Screen Toronto Day 1

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AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

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PRESENTS AT TIFF

LIFE IN A FISHBOWL

2014

The 2014 No. 1 box office hit in Iceland

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE A Film by BALDVIN Z with Thorsteinn

Bachmann, Hera Hilmarsdóttir, Thor Kristjánsson

SYNOPSIS Reykjavik. After a tragedy, writer Móri drinks himself into oblivion on a twenty-year binge. Eik, a young single mom moonlights as a prostitute to make ends meet.

Young father and good husband, Sölvi, is recruited into the snake pit of the Icelandic international banking.

Soon fate will make them meet.

SCREENINGS Fri 05 Sept 9.30 pm SCOTIABANK 14 Premiere Sun 07 Sept 1.45 pm SCOTIABANK 8 Official Sun 14 Sept 1.15 pm TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 4 Official T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Drama - Iceland - DCP - 2.35 - 130 min

EL CINCO

By the director of “GIGANTE”

MARKET PREMIERE

A Film by ADRIÁN BINIEZ with Esteban

Lamothe, Julieta Zylberberg, Nestór Guzzini

SYNOPSIS Argentina. After being expelled during a B division match, Patón (34), the Captain of the Talleres football team, realizes his career has come to an end. Looking for a new start with his wife Ale, Patón also needs to come to terms with the fact that this decision is as well the beginning of adulthood. But what can you do next when you are just a football player?

SCREENING Sun 07 Sept 12.00 pm TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 6 Industry

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Comedy/Drama - Argentina - DCP - 2.35 - 100 min

SHORT SKIN

MARKET PREMIERE A Film by DUCCIO CHIARINI with Matteo

Creatini, Francesca Agostini

SYNOPSIS It’s summer and everybody seems to talk only about sex.

Edoardo is insecure and awkward with girls: he never told anybody even his best friend Arturo that since birth his foreskin is too narrow preventing him from having sex.

But when you are 17, love is in the air: Edoardo will have to find his way.

SCREENING Sat 06 Sept

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Comedy/Drama - Italy - DCP - 1.85 - 86 min

9.00 am TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 6 Industry

German Films Booth@ Tiff Industry Office - Hyatt Regency (Mezzanine Level) Jean-Christophe Simon +49 173 59 15 767 simon@filmsboutique.com Cristina Cavaliere +49 176 75 48 29 52 cristina@filmsboutique.com www.filmsboutique.com Follow us on twitter.com/FilmsBoutique

MONUMENT TO MICHAEL JACKSON

MARKET

A Film by DARKO LUNGULOV ( HERE AND THERE ) with Boris

Milivojevic, Natasa Tapuskovic, Dragan Bjelogrlic

SYNOPSIS In a dying town in Serbia daydreamer Marko is on the verge of divorce from the love of his life, Ljubinka. When an old communistera monument is removed from the Main Square, he comes up with the idea to build a monument to Michael Jackson in order to save his town and seduce his wife again. But the town’s mayor has his own plans.

SCREENING Sun 07 Sept 9.00 pm TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 6 Industry

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Comedy/Drama - Serbia - DCP - 2.35 - 95 min

NEXT TO HER

MARKET A Film by ASAF KORMAN with Liron

Ben-Shlush, Dana Ivgy, Yaakov Daniel

SYNOPSIS

Chelli is raising her mentally disabled sister Gabby all by herself. When the social worker discovers she leaves her sister alone in the house while at work, Chelli is forced to place her in a day-care center and the void left by her sister’s absence makes room for a man in her life.

That man, Zohar, tears another crack in the symbiotic relationship of the two sisters.

SCREENING Mon 08 Sept 6.00 pm TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 6 Industry

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Drama - Israel - DCP - 2.35 - 90 min

THE WAY HE LOOKS

MARKET

Berlinale Teddy Award

A Film by DANIEL RIBEIRO with Ghilherme

Lobo, Fabio Audi, Tess Amorim

Music by Belle and Sebastian SYNOPSIS Leonardo is a teenager trying to be more independent from his parents. Together with his best friend Giovana, they dream to travel abroad as well to experience their first kiss.

When Gab, a new classmate arrives, new feelings blossom among them making them question their plans, no matter Leonardo is blind.

SCREENING Tue 09 Sept 9.00 am TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 6 Industry

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S 2014 - Romantic comedy - Brazil - DCP - 2.35 - 96 min

TORONTO 2014

IS SU E

1

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 2014

AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com

Juno Temple

Séville tunes in to Len And Company

BY JEREMY KAY

Séville International will kick off talks with buyers here on the Anonymous Content drama Len And Company, starring Rhys Ifans and Juno Temple. Award-winning commercials director Tim Godsall directs the story from a screenplay he adapted with Katharine Knight based on Carly Mensch’s play Len, Asleep In Vinyl.

Len And Company, now in post, centres on a journey of self discovery by a record producer whose self-imposed exile is shattered by the arrival of his estranged son and a successful client. Rounding out the key cast are Jack Kilmer, Keir Gilchrist and Kathryn Hahn.

Anonymous Content founder Steve Golin finances Len And Company and serves as executive producer with Kate Buckley. Youree Henley (The Bling Ring) and Rick Jarjoura produce with Anonymous Content. eOne Films International president Harold van Lier negotiated the deal on behalf of Séville International with Golin for the film-makers.

Séville’s vice-president of international sales Anick Poirier has a Toronto slate that includes New Zealand drama The Dark Horse.

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Soda, Thunderbird throw first punch with Riot Club

BY WENDY MITCHELL

Canadian production company Thunderbird has acquired UK indie distributor Soda Pictures in a deal that will see Soda grow its UK operations and slate as well as launching as a distributor in Canada.

The companies launch the new venture with a Canadian deal for Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, which premieres here tomorrow.

That deal was negotiated between HanWay’s Thorsten Schumacher and Soda’s Eve Gabereau.

Soda will continue to operate under its own brand, as part of the Thunderbird group of companies.

Soda principals Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher, who founded the company in 2002, will continue to lead the outfit.

The alliance will see Soda concentrating on high-end British films for its Canadian slate. The UK slate will grow in “scale and scope”

Julia Roberts eyes Secret

The Riot Club

thanks to the new investment.

“Soda has exceptional relationships with film-makers and an infrastructure that will help us expand our reach, library and expertise. By leveraging this, it’s a smart way to enter the Canadian distribution market,” said Thunderbird executive chairman Ivan Fecan.

The deal lets Thunderbird build on its production background — mostly in TV but expanding into film — by creating inroads into distribution in both the UK and Canada; and Soda, which has been increasing its production activities, Hubert Boesl

BY JEREMY KAY

Julia Roberts is in advanced talks to join Chiwetel Ejiofor and Gwyneth Paltrow in IM Global’s remake of Argentinian Oscar winner The Secret In Their Eyes.

IM Global is fielding offers from international buyers and it is understood that CAA has already received several US bids.

Producer Susan Downey and her husband, Robert Downey Jr, on the red carpet for The Judge, directed by David Dobkin. See review, p12

Dogwoof hears Oppenheimer’s Silence UK distributor Dogwoof has snapped up rights to Joshua Oppenheimer’s well-received documentary The Look Of Silence.

The deal was brokered by Oli Harbottle of Dogwoof with Philippa Kowarsky of Cinephil.

The companion piece to Oppenheimer’s Bafta-winning

now gets the strength of two markets as a distributor.

Deals will be done sometimes for a single territory but sometimes jointly for the UK and Canada.

The backing will allow Soda’s UK team to grow, as well as for the company to work on some bigger films.

The company will continue to work on the niche and foreign-language titles for which it has been known.

“In a way it’s business as usual, but we also now have a partner company that can fund growth and expansion, while letting us run autonomously,” Gabereau said.

Privately owned Thunderbird, headquartered in Vancouver with offices in Toronto and Los Angeles, includes Thunderbird Films, Reunion Pictures and Sea To Sky Studios (a joint venture with Lionsgate). Frank Giustra, founder of Lionsgate, is the largest investor in the company.

documentary The Act Of Killing follows an Indonesian family investigating the murder of their son in the Indonesian genocide in 1965.

The film screened to acclaim in Venice and Telluride last week and shows in Toronto from Tuesday.

Signe Byrge Sorensen produces for Denmark’s Final Cut for Real.

Executive producers are Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and André Singer. Dogwoof will release in 2015.

“Joshua has once again delivered a powerful reminder of the fragility of the human condition,” Harbottle told Screen. “We are looking not only to replicate the astonishing success of the previous film but to top it with

some big and exciting plans already in place for the UK release.”

Distributor I Wonder secured Italian rights during Venice.

Separately, Dogwoof’s sales arm has confirmed deals for Dior And I

by Frédéric Tcheng to Japan (Open Sesame, Alcine, Bunkamura), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Hong Kong (Edko) and Taiwan (Sky Dig Entertainment).

Andreas Wiseman

TODAY

The Judge

REVIEW The verdict is in The Judge comes alive when Downey Jr and Duvall share screen time » Page 12

FEATURE Canada calling The lowdown on shooting in Ontario » Page 22

Lotus shines with Hanks’s Hologram sales

BY JEREMY KAY

Lotus Entertainment has reported a strong response from buyers to Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram For The King starring Tom Hanks.

Bill Johnson, Jim Seibel and the sales team have closed deals in Scandinavia (Mis.Label), Latin America excluding Mexico (Swen), Benelux (A-Film, Benelux Rechten), Poland (Monolith), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais) and the former Yugoslavia (Blitz Film). Lotus has also licensed rights in Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Singapore (Shaw Renters), Taiwan (Caichang), Thailand (Mono Film) and China (HGC Entertainment).

Further deals closed in Greece, Cypress, Turkey, the Middle East, India and Pakistan (Italia Film), Iceland (Myndform), Israel (United King), Bulgaria and Romania (Programs4 Media), South Africa (MNet), Indonesia (Prima Cinema) and airlines (Cinesky).

X Filme Creative Pool co-produced the feature and retains rights for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, while executive producer Fabrica de Cine controls Mexico and Spain.

As previously reported, Icon Film Distribution holds UK rights to the tale of a man teetering on the brink of insolvency who starts a new life in Saudi Arabia in a bid to look after his family.

Uwe Schott and Stefan Arndt of X Filme Creative Pool produce with Arcadiy Golubovich and Tim O’Hair of Primeridian and Hanks’s business partner Gary Goetzman at Playtone. CAA handles US rights.

Lotus’s sales slate includes zombie drama Maggie, which Lionsgate acquired on the eve of Toronto and pulled from the festival, Kidnap, Fallen, Z For Zachariah and Song One.

News

Toronto briefs Gyllenhaal, Watts move into Demolition Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts will star in the romantic drama Demolition for Jean-Marc Vallée; producers are Black Label Media, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Mr Mudd. Sierra/Affinity will handle international sales.

Vimeo and eOne pact Vimeo and eOne have signed a distribution partnership, which kicks off with day and date North American launches for Fort Bliss, Catch Hell, The Culture High and A Merry Friggin Christmas.

Trier launches Bombs Joachim Trier’s English-language debut, Louder Than Bombs, started shooting yesterday in New York City with a cast led by Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg and Isabelle Huppert. The film is a NorwayFrance-Denmark co-production between Motlys, Memento Films Production and Nimbus Film.

Memento Films International is handling international rights and working with UTA and CAA for the North American sale.

Deals for Dealer Paris-based sales company WTFilms has sold Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer to Pierrot le Fou/ Alamode for German rights and to Praesens for Switzerland. Talks are ongoing for the US and Japan.

Exchange finds People The Exchange has acquired international rights to Sundance prizewinner Dear White People and begins sales in Toronto.

Crosswind blows to France Leipzig-based sales company Deckert Distribution has sold Estonian feature In The Crosswind to ARP for France. Martti Helde’s feature has its international premiere here in Contemporary World Cinema.

Bleecker Street staffs up Andrew Karpen’s New York-based distributor Bleecker Street has hired a quartet of former Focus Features executives: Jack Foley, Myles Bender, Tyler DiNapoli and Kent Sanderson.

» Full stories on ScreenDaily.com

Mongrel takes journey with Fiona Tan’s Future

By Jeremy Kay

Mongrel International has made a last-minute addition to its Toronto slate: History’s Future from installation artist Fiona Tan. The Family Affair Films and Rohfilm project is a part-fiction, part-documentary speculative essay and stars European talent Mark O’Halloran, Denis Lavant and Anne Consigny.

History’s Future focuses on a man who loses his memory after a violent assault and embarks on a trans-European voyage. The shoot will end on September 15.

Fiona Tan

Mongrel International president Charlotte Mickie said: “Fiona Tan is a very impressive artist and promises to be an equally impressive feature film-

maker. Her themes of identity, dislocation and connectedness are both urgent and affecting.”

Mongrel’s slate also includes Electric Boogaloo, Over Your Dead Body and Brave Men’s Blood — all in partnership with Celluloid Dreams.

“This association continues a long relationship between myself and Hengameh Panahi, who initiated all three of these extraordinary films,” said Mickie of the slate.

“We’re expecting terrific results from TIFF. Buyers have been tracking the titles for some time.”

Browning signs to FilmNation

By Jeremy Kay

Wayfare Entertainment cofounder and former CEO Ben Browning has joined FilmNation Entertainment in the new position of co-president of production and acquisitions.

Browning is in Toronto scouting projects for the company to produce, sell and finance. He relocates from New York to Los Angeles to join co-president of production and acquisitions

Ben Browning

Aaron Ryder. Both Browning and Ryder will report to FilmNation CEO Glen Basner.

FilmNation, in town selling The Imitation Game, While We’re Young and Top Five, is in development on The Good House to star Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro and In The Event Of A Moon Disaster, which Tate Taylor will direct.

“We have successfully collaborated with Ben in the past, and I know that his joining our team will be key in continuing to propel FilmNation forward,” said Basner.

Little cuts into The Barber

By Jeremy Kay

The Little Film Company will commence world sales in Toronto on Chapman Filmed Entertainment’s thriller The Barber (formerly Trigger) starring Scott Glenn.

The Barber centres on a man and his son caught up in the obsessive pursuit of a monster.

Chapman alumnus Basel Owies directed from a script by Max Enscoe. Chapman Filmed Entertainment’s Travis Knox produced, with Bob Yari and William Immerman as executive producers.

“We’re thrilled to introduce The Barber to buyers in Toronto and are confident the film will captivate them as it did us the first time we saw it,” said The Little Film Company co-president Robbie Little.

6 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

Buyers move into Seidl’s Basement After its Venice screenings last week, Ulrich Seidl’s In The Basement — about what Austrians get up to in their cellars — has gone to several territories. Coproduction Office has sold to Austria (Stadtkino), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Baltics (Must Käsi), former Yugoslavia (Obala Art Center), Germany (Neue Visionen), Poland (Against Gravity) Sweden (TriArt) and Switzerland (Praesens). Several other territories are also pending.

Geoffrey Macnab

Secrets Of War

Sola reveals Secrets Of War

By Wendy Mitchell

Sola Media has boarded worldwide sales for Secrets Of War, which screens at TIFF Kids from Sunday. Deals have been done with German-speaking Europe (Koch Media), Turkey (Mediavizion) and Estonia (Estin Film).

Rinkel Film and Bijker Film & TV produce; the team is also planning a September 13 open-air screening at the American Cemetery in Margraten, celebrating 70 years of liberation from the Nazis.

Dutch Film Works has released to strong results in Netherlands.

Dennis Bots directs the story, adapted by Karen van Holst Pellekaan and based on Jacques Vriens’ bestseller about 12-year-old friends living in Nazi-occupied Netherlands.

Versatile adds La Patota

By Melanie Goodfellow

Paris-based Versatile has picked up socially conscious thriller La Patota, by Argentina’s Santiago Mitre, about an idealistic lawyer who is attacked by a gang while doing charity work in an impoverished border town.

La Patota has just started shooting in Misiones in northeast Argentina, with Dolores Fonzi in the lead role.

“We were very moved and impressed by the script. Combined with Mitre’s direction, which we discovered in The Student, we will surely have the honour of presenting a major Latin American film next year,” said Pape Boye, co-chief of Versatile alongside Violaine Pichon.

Ad Vitam has already acquired French distribution rights.

Other additions to Versatile’s sales slate include Jérome Bonnell’s A Trois, On Y Va, a comedy starring Anais Demoustier, Sophie Verbeeck and Félix Moati.

www.screendaily.com

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SCR EENINGS Press & Industry Screening: Friday 5th September 2:00pm - Scotiabank 7 Public Screening 1: Friday 5th September 9:45pm - Scotiabank 13 Public Screening 2: Sunday 7th September 10:00pm - Scotiabank 8 Public Screening 3: Friday 13th September 3:15pm - Scotiabank 4 A LSO IN TORONTO

SILENT HEART by BILLE AUGUST Drama / Denmark / 2014

Private Screening Monday Evening

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C O P E N H A G E N / N E W LevelK.dk

Y O R K

In Toronto: Natja Rosner +45 3048 3912 natja@levelk.dk Alexandra Burke +45 5040 7667 alex@levelk.dk

Scandinavian Films Stand, King Ballroom, Hyatt.

Profiles

» Lone Scherfig, The Riot Club p8 » Baldvin Z, Life In A Fishbowl p8

» Michael Winterbottom, The Face Of An Angel p10

» Jean-Baptiste Léonetti, The Reach p10

Lone Scherfig The Riot Club No, that would be extreme. I would prefer that anyone with great privilege acted responsibly. But for me the film was not that specific. Laura’s play is inspired by the Bullingdon Club but you won’t recognise any contemporary politicians in this film.

By Andreas Wiseman

Denmark’s Toronto regular Lone Scherfig (An Education) tackles the badly behaved UK aristocracy in Laura Wade’s adaptation of her play Posh, about an infamous Oxford University dining club. The film premieres tomorrow as a Gala Presentation; HanWay handles international sales.

What interested you in this story?

I saw Laura’s play twice. It was so witty and ambitious that I told my agent that if there were a film version, I’d love the chance to direct it. I was keen to make a film that had a slightly different energy and I wanted to make a film about class.

Class remains ever important in the UK. Yes. There are variations elsewhere but it remains extreme in the UK. That said, the film is as much about tribes and conformity as about British class.

What do exclusive clubs like this tell us about society?

They are micro-societies. There are tiny

The Riot Club; (inset) Lone Scherfig

ghettos like them all over the world, places where wealthy people don’t feel they have to hide their wealth.

Your producer, Peter Czernin, was a flatmate of UK prime minister David Cameron after being at Eton together.

Did you ask him for any insight into

members of the Bullingdon Club, on which The Riot Club is based?

Pete knows how knives and forks should be arranged at a formal dinner so it was good to ask his advice on certain things.

Would you like to see clubs like the Bullingdon Club abolished?

Despite that, one or two Conservative Party members of Parliament have complained about the film.

But they haven’t seen it. It’s more nuanced than they might think. And anyway, sometimes people being opinionated is a form of enthusiasm.

And how was directing 10 young men?

Great. They are totally different to the boys they portray. I would direct each one differently. I remember thinking I’d love to put one of them in a trunk and take them home. I don’t have a son!

Baldvin Z Life In A Fishbowl

By Wendy Mitchell

Icelandic director Baldvin Z’s second feature interweaves the story of three very different characters struggling with modern life in Reykjavik. It screens in the Discovery section from today; Films Boutique handles international sales.

How big a hit is the film in Iceland?

We’re now the ninth biggest Icelandic film since the beginning of the Icelandic film industry. It’s the biggest film this year, even including films like The Hobbit. It’s a pleasant surprise for the whole industry of Iceland, because like many other countries the local films have not been doing as well at the box office. I think I just made the right film at the right time.

You worked with actor Thorsteinn Bachmann for three years, developing the character of Mori the alcoholic poet. What is it you enjoy about working with actors?

It’s the character development. I get so

Baldvin Z

much out of talking about characters’ background stories, and when we do this preparation you see it come alive on the screen.

What are you working on next?

I’m going back to teenagers [his first feature Jitters was a teenage story], it’s a love

8 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

Life In A Fishbowl

story between teenage girls but it takes place in a bad environment. They are, like, 15 years old and they’re injecting this medicine; it’s an ugly world here in Iceland and nobody wants to talk about it.

We have this newspaper in Iceland where they show photos of missing people. And I started seeing the same 15 year

old on this page, again and again. Iceland is not a big place… how can you go missing 15 times in one year? I started talking to these people and finding out what’s going on with them. It was a world I didn’t know about and it interested me.

It’s a love story of these two girls and it’s also a story of these families.

www.screendaily.com

TRUSTNORDISK IN TORONTO 2014 SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

OFFICIAL SCREENINGS TOMORROW 3:15 PM TUE 9 11:15 AM TUE 9 6:00 PM WED 10 11:30 AM FRI 12 9:00 AM SUN 14 9:45 PM

SCOTIABANK 2 SCOTIABANK 3 ELGIN / WINTER GARDEN THEATRE / VISA SCREENING ROOM ELGIN / WINTER GARDEN THEATRE / VISA SCREENING ROOM SCOTIABANK 7 TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX CINEMA 3

NORTH AMERICAN PUBLICIST: INTERNATIONAL PUBLICIST:

PRESS & INDUSTRY PRESS & INDUSTRY PUBLIC PUBLIC PRESS & INDUSTRY PUBLIC

Melody Korenbrot / mkorenbrot@bk-pr.com | Tami Kim / tkim@bk-pr.com PR Works / Alyson Dewar / alyson@prworksinternational.com | Emily Salkin / emily@prworksinternational.com

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

OFFICIAL SCREENINGS TOMORROW 9:00 AM TOMORROW 5:45 PM MON 8 9:30 AM TUE 9 6:45 PM SAT 13 12:00 PM

SCOTIABANK 10 SCOTIABANK 2 THE BLOOR SCOTIABANK 6 SCOTIABANK 2

INTERNATIONAL PUBLICIST: PUBLICIST – GERMAN SPEAKING TERRITORIES:

PRESS & INDUSTRY PUBLIC PUBLIC PRESS & INDUSTRY PUBLIC Falco Ink. / Annie McDonough / anniemcdonough@falcoink.com / +1 908-227-0366 Julie Chappell / juliechappell@falcoink.com / +1 571-643-9802 Annabelle Ferle / Annabelle_Ferle@spe.sony.com / +49 30 2575 5827

SELECTED FOR FANTASTIC FEST OFFICIAL SELECTION

OFFICIAL SELECTION

FANTASTIC FEST

FANTASTIC FEST

2014

2014

THE ABSENT ONE

I AM HERE

Thriller by Mikkel Nørgaard, based on the bestseller by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Drama by Anders Morgenthaler starring Kim Basinger

PRESALES

THE COMMUNE

THE LAST KING

Drama by Thomas Vinterberg / Pre-production

Action-drama by Nils Gaup / Pre-production

HERE IS HAROLD

THE SHAMER’S DAUGHTER

Dramedy by Gunnar Vikene / Post-production

Fantasy/Adventure by Kenneth Kainz / Post-production

International Sales: TrustNordisk / Scandinavian Stand / Hyatt Mezz. Floor / +45 2421 4133 Screen_TrustNordiskLineup_245x335_1st_RH_page_FINAL.indd 1

02/09/14 10:44

PROFILES

Michael Winterbottom The Face Of An Angel

By Wendy Mitchell

Michael Winterbottom uses the media frenzy surrounding the Amanda KnoxMeredith Kercher case as a loose jumping off point for his fictional story of a film-maker examining a murder trial in Italy, who is questioning his own family priorities. Daniel Brühl, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne star in the film, which premieres in Masters tomorrow and is sold by WestEnd. Were you in Italy for the Amanda Knox frenzy?

I was there for the first day of the appeal.

There were a lot of journalists rushing around, like we show in the film. And the main report was about her hair and the clothes she was wearing.

These were intelligent journalists and at the same time, the information for them to relay was very trivial and superficial because that was all there was to report.

This film looks at the media frenzy but also at the film-making process and

how Daniel Brühl’s character is deciding what kind of film to make.

I didn’t want the film-maker to make a remark on journalists’ lives and their morality, the film-maker is also involved there. It allowed a discussion about the issues and what should our response be.

Maybe we should make the film more about the central truth of the fact that someone has lost a daughter?

What about the fantastical elements inspired by Dante? No-one expects to see a CGI dragon in a Michael Winterbottom film.

All those things are taken directly from Dante, he writes so much about love and loss. It was also a bit of comedy — it’s pathetic that Daniel’s character wants to use Dante as a prop. But there are elements of The Divine Comedy that are relevant, so I wanted to have my cake and eat it, using it in the film as a device but also mocking how bad an idea it was for a film.

But I don’t want people to think it’s a big CGI film, there are about four seconds of that [laughs].

The Face Of An Angel

This is model Cara Delevingne’s first big film role. Did you see a spark in her immediately?

I was totally sure she could do it. I wanted someone full of life but also on the cusp between a teenager and a grown-up.

She’s got this great sense of enjoying things and getting the most of out life…

When it came to the script, she immersed herself in the part.

Michael Winterbottom

Jean-Baptiste léonetti The Reach

By JereMy Kay

French director Jean-Baptiste Léonetti returns to Toronto, after his 2011 debut Carré blanc, with this Mojave-set thriller starring Michael Douglas and Jeremy Irvine. WME Global and Good Universe are selling the film, which premieres in Special Presentations tomorrow.

What attracted you to screenwriter Stephen Susco’s adaptation of Robb White’s 1972 novel, Deathwatch?

It was very visual and I saw immediately I was made for this movie. I wanted some-

thing simple, strong and dark. This story is like a Biblical story: it’s a strong and brutal metaphor about power and money.

What was it like working with Michael Douglas, who also produces with Robert Mitas?

It wasn’t easy. Michael’s a legend and I’m a [relatively fresh] director, so if you are to convince him you have to fight for it. But if he is convinced, he gives a lot. It was an opportunity to show another side of Michael; we’ve seen him as Gordon Gekko and in Falling Down and other

Jean-Baptiste Léonetti

iconic roles but we haven’t seen him as this kind of character.

Jeremy Irvine (The Railway Man) delivers another fine performance.

He’s very smart and enthusiastic and saw Carré blanc and wanted to work with me.

He was very involved in the shoot; always trying to improve himself. He wasn’t afraid to put together a character in front of Michael.

The Reach

10 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

The scenery sears itself into the mind.

We shot in September 2013 for five-and-a-

half weeks, filming in the desert near Farmington, New Mexico. It was difficult but at the same time I was in love with this place because it was like the planet Mars.

You feel the violent temperature and the loneliness… Temperatures reached over 100°F but we knew we had to shoot there and Michael Douglas agreed with me.

Why is it called The Reach?

For the screenwriter it meant something wide and unpredictable; a place where everybody would be able to lose himself.

It means something bigger than nature.

www.screendaily.com

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL 2014

LE DERNIER COUP DE MARTEAU

By Alix Delaporte (« ANGELE & TONY ») With Romain Paul Clotilde Hesme Grégory Gadebois

SCREENINGS IN TORONTO - Buyers Only FRIDAY 5th 6:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 6 MONDAY 8th 9:00 AM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 6

W O R L D S A L E S : P Y R A M I D E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Lucero Garzon - Head of Sales / Intl Acquisition - lgarzon@pyramidefilms.com - m. +33 6 72 80 71 22 Agathe Mauruc - Sales Executive - amauruc@pyramidefilms.com – m. + 33 6 65 65 22 40 I N TO R O N TO - U N I F R A N C E S TA N D - H YAT T R E G E N C Y H OT E L W W W. P Y R A M I D E F I L M S . C O M LHB_245x335.indd 2

01/09/2014 13:10

REVIEWS

Reviews edited by Mark Adams mark.adams@screendaily.com

» The Judge p12 » The Look Of Silence p14 » Dearest p14

» The Humbling p16 » Force Majeure p16 » Clouds Of Sils Maria p18

» Winter Sleep p18 » Coming Home p20

The Judge Reviewed by Mark Adams A nicely intense family drama with a dash of courtroom action thrown in for good measure, TIFF opener The Judge is given gravitas and emotional heft by suitably driven performances from Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall. But while moving and thoughtful in places it never really finds the right balance between the two genres, feeling at times like it is based on a John Grisham book that he put to one side while trying to come up with a twist or subplot to give it a real dramatic edge.

The film fares best when it comes to the conflict between Downey Jr and Duvall’s characters, an estranged father and son who are brilliant at locking horns but terrible at expressing their true emotions. It takes a dramatic incident to grudgingly bring them together and realise that blood is thicker than water. Set for an October theatrical release, much will depend on Warner’s marketing muscle and whether Downey Jr and Duvall go that extra promotional mile to secure coverage and support for possible awards nominations.

Post Iron Man, The Avengers and Sherlock Holmes, Downey Jr has the creative muscle to get productions made (he is an executive producer here) and he brings his usual left-field charm to the role of a slick and sarcastic big-city lawyer who reluctantly returns to his childhood home town after the death of his mother. This puts him into immediate conflict with his father — known

12 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

GALA US. 2014. 141mins Director David Dobkin Production companies Big Kid Pictures, Team Downey, Warner Bros Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures Distribution Warner Bros Producers Susan Downey, David Dobkin, David Gambino Executive producers Herbert W Gains, Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Kleeman, Bruce Berman Screenplay Nick Schenk, Bill Dubuque, story by David Dobkin & Nick Schenk Cinematography Janusz Kaminski Editor Mark Livolsi Production designer Mark Ricker Music Thomas Newman Main cast Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong

to all simply as the Judge — a man who has overseen justice in the community for years as a member of the town judiciary. Seeing Downey Jr and Duvall perform together is the film’s great pleasure, and while neither tries to outdo each other, their roles bring out the best in them.

As the story opens, Hank Palmer (Downey Jr) is an arrogant lawyer who specialises in winning cases for wealthy-but-guilty clients, but who is less skilled at wrangling his personal life.

About to separate from his wife Lisa (an underused Sarah Lancaster), he says a fond farewell to daughter Lauren (Tremblay) and heads back to his middle-America home town. Meeting up with older brother Glen (D’Onofrio) and slightly mentally impaired younger brother Dale (Strong), he goes through the motions of trying to reconnect with his straight-laced father, but it seems their relationship is beyond repair.

After a subplot that sees him meet high school flame Samantha (Vera Farmiga, playing blousy but smart), Hank is about to fly home when he takes a call from his brother. It seems the Judge took out his car late one night to do some shopping, and struck and killed someone.

And that person happens to be someone he had jailed for a killing many years earlier, and recently released, the local police suggest the Judge may have deliberately run down the man.

The scene is predictably set for Hank to take on the ‘father’ role and use his legal eagle defence skills, finding himself up against top out-of-town prosecutor Dwight Dickham

(Thornton) as Hank tries to discredit some pretty damning evidence. As the case draws on, it comes as no surprise that father and son slowly and often painfully draw closer.

Running at well over two hours, director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) is not afraid to add plenty of subplots and incidental characters, rather like extraneous strands to a novel that might have been shed to streamline it. As well as father-son battles, we also have Hank and his old flame — and his near-miss with her beautiful adult daughter (Meester) — Dale’s disability quirks and homespun compassion; an incident in the past between Dale and Glen; the Judge’s secret illness; the victim’s bitter mother (a steely Grace Zabriskie) determined to profit from the case; Hank’s daughter bonding with her grumpy grandfather; and Billy Bob Thornton’s thinly drawn lawyer.

There is a half-hearted attempt to put some twists into the courtroom deliberations (and a couple of rather theatrical ‘oohs’ from the onlookers), but in truth the best bits of the film are when Downey Jr and Duvall share screen time, especially in a moving and very open scene as the Judge soils himself while trying to get to the bathroom and Hank has to clean up his own father. It is a scene that moves cleverly from sad drama to gentle humour and is the compassionate core of a film that cannot quite decide if its focus should be on family conflict or courtroom shenanigans, and ends up being a lengthy but lightweight combination of the two.

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REVIEWS

The Look Of Silence Reviewed by Lee Marshall Joshua Oppenheimer’s astonishing documentary The Act Of Killing made several critics’ bestfilm lists in 2012 and 2013, and justifiably so: edgy, inventive, sly and angry, it staged a sort of surreal national drama of buried truths and lack of reconciliation by persuading some of the perpetrators of a wave of government and army-supported massacres of ‘Communists’ in Indonesia in 1965 to re-enact their atrocities.

The Look Of Silence returns to the same subject matter, but this time presents the point of view of one victim’s family.

It is a less flashy exercise, and far more intimate, finding its human and dramatic core in a soft-spoken country optometrist, Adi, and his need to ask tough questions about the murder of a brother he never even met. He does this by confronting killers — sometimes with the excuse of giving them eye tests — who still live in the neighbourhood, and who still wield the power and influence that come from being on the right side of the goodies-and-baddies narrative Indonesia has constructed to deal with the trauma of 1965.

There is no more assassins’ remorse on display here than in the previous outing, but a kind of closure, or at the very least a kind of comeback, still emerges from a film that deserves to be seen back to back with The Act Of

TiFF DoCS Den-Indo-Nor-Fin-UK. 2014. 100mins Director Joshua oppenheimer Production company Final Cut for Real International sales Cinephil, philippa@ cinephil.co.il Producer Signe Byrge Sorensen Executive producers Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, André Singer Cinematography Lars Skree Editor niels Pagh Andersen

Killing. Detractors may argue it is something of a DVD-extras appendage to the other film, but in fact it stands apart. If Act sometimes entered into uneasy complicity with its former machetewielding subjects in order to lull them into a false sense of security, The Look Of Silence takes the quiet dignity, anger and courage of Adi and his elderly mother as its tonal measure.

It is a gripping but also tense and uncomfortable viewing experience as Adi confronts men who were all in varying degrees responsible for his brother’s death and that of thousands of others — and is variously stonewalled, told not to rake up the past, given the “I was only following orders” line, and challenged with notso-veiled threats (also couched in the end

credits, where several crew members, including a co-director, appear as ‘Anonymous’ — for fear of reprisals, we presume).

The frame of Adi’s home life makes this follow-up more than just a crescendo of uneasy confrontations with perpetrators and their families. His elderly mother — the documentary’s co-star and emotional lodestone — has never forgotten Ramli, a brother Adi, it is revealed, was brought into the world to replace.

We see her washing Adi’s near-blind, deaf and toothless father; a caring counterpoint, perhaps, to all those visceral tales of bodies ripped and slashed, heads and genitals cut off, and human blood drunk by killers in the belief it would save them from going mad.

Dearest Reviewed by Mark Adams An epic melodrama that hits all the right emotional buttons, Peter Ho-sun Chan’s Dearest (Qin Ai De) treads familiar territory as it tackles the traumas of a divorced couple who are reunited in grief when their child is abducted.

Based on a true story, the film’s thriller elements — as well as solid performances and Chan’s acknowledged filming skills — may help it find distributors, though in the end it is rather disjointed and too extended to work completely.

The lush sense of melodrama may help its local release — where the film’s star quota will make a big difference — which will be staged after screenings in Venice and Toronto.

Tian Wen-jun (Huang) and Lu Xiao-juan (Hao) have joint custody of their young son Tian Peng, but when Wen-jun is distracted by a fight in the small convenience store he runs in Shenzen, near the border with Hong Kong, the boy — nicknamed Pengpeng — runs off to play with friends and does not return. So begins a heart-rending trauma that stretches for years as the divorced couple are brought back together in their attempts to track down their child who appears to have simply vanished.

Frustratingly this solid basis for a compelling

14 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

SPECiAL PRESEnTATionS Chi-HK. 2014. 133mins Director Peter Ho-sun Chan Production companies We Pictures, Alibaba Pictures Group, Stellar Mega Films, J.Q. Pictures, Enlight Pictures Shanghai, Real Thing Media, HB Studio, Pulin Production International sales We Distribution, sales@ wedistribution.com Producers Jojo Yuet-chun Hui, Peter Ho-sun Chan Screenplay Zhang Ji, Yang Zhenyu Cinematography Chou Shu Editor Derek Hui Music Leon Ko Main cast Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei, Hao Lei, Zhang Yi, Zhang Yuqi

film drama — separated couple brought together by shared grief and a mission to find their child — is hampered by the well-meaning script, which layers in too many tangential characters, presumably as it seeks to stick closely to the real-life story.

Where Dearest does succeed, though, is in bringing into sharp focus the issue of child abduction in China, and how parents looking for help and support can be exploited in a cold and calculating manner.

Huang Bo, who starred in local comedy hit Lost In Thailand, makes a great transition into more dramatic fare, while Hao Lei, as his exwife, is equally impressive and gives a gently moving performance.

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02/09/14 21:03 02/09/14 21:03

REVIEWS

Force Majeure Reviewed by Lee Marshall

The Humbling Reviewed by Mark adams Al Pacino is in top Al Pacino mode in Barry Levinson’s loose and often invigorating adaptation of Philip Roth’s penultimate novel. Playing a famed stage actor who becomes depressed and then suicidal when he loses his craft, the film offers Pacino the physical and verbal challenges that he relishes and unsurprisingly he dominates a film that is engaging but languid and only intermittently amusing and provocative.

It is one of those festival quirks that it arrived to premiere in Venice a few days after Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s more inspired Birdman. Both chart the mental collapse of an actor seeking to get his mojo back, but Levinson’s The Humbling is less showy and perhaps more traditional — despite Roth’s sexual shenanigans that punctuate the story — as it allows Pacino to flail around in his worries about fighting a losing battle with age at the same time as he loses his acting gift.

The film opens backstage with a confused Simon Axler (Pacino) putting on his make-up for a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Lost in his lines, his imagination plays tricks as he tries variations on the words, and when finally on stage he loses the plot altogether and seeing a bored audience out there takes a swan dive into the orchestra pit. He soon finds himself on a month-long stay at a plush psychiatric hospital.

Before long the 67-year-old actor is back in his Connecticut home as he mulls over depression and suicide, until the out-of-the-blue appearance of Pageen (Gerwig), the daughter of old actor friends, who tells Simon she has long been in love with him.

Of course he adores the attention, and while bemused that Pageen tells him she is a lesbian, is soon in love with her. It is to Greta Gerwig’s credit that she makes the rather uncomfortable age gap seem vaguely convincing (though it never quite works) and the film tries to cover up things by dallying on sex toys left around the house and found by the housekeeper, and the added complications in Pageen’s life — angry parents, a former lover (Sedgwick) and the arrival of Prince (Porter), a femaleto-male gender reassignment patient who was once Pageen’s partner.

Gerwig has to veer between romantic partner and keen lover through to selfish woman-chaser, and it is to her credit that she keeps the character intriguing and oddly compassionate.

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SpeciaL pReSentationS US. 2014. 112mins Director Barry Levinson Production companies Millennium Films, Baltimore pictures, Dubin Media International sales Millennium Films, www. millenniumfilms.com Producers Jason Sosnoff, Barry Levinson Executive producers Kristina Dubin, avi Lerner, trevor Short, Ged Dickersin Screenplay Buck Henry, Michael Zebede, based on the novel by philip Roth Cinematography adam Jandrup Editor aaron Yanes Production designer Sam Lisenco Music Marcelo Zarvos Main cast al pacino, Greta Gerwig, nina arianda, charles Grodin, Mary Louise Wilson, Dan Hedaya, Dianne Wiest, Billy porter, Lance Roberts, Li Jun Li, Kyra Sedgwick, Victor cruz, Derrick arthur, Steve Rosen, andrea Barnes, Dylan Baker

A sardonic, serious, funny, precision-controlled psychocomedy-drama inspired by the selfishness of our survival instincts, Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s fourth feature is his best yet. Force Majeure — which had the original title Turist — has been lauded since Cannes and should notch up even more deals after being named Sweden’s Oscar submission.

Imperfect human behaviour is still under the microscope here, as in the director’s previous work, but though at times he likes to watch his specimens wriggle on pins, or stick pins into each other, there is a new sense of compassion as well as a striking visual unity in this new film.

Combine this with Ostlund’s knack for rescuing comedy out of the jaws of drama, and you have a title with surefire appeal for discerning arthouse audiences.

Ostlund began his career as a director of skiing films, but it is not so much the beautifully shot ski scenes that impress in his vision of the unnamed resort where a model Scandinavian family — handsome father Tomas (Kuhnke), quietly radiant mother Ebba (Kongsli) and children Vera and Harry (Clara and Vincent Wettergren) — are taking a winter break. With a sense of unease — a mood underscored by repeat bursts of that famous thunderstorm riff from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons — we follow the family through their holiday.

On the second day, when the family is eating lunch on the terrace, a ‘controlled’ avalanche down the valley builds as it rushes towards the chalet. Tomas bolts in the general stampede, not forgetting his iPhone, but Ebba stays to protect the kids. There are no serious consequences — the whiteout that enveloped the terrace was just powder, and life goes on as before. Except it doesn’t.

Tomas’s instinctive act of selfishness and his refusal to fess up to it begins to poison the couple’s relationship.

What follows is a nuanced dramatic choreography in which Ebba’s distress and Tomas’s self-delusion are exposed through spot-on body language, competitive tooth-brushing sessions and whispered arguments outside the family’s hotel room.

But Force Majeure never loses sight of its mandate to make us wonder how we might react in a survival scenario. The pressbook helpfully informs us that many marriages do not survive such catastrophe tests. One wonders how many break-ups the film itself might provoke, as the post-screening discussions escalate.

SpeciaL pReSentationS Swe-Den-Fr-Nor. 2014.

119mins Director/screenplay Ruben ostlund Production companies plattform produktion, parisienne, coproduction office, Motlys International sales coproduction office, www. coproductionoffice.com Producers erik Hemmendorff, Marie Kjellson, philippe Bober Executive producers Jessica ask, Film i Vast Cinematography Fredrik Wenzel Editor Ruben ostlund, Jacob Secher Schulsinger Production designer Josefin asberg Music ola Flottum Main cast Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren, Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius

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02/09/14 21:02

REVIEWS

Clouds Of Sils Maria Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan In the majestic altitude of Sils, near St Moritz in Switzerland, certain weather conditions give rise to what is termed the Majola Snake, a cloud that winds itself through the glacier valley like a vapour. Clouds Of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas’ essay on the passage of time and the twists of perspective as experienced by an ageing actress, is, by turns, equally elusive, frustrating and undeniably appealing.

If there was ever a reminder needed of Juliette Binoche’s great and enduring talent, Assayas delivers it here. He has written his old friend a grand, almost old-fashioned role: that of a vulnerable performer forced to confront herself, both past and present, by re-reading a text she once understood as a young actress on her way to conquering a world on which she now struggles to maintain her grip. An earnest Kristen Stewart, playing her personal assistant, prompts some of the film’s more difficult confrontations and underscores the latent talent that has been suffocated underneath the media hype. It is an attractive pairing indeed.

Clouds Of Sils Maria, however, is a niche film whose protracted deliberations could alienate as many as it seduces. It will certainly play to cineastes and those up for an intellectual workout,

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Fr-Switz. 2014. 123mins Director/screenplay Olivier Assayas Production company CG Cinema International sales MK2, intlsales@mk2.com Producer Charles Gillibert Executive producer Sylvie Barthet Cinematography Yorick Le Saux Editor Marion Monnier Production designer Francois-Renaud Labarthe Main cast Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloe Grace Moretz, Angela Winkler, Lars Eidinger, Johnny Flynn

although it features more than a few moments of clunky dialogue, despite its refined airs. Binoche plays Maria Enders, a world-famous actress who agrees to perform in the restaging of a play about a girl who forces her older boss and lesbian lover into committing suicide. Maria once played the ingénue, but that part is now taken by a hot young paparazzi-magnet, Jo-Ann Ellis (Moretz).

The film kicks off with the death of the play’s writer [off-screen], with whom Maria has enjoyed a close relationship, and she ultimately ends up retreating to his house in Sils Maria to rehearse the role with her capable PA Valentine (Stewart). Together they walk in the mountains and deconstruct the text, and their dynamic is

intriguing — they are close but are not friends.

They test each other.

Assayas and cinematographer Yorick Le Saux present the vistas of Sils without fetishising their beauty; there is a particular sequence with Binoche sitting at the edge of a hill, and of a breakthrough, which is breathtaking. The music is effective and never more so than when Primal Scream bursts into the space.

Clouds Of Sils Maria moves to London for an epilogue, which is longer than expected and a marked shift in tone — it is a section in which the theoretical becomes incarnate. It has a different mood and feeling, and Chloe Grace Moretz’s part comes to the fore, and is an effective coda.

all unpleasant chores and save him the need to dirty his hands.

Necla (Akbag), Aydin’s sister, is a bitter, sharp-tongued divorcée who has retreated to her brother’s hotel to pester and criticise him.

Nihal (Sozen), Aydin’s much younger wife, desperately tries to fill the void of her existence with social work, of which her husband disapproves, mainly because he feels left out.

As the title indicates, it all takes place during winter, which already establishes the right climate for the proceedings. The characters spend most of the time indoors, in a kind of pressure cooker simmering with conflicts that finally have to erupt. Nothing is left quite untouched, whether it is the application or abdication of

religion in the moral, ethical and emotional fabric of these three characters or their social responsibilities, which they interpret wrongly, either on purpose or because of sheer ignorance — not to mention the unbridgeable distance separating them from the less-privileged classes.

Though most of the attention in the first part is lavished on Aydin, his wife and his sister, more characters are brought in as the film progresses, including teacher Levent (Sanbacak), who needs a stiff drink to air his opinions; Imam Hamdi (Kilic), whose schemes are intended to keep the bosses happy, and his hotblooded brother, Ismail (Isler), whose pride is stronger than his instinct for self preservation.

Winter Sleep Reviewed by Dan Fainaru The first thought that springs to mind once Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s sprawling, multi-layered, richly rewarding Winter Sleep (Kis Uykusu) reaches its end, is that one should never see this at a festival with a film tucked in before and another one just after it. For if Ceylan takes his own sweet time to reveal the full scope of his story, never allowing any consideration of length or pace to trouble him, his audience should do the same to fully appreciate one of the more rewarding film achievements of the year (it claimed the Palme d’Or in Cannes).

Shot in a small Cappadocia village, a mindbogglingly wild natural location, with a small hotel in the middle and a lot of poverty all around, the plot — if one feels like referring to the extensive, elaborate conversations as a narrative — focuses for a while on the relations between three main characters.

Aydin (Bilginer), a middle-aged former actor, has inherited the hotel and most of the land around it. He deems himself a thinker — one of his projects is to write a history of Turkish theatre — and pretends to be immersed in his intellectual activities, such as writing think-pieces for an obscure magazine. He delegates the management of the property to his assistant, Hidayet (Pekcan), expecting him to take care of

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MASTERS Tur-Ger-Fr. 2014.

196mins Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan Production company Zeyno Film International sales Memento, www. memento-films.com Producer Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan Executive producer Sezgi Ustün Screenplay Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan Cinematography Gokhan Tiryaki Editor Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Bora Goksingol Production designer Gamze Kus Main cast Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen, Demet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan, Serhat Kilic, Nejat Isler, Tamer Levent, Nadir Saribacak

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From the acclaimed screenwriter of “SO YOUNG”

LI QIANG

From the award-winning director of “A SIMPLE LIFE”

ANN HUI Starring “LUST, CAUTION”

TANG WEI

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Contact in Toronto JULIAN CHIU +852 9739 8628 chiujulian@edkofilm.com.hk

REviEws

Coming Home Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan

DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUK TION COIN FILM PRESENT „IRAQI IRAQI ODYSSEY“ ODYSSEY A FILM BY SAMIR DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY LUK AS STREBEL PIERRE MENNEL YURI BURAK JOHN KELLERAN KIRILL GERRA SAMIR SOUND RE TO STAMM AL SECONI MARTIN WILSON DON FEIGEL ROMAN PL ATONOV MA XIM MALIN EDITED BY SOPHIE BRUNNER ALI AL FATL AWI WATHIQ AL AMERI SAMIR 3D ANIMATIONS WAMIDH AL AMERI DRAMATIC ADVISOR K ATHRIN PLÜSS DIGITAL ARTIST MARTIN SUNDARA SOUNDDESIGN AND MIX TILO BUSCH MUSIC MACIEJ SLEDZIECKI PRODUCED BY WERNER SCHWEIZER SAMIR E XECUTIVE PRODUCER JOËL JENT CO-RODUCED BY HERBERT SCHWERING FURAT AL JAMIL DIRECTED BY SAMIR IN COPRODUCTION WITH COIN FILM SRF SCHWEIZER RADIO UND FERNSEHEN - URS AUGSTBURGER WDR WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK - JUTTA KRUG SUPPORTED BY BUNDESAMT FÜR KULTUR ZÜRCHER FILMSTIFTUNG SRG SSR SRF SCHWEIZER RADIO UND FERNSEHEN AARGAUER KURATORIUM FILM UND MEDIEN STIFTUNG NRW WDR WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK SANAD FUND - ABU DHABI FILM FESTIVAL SUISSIMAGE FOCAL W I Th ThE PA RTI c I PATI O n Of SAnA D - T H E DE VE L O P ME N T AND P O ST-P R ODU CT I O N FU N D O F T H E A B U DH AB I FI L M FE S T I VAL - U nI TED A RA b EM I RATE S

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A global family saga in 3D

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China’s foremost director, Zhang Yimou, is now 62 years old, and the personal pain that permeated his last film to deal directly with the Cultural Revolution, To Live, has faded to a sad resignation and a mood of tender forgiveness in the emotional Coming Home.

Reuniting Zhang with Gong Li, the actress he discovered in Red Sorghum and his off-screen partner for many years, Coming Home does not try to pick over old wounds.

“It’s all right, it’s in the past now,” says one character, digging deep to find the emotional strength to forgive and carry on.

The film opens as the Cultural Revolution is well under way — there is no attempt to describe what has led China to this point. This may require a little prior knowledge for international audiences, although once the tenets are grasped, Zhang’s film is structured with elegant simplicity and is easy to follow.

Feng Wanyu (Gong) lives alone with her young daughter, Dandan (Zhang). Dandan is a promising ballerina and up for the lead role in the ballet company’s revolutionary dance performance, The Red Detachment of Women. Mother and daughter are informed by the dance school’s principal that Lu Yanshi (Chen) has escaped from a labour “re-education” camp after 10 years (Lu is later revealed to have been a French-speaking professor, qualifying him as a revisionist). He is Feng’s long-lost husband and the father whom Dandan does not even recognise.

Later that night, the fugitive Lu tries to enter his apartment, but is locked out. He then attempts to reconnect with his wife at the train station the next morning, but is betrayed by his own daughter. After 20 years of incarceration, Lu is now finally attempting to come home — but another long journey awaits him.

The film fields a big comeback performance from Gong Li, now aged 48. She is required to age considerably throughout the film, which is also reminiscent of the role she played in To Live. It is a big, tragic female part, and demanding of the actress — her role is also symbolic and must work on several levels. Backed by a warm performance from Chen Daoming (who takes top billing), she delivers. New discovery Zhang Huiwen has the spark to play a headstrong teenager who matures into a more sympathetic character.

Special pReSentationS Chi. 2014. 111mins Director Zhang Yimou Production company le Vision pictures company international sales Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch.biz Producer Zhang Zhao screenplay Zou Jingzhi, from the novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi by Yan Geling Cinematography Zhao Xiaoding Editor Meng peicong, Mo Zhang Production designers lin chaoxiang, liu Qiang Music Qigang chen Main cast chen Daoming, Gong li, Zhang Huiwen

Saturday, September 6, 9:30 pm, Scotiabank 13 Sunday, September 7, 5:30 pm, Scotiabank 9 Saturday, September 13, 9:00 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

at Toronto 2014 Please visit us at booth # 5 in the Industry Office Location at The Hyatt Regency Hotel, King Ballroom, 370 King Street West

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THE POST MAN’S WHITE NIGHTS Drama, 90 min ANTIPODE SALES & DISTRIBUTION

BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL Action/ Romance, 100 min NEW PEOPLE FILM COMPANY

TWO WOMEN Melodrama, 100 min PRODUCER CENTER HOROSHO PRODUCTION/ REZO DISTRIBUTION

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ONTARIO TERRITORY FOCUS Filming on the streets of Toronto

A higher power Ontario follows only Los Angeles and New York as one of North America’s biggest production hubs. John Hazelton looks at what’s driving the boom, from incentives and infrastructure to talent and global ambitions

O

ntario is Canada’s billiondollar province, at least where film and television production is concerned.

For each of the last three years, production in the province — Canada’s largest by population and second largest by area, with an expanse equivalent to France and Spain combined — has con-

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tributed more than $920m (C$1bn) to the local economy.

And that makes Ontario — which over those three years has hosted features including the remake of Poltergeist, Pacific Rim, The F Word and Enemy as well as TV series such as Orphan Black, Reign and The Strain — the third biggest production hub in North America, trail-

ing only Los Angeles and New York.

Long-time industry players point out that, as home to most of Canada’s TV broadcasters as well as technology companies including IMAX and VFX software pioneer Side Effects, Ontario and its biggest city Toronto have been important production centres for decades, not just years. »

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TerriTory focus onTario

Clockwise from right: Pinewood Toronto, which opened in 2008, boasts 12 stages including the largest purpose-built sound stage in North America; on the set of Cosmopolis; the Guillermo del Toro produced TV series The Strain; Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy

“The reality is that there’s been an abundance of film and television production in Toronto for 30 years,” says producer Robert Lantos, who relocated from Montreal to Toronto in 1983 when he co-founded groundbreaking Canadian indie Alliance Entertainment. “So over that period of time the jobs were sufficiently plentiful to keep a lot of people at home, as opposed to leaving town.”

As a result, says Lantos, who is currently shooting Atom Egoyan’s drama Remember in Toronto, “There’s a very wide talent pool [in Ontario], much more so now than 30 years ago, but even then it was a rich talent pool, both in front of the camera and behind it.” crucial support The impressive growth of Ontario’s industry — total production spend has increased from just $311m (c$338m) in 1993 to $1.1bn (c$1.15bn) in 2013 — has been fostered by the province’s widely active support bodies and generous tax breaks.

Film and TV support provided by provin-

‘You can do anything in Toronto. We’ve closed down major bridges over a holiday weekend’ Jeremy Bolt, producer

cial government agency the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) includes the Ontario Film Commission, the Industry Development Program, which channels funding for trade organisation events, and the Export Fund — Film and Television, which helps producers participate in export activities.

The OMDC Film Fund backs features from Ontario producers and since 2005 has invested a total of $27m (c$29m) in 212 projects, among them Midnight’s Children, Cosmopolis and Take This Waltz.

To help the Ontario industry reach out internationally, OMDC, in partnership with the City of Toronto and trade group FilmOntario, maintains a full-time marketing presence in Los Angeles. During Toronto International Film Festival, the corporation stages the Producers Lab — which allows Canadian and European producers to explore the potential for co-production projects — and the International Financing Forum.

OntariO tax credits fOr film and televisiOn Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit (OFTTC) A 35% refundable tax credit on Ontario labour expenditures for film and television productions made by Ontario-based Canadian companies.

Bonuses for first-time producers and productions shot in Ontario but outside Toronto. To be eligible, a project must pass a Canadian content test or be an official treaty co-production.

Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC) A 25% refundable tax credit on Ontario production expenditures — both labour and non-labour costs as well as all post-production — for film and TV projects made by Canadian or foreigncontrolled companies. Project budget must be at least $920,000 (c$1m) for a feature, at least $184,000 (c$200,000) per episode for a television series with

24 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

episodes of more than 30 minutes and at least $92,000 (c$100,000) per episode for a series with episodes of 30 minutes or less.

Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit (OCASE) A 20% refundable tax credit on Ontario labour expenditures for digital animation and visual effects created in Ontario for film and TV productions.

Through eight annual editions of the forum, says OMDC director of industry development Kristine Murphy, “we’ve had close to 50 projects go into production. Not all of them in Ontario, but it’s a good opportunity to connect producers to the money or the distributor that they’re looking for.”

Ontario’s film and TV tax incentives (see box, below) — the 35% credit for Canadian productions and the 25% production services credit aimed primarily at foreign productions — were first introduced in 1996. But the production services credit was crucially enhanced in 2009, when, to match the credit in rival province Quebec, it was extended to cover not just labour but other qualifying costs as well. At the same time, Ontario introduced its 20% computer animation and special effects credit, for which even projects shot outside Ontario can qualify.

The Ontario credits have no cap and no sunset and they can be ‘stacked’ with the corresponding federal film and TV credits for Canadian and foreign productions (though the federal credits then only cover costs after the provincial credit has been applied).

In 2012-13, Ontario handed out $136m (c$148m) of Canadian credits to 356 projects and another $168m (c$183m) of production services credits to 127 productions.

This year’s totals could be even higher thanks to the recent move by Quebec authorities to reduce that province’s film and TV credits by 20%.

Ontario, says Murphy, “is the only [Canadian] jurisdiction that has never rolled back any incentives it has introduced. That makes us an incredibly attractive jurisdiction.”

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‘There’s been an abundance of film and TV production in Toronto for 30 years’ robert lantos, producer

The make-up of the Ontario industry has changed in recent years, partly as a result of the province’s incentives and support mechanisms, partly because of shifting trends in the global production industry.

Last year’s total Ontario production spend of $1.1bn (c$1.15bn) was slightly down on 2012’s peak level and the total for 2011. But there were increases and decreases in different types of production in the province.

Television production, which makes up 80% of Ontario spending, was down 13% to $843m (c$916m). More foreign TV series were shot in the province last year, but the amount they spent was down because of a trend towards shorter-run series.

Feature production spending increased fractionally to $213m (c$232m). The number of domestic features shooting decreased but the total spend was up, to $123m (c$134m). And while the number of foreign features was up, the total spend on them was significantly down, to $89.7m (c$97.7m), reflecting a lack of big-budget Hollywood projects shooting in Ontario.

The place to visit Yet foreign production remains an important part of the Ontario film economy and some foreign film-makers are regular visitors to the province.

UK-born, Los Angeles-based Jeremy Bolt, producing partner to director Paul WS Anderson, has made three of his Resident Evil franchise films as well as historical action drama Pompeii (all set up as official Canadian co-productions) in Ontario. Bolt praises the province for its variety of relatively inexpen-

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sive locations, technical expertise and ease of operation. “By the time we had got to Resident Evil 5, we had a very good family of technicians functioning at a very high level,” he says.

“You can do anything in Toronto,” adds Bolt. “We’ve closed down major bridges, which affected the whole city over a holiday weekend. We’ve closed down the equivalent of Piccadilly Circus in Toronto.”

In addition to creating local jobs and revenue, the influx of foreign productions has also helped to develop Ontario’s film-making infrastructure of studios and post-production facilities.

“There’s no way we could create this infrastructure with just local Canadian films,” says Toronto-based Don Carmody, who has been a producer on all four of Bolt’s

‘Ontario is the only Canadian jurisdiction that’s never rolled back any incentives.

That makes us an incredibly attractive jurisdiction’ Kristine Murphy, oMDc

Features currently shooting in ontario Inland Hamilton-Mehta Beeba Productions Prod David Hamilton Dir Deepa Mehta

The Rainbow Kid Exec prods Colin Brunton, Andrew Barnsley Dir Kire Paputts

Natasha Natasha Films Prods Bill Marks, Deborah Marks, Julia Rosenberg Dir David Bezmozgis

Remember Remember Productions Prods Robert Lantos, Ari Lantos Dir Atom Egoyan

Pay The Ghost PTG Productions Ontario Prod Patrick Newall Dir Uli Edel

Total Frat Movie Digerati Films Prods Robert Wertheimer, Brian Ross, Bob Sanitsky, Jonathan Bronfman Dir Warren Sonoda

Pixels Arcade Productions/Sony Prod Adam Moos Dir Chris Columbus

Zoom Rhombus Media (Zoom) Prods Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro Dir Pedro Morelli

Ontario films and helped dozens of other US and European projects on their Canadian shoots.

In particular, increased foreign production, coupled with the special effects tax credit, has created additional work for Ontario’s visual effects and digital animation sector, which — according to trade body Computer Animation Studios of Ontario — is expanding at a 17% compound annual growth rate.

Dennis Berardi, president and VFX supervisor of Toronto digital studio Mr X, says his company — which has worked on most of Bolt’s films, as well as Noah and Anchorman: The Legend Continues — now receives around half of its work from domestic productions and half from foreign ones. “My challenge has been to get producers and film-makers past the idea that we are just a tax credit place,” says Berardi.

In fact, he adds, “I wouldn’t have any problem if the tax credit went away. It would be a great equalizer and you’d find that talent rose to the top. I would like to think it’s my talent and the hard work of the artists here that have earned our way into a global marketplace.”

The next wave Whether the Ontario industry can continue on the growth curve it has been following for the past 20 years may depend on both internal and external factors.

The province’s production infrastructure continues to strengthen, most recently with the opening in 2008 of Pinewood Toronto Studios, whose 12 stages include the largest purpose-built sound stage in North America.

Host to Carrie, Robocop, Pacific Rim and several other projects from producer-director Guillermo del Toro, Pinewood has made Ontario a more feasible destination for bigbudget Hollywood productions.

The future of Ontario’s film and TV tax incentives, meanwhile, appears to be secure given the recent majority win by the Liberal Party — the party that originally introduced the incentives nearly two decades ago — in the provincial general election.

Also important to the industry’s future will be the extent to which local and foreign production can co-exist and thrive.

For Ontario producers, says Lantos, increased foreign production in the province is “a two-edged sword”.

“The good news is that it helps build more experienced crews. And it creates an abundance of equipment and technology. And those crews and that technology is then here for domestic production to use,” he notes.

“The less good news is that having a lot of Hollywood productions in Toronto results in significantly increased costs. Because for a big-budget Hollywood movie, Toronto is still a bargain compared to Los Angeles. So for domestic productions that don’t have those s kinds of budgets, that creates a challenge.” n

September 5, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 25

TerriTory focus onTario

Telling tales These four Toronto-based film-makers all have world premieres in TIFF’s Discovery section. John Hazelton talks to the rising stars

We Were Wolves

Jordan Canning Scr/dir/prod We Were Wolves Jordan Canning didn’t wait for an invitation to make her feature debut. “For a few years now I’ve had a couple of features in development, and development can take a long time,” says the Newfoundlandborn, Toronto-based film-maker. “I really needed to make my first feature and the only way that was going to happen soon was for me to just do it myself.”

The result of that approach is We Were Wolves, a drama Canning directed, produced and co-wrote with Steve Cochran, about two estranged brothers who return to their father’s isolated lakehouse after his death and struggle to come to terms with the past.

Canning previously made more than a dozen shorts — including award-winners Countdown, Not Over Easy and Seconds

Jordan Canning

and Cannes 2014 premiere The Tunnel — basing herself in St John’s, Newfoundland, and then in Toronto after attending the Directors’ Lab at The Canadian Film Centre. “I didn’t go to film school. I learned how to make films by making a lot of films,” Canning says. “That was the best way to learn and make mistakes and make a better film the next time.”

We Were Wolves was the right step for practical as well as creative reasons, Canning says. “I had always wanted to write a story about brothers, but that was about as much as we thought this through when we started. More so it was shaping it around a location and a cast we knew we could get and wanted to work with.”

Canning and her eight-person crew “lived on an island together for two weeks and everybody was doing five different jobs. It was probably the most liberating shoot any of us had ever been on.

You could really just focus on the story and the performances.”

Canning’s next project will probably be a second series of web sci-fi comedy Space Riders: Division Earth. But she also has a couple of features in the works.

Oddly Flowers, a magic-realist comedy based on award-winning novel Come, Thou Tortoise, might take some time to set up, she concedes. But Almost Thirty, a ‘coming-of-a-later-age’ comedy, could follow the We Were Wolves model.

“You can’t make every film with 10 people on your crew, but you can make certain kinds of films and I’m definitely going to make a few more of those.”

26 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

Igor Drljaca Prod In Her Place Igor Drljaca is one half of a multicultural film-making team in one of the world’s most multicultural cities. Born in Sarajevo, Drljaca (pronounced Derl-ya-cha) emigrated to Canada during the mid1990s Bosnian war. He was at York Uni-

Igor Drljaca

versity film school in Toronto — where almost 50% of the population is foreignborn — when he met second-generation Korean-Canadian Albert Shin. The two formed Timelapse Pictures in 2008, and have, in Drljaca’s words, been “watching each other’s backs” ever since.

“We’re definitely exploring similar topics,” says Drljaca of the team’s work to date. “With him, it’s more exploring the cultural background that he has not had much contact with. With me, it’s exploring what happens to immigrants forced to leave a place due to a conflict or the country collapsing.”

Drljaca made his feature debut in 2012 as writer-director of Bosnia-set Krivina, which he and Shin produced. Shin wrote and directed his first feature, Point Traverse, in 2010 and followed that with Toronto entry In Her Place, which he produced with Drljaca and Yoon Hyun Chan.

The Korean-language drama concerns a mysterious woman who arrives at a farm in South Korea and is taken in by an old woman and her odd teenage daughter. “The film deals with a particular stigma attached to Koreans adopting kids,” the producer says. “The story really touched Albert because of the absurdity surrounding that issue.”

Given the subject matters, it is not surprising that up to now the two multihyphenates have made their films on very small budgets, with backing coming mostly from arts support groups rather than the commercial film industry. And even if the budgets increase in future, says Drljaca, the team’s sensibility will remain intact. “Right now we’re just starting to get more industry support,” he says.

Future projects — like The Waiting Room, a drama, which Drljaca will direct and Shin will produce, set in Toronto’s Yugoslav diaspora — may be bigger in scope but they will keep their nuanced and artistic approach. “We’re not interested in making films for hire,” Drljaca adds.

And the two Timelapse partners will continue to work as a team, alternating producing and directing duties, and even helping to shape each other’s scripts.

In Her Place

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Scotiabank 14 Scotiabank 14 Scotiabank 9 Scotiabank 9 TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 2

FOX STAR STUDIOS Present

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Written - Cinematography & Direction Manikandan.M Music composer G.V. Prakashkumar Art Directior Vijaiathinathan Sound Design and Final Mix Rajakrishnan M.R Production Executive S.P.Chokkalingam Produce by Dhanush and Vetri Maaran

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TerriTory focus onTario

Lindsay MacKay Scr-dir Wet Bum Although she has been living in Los Angeles, writer-director Lindsay MacKay returned to her native Ontario to shoot Wet Bum, her first feature.

“It’s based on my childhood to a degree,” MacKay explains. “So coming back to Ontario to make it just felt right to me.”

With a script that was a top 10 finalist in Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Screenwriting Competition, the drama, set in a small northern town, is about a 14-year-old girl who, when forced to work in a nursing home, comes to learn about growing old.

The project’s local roots were strengthened when it won backing from Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Film Fund and became the first production shot at Pinewood Toronto under the studio’s Emerging Filmmakers initiative.

Jeffrey St Jules Scr-dir Bang Bang Baby It took Jeffrey St Jules nearly a decade to get Bang Bang Baby from page to screen.

The Nova Scotia-born writer-director says he persisted with the project — a sci-fi musical, set in the 1960s, about a small-town teenager, her rock star idol and the disturbing effects of a leak at a nearby chemical plant — because he wanted his feature debut to reflect the sensibility of its maker.

“I thought it was important for the first film to have my voice in it,” says St Jules.

“I didn’t think it would be helpful to try to make something to fit the market or because it might be easier to get made.”

St Jules’ sensibility had been illustrated by the series of shorts he made while attending film school at Montreal’s Concordia University and then The Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab in Toronto. The award-winning shorts included The Sadness Of Johnson Joe Jangles, Sundance entry The Tragic Story Of Nling and 3D documentary Let The Daylight Into The Swamp, all three of which

Wet Bum

MacKay’s career also began in Toronto, where she went to York University’s film school. But she moved to Los Angeles to get her masters at the American Film Institute and it was Clear Blue, the award-winning short she made as her thesis film, that began to earn her the industry attention that helped Wet Bum get off the ground.

“There’s something about doing slightly well and getting recognition in the States that makes it easier to get work in Canada,” she says, “which is an inter-

had their premieres at the Toronto festival.

St Jules began to develop Bang Bang Baby in 2005, when he became the first Canadian to be selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence programme in Paris. But with its unusual mix of genres, the project did not come together as quickly as hoped.

“When I came back from the Residence, I thought I’d be making a feature right away,” St Jules recalls. “But it’s very difficult to get a feature made. So I decided to just keep making shorts. There’s quite a

Bang Bang Baby

28 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

esting paradox. I went there, had some success and it was easier to come back and get financing in Ontario.”

Now MacKay wants to continue her career in both the US and her home country. “I’m very proud to be Canadian and it’s so funny how living in the States makes you even more proud of where you come from,” she says.

But, she adds, “I’m lucky enough to have both connections and I would like to stay working in both areas, because both have been very good to me.”

Her next project could be a feature version of Clear Blue, that, compared to Wet Bum, would be “bigger in terms of mythology and scope”.

Not that bigger projects are part of any plan. “I’m not looking to make huge blockbusters at this point in my career because I think that’s a lot of pressure,” says MacKay. “As a film-maker I’m focused on things that interest me and things I’m working through, and hopefully that touches other people as well.”

few places [in Canada] you can get funding for shorts and I think it’s important to do a lot of that before going into a big feature with all that money involved.”

Eventually, St Jules teamed up with producer Dan Bekerman and his Torontobased Scythia Films and Bang Bang Baby secured funding — from Telefilm Canada, the Harold Greenberg Fund, private sources and tax credits — and a cast headed by Jane Levy and Justin Chatwin, both from the US version of edgy cable comedy Shameless.

Now St Jules, who has been based in Toronto since 2003, is starting work on a period murder mystery that might, thanks in part to the city’s lively film culture, reach the screen more quickly than Bang Bang Baby did.

Having experienced some of Canada’s smaller production hubs, this Ontario transplant finds that in Toronto “people work with each other because they’re interested in that type of film, not just because they’re friends. So it’s not as tight-knit a community. But that can be a positive thing sometimes, because you’re s focusing on the work”. n

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ScreeningS

FurTher coverage, See ScreendaIly.com

edited by Jamie McLeish

Public

screenings 9:00 AM The LeSSon

(Bulgaria/Greece) 105mins. Abraxas Film (int’l). Dir: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov.

Cast: Margita Gosheva, Ivan Burnev, Ivanka Bratoeva.

An honest, hard-working schoolteacher in a small Bulgarian town is driven to desperate measures to avoid financial ruin. contemporary World cinema TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3

9:30 AM cLoudS oF SiLS Maria

(France/US) 124mins.

MK2 (int’l). Dir: Olivier Assayas. Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart.

A veteran stage star turns to her assistant for solace as she jousts with an arrogant younger actress.

Special Presentations TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1

10:00 AM

Public screening 3:00 PM ShreW’S neST

(Spain) 91mins. Film Factory Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Juanfer Andrés, Esteban Roel.

Cast: Macarena Gomez, Nadia De Santiago,

Luis Tosar, Hugo Silva.

After a debilitating fall, an unlucky neighbour finds himself trapped in the mad, cloistered world of two shut-in sisters.

Vanguard The Bloor hot docs cinema

STriPeS

(US) 106mins. Dir: Ivan Reitman. Cast: Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates.

Out of work and out of options, John Winger convinces his friend, Russell Ziskey, to join the army with him in the hope of getting in shape while avoiding rent.

Special events Festival 14 TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2

11:30 AM The huMBLing

(US) 110mins. ICM Partners (US). Millennium Entertainment (int’l).

Dir: Barry Levinson.

Cast: Al Pacino, Dianne Wiest, Greta Gerwig, Kyra Sedgwick.

An aged and addled actor has his world turned upside down after he embarks upon an affair with a much younger woman Special Presentations ryerson Theatre

11:45 AM aire LiBre

(Argentina) 102mins.

Rizoma (int’l). Dir: Anahi Berneri. Cast: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Celeste Cid, Anahi Beholi.

The long-time marriage between a seemingly happy Buenos Aires couple begins to disintegrate just as they are on the verge of realising their dream of an idyllic life outside the city contemporary World cinema TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3

12:00 PM The dead LandS

(New Zealand/United Kingdom) 108mins. XYZ Films (int’l/US). Dir: Toa Fraser. Cast: James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka.

The son of a murdered tribal chieftain seeks vengeance on his family’s killers by learning the

32 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

ancient Maori martial arts from a legendary warrior.

Special Presentations The Bloor hot docs cinema

12:15 PM in coMPariSon

(Germany/Austria) 61mins. Harun Farocki Filmproduction, Navigator Film. Dir: Harun Farocki.

This contemplative documentary by the late, great film-maker Harun Farocki compares different methods of brick production in cultures around the world. cinematheque TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family cinema

12:30 PM The Judge

(US) 141mins. Warner Bros Pictures (int’l/US).

Dir: David Dobkin. Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga.

A big-city lawyer returns

home when his father, a small-town judge, is accused of murder. gala Presentations roy Thomson hall

12:45 PM

Bo, Tong Dawei.

A moving drama about a man who stops at nothing in his quest to recover his missing son.

Special Presentations ryerson Theatre

groundhog day

(US) 101mins. Dir: Harold Ramis. Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell.

Bill Murray plays an unpleasant weatherman cursed to relive February 2 on repeat.

Special events TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2

2:00 PM crueL STory oF youTh

(Japan) 96mins.

Shochiku. Dir: Nagisa Oshima. Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Yusuke Kawazu.

A brutal and beautiful portrait of two doomed, rebellious young lovers living fast and dying young in the sleazy backstreets of Tokyo. cinematheque TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family cinema

2:30 PM deareST

(China/Hong Kong) 130mins. WE Distribution Ltd (int’l).

Dir: Peter Ho-sun Chan.

Cast: Zhao Wei, Huang

Trick or TreaTy?

(Canada) 85mins.

National Film Board of Canada (int’l). Dir: Alanis Obomsawin.

Legendary Canadian documentarian Alanis Obomsawin digs into the tangled history of Treaty 9 — the infamous 1905 agreement wherein First Nations communities allegedly relinquished sovereignty over their traditional territories — to reveal the deceptions and distortions which “the real agreement” has been subjected to by successive governments seeking to deprive Canada’s First Peoples of their lands and rights.

Masters TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3

2:45 PM WeLcoMe To Me

(US) 88mins. United Talent Agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US).

Cargo Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Shira Piven.

Cast: Kristen Wiig, James

Marsden, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Wes Bentley, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Linda Cardellini.

A woman suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder becomes an overnight celebrity after a huge lottery jackpot allows her to launch her own offthe-wall talk show.

Special Presentations Princess of Wales

3:00 PM ShreW’S neST See box, above

WinTer SLeeP

(Turkey/France/ Germany) 196mins.

Memento Films (int’l).

Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag.

An immersive, meditative chamber drama about a small-town innkeeper whose cultural pretensions and smug self-satisfaction are fatefully undermined over the course of an eventful winter.

Masters TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1

3:30 PM ghoSTBuSTerS

(US) 105mins. Dir: Ivan Reitman. Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis.

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FROM THE NETHERLANDS

SCREENINGS

FRIDAY SEP 5

CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

FRAILER Dir: Mijke de Jong Prod: Topkapi Films, PRPL (feature, 80’) 16:15 Cinema 4 19:30 Scotiabank 8 (press & industry)

Public screening Three misfit parapsychologists go into business ridding New York City of assorted ghosts and ghouls and become media celebrities in the process.

Special Events TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2

4:15 PM FRaILER

(Netherlands) 80mins.

Topkapi Films (int’l).

Dir: Mijke de Jong.

Cast: Leonoor Pauw, Adelheid Roosen, Lieneke Le Roux.

A woman diagnosed with terminal lung cancer gathers her three dearest friends together to make the most of the time she has left.

DISCOVERY

THE INTRUDER Dir: Shariff Korver Prod: Lemming Film (feature, 90’) 17:00 Scotiabank 10 (press & industry) 21:30 Scotiabank 1

your Dutch film connection

international@eyefilm.nl www.international.eyefilm.nl

34 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

4:15 PM ThE TaLE oF ThE PRINCESS KaGuya

(Japan) 137mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Isao Takahata. Cast: Aki

ThE PRICE WE Pay

(Canada) 92mins.

Filmoption International (int’l). Dir: Harold Crooks.

The dark history and dire present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harbouring profits in offshore havens.

Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii.

Okina is a bamboo cutter in rural Japan. One day he finds a tiny baby in the folds of a bamboo shoot. He

brings the creature home to his wife Ounaa and they decide to keep her and raise her as a princess.

Special Presentations Ryerson Theatre

Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld.

A concentration-camp survivor searches ravaged post-war Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis.

6:00 PM CuT SNaKE

(Australia) 94mins. Seville International (int’l). Dir: Tony Ayres. Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Alex Russell, Jessica De Gouw.

The past catches up with an ex-con who has rebuilt his life in a small Australian town.

Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema

TIFF Docs TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3

BIRD PEoPLE

muRDER IN PaCoT

ThE TaLE oF ThE PRINCESS KaGuya

(France) 128mins.

IFC Films (US). Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Pascale Ferran. Cast: Josh Charles, Anais Demoustier.

A whimsical fable about the magically crossing paths of a disgruntled US businessman and a daydreaming French hotel maid.

(Haiti/France/Norway) 130mins. Velvet Film (int’l).

Dir: Raoul Peck. Cast: Alex Descas, Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, Thibault Vincon.

In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a middle-aged Port-au-Prince couple come face to face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society when they are forced to rent out their villa to a foreign aid worker and his enterprising local girlfriend.

See box, above

5:00 PM SuNShINE SuPERmaN

(US/Norway/United Kingdom) 96mins.

Submarine Entertainment (US). Salt-Co (int’l). Dir: Marah Strauch. Cast: Jean Boenish, Carl Boenish.

A heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, “the father of BASE jumping”, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular — and dangerous — feats of footlaunched human flight.

TIFF Docs Scotiabank 12

5:45 PM

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 1

EDEN

(France) 131mins. Kinology (int’l). Dir: Mia HansenLove. Cast: Felix De Givry, Pauline Etienne, Vincent Macaigne, Greta Gerwig.

Traces the rise of the French electronic-music boom in the 1990s.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 2

masters Winter Garden Theatre

Special Presentations Visa Screening Room (Elgin)

SPRING

(US) 109mins. XYZ Films (int’l/US). Dirs: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead.

Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Francesco Carnelutti.

The tale of an American backpacker in Italy who falls in love with a beautiful young woman harbouring a dark, primordial secret.

Vanguard The Bloor hot Docs Cinema

ThE DRoP

masters Isabel Bader Theatre

(US) 107mins. Chernin Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Michael R Roskam. Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini.

A Brooklyn bartender finds himself caught between the cops and a crew of Chechen mobsters.

PhoENIx

Special Presentations Princess of Wales

(Germany) 98mins. The Match Factory (int’l).

Dir: Christian Petzold.

ThE GREaT maN

(France) 107mins. Bac

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November 14-30 2014, Tallinn, Estonia

Submissions deadline to International Competition open until September 15! visitestonia.com

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ScREEningS

Films (int’l/US). Dir: Sarah Leonor. Cast: Jérémie Renier, Surho Sugaipov, Ramzan Idiev.

Recuperating in Paris after being wounded in Afghanistan, a French Foreign Legion soldier is reunited with the man who saved his life — and unexpectedly finds himself able to repay his debt when he is compelled to take care of the man’s young son.

Discovery Scotiabank 4

6:30 PM BoYcHoiR See box, right

guiDancE

(Canada) 83mins.

Edyson Entertainment Inc. (int’l). Dir: Pat Mills. Cast: Pat Mills, Zahra Bentham, Laytrel McMullen.

Fabricating credentials to score a last-ditch job as a high-school guidance counsellor, a boozing, drug-addled former child star becomes an improbable hit with his students by dispensing the worst advice possible.

Public screening 6:30 PM BoYcHoiR

(US) 106mins. Creative Artists Agency (US).

Embankment Films (int’l). Dir: Francois Girard. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates,

Josh Lucas.

A troubled 11-year-old boy at a prestigious East Coast music school clashes with the school’s demanding choir master. gala Presentations Roy thomson Hall

Discovery Scotiabank 3

Hungarian plains, populated by an odd assortment of outcasts.

Discovery Scotiabank 13

i aM not LoREna

contemporary World cinema tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 2

foRcE MaJEuRE

(Chile/Argentina) 82mins. Forastero (int’l).

Dir: Isidora Marras. Cast: Loreto Aravena, Paulina Garcia, Maureen Junott.

A case of mistaken identity becomes a living nightmare when a young actress finds herself relentlessly assailed by debt collectors.

Discovery Scotiabank 9

WaVELEngtHS 1: oPEn foRMS

tHE cRoW’S Egg

(India) 99mins. Fox Star Studios Pvt Ltd (int’l).

Dir: M Manikandan.

Cast: Ramesh, Ramesh Thilaganathan, Vignesh.

In a Chennai slum, two young brothers set out to realise their dream: to get their first taste of pizza.

Discovery Scotiabank 14

7:00 PM

96mins.

DukHtaR

Wavelengths Jackman Hall

(Pakistan/USA/Norway) 93mins. Dukhtar Productions, LLC (int’l).

Dir: Afia Nathaniel.

Cast: Samiya Mumtaz, Mohib Mirza, Saleha Aref.

Fleeing with her 10-yearold daughter after the girl is promised in marriage as part of a peace treaty, the wife of a tribal chieftain is pursued through the mountains by both her husband and the intended groom’s henchmen.

6:45 PM MiRagE

(Hungary/Slovakia) 90mins. Hungarian National Film Fund (int’l). Dir: Szabolcs Hajdu. Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Razvan Vasilescu, Orsolya TörökIllyés.

A mysterious wanderer settles into a strange homestead on the parched

36 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

(Sweden/Norway/ Denmark/France) 118mins. Coproduction Office (int’l/US). (int’l). Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren.

An impulsive decision in a moment of crisis drives a wedge between a husband and wife.

Special Presentations tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 1

7:15 PM BEatS of tHE antonoV

(Sudan/South Africa) 65mins. Big World Cinema (int’l). Dir: Hajooj Kuka.

Director Hajooj Kuka immerses us in the world of the Sudanese farmers, herders and rebels of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountain regions, who defiantly celebrate their heritage and tend their lands in the face of a government bombing campaign.

tiff Docs tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson family cinema

7:30 PM SHoRt cutS intERnationaL PRogRaMME 1

121mins. Dirs: various.

An accident at the supermarket turns into an international event; a day on the job has lifealtering repercussions; an unexpected connection leaves an electric impression... Serendipity, circumstance and dumb luck combine in unforgettable ways in this package of stellar international short films.

Short cuts international tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 3

8:00 PM coMing HoME

(China) 109mins. Wild Bunch, Edko Films Ltd (int’l). Dir: Zhang Yimou. Cast: Gong Li, Chen Daoming, Zhang Huiwen.

In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, an amnesiac woman struggles to regain her memory and reconnect with her longimprisoned husband.

Special Presentations Winter garden theatre

8:45 PM tHE YES MEn aRE REVoLting

(US) 90mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: Laura

Nix, The Yes Men. Cast: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Chandia Bernadette Kodili.

The sequel to the hit 2003 documentary follows activist-pranksters Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano as they pull the rug out from under megacorporations, government officials and a complacent media in a series of outrageous stunts designed to draw awareness to the issue of climate change. tiff Docs Scotiabank 2

9:00 PM fLaPPing in tHE MiDDLE of noWHERE

(Vietnam) 99mins.

VBlock Media (int’l).

Dir: Diep Hoang Nguyen. Cast: Thuy Anh Nguyen, Bao Son Tran, Ha Hoang.

When they discover they are pregnant, a young couple in Hanoi resort to desperate —and bizarre — measures to raise money for an abortion.

Discovery Scotiabank 3

nigHtcRaWLER

(US) 117mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Dan Gilroy. Cast: Michel Litvak, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster.

A drifter and petty thief joins the nocturnal legions of scuzzy freelance photographers who scour the city for gruesome

crime-scene footage, in this gripping portrait of the dark side of Los Angeles.

Special Presentations Visa Screening Room (Elgin)

St. VincEnt

(US) 103mins. The Weinstein Company (int’l). Dir: Theodore Melfi. Cast: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts.

A cantankerous, cashstrapped, loose-living retiree becomes a spectacularly unlikely role model for his 12-year-old neighbour.

Special Presentations Princess of Wales

StoRiES of ouR LiVES

(Kenya) 60mins. Stories Of Our Lives Productions (int’l). Dir: Anonymous, Jim Chuchu.

Created by the members of a Nairobi-based arts collective — who have removed their names from the film for fear of reprisal — this anthology film that dramatises true-life stories from Kenya’s oppressed LGBTQ community is both a labour of love and a bold act of militancy.

Discovery Jackman Hall

tHE REaPER

(Croatia/Slovenia) 98mins. Kinorama (int’l).

Dir: Zvonimir Juric. Cast: Ivo Gregurevic, Mirjana Karanovic, Igor Kovac.

Haunted by his dark past, »

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SCreeningS

Public screening 9:00 PM X+Y

(United Kingdom) 111mins. Bankside Films (int’l). Dir: Morgan Matthews. Cast: Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins.

A socially awkward

teenage maths prodigy finds new confidence and new friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.

Rejtman. Cast: Susana Pampin, Rafael Federman, Benjamin Coelho.

A teenager finds his life considerably hampered after he impulsively attempts to shoot himself.

Discovery ryerson Theatre

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 4

9:30 PM

a labourer in a small Croatian village has a series of fateful encounters over the course of a single night.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9

The YearS of fierro

(Mexico) 98mins.

Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia (IMCINE) (int’l). Dir: Santiago Esteinou.

An empathetic and powerful documentary portrait of César Fierro, a Mexican convict who has spent 30 years in a Texas prison, awaiting his sentence of execution by lethal injection.

Tiff Docs The Bloor hot Docs Cinema

Titlecard Pictures Inc. (int’l). Dir: Jacob Tierney.

Cast: Sonja Bennett, Danny Trejo, Laura Harris.

A boozing, live-at-home thirtysomething finds her world turned upside down when she lies about being pregnant.

Special Presentations isabel Bader Theatre

ShorT CuTS CanaDa Programme 1

115mins.

Headlined by newly restored animations by the great Norman McLaren, this programme muses on the many facets of fame, with tales of war heroes, TV stars and local mayors.

Short Cuts Canada Tiff Bell lightbox cinema 2

X+Y See box, above

9:15 PM PreggolanD

(Canada) 106mins.

TWo ShoTS fireD

(Argentina/Chile/ Germany/Netherlands) 104mins. Ruda Cine (int’l). Dir: Martin

38 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

life in a fiShBoWl

(Iceland/Finland/ Sweden/Czech Republic) 130mins. Films Boutique (int’l). Dir: Baldvin Z Cast: Hera Hilmar, Thorsteinn Bachmann, Thor Kristjansson.

Follows three people — a struggling single mother, a former athlete trying to scale the corporate ladder, and a once-acclaimed author turned drunk — whose lives intersect in surprising ways.

Discovery Scotiabank 14

ruTh & aleX

(US) 92mins. Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US).

Myriad Pictures (int’l).

Dir: Richard Loncraine.

Cast: Michael Cristofer, Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman.

A long-married couple have an eventful weekend

when they are forced to contemplate selling their Brooklyn apartment. gala Presentations roy Thomson hall

Tiff Bell lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & leah atkinson family Cinema

9:45 PM The liTTle DeaTh

The inTruDer

(Netherlands) 86mins.

Lemming Film (int’l).

Dir: Shariff Korver. Cast: Nasrdin Dchar, Walid Benmbarek, Rachid el Ghazaoui.

A Dutch cop of Moroccan heritage goes undercover in a Moroccan drug ring and finds there a feeling of belonging he never experienced in ‘normal’ society.

Discovery Scotiabank 1

The narroW frame of miDnighT

(Morocco/United Kingdom/France) 93mins. Wide Management (int’l). Dir: Tala Hadid. Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Marie-Josée Croze, Fadwa Boujouane.

The intersecting destinies of a Moroccan-Iraqi writer searching for his brother, the lover whom he left behind, and a young orphan on the run create an incisive and unsettling portrait of a land riven by violence and fundamentalism.

Discovery

(Australia) 96mins. Natja Noviani Rosner, Level K (int’l). Dir: Josh Lawson.

Cast: Josh Lawson, Bojana Novakovic, Damon Herriman.

Takes us into the homes of seemingly straight-laced Australian suburbanites to reveal a gallery of kinks, fetishes, oddball turn-ons, and pent-up repression let precariously loose.

Discovery Scotiabank 13

10:00 PM magiCal girl

(Spain) 127mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Carlos Vermut. Cast: José Sacristan, Barbara Lennie, Luis Bermejo.

Desperate to fulfill his terminally ill daughter’s last wish, a grief-stricken man plunges into a vortex of blackmail, deception and double-cross.

Discovery Tiff Bell lightbox cinema 1

The PrinCeSS of franCe

(Argentina) 70mins.

Trapecio cine (int’l). Dir: Matias Pineiro. Cast: Julian Larquier, Agustina

Munoz, Maria Villar.

Details how life begins to imitate art when a Buenos Aires theatre company mounts a radio version of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Wavelengths Tiff Bell lightbox cinema 3

TokYo TriBe

(Japan) 116mins. XYZ Films (US). Nikkatsu Corporation (int’l). Dir: Sion Sono. Cast: Ryohei Suzuki, Young Dais.

The director ventures even further into uncharted cinematic territory with this yakuza-street gang, hip hop musical epic. midnight madness Scotiabank 8

11:59 PM Big game

(Finland/Germany/ United Kingdom) 90mins. Altitude Film Sales, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Altitude Film Sales (int’l). Dir: Jalmari Helander. Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson.

Trapped in the wilderness after Air Force One is forced down by terrorists, the US president must rely on the survival skills of a 13-year-old woodsman. midnight madness ryerson Theatre

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»

SCreeninGS

Press & Industry 8:30 AM Corbo

(Canada) 119mins. Max Films Media (int’l).

Dir: Mathieu Denis.

Cast: Anthony Therrien, Antoine L’Ecuyer, Karelle Tremblay.

A teenage Quebecer in the 1960s evolves from proindependence activist to radical terrorist, in this gripping chronicle of the origins of the FLQ in the decade preceding the 1970 October Crisis.

Discovery Scotiabank 14

Don’T breaThe

(France) 86mins. Deckert Distribution (int’l). Dir: Nino Kirtadzé. Cast: Levan Murtazashvili, Irma Inaridze.

This subtly comic blend of fact and fiction follows a middle-aged married couple in Tblisi, Georgia, as they deal with the fallout from an unclear, potentially fatal prognosis.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 5

8:45 AM

Press & industry 8:45 AM The Grump

(Finland) 104mins. The Yellow Affair (int’l).

Dir: Dome Karukoski.

Cast: Antti Litja, Petra Frey, Mari Perankoski.

A stubbornly traditional 80-year-old farmer — whose social attitudes

verge on the prehistoric — raises hell when he is forced to move in with his sadsack, city-dwelling son and domineering daughterin-law.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9

Far From men

(France) 110mins. Pathé International (int’l). Dir: David Oelhoffen. Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Reda Kateb.

In this gritty tale of survival adapted from a short story by Albert Camus, a reclusive teacher helps a villager accused of murder to escape into the mountains during the Algerian War Special presentations Scotiabank 11

The Grump

haemoo

See box, above

(South Korea) 111mins.

Finecut Co. Ltd (int’l).

Dir: Shim Sung-bo. Cast: Kim Yoon-seok, Park Yu-chun, Han Ye-ri.

The ragtag crew of a fishing boat takes on a dangerous commission to smuggle a group of illegal immigrants from China to Korea.

9:00 AM DeareST

(China/Hong Kong) 130mins. WE Distribution (int’l). Dir: Peter Ho-sun Chan. Cast: Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei.

A moving drama about a man who stops at nothing in his quest to recover his missing son.

Special presentations Scotiabank 13

FlappinG in The miDDle oF noWhere

ForCe majeure

(Vietnam) 99mins.

VBlock Media (int’l).

Dir: Diep Hoang Nguyen. Cast: Thuy Anh Nguyen, Bao Son Tran, Ha Hoang.

When they discover they are pregnant, a young couple in Hanoi resort to desperate and bizarre measures to raise money for an abortion.

(Sweden/Norway/ Denmark/France) 118mins. Coproduction Office (int’l/US). Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren.

An impulsive decision in a moment of crisis drives a wedge between a husband and wife.

Discovery Scotiabank 7

Special presentations Scotiabank 3

40 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

Gala presentations princess of Wales

iraqi oDySSey

(Iraq/Switzerland/ Germany/United Arab Emirates) 162mins.

Autlook Filmsales (int’l).

Dir: Samir.

Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting 3D documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors

of dictatorship, war and foreign occupation.

TiFF Docs Scotiabank 6

monSoon

(Canada) 108mins.

Intuitive Pictures (int’l).

Dir: Sturla Gunnarsson.

Sturla Gunnarsson journeyed to India to create this stunningly shot meditation on the phenomenon that some call “the soul of India”.

TiFF Docs Scotiabank 2

9:15 AM aire libre

(Argentina) 102mins.

Rizoma (int’l). Dir: Anahi Berneri. Cast: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Celeste Cid, Anahi Beholi.

The long-time marriage between a seemingly happy Buenos Aires couple begins to disintegrate just as they are on the verge of realising their dream of an idyllic life outside the city.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8

9:30 AM DukhTar

(Pakistan/USA/Norway) 93mins. Dukhtar Productions, LLC (int’l).

Dir: Afia Nathaniel. Cast: Samiya Mumtaz, Mohib Mirza, Saleha Aref.

Fleeing with her 10-yearold daughter after the girl

is promised in marriage as part of a peace treaty, the wife of a tribal chieftain is pursued through the mountains by both her husband and the intended groom’s henchmen.

Discovery Scotiabank 10

Rosamund Pike.

A dissatisfied London psychiatrist embarks on a continent-crossing trip in a search for the secret of happiness.

Special presentations Scotiabank 12

11:00 AM

The SounD anD The Fury

GenTlemen

(US) 101mins. New Films International (int’l). Dir: James Franco.

Adaptation of William Faulkner’s modernist masterpiece about the illfated Mississippi Compson clan.

(Sweden) 141mins.

Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Mikael Marcimain. Cast: David Dencik, Ruth Vega Fernandez, David Fukamachi Regnfors.

A would-be novelist discovers the story of a lifetime when his host — a bon vivant and possible spy with friends in the highest of places — reveals the existence of a decadesspanning conspiracy by Europe’s ultra-wealthy elite, who are secretly remodelling the continent to serve their own sinister needs.

Special presentations Scotiabank 1

10:00 AM Gemma bovery

(France) 99mins.

Gaumont (int’l). Dir: Anne Fontaine. Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fabrice Luchini, Jason Flemyng.

Tale of a passionate young Englishwoman whose dull married life in a provincial Norman town steers her towards adultery.

Special presentations Scotiabank 4

10:30 AM heCTor anD The SearCh For happineSS

(Germany/Canada) 114mins. Bankside Films (int’l). Dir: Peter Chelsom. Cast: Simon Pegg, Toni Collette,

Special presentations Scotiabank 9

Theeb

(Jordan/Qatar/United Arab Emirates/United Kingdom) 100mins.

Fortissimo Films, MAD Solutions (int’l). Dir: Naji Abu Nowar. Cast: Jacir Eid, Hussein Salameh, Hassan Mutlag.

In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during the First World War, a young »

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SCREENINGS

Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming of age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.

Discovery Scotiabank 5

11:15 AM PREGGolaND

(Canada) 106mins.

Titlecard Pictures Inc. (int’l). Dir: Jacob Tierney.

Cast: Sonja Bennett, Danny Trejo, Laura Harris.

A boozing, live-at-home thirtysomething finds her world turned upside down when she lies about being pregnant.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 11

11:30 AM FElIx aND MEIRa

(Canada) 105mins.

Urban Distribution International (int’l). Dir: Maxime Giroux. Cast: Hadas Yaron, Martin Dubreuil, Luzer Twersky.

A young married woman from Montreal’s Orthodox Jewish community finds freedom from the strictures of her faith through her relationship with a young man who is mourning the death of his estranged father.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7

Press & industry 12:00 PM a PIGEoN SaT oN a bRaNCh REFlECTING oN ExISTENCE

(Sweden/Norway/ France/Germany) 100mins. Coproduction Office (int’l). Dir: Roy Andersson.

imprisoned husband.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 13

ThE huMblING

(US) 110mins.

ICM Partners (US). Millennium Entertainment (int’l).

Dir: Barry Levinson.

Cast: Al Pacino, Dianne Wiest, Greta Gerwig.

An aged and addled actor has his world turned upside down after he embarks upon an affair with a much younger woman.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 3

11:45 AM CoMING hoME

(China) 109mins. Wild Bunch, Edko Films Ltd. (int’l). Dir: Zhang Yimou. Cast: Gong Li, Chen Daoming, Zhang Huiwen.

In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, an amnesiac woman struggles to regain her memory and reconnect with her long-

MuRDER IN PaCoT

(Haiti/France/Norway) 130mins. Velvet Film (int’l). Dir: Raoul Peck.

Cast: Alex Descas, Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, Thibault Vincon.

In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a middle-aged Port-auPrince couple come face to face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society when they are forced to rent out their villa to a foreign aid worker and his enterprising local girlfriend.

Masters Scotiabank 8

12:00 PM a PIGEoN SaT oN a bRaNCh REFlECTING oN ExISTENCE See box, above

SaMba

(France) 115mins.

42 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

(Belgium) 95mins.

Attraction (int’l).

Dir: Douglas Boswell.

Cast: Emma Verlinden, Spencer Bogaert, Felix Maesschalck.

A young boy is sucked into the digitised world of a mysterious video game, in this visually dazzling adventure.

Norway/Finland/United Kingdom) 98mins.

Cinephil (int’l). Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer.

Cast: Adi Rukun.

Follows a family who, after viewing Joshua Oppenheimer’s previous film, The Act of Killing, discovered the men who murdered their son during Indonesia’s anticommunist purges of the mid-1960s.

TIFF Kids Scotiabank 6

TIFF Docs Scotiabank 1

12:15 PM

A comedy, which moves freely from nightmare to fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as it muses on man’s perpetual inhumanity to man.

Masters Scotiabank 2

Creative Artists Agency (US). Gaumont (int’l).

Dirs: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano. Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Omar Sy, Tahar Rahim.

A recent migrant to France fights to stay in his adopted country with the help of a rookie immigration worker.

Gala Presentations Princess of Wales

SuNShINE SuPERMaN

(US/Norway/ United Kingdom) 96mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). SaltCo (int’l). Dir: Marah Strauch. Cast: Jean Boenish, Carl Boenish.

A heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, “the father of BASE jumping”, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular — and dangerous — feats of footlaunched human flight.

TIFF Docs Scotiabank 10

labyRINThuS

12:45 PM

1:15 PM

MaDaME bovaRy

lEvIaThaN

(United Kingdom/ Belgium) 118mins.

William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Radiant Films International (int’l). Dir: Sophie Barthes. Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Laura Carmichael, Ezra Miller.

A pretty, bookish country girl marries a dull doctor to escape from her father’s pig farm. When marital ennui proves unbearable, she commences a series of love affairs in the hope of ascending the social ladder, but every step upward only brings her closer to what will prove a devastating fall.

(Russia) 141mins.

Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Andrey Zvyaginstev. Cast: Alexey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovitchenkov, Roman Madyanov.

A painterly, primordial tale about a proud patriarch fighting to protect his family home from a corrupt local official.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 4

ThE looK oF SIlENCE

(Denmark/Indonesia/

Masters Scotiabank 14

1:30 PM alIvE

(South Korea) 175mins.

Finecut Co (int’l).

Dir: Park Jung-bum.

Cast: Park Jung-bum, Lee Seungyeon, Park Myunghoon, Shin Heatbit.

A simple labourer in a remote mountain village is driven to desperate measures to provide for the women in his life.

City to City Scotiabank 5

1:45 PM ShREW’S NEST

(Spain) 91mins. Film Factory Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Juanfer Andres, Esteban Roel.

Cast: Macarena Gomez, Nadia De Santiago, Luis Tosar.

After a debilitating fall, an unlucky neighbour finds himself trapped in the mad, cloistered world of two shut-in sisters. vanguard Scotiabank 9

2:00 PM 1001 GRaMS

(Norway/Germany/ France) 88mins. Les Films du Losange (int’l).

Dir: Bent Hamer. Cast: Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker (de la Comédie Francaise), Stein Winge, Hiuldegun Riise.

A recently divorced, workobsessed lab technician finds herself encountering a whole new world of experience when she attends an important scientific conference in Paris.

Masters Scotiabank 3

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7 days 200 guest speakers 5,000 attendees All-inclusive for registered Industry delegates Highlights: Days 1 – 3 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 Creative Process

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 Financing

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Featured Sessions:

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Moguls: Claudia Bluemhuber, Silver Reel Partners 4:45pm – 5:30pm glenn gould studio

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Day-and-Date Release Models 10:30am – 11:30pm glenn gould studio ™Toronto International Film Festival Inc.

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SCREENINGS

HuNGRy HEaRtS See box, right

tHE LIttLE DEatH

(Australia) 96mins. Natja Noviani Rosner, Level K (int’l). Dir: Josh Lawson.

Cast: Josh Lawson, Bojana Novakovic, Damon Herriman.

Takes us inside the homes of a group of seemingly straight-laced Australian suburbanites to reveal a gallery of kinks, fetishes, oddball turn-ons, and pent-up repression.

Discovery Scotiabank 7

2:15 PM LabyRINtH of LIES

(Germany) 122mins.

Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Giulio Ricciarelli.

A young prosecutor in post-war West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 10

ovER youR DEaD boDy

(Japan) 90mins. Mongrel International (int’l). Dir: Takashi Miike. Cast: Ebizo Ichikawa, Ko Shibasaki, Hideaki Ito. A theatre troupe rehearsing a classic play of murder, betrayal and phantasmagorical vengeance find life bloodily imitating art backstage. vanguard Scotiabank 13

WILD taLES

(Argentina/Spain) 122mins. Kramer & Sigman Films (int’l).

Dir: Damian Szifron.

Cast: Ricardo Darin, Oscar Martinez, Leonardo Sbaraglia.

Offers a subversive, blackly comic portrait of contemporary Argentina.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 2

2:30 PM NatIoNaL DIPLoma

(France/Congo) 92mins.

AGAT Films & Cie (int’l).

Dir: Dieudo Hamadi.

Follows a group of teenagers in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo, whose struggles to pass the state exam that is the key to their future are further complicated

Press & industry 2:00 PM HuNGRy HEaRtS

(Italy) 109mins.

Radiant Films International (int’l).

Dir: Saverio Costanzo.

Cast: Adam Driver, Alba Rohrwacher,

by their country’s endemic culture of corruption. tIff Docs Scotiabank 6

tHE GREat maN

(France) 107mins. Bac Films (Int’l/US). Dir: Sarah Leonor. Cast: Jérémie Renier, Surho Sugaipov, Ramzan Idiev.

Recuperating in Paris after being wounded in Afghanistan, a French Foreign Legion soldier is reunited with the man who saved his life — and unexpectedly finds himself able to repay his debt when he is compelled to take care of the man’s young son.

Discovery Scotiabank 8

2:45 PM

Roberta Maxwell.

A young married couple in New York City engages in a fateful struggle over the life of their newborn child.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 11

A doctor takes in a mysterious man when he washes ashore at her remote cottage with a gunshot wound — and soon discovers that his would-be killer is on his way to finish the job.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 12

3:15 PM EDEN

(France) 131mins.

Kinology (int’l). Dir: Mia Hansen-Love.

Cast: Felix De Givry, Pauline Etienne, Vincent Macaigne.

Traces the rise of the French electronic-music boom in the 1990s.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 4

oCtobER GaLE

GooDbyE to LaNGuaGE 3D

(Canada) 91mins. Myriad Pictures, Gersh Agency (US). Myriad Pictures (int’l). Dir: Ruba Nadda.

Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Scott Speedman, Tim Roth.

(France) 70mins.

Wild Bunch (int’l).

Dir: Jean-Luc Godard.

Cast: Heloise Godet, Kamel Abdelli, Richard Chevalier.

A visually sumptuous and

44 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

richly complex meditation on history and eternity, being and nothingness, desire and death. masters Scotiabank 1

4:00 PM tHE REaPER

(Croatia/Slovenia) 98mins. Kinorama (int’l).

Dir: Zvonimir Juric. Cast: Ivo Gregurevic, Mirjana Karanovic, Igor Kovac.

Haunted by his dark past, a labourer in a small Croatian village has a series of fateful encounters over the course of a single night.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9

4:15 PM REtuRN to ItHaCa

(France) 95mins. Funny Balloons (int’l/US). Dir: Laurent Cantet. Cast: Isabel Santos, Jorge Peugorria, Fernando Hechevarria.

Five old friends in Havana reflect on their lives, experiences and unrealised dreams, in this thoughtful, delicate and affecting character study.

Special Presentations Scotiabank 3

vILLa touma

87mins. Bailasan (int’l).

Dir: Suha Arraf. Cast: Nisreen Faour, Ula Tabari, Cherien Dabis.

The story of spirited 18-year-old orphan Badia, whose arrival at the Ramallah home of her three spinster aunts unleashes a torrent of family secrets and longheld grudges.

Discovery Scotiabank 7

4:30 PM HIGH SoCIEty

(France) 95mins.

Pyramide International (int’l). Dir: Julie Lopes Curval. Cast: Ana Girardot, Bastien Bouillon, Baptiste Lecaplain.

Class barriers threaten the budding romance of two young lovers striving to realise their artistic ambitions.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 11

4:45 PM

International Sales (int’l).

Dir: Ole Giaever, Marte Vold. Cast: Ole Giaever, Marte Magnusdotter Solem, Sivert Giaever Solem.

A put-upon man seeks spiritual renewal in the Great Outdoors.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13

5:00 PM JuStICE

(Philippines) 120mins.

Ignatius Films Canada (int’l). Dir: Joel Lamangan. Cast: Nora Aunor, Romnick Sarmenta, Rosanna Roces.

A middle-aged domestic worker remains fiercely loyal to her employer even as it draws her ever deeper into the dirty world of human trafficking.

Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8

CoNfESSIoN

tHE INtRuDER

(South Korea) 114mins.

United Pictures (int’l).

Dir: Lee Do-yun. Cast: Ji Sung, Ju Ji-hoon, Lee Kwang-soo.

When a faked robbery ends in a real death, three long-time friends have their fierce loyalty to one another put to the test.

(Netherlands) 86mins.

Lemming Film (int’l).

Dir: Shariff Korver. Cast: Nasrdin Dchar, Walid Benmbarek, Rachid el Ghazaoui.

A Dutch cop of Moroccan heritage goes undercover in a Moroccan drug ring and finds there a feeling of belonging he never experienced in ‘normal’ society.

City to City Scotiabank 6

out of NatuRE

(Norway) 80mins. NDM

Discovery Scotiabank 10

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SCREENINGS

Screen office Meeting room 12, fifth floor, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 Kind Street West, Toronto, ON, M5V 3X5 Editorial Tel +1 416 599 8433 ext 2512 Editor Wendy Mitchell, wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com, +44 7889 414 856 uS editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Chief reporter Andreas Wiseman, andreas.wiseman@ screendaily.com, +44 7713 086 674 Chief critic & reviews editor Mark Adams, mark.adams@screendaily.com, +44 7834 902 528 Group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com,

Press & industry 5:30 PM ThE VallEy BElow

(Canada) 87mins. North Country Cinema (int’l).

Dir: Kyle Thomas. Cast: Stephen Bogaert, Kris Demeanor, Mikaela Cochrane.

Dividing four related narratives of hope and struggle into four selfcontained vignettes, Kyle Thomas creates a Raymond Carver-esque portrait of life in the Alberta Badlands.

Discovery Scotiabank 5

6:30 PM ThE NaRRow FRamE oF mIDNIGhT See box, above

7:00 PM ThE woRlD oF KaNaKo

(Japan) 118mins. Wild Bunch, Gaga Corporation (int’l). Dir: Tetsuya Nakashima. Cast: Koji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu, Satoshi Tsumabuki.

An ex-cop finds out more than he wanted to about his missing daughter.

Vanguard Scotiabank 10

7:15 PM hEaRTBEaT

(Canada) 93mins.

Northeast Films (int’l).

Dir: Andrea Dorfman.

Cast: Tanya Davis,

6:30 PM ThE NaRRow FRamE oF mIDNIGhT

(Morocco/United Kingdom/France) 93mins. Wide Management (int’l).

Dir: Tala Hadid. Cast: Khalid Abdalla, MarieJosée Croze, Fadwa Boujouane.

The intersecting destinies Stephanie Clattenburg, Stewart Legere.

A Halifax twentysomething finds salvation in her musical roots.

Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 11

7:30 PM FRaIlER

(Netherlands) 80mins.

Topkapi Films (int’l).

Dir: Mijke de Jong. Cast: Leonoor Pauw, Adelheid Roosen, Lieneke Le Roux.

A woman diagnosed with terminal cancer gathers her best friends together.

Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 8

may allah BlESS FRaNCE!

(France) 96mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Abd Al Malik. Cast: Marc Zinga, Sabrina Ouazani, Larouci Didi.

French rapper and author Abd Al Malik adapts his

46 Screen International at Toronto September 5, 2014

+44 7710 124 065

of three people — a Moroccan-Iraqi writer searching for his brother, the lover whom he left behind, and a young orphan on the run — create an incisive and unsettling portrait of a land riven by violence and fundamentalism.

Discovery Scotiabank 7

Bioskope Pictures (int’l).

Dir: Jyoti Mistry. Cast: Alex McGregor, Bjorn Steinbach.

Investigating a murder, a special investigator and a police detective are mired in political corruption.

Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 7

9:45 PM

Germany) 96mins.

Coproduction Office (int’l). Dir: Jessica Hausner. Cast: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller.

A darkly romantic vision of the last days of 19-century German poet Heinrich von Kleist.

Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 11

(South Africa) 85mins.

Shadowy Meadows Productions; Ken Kaplan,

Andrew Dixon, andrew.dixon@ screendaily.com, +44 7595 646 541 Vp business development, North america Nigel Daly, +1 213 447 5120

(Austria/Luxembourg/

See box, below

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

ThE VallEy

ImpuNITy

Commercial director

nigeldalymail@gmail.com,

7:45 PM

9:00 PM

Advertising and publishing

ToDay

Discovery Scotiabank 6

Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 5

daniel.horowitz@mail.utoronto.ca

amouR Fou

autobiography, chronicling his upbringing in the crime and drug-ridden streets of Strasbourg.

(France/Germany/ Lebanon/Qatar) 135mins.

Doc & Film International (int’l). Dir: Ghassan Salhab. Cast: Carlos Chahine, Carole Abboud, Fadi Abi Samra.

After a car crash in Lebanon’s isolated Beqaa Valley, an amnesiac man is held hostage on a farm that doubles as an illegal drug-production facility.

Sid adilman mentorship programme Daniel Horowitz,

Group commercial director Alison Pitchford Chief executive, mBI Conor Dignam printer Big Bark Graphics, S/B — 68 Healey Road, Units 1-3, Bolton, ON L7E 5A4 Screen International, london

Press & industry 9:45 PM ToDay

(Iran) 88mins.

DreamLab Films (Int’l/US). Dir: Reza Mirkarimi. Cast: Parviz Parastui, Soheila Golestani, Shabnam Moghadami.

MBI, Zetland House, 5-25

A Tehran taxi driver becomes the impromptu protector of a desperate young pregnant woman after he rushes her to hospital.

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Contemporary world Cinema Scotiabank 6

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M A R C H 6 - 1 5,, 2 0 1 5

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