TIFF19: Midnight Madness, Discovery, TIFF Docs lineups announced

The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the 10 eclectic films that will make up this year’s Midnight Madness lineup. This year’s programme ushers in a new generation of formidable genre filmmakers amidst veteran Midnight mavericks, who collectively push the envelope with both experimental and quintessential genre thrills that are guaranteed to keep the loyal late-night audience rapt and wired.

“This year’s selections challenge the traditional parameters of genre and shock cinema, but — most excitingly — half of the lineup’s wicked provocations are courtesy of filmmakers making their feature-film debut,” said Peter Kuplowsky, Lead Programmer for Midnight Madness. “I’m delighted to welcome midnight movie institutions like Takashi Miike and Richard Stanley back to the section, and even more ecstatic to have the privilege to introduce so many transgressive, innovative, and galvanizing new voices. The tide is high, and be it a Mi’gmaq reserve, a Hasidic neighborhood, or a Ugandan village, more communities are getting opportunities to share their myths and monsters. I know this year’s lineup will exhilarate Midnight audiences come September.”

Midnight Madness welcomes new genre filmmakers with remarkable debuts, including Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s dystopian sci-fi film The Platform; Rose Glass’s unnerving psychological thriller Saint Maud, starring Morfydd Clark (Love & Friendship) and Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty); Andrew Patterson’s paranormal period piece The Vast of Night, which won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance and features breakout performances by Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick; and Keith Thomas’s supernatural horror film The Vigil.

Other highlights from this year’s selection include Richard Stanley’s H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space, which stars Nicolas Cage and signals the director’s return to the Midnight Madness lineup after 29 years; Joko Anwar’s Gundala, based on the Indonesian superhero comic books by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata; and Takashi Miike’s Japanese action-comedy First Love. The program will close with the World Premiere of the international version of Isaac Nabwana’s gonzo action flick Crazy World, a celebration of the Ugandan film movement Wakaliwood.

Midnight Madness
* Midnight Madness Opening Film *
Blood Quantum (Can)
Dir: Jeff Barnaby
World premiere

Color Out Of Space (USA)
Dir: Richard Stanley
World premiere

* Midnight Madness Closing Film *
Crazy World (Uga)
Dir: Isaac Nabwana
World premiere

First Love (Hatsukoi, Jap-UK)
Dir: Takashi Miike
North American premiere

Gundala (Indo)
Dir: Joko Anwar
International premiere

The Platform (El Hoyo, Sp)
Dir: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
World premiere

Saint Maud (UK)
Dir: Rose Glass
World premiere

The Twentieth Century (Can)
Dir: Matthew Rankin
World premiere

The Vast Of Night (USA)
Dir: Andrew Patterson
Canadian premiere

The Vigil (USA)
Dir: Keith Thomas
World premiere

The Toronto International Film Festival documentary programme reveals its lineup of 25
non-fiction works, including 18 World Premieres with representation from 18 countries. The films cover many high-profile figures, both famous and infamous — including Truman Capote, Merce Cunningham, Ron Howard, Bikram Choudhury, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Imelda Marcos — and a broad range of themes, including artistic achievement, the power of journalism, immigration, global politics, and resistance against corrupt leaders. Three films use sports as a framework to look at environmentalism, capitalism, and racism.

“This year’s programme captures characters you’ll never forget: lovers, fighters, dancers, athletes, despots, rebels, hustlers, and heroes,” said Thom Powers, serving his 14th year as TIFF Docs programmer this Festival. “We’ll be talking about these films for a long time to come.”

TIFF Docs
And We Go Green (USA)
Dirs: Fisher Stevens, Malcolm Venville
World premiere

The Australian Dream (Aust-UK)
Dir: Daniel Gordon
International premiere

Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator (USA)
Dir: Eva Orner
World premiere

The Capote Tapes (UK)
Dir: Ebs Burnough
World premiere

TIFF Docs Opening Film
The Cave (Syr-Den-Ger-USA-Qat)
Dir: Feras Fayyad
World premiere

Citizen K (USA-UK)
Dir: Alex Gibney
North American premiere

Collective (Colectiv, Rom-Lux)
Dir: Alexander Nanau
North American premiere

Coppers (Can)
Dir: Alan Zweig
World premiere

The Cordillera Of Dreams (La Cordillera de Los Sueños, Fr-Chile)
Dir: Patricio Guzmán
North American premiere

Cunningham (Ger-Fra-USA)
Dir: Alla Kovgan
World premiere

Dads (USA)
Dir: Bryce Dallas Howard
World premiere

Desert One (USA)
Dir: Barbara Kopple
World premiere

I Am Not Alone (Arm-USA)
Dir: Garin Hovannisian
World premiere

Ibrahim: A Fate To Define (Leb-Pal-Den-Qat-Slovenia)
Dir: Lina Al Abed
North American premiere

The Kingmaker (USA)
Dir: Lauren Greenfield
Canadian premiere

Letter To The Editor (USA)
Dir: Alan Berliner
World premiere

Love Child (Den)
Dir: Eva Mulvad
World premiere

My English Cousin (Switz-Qat)
Dir: Karim Sayad
World premiere

Paris Stalingrad (Fra)
Dir: Hind Meddeb
International premiere

Ready For War (USA)
Dir: Andrew Renzi
World premiere

Red Penguins (USA-Rus)
Dir: Gabe Polsky
World premiere

Sing Me A Song (Fra-Ger-Switz)
Dir: Thomas Balmès
World premiere

There’s Something In The Water (Can)
Dirs: Ellen Page, Ian Daniel
World premiere

This Is Not a Movie (Can-Ger)
Dir: Yung Chang
World premiere

Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (UK)
Dir: Mark Cousins
World premiere

Previously announced TIFF Docs films include Alan Zweig’s Coppers, Ellen Page and Ian Daniel’s There’s Something In The Water, and Yung Chang’s This Is Not A Movie.

In a nod to its commitment to film preservation, the Toronto International Film Festival
announced today that the 2019 TIFF Cinematheque programme at the Festival will feature select screenings in 35mm, with two prints coming from the TIFF Film Reference Library Screening Collection, the organization’s own film library. The narrative titles selected will be preceded by guest introductions from Festival filmmakers past and present.

“We’re fortunate to have such a wealth of resources to choose film prints from for this Festival programme,”said Brad Deane, Director of TIFF Cinematheque. “These five features are so different from each other but they all convey the possibilities and value of the medium. We know each choice will add depth to conversations happening around new titles at the Festival and that they’ll also showcase the important work TIFF and other organizations do year-round to restore and preserve film. It’ll be a treat to share them with Festival audiences.”

From a 30th-anniversary presentation of a title that premiered at the Festival (Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season) to an acclaimed drama by a director with a new film in the Special Presentations category (Pablo Larraín’s No), this year’s Cinematheque programme has strong TIFF ties. Palcy and Larraín will be on hand to discuss their films. The slate will also pair feature classics with filmmakers they’ve inspired: director Angela Schanelec will present Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket and director Rian Johnson will introduce Herbert Ross’ The Last of Sheila.

Rounding out the lineup is Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, to be introduced by the director along with Canadian musician Robbie Robertson — the subject of the TIFF 2019 Opening Night Gala film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, which Scorsese executive produced. Palcy and Scorsese will both be receiving retrospectives at TIFF Bell Lightbox later this year.

As part of TIFF’s commitment to cinema heritage and its mission to share film with a wide audience, tickets to all TIFF Cinematheque screenings during the Festival are free and will be distributed at the Steve & Rashmi Gupta Box Office at TIFF Bell Lightbox on a first-come, first-served basis two hours before each film screening.

TIFF Cinematheque
A Dry White Season (USA, 1989)
Dir: Euzhan Palcy

Pickpocket (France, 1959)
Dir: Robert Bresson

No (Chile-USA, 2012)
Dir: Pablo Larraín

The Last Of Sheila (USA, 1973)
Dir: Herbert Ross

The Last Waltz (USA, 1978)
Dir: Martin Scorsese

Discovery
1982 (USA-Leb-Nor-Qat)
Dir: Oualid Mouaness
World premiere

AFRICA (Isr)
Dir: Oren Gerner
World premiere

The Antenna (Bina, Tur)
Dir: Orçun Behram
World premiere

The Audition (Das Vorspiel, Ger-Fra)
Dir: Ina Weisse
World premiere

August (Agosto, Cub-C Rica-Fra)
Dir: Armando Capó
World premiere

Black Conflux (Can)
Dir: Nicole Dorsey
World premiere

Bring Me Home (Na-Reul Cha-Ja-Jwo, Sth Kor)
Dir: Kim Seung-woo
World premiere

A Bump Along The Way (UK)
Dir: Shelly Love
International premiere

Calm With Horses (UK-Ireland)
Dir: Nick Rowland
World premiere

Certified Mail (Bi Elm El Wossul, Egypt)
Dir: Hisham Saqr
World premiere

Comets (Georgia)
Dir: Tamar Shavgulidze
World premiere

Disco Jorunn (Nor)
Dir: Myklebust Syversen
World premiere

Easy Land (Can)
Dir: Sanja Zivkovic
World premiere

Entwined (Gr)
Dir: Minos Nikolakakis
World premiere

The Giant (USA, pictured)
Dir: David Rabo

The Good Intentions (Las Buenas Intenciones, Arg)
Dir: Ana García Blaya
World premiere

Hearts And Bones (Australia)
Dir: Ben Lawrence
International premiere

Hope (Håp, Nor-Swe)
Dir: Maria Sødahl
World premiere

Kuessipan (Can)
Dir: Myriam Verreault
World premiere

Lina from Lima (Chil-Arg-Peru)
Dir: María Paz González
World premiere

The Lost Okoroshi (Nigeria)
Dir: Abba Makama
World premiere

Love Me Tender (Switz)
Dir: Klaudia Reynicke
World premiere

Murmur (Can)
Dir: Heather Younng
World premiere

My Life As A Comedian (En Komikers Uppväxt, Swe-Belg)
Dir: Rojda Sekersöz
World premiere

Noura’s Dream (Tun-Belg-Fra)
Dir: Hinde Boujemaa
World premiere

The Obituary Of Tunde Johnson (USA)
Dir: Ali LeRoi
World premiere

Pompei (Belg-Can-Fra)
Dirs: Anna Falguères, John Shank
World premiere

Raf (Can-USA)
Dir: Harry Cepka
World premiere

The Rest Of Us (Can)
Dir: Aisling Chin-Yee
World premiere

Sea Fever (Ire-Swe-Belg-UK)
Dir: Neasa Hardiman
World premiere

* Discovery Opening Film *
Simple Women (Ita-Rom
Dir: Chiara Malta
World premiere

Sole (Ita-Pol)
Dir: Carlo Sironi
International premiere

Son-Mother (Pesar-Madar, Iran-Czech Rep)
Dir: Mahnaz Mohammadi
World premiere

Stories From The Chestnut Woods (Zgodbe Iz Kostanjevih Gozdov, Slovenia-Ita)
Dir: Gregor Božič
World premiere

Sweetness In The Belly (Ire-Can)
Dir: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
World premiere

Two Of Us (Deux, Fra-Lux-Belg)
Dir: Filippo Meneghetti
World premiere

ZANA (Alb-Kos)
Dir: Antoneta Kastrati
World premiere

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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