awkward, isolated and disapproving of most of the people around her, a precocious 19-year-old genius is challenged to put her convictions to the test by venturing out on to the NYC dating scene, in this adaptation of Caren Lissner’s bestselling 2003 novel. Special Presentations Scotiabank 4
42 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
into a sick game of kill or be killed by sinister forces who lock down their building, in this gruesomely funny horror thriller from director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and writer James Gunn (Guardians Of The Galaxy). Midnight Madness Scotiabank 13
COLOSSAL
(Canada) 110mins. Voltage Pictures (int’l). Creative Artists Agency (US). Dir: Nacho Vigalondo. Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens. A going-nowhere party girl (Anne Hathaway) discovers a mysterious connection between herself and a giant monster wreaking havoc on the other side of the globe.
political party founded on the basis of a nationwide anti-austerity movement that dramatically upended the country’s traditional, hidebound two-party system.
real-life political thriller from Oscar winner Oliver Stone, co-starring Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Timothy Olyphant and Nicolas Cage.
TIFF Docs Scotiabank 8
Gala Presentations Princess of Wales Theatre
SNOWDEN
(Germany/US) 134mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Oliver Stone. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in this
THE BIRTH OF A NATION See box, below
12:30PM INDIA IN A DAY
(India/UK) 86mins. Scott Free Films Limited (int’l). Scott Free Films Limited (US).
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 12:00PM THE BIRTH OF A NATION
(US) 120mins. Dir: Nate Parker. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Mark Boone Jr. Writer-director Nate Parker reclaims the title
of D.W. Griffith’s KKKboosting 1916 milestone for this epic chronicle of the life of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in 1831 Virginia. Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
Vanguard Scotiabank 12
POLITICS, INSTRUCTIONS MANUAL
(Spain) 115mins. Dir: Fernando Leon de Aranoa. A fascinating behindthe-scenes documentary about the rise of Podemos, the insurgent Spanish
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AMERICAN FILM MARKET & CONFERENCES November 2-9, 2016 Santa Monica AmericanFilmMarket.com
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Dir: Richie Mehta. Directed by Richie Mehta, executive produced by Ridley Scott and powered by Google, India in a Day is a form of non-fiction film-making that uses footage shot by millions of people in India on one single day to assemble a lyrical portrait of modern India. TIFF Docs, Next Wave Scotiabank 7
1:15PM CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY
(US) 99mins. Concord Music Group (US). Dir: John Scheinfeld. Cast: Antonia Andrews, Bill Clinton, Michelle Coltrane. Veteran documentarian John Scheinfeld (The U.S. Vs. John Lennon) explores the life and work of jazz legend John Coltrane, with commentary and appreciations from such diverse Trane devotees as Denzel Washington, Carlos Santana, Common, Cornell West and Bill Clinton. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 3
1:30PM THE LEVELLING
(UK) 83mins. Mongrel International (int’l). Dir: Hope Dickson Leach. Cast: Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton, Jack Holden. After her brother’s suicide, a young woman returns to her family farm to confront her brooding and embittered father, in the beautifully controlled and emotionally precise feature debut by Hope Dickson Leach. Discovery Scotiabank 10
THE ROLLING STONES OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ!: A TRIP ACROSS LATIN AMERICA See box, above
1:45PM THE EMPTY BOX
(France/Mexico) 101mins. Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Claudia Sainte-Luce. Cast: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Claudia Sainte-Luce, Pablo Sigal. Mexican film-maker
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 1:30PM THE ROLLING STONES OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ!: A TRIP ACROSS LATIN AMERICA
(UK) 105mins. Eagle Rock Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Paul Dugdale. Cast: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards.
Claudia Sainte-Luce (The Amazing Catfish) directs and stars in her touching second feature, about a young woman in Mexico City who is forced to care for her estranged father as he descends into senile dementia. Discovery Scotiabank 11
2:00PM SANTA & ANDRES
(Cuba/Colombia/ France) 105mins. Habanero (int’l). Dir: Carlos Lechuga. Cast: Lola Amores, Eduardo Martinez, George Abreu. A dissident homosexual Cuban novelist strikes up an unlikely rapport with the government watcher assigned to keep him from speaking during an upcoming political rally. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 5
2:15PM THE REHEARSAL
(New Zealand) 102mins. Mongrel International (int’l). Dir: Alison
44 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
This exhilarating rock ’n’ roll road movie follows The Rolling Stones on their 2016 tour of Latin America, climaxing with their historic concert in Havana, Cuba. Gala Presentations Scotiabank 2
Maclean. Cast: Kerry Fox, James Rolleston, Alice Englert. A young student at a drama school faces a moral conundrum when his budding romance becomes fodder for a final-year performance, in director Alison Maclean’s adaptation of the novel by Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton.
98mins. MPM Film (int’l). Dir: Adrian Sitaru. Cast: Tudor Aaron Istodor, Mehdi Nebbou, Nicolas Wanczycki. A headline-grabbing sex scandal gives a Romanian trainee at a French news network an opportunity for his big break, in this charged moral drama from Adrian Sitaru. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7
4:15PM WATER AND SUGAR: CARLO DI PALMA, THE COLOURS OF LIFE See box, right
4:30PM JOE CINQUE’S CONSOLATION
(Australia) 102mins. UDI
— Urban Distribution International (int’l). Dir: Sotiris Dounoukos. Cast: Maggie Naouri, Jerome Meyer, Gia Carides. Based on the prizewinning book by Helen Garner about a headlinegrabbing 1994 murder case, this riveting drama chronicles how the relationship between two Australian law students turns deadly when
devotion and delusion become fatally mixed. Discovery Scotiabank 5
4:45PM IN THE BLOOD
(Denmark) 104mins. LevelK ApS (int’l). Dir: Rasmus Heisterberg. Cast: Kristoffer Bech, Elliott Crosset Hove, Victoria Carmen Sonne. A brilliant but entitled
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 4:15PM WATER AND SUGAR: CARLO DI PALMA, THE COLOURS OF LIFE
(Italy) 90mins. Adriana Chiesa Enterprises Dir: Fariborz Kamkari. A galaxy of cinema
luminaries — from Ken Loach and Ettore Scola to Wim Wenders — pay tribute to the great Italian cinematographer Carlo di Palma. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 6
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 14
WEREWOLF
(Canada) 78mins. Dir: Ashley McKenzie. Cast: Andrew Gillis, Bhreagh MacNeil. The hardscrabble existence of two homeless, twentysomething drug addicts is portrayed with sensitivity and brutal honesty in the debut feature by Ashley McKenzie. Discovery Scotiabank 6
2:30PM THE FIXER
(Romania/France)
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SCREENINGS
Screen office Meeting room 12, fifth floor, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street West, Toronto, ON, M5V 3X5 Editorial Tel +1 416 599 8433 ext 2512 Editor Matt Mueller, matt.mueller@screendaily.com, +44 7880 526 547 US editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Chief critic & reviews editor Finn Halligan, finn.halligan@ screendaily.com, +44 7798 571 270 Group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Reporter Tom Grater, tom.grater@screendaily.com, +44 7436 096 420
PRESS AND INDUSTRY Danish medical student allows his possessive feelings for his best friend to throw his decadent social circle into chaos, in this scathing critique of contemporary upper-class amorality from the screenwriter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and
A Royal Affair. Discovery Scotiabank 7
6:30PM JEFFREY
(Dominican Republic/ France) 78mins. Dir: Yanillys Perez. Cast: ‘Jeffrey’ Joselito de la Cruz, Jeyson de la Cruz,
MIMOSAS
(Spain/Morocco/ France/Qatar) 93mins. Luxbox (int’l). Dir: Oliver Laxe. Cast: Ahmed Hammoud, Shakib Ben Omar, Said Aagli. The winner of the Grand Prize in Critics’
7:00PM BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT
(Mexico) 91mins. Dir: Maria Jose Cuevas. Cast: Olga Breeskin, Lyn May, Rossy Mendoza. A captivating group
Week at this year’s Cannes, Oliver Laxe’s mesmerising, minimalist ‘Eastern western’ follows a caravan transporting the body of a sheik to his remote resting place in the perilous wilderness of the Moroccan desert.
Discovery Scotiabank 6
LAND OF THE GODS
Goran Paskaljevic. Cast: Victor Banerjee, Geetanjali Thapa, Uttara Baokar. Goran Paskaljevic’s visually stunning fable set in a remote Himalayan village. The return of a native who has been wandering for 40 years stirs dark memories and old grudges
Wavelengths Scotiabank 7
(India/Serbia) 92mins. Nova Film (int’l). Dir:
Masters Scotiabank 7
PRESS AND INDUSTRY 9:30PM
Junior de la Cruz. This feature documentary focuses on a 12-yearold street windshield washer in Santo Domingo who yearns to become a reggaeton singer, and with the help of his older brother composes and records songs about his life, his neighbourhood, and his dreams for the future.
7:00PM BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT See box, above
7:15PM
portrait of iconic showgirls who enthralled thousands during the disco-era heyday of Mexico’s burlesque culture. TIFF Docs Scotiabank 5
8:30PM ’76
(Nigeria) 118mins. Princewill Trust (int’l). Dir: Izu Ojukwu. Cast: Ramsey Nouah, Rita Dominic, Chidi Mokeme. Gripping drama set against the backdrop of the attempted 1976 military coup against the government. City to City Scotiabank 6
9:15PM MAD WORLD
(Hong Kong) 101mins. Golden Scene Company Ltd (int’l). Dir: Wong Chun. Cast: Shawn Yue, Eric Tsang, Elaine Jin. A former financial analyst suffering from severe bipolar disorder is released from a mental health facility into the unwilling custody of his truck-driver father. Discovery Scotiabank 5
Sid Adilman mentorship programme Aaditya Aggarwal, aadiaggarwal@gmail.com Advertising and publishing Publishing director Nadia Romdhani, nadia. romdhani@screendaily.com Senior sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260 International account managers Ingrid Hammond +39 05 7829 8768, ingridhammond@mac.com Pierre-Louis Manes, pierre-louis. manes@screendaily.com, +44 7768 237 487 Gunter Zerbich, gunter.zerbich@ screendaily.com, +44 7768 237 487 VP business development, North America Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 US sales and business development executive Nikki Tilmouth, nikki.screeninternational@gmail. com +1 323 868 7633 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 335 148 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 (0) 330 333 9414
9:30PM MIMOSAS See box, aove left
46 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2016
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