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The Dead Lands
XYZ Films enlivens The Dead Lands BY JEREMY KAY
XYZ Films has closed a raft of deals led by a UK sale to Icon Film Distribution on The Dead Lands, set to receive its world premiere here on Friday. Rights have also gone to Germany (Ascot Elite), Italy (Movies Inspired), Turkey (Fabula Films), the Middle East (Falcon) and China (HGC). The Jokers previously acquired rights for France. Toa Fraser’s New Zealand-set action thriller is based on a screenplay by Glenn Standring. Matthew Metcalfe produced with Norman Merry, Tainui Stephens and Standring. The film was shot on location in Auckland and the central North Island of New Zealand and follows a chieftain’s son who sets out to avenge his father’s murder. James Rolleston (Boy) stars alongside Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare and Rena Owen. Ian Dawson at Icon Film Distribution brokered the UK deal with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films. General Film Corporation financed The Dead Lands in association with the New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand Film Production Fund Trust, Te Mangai Paho, Images & Sound, Lip Sync and Day Tripper Films backed by Ingenious Media.
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Chris Rock’s Top Five leads pack as TIFF starts slowly BY JEREMY KAY
As the second week of Toronto got underway, the hope remained that a deal for Top Five would close soon and a slew of anticipated premieres would inject life into what has so far been a muted event. The prevailing sentiment among industry attendees that the festival’s hardline policy on Telluride has robbed Toronto of muchneeded buzz over the first weekend has been darkened by the slowest start in years on the US acquisitions front. The new normal of ultra-conservative buyer strategies allied to below-par product starved the market of domestic deals in the first weekend.
At time of writing the only exception was Lionsgate’s deal with QED International and CAA for US and UK rights for the upcoming Robert De Niro and Zac Efron comedy Dirty Grandpa. Trade on available festival titles has drawn blanks, although hopes were high that a studio would close imminently on worldwide rights for Chris Rock’s Top Five, the one unequivocal hit among the acquisition titles to screen so far. US buyers were also circling Big Game, While We’re Young, Sunshine Superman, Pawn Sacrifice and The Cobbler, among others. International business has stayed largely below the radar in the run-up to AFM, although the
Hubert Boesl
Sam Worthington and Jennifer Aniston appear at the world premiere of Cake, in which she plays a chronic pain sufferer. Daniel Barnz directs.
Doc & Film seals Gallery, Melody deals Doc & Film has scored sales on Belgian director Bernard Bellefroid’s surrogate mother drama Melody. The tale of a mother-daughter relationship that blooms between an older woman and the younger surrogate mother of her unborn child has sold to Canada (Axia
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Films), Taiwan (Cineplex) and Benelux (Cinéart). Paris-based Doc & Film has also sealed new deals on Frederick Wiseman’s National Gallery, a TIFF Docs selection. In Toronto, it has sold to Switzerland (Xenix), Spain (Surtsey) and Benelux (Cinéart). The film is due to be released in
the US by Zipporah Films on November 5 after a premiere at New York’s Film Forum cinema. In other deals, Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan’s documentary Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait, has sold to France (Potemkine), Spain (Paco Poch) and Portugal (Leopardo) with more sales underway. Melanie Goodfellow
likes of Bloom and QED International have laid the foundations for sell-outs before November on The Nice Guys and Dirty Grandpa, respectively. Bloom, the new venture launched prior to Cannes by Ken Kao and Alex Walton, is in an aggressive mood and has taken on sales on the Michael Douglas and Noomi Rapace thriller Unlocked. IM Global demonstrated its spreading roots in Asia with a number of titles in the festival and a reshuffle at its pan-Asian acquisitions division Apsara, while XYZ Films, here with four titles in the festival, closed a raft of territories on New Zealand action thriller The Dead Lands (see story, left).
PROFILE Chaos reigns Alan Rickman talks about his TIFF closing night film A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts » Page 7
REVIEWS In Theory James Marsh’s The Theory Of Everything is led by stellar performances from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones » Page 10
I am the walrus Kevin Smith’s horror-comedy Tusk succeeds as an exercise in strangeness » Page 11
SCREENINGS What’s on today » Page 14
Final print daily This is Screen’s last print daily of Toronto 2014. For the rest of our festival news and reviews, check out ScreenDaily.com
Wide inks for US, Germany
Buyers bow to Emperor
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Wide Management has sealed a US deal on Toronto drama The Lesson with Film Movement and German deals with Tiberius Film on duo Golden Kingdom and Eva Braun. The Lesson, the debut feature from Bulgarian film-makers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, follows a hard-working schoolteacher in a small Bulgarian town who is driven to desperate measures. The deal was locked at TIFF by Film Movement’s co-president Adley Gartenstein with Anais Clanet and Emmanuelle Le Courtois at Wide. Director Simone Scafidi’s Italian drama Eva Braun, inspired by Italy’s recent parliamentary sex scandals, follows a mogul with unusual sexual fantasies. Brian Perkins’ US debut Golden Kingdom charts the coming-of-age of four young monks in Myanmar. Wide’s Toronto slate also includes The Narrow Frame Of Midnight; Margarita, With A Straw; and Foreign Body.
Corsan has signed deals in the Middle East (Eagle), China (HGC) and South Korea (Joy and Content) for Lee Tamahori-directed actionadventure Emperor, which is currently shooting in the Czech Republic. The 16th century-set story is about a young woman (Sophie Cookson) who infiltrates the court of the embattled Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to avenge the death of her father. Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann co-star while Eddie Marsan has also signed on to join the cast, which includes Paz Vega, Oliver Platt, Götz Otto, Bill Skarsgard and Rutger Hauer. Corsan founder and CEO Paul Breuls produces alongside Michael John Fedun and COO Catherine Vandeleene. Guy Tannahill serves as executive producer. Paradigm represents US rights. Corsan previously collaborated with Tamahori on The Devil’s Double and with Brody on Third Person.
Presents at T
The Pilgrim PAULO COELHO’S BEST STORY Director: Cast:
Production: Status: Delivery:
Daniel Augusto Júlio Andrade, Ravel Andrade, Fabiana Gugli, Fabíula Nascimento Enrique Díaz, Paz Vega Dama Filmes, Babel Films Completed Summer 2014
Screening TOMORROW / September 10th / 9.30 a.m. / Cinema 7
A Hitman’s Solitude Before the Shot NO MISSION. NO LIFE. AND THEN SHE CAME ALONG. Director: Cast: Production: Status: Delivery:
Florian Mischa Böder Benno Fürmann, Mavie Hörbiger, Wolf Roth, Erik Madsen HUPE Film- und Fernsehproduktion Completed Winter 2014
Head Office
Screening TOMORROW / September 10th / 3.30 p.m. / Cinema 7
Picture Tree International / Zur Börse 12 / 10247 Berlin / Germany Phone: +49.30 - 4208 248 - 0 / E-Mail: pti@picturetree-international.com / www. picturetree-international.com
Toronto 2014 Pause WHEN THE STARS ARE SHAKING Directed by: Mathieu Urfer Starring: Baptiste Gilliéron, Julia Faure, André Wilms, Nils Althaus, Roland Vouilloz
Chrieg AT WAR Directed by: Simon Jaquemet Starring: Benjamin Lutzke, Ste, Ella Rumpf, Sascha Gisler, John Leuppi, Livia S. Reinhard
Therapy for a Vampire 500 YEARS OF MARRIAGE IS ENOUGH Directed by: David Ruehm Starring: Tobias Moretti, Jeanette Hain, Cornelia Ivancan, Dominic Oley
Adama A BOY’S POETIC JOURNEY TO THE LAND BEYOND “THE CLIFFS” Directed by: Simon Rouby Production: Naïa Productions, Pipangaï Studio
Mammal A WOMAN GRIEVING HER SON TAKES A HOMELESS YOUTH INTO HER HOUSE Directed by: Rebecca Daly Starring: Rachel Griffiths, Barry Keoghan
Attending
Andreas Rothbauer: +49.151-54458921 andreas@picturetree-international.com
Alec Schulmann: +49.172-4150040 alec@picturetree-international.com
NEWS
Samba duo ponders English-language projects BY WENDY MITCHELL
Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano are waiting for the right inspiration for their next film after Samba, the TIFF world premiere that marks the follow-up to their huge global hit Intouchables. The French directing duo said they are definitely open to working on an English-language project in the near future. “We are excited by English and US actors right now,” Toledano told Screen.
Nakache added: “We’d love to direct in the English language, maybe bring together French and American actors… we need to find the idea that’s right for us.” Toledano noted their US agents at CAA “send us many projects for consideration. But to do our first English-language project, we have to feel it from the inside, we have to write it, probably.” He added that after five features together, the pair might be ready for
TORONTO BRIEFS
RADiUS moves on Goodnight Mommy
Buyers visit 99 Homes Hyde Park International has licensed 99 Homes in the UK (StudioCanal), Canada (VVS), Latin America (Swen) and Australia/ New Zealand (Madman), among others.
RADiUS has picked up North American rights from Films Distribution to Venice premiere Goodnight Mommy. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala directed the Austrian horror film about a mother of twins who returns home swaddled in bandages following cosmetic surgery. Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz star, and Ulrich Seidl produced. The distributor plans to release Goodnight Mommy (Ich Seh Ich Seh) in 2015. RADiUS, Films Distribution and The Weinstein Company negotiated the deal. Jeremy Kay
Affair cheers up The Grump The Yellow Affair has inked deals on Dome Karukoski’s Finnish comedy The Grump with NFP for German-speaking Europe and D Yapim for Turkey.
Cassavetes has Expiration date Nick Cassavetes has signed on to direct the thriller Expiration for Paul Breuls’ Corsan. Brian Tucker wrote the screenplay about a poisoned former CIA agent turned assassin. Randall Emmett and George Furla will produce through Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.
French name their Price Canadian outfit Filmoption International has sold Harold Crooks’ corporate tax avoidance doc The Price We Pay to ARP for distribution in France. The deal was negotiated by Andrew Noble and Alexandra Wermester of Filmoption and Laurent Pétin and Michele Halberstadt of ARP.
Red Army marches north Edge Entertainment has picked up Gabe Polsky’s Russian hockey documentary Red Army for Nordic territories from Wild Bunch. The deal includes rights in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.
Raven Banner meets Pure Evil Raven Banner has boarded a feature-length version of Canadian TV series Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil backed by an Indiegogo campaign and will distribute in Canada. Aircraft Pictures, Corvid Pictures and Frantic Films are behind the project, which Craig David Wallace directs from a screenplay he wrote with Charles Picco.
Submarine’s Giant makes strides Submarine has sold US rights (except TV) to Music Box Films for Greg Barker’s We Are The Giant, with a Canadian deal for Films We Like.
something a bit different. “I think we are going to start a new cycle now,” he said. “Perhaps with a different language, perhaps with a different style. “The success of Intouchables gave us the opportunity to try something new. Samba is not just a comedy, it’s not just a buddy movie. We want to keep going and find new directions.” Toledano continued: “After Intouchables we met with Working Title in Lon-
Kite Runner star launches Cairo cinematheque BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
British Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla, in Toronto with the premiere screenings of Danis Tanovic’s Tigers and Tala Hadid’s The Narrow Frame Of Midnight, is one of the driving forces behind a new cinematheque in Cairo. Cimateque [‘cima’ being the Egyptian slang for cinema], currently under construction, will include an 80-seat cinema, 8mm and 16mm labs, library, digital archive, DVD library and cafeteria. The hub will host screenings, workshops and events throughout the year. “Film-making courses and scriptwriting programmes have already taken place,” Abdalla (The Kite Runner, United 93) explained to Screen. “This will be a base from which to host activities in Cairo and beyond. “There’s a lot of film that’s very difficult to access in Egypt,” he continued. “The country has an extraordinary film history but there are few channels for alternative film-making, especially for the new wave of films emerging in the region.”
6 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
Abdalla and fellow organisers are in discussions with curators, distributors and festivals to bring content to the venue. “The experience of sharing an independent film in a comfortable space in Egypt is rare. We hope to screen local, regional, African, Asian, European and other cinema here. And we are just one of a number of venues like this emerging in the region.” Backing for the venue has come from a number of international funds and cultural institutes, including from the UK, France, Scandinavia, Netherlands and the US. Abdalla is currently producing Egyptian drama In The Last Days Of The City, the feature debut of Tamer El Said, which is co-written by El Said and Toronto programmer Rasha Salti. The film is due to be completed at the end of this year. Abdalla will next produce documentaries The Vote, about three women in postMubarak Egypt; and The Magic Circle, about football and power in the country. He also stars in upcoming John Le Carré adaptation Our Kind Of Traitor.
don, and they suggested some pitches, and they were hot but then suddenly very cold. We didn’t find that good feeling we need. So we decided to go back to our own preoccupations [to create Samba].” The film reunites the pair with Intouchables star Omar Sy, alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tahar Rahim. Gaumont releases the film, about an African immigrant in France who falls in love with his legal adviser, in France on October 15.
Montenegro team plans Berlin TV series BY WENDY MITCHELL
Alex Holdridge and Linnea Saasen, the writer-directors in Toronto with Meet Me In Montenegro, are now writing an ambitious TV series to be set in 1945 post-war Berlin. The project, loosely titled Hour Zero, will be set in the US sector of Berlin. Saasen said: “It’s set at a time when everything is broken and in flux… It’s an interesting moment in time, it’s a city with no rules.” The series will examine the origins of the CIA and KGB. Holdridge, whose previous credits include In Search Of A Midnight Kiss, added that “the story will be about crazy characters, based on real people in Berlin at that time… the CIA was formed in such a ragtag way.” He added: “It’s a city that’s alive because it has experienced so much death. Around 75% of Berlin had been levelled during the war.” The project is envisioned as an ongoing series and the pair already have three seasons outlined. Paul Young is attached as a producer and WME represents the film-makers and the series. The pair’s Meet Me In Montenegro, sold by Cinetic, is loosely based on their own romance and travels in Europe. It continues screening at TIFF today and Saturday and the cast features Rupert Friend and Jennifer Ulrich. US-born Holdridge and Norway-born Saasen lived in Berlin while making Montenegro, a process that took threeand-a-half years. They play characters inspired by themselves in the film. “It’s fucking scary,” quipped Holdridge of putting a version of their lives on screen.
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Alan Rickman A Little Chaos Were you always going to play the Sun King? No, it wasn’t my choice. There was some pressure from the producing element as it solved one or two problems.
By ANdReAs WisemAN
After making his directorial debut 16 years ago, Alan Rickman returns to the director’s chair with the story of two rivals — played by Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts — competing for the right to design King Louis XIV’s garden at Versailles. Lionsgate International handles sales on the comedy-drama, which will close the festival on Saturday. How did you come to the project and why did it appeal? Alison [Deegan, one of the screenwriters] sent it to me in part because she had seen my film, The Winter’s Guest. It took some time to come to fruition because I wasn’t free for quite a while. Some of the film is based on truth, some on fiction. There wouldn’t have been women landscape gardeners at the time, for example, and we sliced years off of Matthias’s character. The film is not just frills at the wrists and collars. It’s about people getting their hands dirty and building something in
Did you enjoy directing Kate Winslet? We worked together when she was 19 in Sense And Sensibility. It was like meeting a whole new person. Kate is someone who arrives incredibly prepared, free and non-judgmental. She’s a phenomenal craftsperson. Alan Rickman on the set of A Little Chaos
order to entertain the other world they serve. It’s about how one world maintains the other, often at the cost of women. Were you keen to return to film directing? You read something like this and images start jumping out on the page. You hitch yourself to the coattails of great writing and it tells you what to do. Thankfully I
was surrounded by a great crew. The entire group brought huge energy to it. Did you enjoy it? I loved it but it wasn’t easy; throwing Kate into freezing water at 1am, the carriage crash, scenes with 80 extras, tight schedules in venues like Blenheim Palace. It’s a tap dance between control and freedom — and the budget guides everything.
What’s next for you? I am going to be in Gavin Hood’s Eye In The Sky and discussions are on-going for me to direct The House In Paris, the film that got leap-frogged by A Little Chaos. Can you see yourself returning in JK Rowling’s next film series? God knows. I’m very much dead in the Harry Potter series. That would have to be one serious magic pill but never say never!
Andrew Niccol Good Kill By JeRemy KAy
In Good Kill, Ethan Hawke plays a conflicted former fighter pilot now operating drones from a base in Las Vegas. The film plays in Special Presentations today; Voltage Pictures handles international sales and CAA represents US.
Has the type of recruit changed drastically? They don’t even need pilots any more. There’s a reason the console looks very much like a video game because gamers are very skilled at operating a drone from 7,000 miles away. In fact some of these pilots… will go from operating a drone to
rier. That used to be the preserve of the top of the top guns. Pilots and fighter jets are on their way out. Good Kill is a million miles away from Top Gun. It’s not black and white. There are aspects to the drone programme that are very beneficial, like when they protect troops on the ground. Strikes can be precise if you have the right intelligence. The other side of it, as [commanding officer] Bruce Greenwood’s character says, is if we stop killing them are they going to stop killing us? The answer is no… This was a response to 9/11 but has become overkill.
Why tell this story? I was fascinated by the schizophrenia of this new warfare and the idea of going to war at home; something that has not happened before. I’m a pilot’s son and was interested in this very schizophrenic idea of a pilot who doesn’t fly. Hawke’s character is 7,000 miles from Afghanistan but he’s cracking up. It’s well documented that [these people] have PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. They feel guilty about it because they have literally no skin in the game. We have gone from minimal skin in the game, when we controlled air strikes over a country, to absolutely no skin in the game.
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Good Kill
playing video games when they get home. I don’t know how one can separate the two [worlds].
Andrew Niccol
What does this augur for the United States Air Force? It’s the future. They’ve got a drone that can take off and land from an aircraft car-
So you had no co-operation from the Armed Forces, then? There’s no military co-operation when you tell an uncomfortable truth. When a request was sent to the Department of Defense, they politely declined. I was very lucky to get an exdrone pilot to talk.
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 7
REVIEWS
Reviews edited by Mark Adams mark.adams@screendaily.com
The Theory Of Everything Reviewed by Tim Grierson A love story full of romance but also wisdom about how passion can fade or be redirected, The Theory Of Everything tracks with a fragile beauty the relationship of famed physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife, Jane. Led by stellar performances from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, this drama may occasionally flirt too heavily with ‘prestige picture’ preciousness, but on the whole it is an absorbingly lovely and sad recounting of a marriage that was not built to last, despite its participants’ best intentions. The Theory Of Everything seems destined to be a contender for Oscar and Bafta nominations. Commercially, audience awareness of Hawking will be a help, as will the presence of rising stars Redmayne and Jones. And do not discount the movie’s chances of being a preferred date-night attraction for the arthouse crowd, with crossover potential a decent possibility. Spanning about 25 years, The Theory Of Everything (based on Jane Hawking’s memoir) begins in the early 1960s as the young Stephen Hawking (Redmayne) is already well on his way to becoming one of the great minds of the 20th century as a student at Cambridge. In between solving complex mathematical formu-
10 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
SPECIAL PRESEnTATIonS UK-US. 2014. 123mins Director James Marsh Production company Working Title International sales Universal Pictures International, www. universalpictures international.com Producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten Screenplay Anthony McCarten, based on Travelling To Infinity: My Life With Stephen by Jane Hawking Main cast Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
las and working on a theory concerning the beginning of time, he meets Jane (Jones), a pretty, lively young woman who brings this sweet genius out of his awkward shell. But their love affair soon faces a major obstacle: Stephen is diagnosed with motor neuron disease (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) and he is told by doctors he will not live more than two years. Undeterred, Stephen and Jane marry, deciding to make the most of their time together. The gentle irony is that the couple had far more than two years together, which turned out not to be always such a blessing. Directed by James Marsh, who has helmed other features but won an Academy Award for his documentary Man On Wire, the movie will have a melancholy sting for those familiar with Stephen and Jane’s story. But for those unaware of the couple’s twists and turns, Marsh and screenwriter Anthony McCarten observe each chapter of their lives from a respectful distance, drawing us into their love affair with an intelligence and understatement that emphasise the fragility of their marriage — not because the couple lack devotion, but because they know Stephen’s deteriorating health could at any moment bring things to a premature end. Because Stephen is struggling with his debili-
tating condition, there is a risk The Theory Of Everything could devolve into a tasteful diseaseof-the-week weepie. Thankfully, Marsh resists that inclination, and he is aided by Redmayne’s performance. Playing a famous man requires a certain amount of mimicry, but the young actor does a commendable job approximating Stephen’s crumpled physique and frozen half-smile, giving us a sense of a man whose mind is blazingly alive even though his body has failed him. What is also remarkable about the performance is that it is honest about the growing challenges Stephen’s condition brings to the marriage. Because Redmayne is so withdrawn, barely able to establish a rapport with Jones once the disease takes hold, The Theory Of Everything evolves into a frank portrait of living with illness, both for the sufferer and his spouse. Whether it is the opening scenes when Stephen and Jane are falling hopelessly for one another or later when outside forces threaten to separate them, Marsh views the romance with a wistful, curious eye, quietly attuned to love’s ebb and flow. Eschewing cliché and thudding obviousness, The Theory Of Everything subtly makes the point that for all of Stephen’s investigations into the mysteries of the universe, the heart can be equally unfathomable.
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» The Theory Of Everything p10 » Tusk p11 » Love & Mercy p11 » The Equalizer p12
» The Duke Of Burgundy p12 » Pawn Sacrifice p13 » Black And White p13
Love & Mercy Reviewed by Allan Hunter
Tusk Reviewed by Tim Grierson Pleasingly twisted and irreverent, Tusk succeeds as an exercise in WTF strangeness. Writer-director Kevin Smith aspires to make a horror-comedy with only the faintest whiff of emotional underpinnings, and the movie coasts along on its own delighted self-satisfaction, a nose-thumbing posture that its core audience will no doubt relish. Tusk will court Smith’s loyal throngs, as well as general fans of just-plain-wrong cinema. With a cast led by Michael Parks and Justin Long, Tusk does not offer much star power, although that does not take into account an A-list powerhouse who has an important, unbilled supporting role. Probably the less one knows the better, when it comes to Tusk’s plot, but what can be said is that Long plays Wallace, who is part of a popular Los Angeles podcasting duo that spotlights — and mocks — ordinary people who embarrass themselves online. Wallace ventures to Canada to meet with his latest interview subject but is disappointed to learn the young man has committed suicide. Desperate for a replacement interview, Wallace tracks down a mysterious stranger named Howard Howe (Parks) who is confined to a wheelchair in his secluded home in the woods. But Howard has nefarious plans for Wallace that involve the older man’s fascination with walruses and a special suit he has created for the podcaster to wear. While Tusk will no doubt draw comparisons to other extreme cinema such as The Human Centipede, Smith’s film is mostly a lark, its horror more comically outrageous than consistently shocking. In truth, much of the movie’s pleasure comes from the teasing build-up to its dark reveal. The first act is devoted to Wallace getting to know Howard, who shares stories about his incredible life, which include hanging out with Ernest Hemingway and befriending a sympathetic walrus who taught him about humanity’s wickedness. Early on, though, we know Howard’s refined, gentlemanly charm is merely a ruse that hides sinister ulterior motives, and so we giddily anticipate just what will happen to Wallace.
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MIDNIGHT MADNESS US. 2014. 101mins Director/screenplay/ editor Kevin Smith Production company Demarest Films International sales XYZ Films, xyzfilms.com Producers Shannon McIntosh, Sam Englebardt, William D Johnson, David S Greathouse Executive producers Jennifer Schwalbach, Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer Cinematography James R Laxton Production designer John D Kretschmer Music Christopher Drake Main cast Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, Guy Lapointe
A more conventional biography of Brian Wilson would attempt to shape the vast arc of his troubled life into a pleasing mixture of highs and lows, tears and triumphs. Love & Mercy takes a more impressionistic approach, contrasting two key periods from his life; the rich success and optimism of the Beach Boys’ best years in the 1960s and a later time when an unstrung Wilson was far from the limelight and at the mercy of a domineering, unscrupulous therapist. The result lacks some of the fine detail and context one might have liked, but still emerges as a weighty, fitting salute to Wilson’s restless creativity. Lingering affection for the Beach Boys’ joyous soundtrack to the sun-kissed promise of a 1960s summer, respect for Wilson’s journey to hell and back and impressive performances from Paul Dano and John Cusack should help to generate sufficient audience interest for a solid theatrical life although Love & Mercy lacks the more obvious crowd-pleasing elements and carefully packaged emotions of a Ray or a Walk The Line. The one thing that Love & Mercy absolutely nails is the importance of the music. There are numerous scenes that testify to Wilson’s painstaking devotion to creating the most original and multi-layered pop music the world had ever heard. In the more contemporary scenes, a middle-aged, heavily medicated Wilson (Cusack) meets car saleswoman Melinda (Banks) and starts a romance that places him on a collision course with Eugene Landy, the controversial therapist who has been appointed Wilson’s legal guardian and taken control of every aspect of his life. Paul Giamatti’s sinister turn as this blustering, manipulative figure makes Landy one of the villains of the film along with Wilson’s callous father who seems determined to crush every ounce of spirit in both the boy and the man. A doughy Paul Dano really catches the look and spirit of Wilson with his wide-eyed stare, sudden passions and relentless drive to give expression to the voices in his head. He also sings beautifully. John Cusack does not look like the older Wilson but does a fine job with a character defined by his secret smiles, broken sentences and sweaty paranoia.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS US. 2014. 120mins Director Bill Pohlad Production company River Road Entertainment, Battle Mountain Films International sales Creative Artists Agency, filmsales@caa.com Producers Bill Pohlad, Claire Rudnick Polstein, John Wells Executive producers Ann Ruark, Jim Lefkowitz, Oren Moverman Screenplay Oren Moverman, Michael Alan Lerner Cinematography Robert Yeoman Editor Dino Jonsater Production designer Keith Cunningham Music Atticus Ross Main cast John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 11
REVIEWS
The Equalizer Reviewed by Mark Adams If there is anyone you might want to help out when you’re in a pickle with Russian mobsters, it might be Denzel Washington’s everyman hero with a secret and rather violent past. Antoine Fuqua’s violent updating of the popular 1980s television series that starred Edward Woodward as a skilled former government agent turned saviour of oppressed ordinary folk is a smart bit of 1970s-style revenge action drama — sort of Taken crossed with Death Wish — that may be short on humour but more than makes up for it with liberal bloodshed. It is all rather leisurely paced — which makes a change from similar action fare — as Fuqua takes his time to develop Washington’s seemingly genial but stoical character. But when things get moving in the last third he delivers action a-plenty, even setting up the film for a possible sequel and/or franchise. Boston-based Robert McCall (Washington) takes the bus to work — rather than the Jag Woodward used in the TV series — clocking up hours as a behind-the-scenes worker at a large Home Depot-style store. A widower, he is also an insomniac and often spends the night drinking tea and reading in a local diner. Here he has a friendly exchange with young Russian hooker Teri (Moretz), but when she is beaten up by her brutal pimp, McCall is pushed
gALA US. 2014. 131mins Director Antoine Fuqua Production companies Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Village Roadshow, Escape Artists Distribution Sony Pictures Producers Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Denzel Washington, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge, Michael Sloan Screenplay Richard Wenk, based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim Cinematography Mauro Fiore Main cast Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloe grace Moretz, David Harbour, Haley Bennett, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, David Meunier, Johnny Skourtis, Alex Veadov
to the edge and decides to take matters into his own hands. The film is a slow-burn initially as Fuqua sets up McCall as a kind, solitary man who gets on well with co-workers and looks out for young hookers, but when he decides to get medieval on the pimp and his henchmen (using corkscrews, a knife, a glass and a gun, just to keep things varied) he does so speedily and efficiently. The Russian bosses send in brutal reinforcement in the form of enforcer Teddy (Csokas) who is there to find out who is messing with the
operation, and as the body count starts to rise so the film reveals more about McCall’s abilities. But the more bad guys McCall kills, the more inept, black-clad villains arrive, with the film finally heading for a rather expected showdown at the store where McCall can make good use of the available tools (yes, drills and nail guns do come into play). What gives the film its edge is Washington’s sheer charisma, as he brings something extra special to a man who says little, walks softly and has a great capacity for violence.
also in keeping with the films of the period. Maid Evelyn (D’Anna) arrives at a vast mansion to begin her chores. Mistress Cynthia (Knudsen) is particularly demanding; finding fault with her work and promising to punish her insubordination. It transpires the two women are lovers and this ritual is a regular part of their relationship. Both are only too aware they are playing roles in a story, something Strickland constantly underlines as we see the collection of wigs Cynthia owns and the written instructions that determine the course of the scenario. The
more enthusiastic Evelyn questions her partner’s commitment to their games and encourages her to act more spontaneously. “Try to have more conviction in your voice,” she begs. We have no notion where the film is set or when and there is, apparently, no particular significance to the title. Strickland merely “found it amusing having a male name for such a female story”. In the end The Duke Of Burgundy is a complex, melancholy romance in which love is sustained by negotiating the limits of desire and understanding the expectations of your partner. It is an odd, original and beguiling work.
The Duke Of Burgundy Reviewed by Allan Hunter Peter Strickland confirms his growing reputation as the champion of notoriously disreputable genres with The Duke Of Burgundy. Having reclaimed the giallo in Berberian Sound Studio, he now channels his inner Jess Franco and Jean Rollin to revisit the heyday of 1970s European soft porn. He deconstructs the genre to create a drily witty, idiosyncratic exploration of a sadomasochistic lesbian relationship, increasingly challenged by the gap between fantasy role-playing and banal but much less exhausting reality. There are strong echoes of Jean Genet’s The Maids here and the driving intensity of Peter Greenaway’s films. Whether 1970s soft porn deserves such a slavish devotee is a moot point and one that might be lost on mainstream audiences. But as we have come to expect from the director, the film is impeccably crafted and acted throughout and should arouse the curiosity of hardcore arthouse audiences and fans of his strikingly singular sensibility. All the elements traditionally enjoyed by the dirty-mac brigade of yore are lovely assembled here as we are immersed in a world of silk stockings, lace panties, tight skirts and high heels. The fact none of it is remotely erotic is
12 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
VANguARD UK. 2014. 106mins Director/screenplay Peter Strickland Production company Rook Films International sales Protagonist Pictures, www. protagonistpictures.com Producer Andy Starke Executive producers Ben Wheatley, Lizzie Francke, Anna Higgs, Amy Jump, Ildiko Kemeny Cinematography Nic Knowland Editor Matyas Fekete Production designer Pater Sparrow Music Cat’s Eyes Main cast Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D’Anna, Eugenia Caruso, Monica Swinn
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Pawn Sacrifice Reviewed by David D’Arcy Pawn Sacrifice, Edward Zwick’s portrait of Bobby Fischer at the height of his fame, will not put the film audience behind chessboards, but it takes us back to one of the oddest prodigies of the 1970s. The gripping period film, rigorous in its reconstruction of the recent past, proves the game of chess can be cinematic in well-edited doses, and that Tobey Maguire as Fischer can sustain a serious, albeit quirky drama. Rallying generations weaned on video games to get behind this retro showdown between Fischer and Soviet chess wiz Boris Spassky is a tall order. The film could still test whether the armies of chess players out there will want to revisit the days of the game’s controversial anti-hero. Zwick tackles the unwieldy challenge of putting cerebral chess into pictures by following Fischer from his childhood as the gifted son of a communist Jewish mother in Cold War Brooklyn into a career where Fischer remained a temperamental child, yet one with rock star notoriety. The lucid script by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) follows the ascent of that eternal child as a journey into a complex psyche. Was he crazy or crafty, or both? Could he have been suffering from Asperger Syndrome before that condition was a common diagnosis? Showing Fischer’s mind on the screen is as resistant to cinema as charting his chess moves,
GALA US. 2013. 114mins Director Edward Zwick Production companies Gail Katz Productions, Material Pictures International sales Lionsgate, www.lionsgate. com Producers Edward Zwick, Gail Katz, Tobey Maguire Screenplay Steven Knight Cinematography Bradford Young Editor Steven Rosenblum Music James Newton Howard Production designer Isabelle Guay Cast Tobey Maguire, Peter Sarsgaard, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg, Robin Weigert, Lily Rabe
but Maguire is up to the task as the obsessional youth who defers sex and status to plot his next victory. He also captures Fischer’s weaknesses. The prodigy was not simply self-centred to the extreme. His hypersensitivity to noise and “voices” pointed to psychosis that would eventually doom him to a peripatetic exile. To their credit, Zwick and Knight do not fall into the Hollywood trap of seeking to make their protagonist too sympathetic. Fischer the chess prince could be nasty, vain, paranoid and thoughtless, and we see plenty of that.
Boris Spassky, Fischer’s most famous Soviet opponent, is played by Liev Schreiber as urbane, quiet and imperturbable, the anti-Fischer. Imperturbable, that is, until Fischer’s antics unsettle and finally crack him in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972. Pawn Sacrifice only gives us an outlined epilogue of the final chapter of Fischer’s life, where the Mozart of chess became the game’s Ezra Pound, before his death at 64. That is a challenge for another film; Fischer is hard enough to like in the evocation of his greatest victories.
nothing less than rigorously organised. The only messy thing in her life is the husband from whom she has just separated. He seems, for the entire length of the film, to be removing his share of the objects from their flat. Complications arise in this perfectly planned existence when Marie’s father has a heart attack and she has to replace him at the Paris convention. Her profound trust in absolute values, not only in weights and measures but also in her private life, will be gradually — for there is no rush in Hamer’s film — shaken by this unchartered visit to the City of Light.
The plot turns the dour, strict, unbending young woman, who barely smiles and never shows her feelings — if she has any — into a handsome, warm and appealing human being, with Hamer’s script cleverly dragging into her path all sorts of obstacles that cannot be measured or weighed with any degree of precision, be it affection, grief, sympathy or even love. Ane Dahl Torp’s performance, starting with a blank, unforgiving expression, moving next into a distraught, confused one, all the way through to the glowing beauty of the final sequence, is delightful.
1001 Grams Reviewed by Dan Fainaru A gentle, soft-spoken, philosophical reflection on the human fallacy of trusting anything exact and precise down to the smallest detail, Bent Hamer toys here with an almost impossibly dry subject, the Kilogram Convention in Paris. But no need to be discouraged, for behind it hides a very humane story, alternately sad and smiling, fashioned with the utmost care and unfolding at a stately pace that underlines the subtle humour. The Kilogram Convention in Paris is an obscure, but evidently critical, event the purpose of which is to discuss the overwhelming importance of one single, uniform kilogram the world over, for God forbid what disasters will come down on our heads if such a thing is not ensured beyond the slightest doubt. The impending risk that the physical kilogram, held in a Paris vault, may be replaced soon by a scientifically defined one, adds a kind of nostalgic dimension to this tale, for even that last bastion of the old world is about to crumble. Marie (Torp) works at Norway’s Bureau of Weights and Measures. She is an exceedingly pedantic young woman, who lives an immaculate life in an immaculate society. Everything around her, whether at home or at work, is
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MASTERS Nor-Ger-Fr. 2014. 90mins Director/screenplay/ producer Bent Hamer Production company Bulbul Film International sales Les Films du Losange, a.valentin@ filmsdulosange.fr Cinematography John Christian Rosenlund Production designer Astrid Astrup, Tim Pannen Music John Erik Kaada Main cast Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker, Hildegun Riise, Stein Winge, Per Christian Ellefsen, Dinara Droukarova
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 13
ScreeningS edited by Jamie McLeish
Public
screenings 8:45 AM The Sound and The Fury
(US) 101mins. New Films International (int’l). Dir: James Franco. The adaptation of William Faulkner’s modernist masterpiece about the illfated Compson clan. Special Presentations The Bloor hot docs cinema 9:00 AM Mr. Turner
(United Kingdom) 149mins. Thin Man Films (int’l). Dir: Mike Leigh. Cast: Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey. Mike Leigh’s gorgeously rendered biopic of the famed British landscape painter. Special Presentations TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2 Venice
(Cuba/Colombia) 74mins. Habanero Film Sales (int’l). Dir: Kiki Alvarez. Cast: Claudia Muniz, Marianela Pupo, Maribel Garcia Garzon. A rare independent film from Cuba, this portrait of female friendship follows three hair-salon employees as they hit the town looking for excitement. contemporary World cinema Jackman hall 9:15 AM ShorT cuTS canada PrograMMe 4
109mins. Dirs: various. Working in a wide variety of modes and genres, the filmmakers in this programme address questions of culture and generational clashes, death and rebirth. Short cuts canada TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family cinema 9:30 AM cake
(US) 98mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Creative
Public screening 11:30 AM WiLd
(US) 120mins. Pacific Standard (int’l). Dir: Jean-Marc Vallée. Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandera, Bill Pohlad. A self-destructive woman
timely drama. attempts to leave behind her years of drug abuse and reckless sex with a solo, 1,000-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. gala Presentations Visa Screening room (elgin)
Artists Agency (US). Dir: Daniel Barnz. Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Anna Kendrick, William H Macy. A woman in a chronicpain support group investigates the suicide of a fellow group member and develops an unexpected relationship with the woman’s husband.
Films (int’l/US). Dir: Gregorio Graziosi. Cast: Irandhir Santos, Lola Peploe, Julio Andrade. A young architect embarking upon his first major project is unexpectedly brought face to face with dark secrets from his ancestral past in this stunningly shot debut feature.
Special Presentations TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1
discovery Jackman hall
9:45 AM
11:30 AM
MonSoon
99 hoMeS
(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”.
(US) 112mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Hyde Park International (int’l). Dir: Ramin Bahrani. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern. Desperate to save his family home, an unemployed construction worker joins an unscrupulous realtor in the dirty business of foreclosing on the disenfranchised in this
TiFF docs TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3 11:15 AM oBra
(Brazil) 80mins. FiGa
14 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
Special Presentations ryerson Theatre ouT oF naTure
(Norway) 80mins. NDM International Sales (int’l). Dir: Ole Giaever, Marte Vold. Cast: Ole Giaever, Marte Magnusdotter Solem, Sivert Giaever Solem. A put-upon salary man seeks spiritual renewal in the Great Outdoors, in this comic drama. contemporary World cinema TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family cinema 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 teenage daughter. Vanguard The Bloor hot docs cinema WiLd See box, above 12:00 PM FoxcaTcher
(US) 133mins. Annapurna Pictures (int’l). Dir: Bennett
Miller. Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo. Two brothers, both former Olympic wrestling champions, become involved in a fateful friendship with a neurotic millionaire. gala Presentations Princess of Wales 12:15 PM WhiPLaSh
(US) 106mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Damien Chazelle. Cast: Miles Teller, JK Simmons, Melissa Benoist. An ambitious young drummer at a prestigious music academy clashes with his teacher. Special Presentations TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1 12:30 PM don’T go Breaking My hearT 2
(Hong Kong/China) 113mins. Media Asia Film Distribtuion (HK) Limited (int’l). Dir: Johnnie To. Cast: Louis Koo, Miriam Yeung, Yuanyuan Gao. Two former lovers find themselves irresistibly drawn back together — despite the fact that each is now engaged to someone new.
Special Presentations TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2 roSeWaTer
(US) 103mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Jon Stewart. Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer. The true story of an Iranian man’s five-month imprisonment after his appearance on a satirical TV show. Special Presentations Winter garden Theatre 12:45 PM charLie’S counTry
(Australia) 108mins. Visit Films (int’l). Dir: Rolf de Heer. Cast: Peter Djigirr, David Gulpilil, Luke Ford. Semi-autobiographical drama about an aged Aborigine who journeys into the Outback to live in the ways of his ancestors. contemporary World cinema TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3 1:45 PM a SingLe Word
(Senegal/Qatar) 63mins. Guiss Guiss Communication (int’l). Dir: Mariama Sylla, Khady Sylla. Cast: Penda Diogo Sarr, Doudou Dieye, Anta Sarr. Senegalese filmmakers Khady and Mariama www.screendaily.com
strip toronto-7 10-9-14_Opmaak 1 05-09-14 13:07
FROM THE NETHERLANDS
Further coverage, see screendaily.com
Sylla record the tales of their grandmother, who is one of the last repositories of their culture’s oral tradition.
tiff Docs the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Wavelengths Jackman Hall
1001 gramS
Love in tHe time of CiviL War
(Canada) 120mins. Les Films du 3 Mars (int’l/ US). Dir: Rodrigue Jean. Cast: Alexandre Landry, Jean-Simon Leduc, Simon Lefebvre. A fearless, unflinching look at the reality of addiction set in the bleak milieu of hustlers and junkies in Montreal. Contemporary World Cinema tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson family Cinema tHe fareWeLL Party
(Germany/Israel) 90mins. Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Sharon Maymon, Tal Granit. Cast: Ze’ev Revach, Levana Finkelshtein, Aliza Rosen. A devoted elderly couple is faced with a pair of devastating challenges that threaten to divide them after decades of marriage. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 3 2:30 PM Learning to Drive
(US) 90mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Dir: Isabel Coixet. Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley. After her husband leaves her, a writer finds solace in her bi-weekly lessons with a Sikh driving instructor. Special Presentations visa Screening room (elgin) tHe WanteD 18
(Canada/Palestine/France) 75mins. National Film Board of Canada (int’l). Dir: Amer Shomali, Paul Cowan. Cast: Alison Darcy, Heidi Foss, Holly Uloth O’Brien. Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, the filmmakers recreate a true story from the first Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of 18 cows, whose independent milk production was declared a threat to national security.
2:45 PM
(Norway/Germany/France) 88mins. Les Films du Losange (int’l). Dir: Bent Hamer. Cast: Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker, Stein Winge. A recently divorced lab technician finds herself encountering a whole new world of experience when she attends an important scientific conference in Paris. masters Scotiabank 2 3:00 PM StiLL aLiCe
(USA) 99mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Memento Films (int’l). Dir: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland. Cast: Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin. A successful professor struggles to maintain her composure after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Special Presentations ryerson theatre 3:15 PM tHe Look of SiLenCe
(Denmark/Indonesia/ Norway/Finland/United Kingdom) 98mins. Cinephil (int’l). Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer. Cast: Adi Rukun. Follows a family who, after viewing the director’s last film The Act of Killing, discovered and confronted the right-wing militiamen who murdered their son. tiff Docs tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 1 3:30 PM Hungry HeartS
(Italy) 109mins. Radiant Films International (int’l). Dir: Saverio Costanzo. Cast: Adam Driver, Alba Rohrwacher, Roberta Maxwell. A young married couple in New York engages in a fateful struggle over the life of their newborn child.
Discovery Scotiabank 4 tHe keePing room
(US) 95mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Daniel Barber. Cast: Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Sam Worthington. Three women left alone on an isolated farm during the American Civil War are besieged by a pair of murderous Yankee scouts. Special Presentations tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 2 3:45 PM gett, tHe triaL of viviane amSaLem
(France/Germany/Israel) 116mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dirs: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz. Cast: Ronit Elkabetz, Menashe Noy, Simon Abkarian. An Israeli woman seeking to finalise her divorce from her manipulative husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religiously based marriage laws. Contemporary World Cinema tiff Bell Lightbox cinema 3 kaBukiCHo Love HoteL
(Japan) 135mins. Nikkatsu Corporation (int’l). Dir: Ryuichi Hiroki. Cast: Shota Sometani, Atsuko Maeda, Eun woo Lee. Traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a ‘love hotel’ in Tokyo’s red-light district. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 13 4:00 PM Cart
Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
(South Korea) 110mins. 9ers Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Boo Ji-Young. Cast: Yum Jung-Ah, Moon JeongHee, Kim Young-Ae. The employees of a discount retail store band together when workers are laid off.
in Her PLaCe
City to City Jackman Hall
(Canada/South Korea) www.screendaily.com
115mins. Elle Driver (int’l/ US). Dir: Albert Shin. Cast: Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye, Kil Hae Yeon. A wealthy couple seeks to secretly adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager.
WED SEP 10 – FRI SEP 12
it foLLoWS
(US) 97mins. Cinetic Media (US). Visit Films (int’l). Dir: David Robert Mitchell. Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto. A 19-year-old girl finds herself pursued by a legion of malevolent phantoms. midnight madness Scotiabank 9 4:15 PM neD rifLe
(US) 85mins. Fortissimo Films (int’l). Dir: Hal Hartley. Cast: Liam Aiken, Aubrey Plaza, Martin Donovan. Henry and Fay’s teenage son Ned emerges from a witness protection programme with a single, fixed purpose: to kill his father for ruining his mother’s life.
DISCOVERY
ATLANTIC. Dir: Jan-Willem van Ewijk Prod: Augustus Film Sales: Fortissimo Films Wed Sep 10, 16:45 Scotiabank 13 Thu Sep 11, 15:30 Scotiabank 11 (press & industry)
Special Presentations Scotiabank 3 WHere i am king
(Philippines) 91mins. Reynafilms, Inc. (int’l). Dir: Carlos Siguion-Reyna. Cast: Robert Arevalo, Liza Lorena, Rez Cortez. When his fortune is wiped out, an arrogant, self-made tycoon is forced to return to the slum where he grew up. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8 4:30 PM
DISCOVERY
THE INTRUDER Dir: Shariff Korver Prod: Lemming Film (feature, 90’) Wed Sep 10, 19:15 Scotiabank 6 (press & industry) Fri Sep 12, 09:30 Scotiabank 4
imPunity
(South Africa) 85mins. Shadowy Meadows Productions, Ken Kaplan, Bioskope Pictures (int’l). Dir: Jyoti Mistry. Cast: Alex McGregor, Bjorn Steinbach, Desmond Dube. Investigating the gruesome murder of a cabinet minister’s daughter, a special investigator and a local police detective find themselves knee-deep in political corruption. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 14 4:45 PM meet me in montenegro
(US/Germany/Norway) 88mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: Alex Holdridge, Linnea Saasen. Cast: Alex Holdridge, Linnea Saasen. An independent filmmaker is reinvigorated when he accidentally runs into an old flame while in Berlin »
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
FRAILER Dir: Mijke de Jong Prod: Topkapi Films, PRPL (feature, 80’) Wed Sep 10, 11:15 Scotiabank 8 (press & industry)
your Dutch film connection
international@eyefilm.nl www.international.eyefilm.nl
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 15
sCReeNINGs
Public screening 6:00 PM Red amNesIa
(China) 110mins. Chinese Shadows (int’l). Dir: Wang Xiaoshuai. Cast: Lu Zhong, Shi Liu, Feng Yuanzheng.
— but things are not so simple as that first blush of love would lead them to believe. Contemporary World Cinema The Bloor Hot docs Cinema soNGs FRom THe NoRTH
(US/South Korea/ Portugal) 72mins. Rosa Filmes (int’l). Dir: SoonMi Yoo. A sharp and sensitive essay film about everyday life and ideological distortion in North Korea. Wavelengths TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema 5:00 PM
A retired widow has her daily routine derailed when she starts receiving mysterious anonymous phone calls in this tense thriller. special Presentations Isabel Bader Theatre
Camus, a reclusive teacher helps a villager accused of murder escape into the mountains during the Algerian War. special Presentations Winter Garden Theatre 5:30 PM aduLT BeGINNeRs
(US) 90mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Ross Katz. Cast: Rose Byrne, Nick Kroll, Bobby Cannavale. Out of a job after a disastrous product launch, a yuppie retreats to his suburban childhood home. discovery scotiabank 2
FaR FRom meN
mIss JuLIe
(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
(Norway/United Kingdom/Ireland/France) 129mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Liv Ullmann. Cast: Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton.
16 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
An adaptation of the classic Strindberg play. special Presentations scotiabank 12 6:00 PM a seCoNd CHaNCe
(Denmark) 105mins. TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Susanne Bier. Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ulrich Thomsen, Maria Bonnevie. A veteran police officer with a wife and new baby makes a fateful decision when he is brought back into contact with a pair of junkie parents. special Presentations Visa screening Room (elgin) Red amNesIa see box, above Red aRmy
(US/Russia) 85mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dir: Gabe Polsky. Cast: Slava Fetisov, Vladislav Tretiak, Scotty Bowman. Gabe Polsky’s exhilarating documentary chronicles the rise and fall of Soviet hockey in the 1980s. TIFF docs Ryerson Theatre THe ImITaTIoN Game
(US/United Kingdom) 113mins. FilmNation Entertainment (int’l).
Dir: Morten Tyldum. Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode. Portrait of the brilliant Cambridge mathematician Alan Turing, who spearheaded the Enigma code-breaking operation during World War II and was later persecuted by the British government for his homosexuality. special Presentations Princess of Wales 6:15 PM TImBukTu
(France/Mauritania/ Mali) 97mins. Le Pacte (int’l). Dir: Abderrahmane Sissako. Cast: Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri. Following the recent jihadist takeover of northern Mali, a proud cattle herder comes into conflict with the fundamentalist rulers of the provincial capital. masters TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1 6:30 PM
The high-school tale of two teenage girls who develop an intense — and potentially dangerous — friendship. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 4 Haemoo
(South Korea) 111mins. Finecut Co (int’l). Dir: Shim Sung-Bo. Cast: Yoon-seok Kim, Yu-chun Park, 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. Gala Presentations Roy Thomson Hall I am HeRe
(China) 88mins. EE Media, Oriental Companion Media (int’l). Dir: Lixin Fan. A documentary that follows the eager young hopefuls who audition for China’s most famous televised singing competition. TIFF docs scotiabank 1
BReaTHe
(France) 91mins. Gaumont (int’l). Dir: Mélanie Laurent. Cast: Lou de Laage, Joséphine Japy, Isabelle Carré.
Tu doRs NICoLe
(Canada) 93mins. Séville International (int’l). Dir: Stéphane Lafleur. Cast: Julianne Coté, Catherine
St-Laurent, Marc-Andre Grondin. The tale of a recent university grad lounging in dreamy, directionless ennui during a long hot summer in her small hometown. Contemporary World Cinema TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2 6:45 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 world of human trafficking. Contemporary World Cinema scotiabank 3 Today
(Iran) 88mins. DreamLab Films (int’l/US). Dir: Reza Mirkarimi. Cast: Parviz Parastui, Soheila Golestani, Shabnam Moghadami. A Tehran taxi driver becomes the impromptu protector of a desperate pregnant woman after he rushes her to hospital, in www.screendaily.com
this delicate drama. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 8 7:00 PM Big Muddy
(Canada) 104mins. Angel Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Jefferson Moneo. Cast: Nadia Litz, Justin Kelly, Stephen McHattie. On the run from the cops and a murderous former lover, a sultry outlaw and her young son take refuge with her estranged father in a small town. discovery Scotiabank 13 HorSe Money
(Portugal) 104mins. OPTEC, Sociedade Optica Técnica (int’l). Dir: Pedro Costa. Cast: Ventura, Vitalina Varela, Tito Furtado. The Portuguese auteur reunites with the lead character from his film Colossal Youth, as revolution breaks out in the country. Wavelengths TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3
of her faith through her relationship with a young man who is mourning the death of his father.
moral minefield as the rationale for targeting purported terrorists becomes ever more murky.
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 9
Special Presentations ryerson Theatre Hyena
Cinematheque TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema
(United Kingdom) 112mins. Independent Film Productions (int’l). Dir: Gerard Johnson. Cast: Peter Ferdinando, Stephen Graham, Neil Maskell. A ruthless undercover cop tries to rescue a young Albanian woman sold into sexual slavery.
Tokyo FianCee
Vanguard Scotiabank 12
My darLing CLeMenTine
97mins. Dir: John Ford. Cast: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature. A lustrous restoration of John Ford’s masterpiece.
(Belgium/Canada/ France) 100mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Stefan Liberski. Cast: Pauline Etienne, Taichi Inoue, Julie Lebreton. A Japanophile young Belgian woman falls for a Francophile Japanese student. Contemporary World Cinema The Bloor Hot docs Cinema 8:00 PM TWo dayS, one nigHT
ModriS
(Latvia/Germany/ Greece) 98mins. Red Dot Media (int’l). Dir: Juris Kursietis. Cast: Rezija Kalnina. A Latvian teenager with a serious gambling addiction sets out to find his long-lost father. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 14
(Belgium/France) 95mins. Wild Bunch (int’l). Dirs: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Pili Groyne. A working-class mother fights to keep her job. Special Presentations Winter garden Theatre 8:45 PM girLHood
naTuraL reSiSTanCe
(Italy/France) 86mins. Rezo (int’l). Dir: Jonathan Nossiter. A profile of four radical vineyard proprietors who are striving to produce natural wines in the face of market pressure. TiFF docs Jackman Hall 7:15 PM 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 www.screendaily.com
(France) 112mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Céline Sciamma. Cast: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh. A raw but tender look at a group of black high school students living in the tough banlieues of Paris. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 2 9:00 PM good kiLL
(US) 105mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Voltage Pictures (int’l). Dir: Andrew Niccol. Cast: Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz. A troubled Air Force officer charged with directing drone strikes enters a
THe goLden era
(China/Hong Kong) 178mins. Edko Films Ltd. (int’l). Dir: Ann Hui. Cast: Tang Wei, Feng Shao Feng. A portrait of 20th-century female novelist Xiao Hong. Masters TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 1 THree HearTS
(France) 106mins. Elle Drive (int’l). Dir: Benoit Jacquot. Cast: Benoit Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni. A twist of fate leaves a hapless accountant torn between two sisters. Special Presentations isabel Bader Theatre 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 Visa Screening room (elgin) THe yearS oF Fierro
(Mexico) 98mins. Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) (int’l) Dir: Santiago Esteinou. Documentary portrait of Cesar Fierro, a Mexican convict who has spent 30 years in a Texas prison awaiting execution by lethal injection. Tiff docs Scotiabank 5
9:15 PM La SaLada
(Argentina) 88mins. Sudestada Cine (int’l). Dir: Juan Martin Hsu. Cast: Ignacio Huang, Yunseon Kim, Chang Sun Kim. A thoughtful and affecting study of the immigrant experience in Argentina. discovery Scotiabank 8 LeoPardi
(Italy) 137mins. Rai Com (int’l). Dir: Mario Martone. Cast: Elio Germano, Michele Riondino, Massimo Popolizio. A biopic of the celebrated 18th-century Italian poet, essayist and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 1
(int’l). Dir: Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan. A shattering, on-theground documentary chronicle of the ordeal facing ordinary Syrians in the civil war. TiFF docs Scotiabank 4 THe TriBe
(Ukraine) 132mins. Garmata Film Production c/o Arthouse Traffic (int’l). Dir: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy. Cast: Yana Novikova, Grigoriy Fesenko. Focuses on a gang of deaf-mute students whose extra-curricular activities include robbery, prostitution and aggravated assault. discovery Jackman Hall 9:45 PM FireS on THe PLain
MerCHanTS oF douBT
(US) 96mins. Participant Media (int’l). Dir: Robert Kenner. Cast: Naomi Oreskes, Bob Inglis, James Hansen. Investigation into the shadowy world of professional climatechange sceptics. TiFF docs TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 2 9:30 PM
(Japan) 87mins. Coproduction Office (int’l). Dir: Shinya Tsukamoto. Cast: Shinya Tsukamoto. A dazed, wounded soldier wanders through the surreal carnage of the Pacific War. Wavelengths TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 4 — Paul & Leah atkinson Family Cinema
MaPS To THe STarS
in THe CroSSWind
(Canada/Germany) 112mins. Entertainment One Films (int’l). Dir: David Cronenberg. Cast: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska. An acid satire of Tinseltown from Canadian master David Cronenberg.
(Estonia) 87mins. Deckert Distribution (int’l). Dir: Martti Helde. Cast: Laura Peterson, Mirt Preegel, Tarmo Song. In 1941, an Estonian woman and her young daughter struggle to find their way home after being deported to Siberia by the Soviet occupiers.
gala Presentations roy Thomson Hall MoMMy
(Canada) 134mins. Séville International (int’l). Dir: Xavier Dolan. Cast: Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clement, Antoine Olivier Pilon. Explores the volatile relationship between a troubled son and his mother. Special Presentations Princess of Wales SiLVered WaTer, Syria SeLF-PorTraiT
(Syria/France) 92mins. Doc & Film International
Contemporary World Cinema TiFF Bell Lightbox cinema 3 Men WHo SaVe THe WorLd
(Malaysia/Netherlands/ Germany/France) 93mins. Everything Films Sdn. Bhd. (int’l). Dir: Liew Seng Tat. Cast: Wan Hanafi Su, Soffi Jikan, Harun Salim Bachik. The inhabitants of a small Malaysian village go to ever sillier extremes to exorcise the ‘ghost’ they
believe is haunting a dilapidated house Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 14 SeCond CoMing
(United Kingdom) 105mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Debbie Tucker Green. Cast: Nadine Marshall, Idris Elba, Kai FrancisLewis. A middle-class London couple are shocked when they are blessed — or cursed — with an immaculate conception. discovery Scotiabank 3 We Were WoLVeS
(Canada) 94mins. Marina Cordoni Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Jordan Canning. Cast: Steve Cochrane, Lynda Boyd, Melanie Scrofano. Two estranged brothers thrash out their grievances while packing up their late father’s cottage. discovery Scotiabank 13 10:00 PM aLLeLuia
(France/Belgium) 95mins. SND (int’l). Dir: Fabrice Du Welz. Cast: Laurent Lucas, Lola Duenas, Stéphane Bissot. A tale of star-crossed romance and straight-up carnage, based on the true story of the 1960s ‘Lonely Hearts Killers’. Vanguard The Bloor Hot docs Cinema THiS iS My Land
(France) 93mins. Iliade & Films (int’l). Dir: Tamara Erde. Documentary looking at how Palestinian and Israeli schools teach history. TiFF docs Scotiabank 9 11:59 PM [reC]4 aPoCaLyPSe
(Spain) 96mins. Filmax International (int’l/US). Dir: Jaume Balaguero. Cast: Manuela Velasco, Paco Manzanedo, Hector Colome. A group of survivors in the bowels of an ocean liner fight for their lives against a horde of zombies. Midnight Madness ryerson Theatre
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 17
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ScreeninGS
Dir: Barry Levinson. Cast: Al Pacino, Dianne Wiest, Greta Gerwig. An aged actor’s world is turned upside down after he embarks on an affair with a younger woman.
Press & Industry 8:30 AM
Special Presentations Scotiabank 10
Samba
(France) 115mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Gaumont (int’l). Dir: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano. Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Omar Sy, Tahar Rahim. A recent migrant to France fights to stay in his adopted country.
X+y
(United Kingdom) 111mins. Bankside Films (int’l). Dir: Morgan Matthews. Cast: Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins. An awkward teenage maths prodigy finds new confidence when he lands a spot at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
Gala Presentations Scotiabank 8 Still alice See box, right
discovery Scotiabank 14
8:45 AM manGlehorn
(US) 97mins. Creative Artists Agency, Cinetic Media (US). WestEnd Films (int’l). Dir: David Gordon Green. Cast: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Harmony Korine. An eccentric small-town locksmith tries to start his life over again with the help of a new friend. Special Presentations Scotiabank 10 9:00 AM breakuP buddieS
(China) 116mins. Injo Films Limited (int’l). Dir: Ning Hao. Cast: Huang Bo, Xu Zheng, Zhou Dongyu. A hapless former singer hits the road — and the bar — with his best buddy.
8:30 AM Still alice
(USA ) 99mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Memento Films (int’l). Dirs: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland. Cast: Julianne Moore, Kristen
wavelengths Scotiabank 6 the theory of everythinG
Special Presentations Scotiabank 11 the new Girlfriend
Special Presentations Scotiabank 1
Gala Presentations Scotiabank 3 9:15 AM
Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth. A successful professor struggles to maintain her composure after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Special Presentations Scotiabank 13
Lennie, Luis Bermejo. Desperate to fulfill his terminally ill daughter’s last wish, a grief-stricken man plunges into a vortex of blackmail and deception.
Chahine, Carole Abboud, Fadi Abi Samra. An amnesiac finds himself held hostage on a farm that doubles as an illegal drug-production facility.
discovery Scotiabank 7
contemporary world cinema Scotiabank 8
10:15 AM cake
(United Kingdom/USA) 123mins. Focus Features (US). Universal Pictures International (int’l). Dir: James Marsh. Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox. A portrait of the early life of Stephen Hawking.
(France) 105mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Francois Ozon. Cast: Romain Duris, Anais Demoustier, Raphael Personnaz. A young woman makes a surprising discovery about the husband of her late best friend.
11:45 AM
Press & industry
villa touma
87mins. Bailasan (int’l). Dir: Suha Arraf. Cast: Nisreen Faour, Ula Tabari, Cherien Dabis. The story of a spirited 18-year-old orphan who goes to live with her spinster aunts in Palestine. discovery Scotiabank 9 9:30 AM
le beau danGer
1001 GramS
(Germany) 100mins. Joon Film (int’l). Dir: René Frölke. A portrait of Romanian author Norman Manea.
(Norway/Germany/ France) 88mins. Les Films du Losange (int’l). Dir: Bent Hamer. Cast: Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker, Stein Winge.
18 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2014
A work-obsessed lab technician encounters a new world of experience when she attends a conference in Paris. masters Scotiabank 4 adult beGinnerS
(US) 90mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Ross Katz. Cast: Rose Byrne, Nick Kroll. Out of a job after a disastrous product launch, a yuppie retreats to his suburban childhood home. discovery Scotiabank 14 Short cutS international ProGramme 4
91mins. Dir: various. Short tales of injustice, retribution, and social and cultural isolation. Short cuts international Scotiabank 5 10:00 AM maGical Girl
(Spain) 127mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Carlos Vermut. Cast: José Sacristan, Barbara
11:15 AM
(US) 98mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Creative Artists Agency (US). Dir: Daniel Barnz. Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Anna Kendrick, William H Macy. A woman in a chronicpain support group investigates the suicide of a group member.
a Second chance
Special Presentations Scotiabank 2
Special Presentations Scotiabank 3
10:45 AM niGhtcrawler
(US) 117mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Dan Gilroy. Cast: Michel Litvak, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster. A drifter joins the nocturnal legions of freelance photographers who scour the city for gruesome crime-scene footage. Special Presentations Scotiabank 13 11:00 AM the valley
(France/Germany/ Lebanon/Qatar) 135mins. Doc & Film International (int’l). Dir: Ghassan Salhab. Cast: Carlos
(Denmark) 105mins. TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Susanne Bier. Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ulrich Thomsen, Maria Bonnevie. A veteran police officer makes a fateful decision when he is brought back into contact with a pair of junkie parents.
the yeS men are revoltinG
(US) 90mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: Laura Nix, The Yes Men. Cast: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Chandia Bernadette Kodili. Activist-pranksters pull the rug out from under megacorporations in a series of outrageous stunts designed to draw awareness to climate change. tiff docs Scotiabank 9 11:30 AM the humblinG
(US) 110mins. ICM Partners (US). Millennium Entertainment (int’l).
black SoulS
(Italy) 103mins. Rai Com (int’l). Dir: Francesco Munzi. Cast: Marco Leonardi, Peppino Mazzotta, Fabrizio Ferracane. A former narcotics trafficker living peaceably in the Calabrian hills is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade operations. contemporary world cinema Scotiabank 11 Short cutS canada ProGramme 4
79mins. Dirs: various. A programme addressing questions of culture and generational clashes, death and rebirth. Short cuts canada Scotiabank 5 the keePinG room
(US) 95mins. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (US). Sierra/Affinity (int’l). Dir: Daniel Barber. Cast: Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Sam Worthington. Three women left alone on an isolated farm during the last days of the American Civil War are besieged by a pair of murderous Yankee scouts. Special Presentations Scotiabank 12 12:00 PM the GrumP
(Finland) 104mins. The Yellow Affair (int’l). Dir: www.screendaily.com
Dome Karukoski. Cast: Antti Litja, Petra Frey, Mari Perankoski. A traditional 80-year-old farmer raises hell when he is forced to move in with his city-dwelling son and daughter-in-law. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 6 12:30 PM RoSeWateR
(US) 103mins. Sierra/ Affinity (int’l). Dir: Jon Stewart. Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer. The true story of an Iranian man’s five-month imprisonment in Iran after his appearance on a satirical TV show. Special Presentations Scotiabank 2 12:45 PM SunShine SuPeRman
(US/Norway/ United Kingdom) 96mins. Submarine Entertainment (US). Salt-Co (int’l). Dir: Marah Strauch. Cast: Jean Boenish, Carl Boenish. A documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, “the father of BASE jumping”. tiFF Docs Scotiabank 7 1:00 PM 99 homeS
Discovery Scotiabank 9 thRee heaRtS
(France) 106mins. Elle Drive (int’l). Dir: Benoit Jacquot. Cast: Benoit Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni. A twist of fate leaves a hapless accountant torn between two sisters. Special Presentations Scotiabank 13 1:45 PM Gentlemen
(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 he is told of a decades-spanning conspiracy. Special Presentations Scotiabank 5 the GReat man
(France) 107mins. Bac Films (int’l/US). Dir: Sarah Leonor. Cast: Jérémie Renier, Surho Sugaipov, Ramzan Idiev. A French Foreign Legion soldier is reunited with the man who saved his life. Discovery Scotiabank 8 2:00 PM
(US) 112mins. Creative Artists Agency (US). Hyde Park International (int’l). Dir: Ramin Bahrani. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern. An unemployed man joins an unscrupulous realtor in the business of foreclosing on the disenfranchised.
baCkCountRy
Special Presentations Scotiabank 1 & 4
Discovery Scotiabank 10
1:15 PM CoRbo
(Canada) 119mins. Max Films Media (int’l). Dir: Mathieu Denis. Cast: Anthony Therrien, Antoine L’Écuyer, Karelle Tremblay. A teenage Quebecer in the 1960s evolves from proindependence activist to radical terrorist, in this chronicle of the origins of the FLQ.
(Canada) 91mins. Cinetic Media (US). Event Film (int’l). Dir: Adam MacDonald. Cast: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop, Eric Balfour. A busy executive and her boyfriend take a trip into and find themselves at the mercy of nature.
Discovery Scotiabank 6 2:30 PM the FaCe oF an anGel
(United Kingdom) 100mins. WestEnd Films (int’l/US). Dir: Michael Winterbottom. Cast: Daniel Brühl, Kate Beckinsale, Valerio Mastandrea. A fictionalised version of the notorious Amanda Knox murder case. masters Scotiabank 11
(Germany) 98mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Christian Petzold. Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld. A camp survivor searches postwar Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis. Special Presentations Scotiabank 14 2:15 PM
(Canada) 87mins. North
Andres, Esteban Roel. Cast: Macarena Gomez, Nadia De Santiago. A neighbour finds himself trapped in the mad world of two sisters. Vanguard Scotiabank 6 4:45 PM
(United Kingdom) 101mins. Protagonist Pictures (int’l). Dir: Peter Strickland. Cast: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D’Anna. An amateur butterfly expert’s wayward desires test her lover’s tolerance. Vanguard Scotiabank 11 5:00 PM ShoRt CutS CanaDa PRoGRamme 5
79mins. Dirs: various.
(United Kingdom) 106mins. HanWay Films (int’l). Dir: Lone Scherfig. Cast: Sam Claflin, Max Irons, Douglas Booth. Two young men are inducted into the exclusive, debaucherous company of Oxford’s elite ‘Riot Club’.
Short Cuts Canada Scotiabank 5
Gala Presentations Scotiabank 12 3:00 PM Don’t Go bReakinG my heaRt 2
Beta Cinema (int’l). Dir: Giulio Ricciarelli. A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 10
the Duke oF buRGunDy
the Riot Club
5:30 PM itSi bitSi
(Denmark/Croatia/ Sweden) 107mins. The Match Factory (int’l). Dir: Ole Christian Madsen. Cast: Joachim Fjelstrup, Marie Tourell Soderberg, Christian Gade Bjerrum. The founding of massively influential Danish rock group Steppeulvene.
may allah bleSS FRanCe!
(France) 96mins. Films Distribution (int’l). Dir: Abd Al Malik. Cast: Marc Zinga, Sabrina Ouazani, Larouci Didi. French rapper Abd Al Malik chronicles his upbringing in Strasbourg. Discovery Scotiabank 5 7:15 PM
Special Presentations Scotiabank 11 8:00 PM
Special Presentations Scotiabank 10 ShReW’S neSt
(Spain) 91mins. Film Factory Entertainment (int’l/US). Dir: Juanfer
(Germany) 105mins. TrustNordisk (int’l). Dir: Baran bo Odar. Cast: Tom Schilling, Wotan Wilke Moehring. A computer geek becomes a wanted man after he joins a crew of hackers. Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 6 7:00 PM labyRinth oF lieS
(Germany) 122mins.
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,
Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Sid adilman mentorship programme Daniel Horowitz, daniel.horowitz@mail.utoronto.ca Advertising and publishing Commercial director Andrew Dixon, andrew.dixon@ screendaily.com, +44 7595 646 541 VP business development,
(South Korea) 107mins. CJ Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Yim Pil-sung. Cast: Jung Woo-sung, Lee Som. A professor succumbing to blindness is entranced by an obsessive love, in this adaptation of a fairy tale.
Who am i — no SyStem iS SaFe
Tel +1 416 599 8433 ext 2512
(Canada) 102mins. XYZ Films (US). Park Entertainment (int’l). Dir: Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks. Cast: Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks, Paz de le Huerta. A film editor becomes the prime suspect in a series of brutal murders.
mavericks tiFF bell lightbox cinema 5
(US) 105mins. United Talent Agency (US). Voltage Pictures (int’l). Dir: Paul Bettany. Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Mackie. Two homeless people from different worlds find solace in each other.
Editorial
the eDitoR
Special Presentations Scotiabank 7
6:45 PM
West, Toronto, ON, M5V 3X5
Group head of production & art
midnight madness Scotiabank 7
4:30 PM
Bell Lightbox, 350 Kind Street
(France) 99mins. Gaumont (int’l). Dir: Anne Fontaine. Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fabrice Luchini, Jason Flemyng. An Englishwoman finds dull married life steering her towards adultery
(US) 77mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: David Thorpe. Cast: Dan Savage. Doc about the cultural history of the gay voice.
Do i SounD Gay?
Meeting room 12, fifth floor, TIFF
+44 7834 902 528
Contemporary World Cinema Scotiabank 7 6:00 PM
Screen office
Gemma boVeRy
(Hong Kong/China) 113mins. Media Asia Film Distribtuion (HK) Limited (int’l). Dir: Johnnie To. Cast: Louis Koo, Miriam Yeung, Yuanyuan Gao. Two former lovers find themselves drawn back together, despite their new partners.
ShelteR Phoenix
the Valley beloW
www.screendaily.com
Country Cinema (int’l). Dir: Kyle Thomas. Cast: Stephen Bogaert, Kris Demeanor, Mikaela Cochrane. A Raymond Carver-esque portrait of life in the Alberta Badlands.
9:15 PM SCaRlet innoCenCe
City to City Scotiabank 6 9:45 PM Do i SounD Gay?
(US) 77mins. Cinetic Media (US). Dir: David Thorpe. Cast: Dan Savage. A frank documentary about the cultural history of the gay voice.
north america Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 uS sales and business development executive Nikki Tilmouth, nikki.screeninternational@gmail. com +1 323 868 7633 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 335 148 Group commercial director Alison Pitchford Chief executive, mbi Conor Dignam Printer Big Bark Graphics, 68 Healey Road, Units 1-3, Bolton, ON L7E 5A4 Screen international, london MBI, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 3033 4267 Subscription enquiries help@subscribe.screendaily.com +44 1604 828 706
mavericks Scotiabank 11
September 9, 2014 Screen International at Toronto 19
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