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
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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