TIFF47: Discovery, Midnight Madness and Wavelength programs announced
The Toronto International Film Festival announced today the 2022 selection for Discovery, Midnight Madness, and Wavelengths programs. This lineup features 54 titles from filmmakers representing 26 countries, including the world premieres of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story with Daniel Radcliffe, Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection with Jeremy Pope, Benjamin Millepied’s take on the opera Carmen, starring Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal and new horror from Kevin Williamson (Scream) with Sick.
“For TIFF audiences in the know, the Discovery, Midnight Madness and Wavelengths programmes are where you’re rewarded for taking risks and being adventurous,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Whether it’s the discovery of an audacious new auteur, a brilliant visionary work that reimagines storytelling or the most wicked cinematic experience you will ever have, this is where you will find it.”
DISCOVERY
“TIFF’s Discovery programme is a showcase of cinema and talent from around the world — a place to unearth work that is bold, distinctive, and, above all, passionate,” said Dorota Lech, Discovery Lead and International Programmer, TIFF. “The section has a rich history of championing the first and second features of visionary filmmakers such as Chantal Akerman, Julie Dash, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ildikó Enyedi, Jafar Panahi, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Steve McQueen, Michael Haneke, Christopher Nolan, Lav Diaz, Barry Jenkins, Alfonso Cuarón, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Warwick Thornton, Maren Ade, Joachim Trier, David Gordon Green, Pablo Larraín, Valeska Grisebach, and Jean-Marc Vallée, to name just a handful. This year’s robust programme offers 24 films that shook us to the core, filled us with joy, broke our hearts, and, most importantly, reminded us that the future is bright.”
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Aitch Alberto | USA
World Premiere
Baby Ruby Bess Wohl | USA
World Premiere
Carmen Benjamin Millepied | Australia, France
World Premiere
Daughter of Rage (La Hija de todas las Rabias) Laura Baumeister | Nicaragua
World Premiere
A Gaza Weekend Basil Khalil | United Kingdom, Palestine
World Premiere
I Like Movies Chandler Levack | Canada
World Premiere
Discovery Opening Night Film
The Inspection Elegance Bratton | USA
World Premiere
A Long Break Davit Pirtskhalava | Georgia
World Premiere
Pussy Joseph Amenta | Canada
World Premiere
Return to Seoul Davy Chou | South Korea, France, Germany, Belgium
International Premiere
ROSIE Gail Maurice | Canada
World Premiere
Runner Marian Mathias | USA, France, Germany
World Premiere
SHIMONI Angela Wanjiku Wamai | Kenya
World Premiere
Snow and the Bear Selcen Ergun | Turkey, Germany, Serbia
World Premiere
Something You Said Last Night Luis De Filippis | Canada, Switzerland 🇨🇦
World Premiere
Susie Searches Sophie Kargman | USA
World Premiere
Sweet As Jub Clerc | Australia
International Premiere
The Taste of Apples is Red Ehab Tarabieh | Israel, Germany
World Premiere
This Place V.T. Nayani | Canada
World Premiere
Unruly (Ustyrlig) Malou Reymann | Denmark
World Premiere
Until Branches Bend Sophie Jarvis | Canada
World Premiere
When Morning Comes Kelly Fyffe-Marshall | Canada
World Premiere
The Young Arsonists Sheila Pye | Canada
World Premiere
*** An additional title to be confirmed at a later date.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
“I am thrilled to announce that Midnight Madness has returned to its traditional 10-film configuration and has a new home at the Royal Alexandra Theatre,” said section curator Peter Kuplowsky. “I also couldn’t have hoped for a more appropriate Opening Night film than Weird: The Al Yankovic Story — a beautifully deranged ‘biopic’ made in the great Midnight movie tradition of challenging conventions and forging one’s own path, no matter how weird.”
Starring Daniel Radcliffe as music and comedy legend “Weird Al” Yankovic, the film leads a gonzo Midnight Madness lineup that includes a double dose of gore-filled action (Sisu and Project Wolf Hunting), two wildly surprising new instalments to iconic horror films (Pearl and V/H/S 99), some magnificently meta genre comedies (The Blackening, The People’s Joker, and Leonor Will Never Die), and a few killer creative horror team-ups (John Hyams and Kevin Williamson’s Sick, Jaume Balagueró and Álex de la Iglesia’s Venus).
Concluding, Kuplowsky added: “This year, fans of the weird and the wicked will be spending most of their TIFF living in a Midnight Madness paradise.”
The Blackening Tim Story | USA
World Premiere
Midnight Madness Closing Night Film
Leonor Will Never Die Martika Ramirez Escobar | Philippines
Canadian Premiere
Pearl Ti West | USA
North American Premiere
The People’s Joker Vera Drew | USA
World Premiere
Project Wolf Hunting Kim Hongsun | South Korea
World Premiere
Sick John Hyams | USA
World Premiere
Sisu Jalmari Helander | Finland
World Premiere
Venus Jaume Balagueró | Spain
World Premiere
V/H/S 99 Flying Lotus, Johannes Roberts, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Vanessa & Joseph Winter | USA
World Premiere
Midnight Madness Opening Night Film
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Eric Appel | USA
World Premiere
WAVELENGTHS
“The selections in this year’s Wavelengths lineup reimagine the possibilities of cinema in ways both inspiring and rejuvenating,” said Senior Curator Andréa Picard. “The programme itself continues to champion film as art in a climate increasingly challenging for non-commercial and non-conforming work. The filmmakers and artists in this year’s edition expand the language of film and video, employing narrative, documentary, hybrid, and formalist approaches to assert film’s status as an autonomous art form and the cinema itself as an essential, communal experience.”
Showcasing a mix of established auteurs, celebrated visual artists, and emerging filmmakers, this year’s Wavelengths presents eight features, two shorts programmes, and an exhibition, placing timeless, durational works alongside projects of the utmost contemporary urgency — each political by nature of its very existence and, by extension, resistance. Additionally, we are honoured to present a number of important moving-image works from recent gallery and museum exhibitions in the cinema, including an exceptional theatrical screening of Tacita Dean’s latest 16mm film, Fata Morgana. Another of this year’s highlights includes the first Canadian solo exhibition of Brooklyn-based Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani in an exciting partnership with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and The Vega Foundation. Meriem Bennani: Life on the CAPS will be exhibited free to the public at The Power Plant from September 9 through 18.
FEATURES
Concrete Valley Antoine Bourges | Canada
World Premiere
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor | France, Switzerland
North American Premiere
Dry Ground Burning (Mato Seco em Chamas) Joana Pimenta, Adirley Queirós | Portugal, Brazil
North American Premiere
Horse Opera Moyra Davey | USA
Festival Premiere
Pacifiction Albert Serra | France, Spain, Germany, Portugal
North American Premiere
Queens of the Qing Dynasty Ashley McKenzie | Canada
North American Premiere
Unrest (Unrueh) Cyril Schäublin | Switzerland
North American Premiere
Will-o’-the-Wisp (Fogo-Fátuo) João Pedro Rodrigues | Portugal, France
North American Premiere
SHORTS
After Work Céline Condorelli, Ben Rivers | United Kingdom
North American Premiere
Bigger on the Inside Angelo Madsen Minax | USA
World Premiere
EVENTIDE Sharon Lockhart | USA
World Premiere
F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now Fox Maxy | Mesa Grande Reservation/USA
Festival Premiere
Fata Morgana Tacita Dean | United Kingdom, USA
Festival Premiere
Hors-titre Wiame Haddad | France
North American Premiere
I Thought the World of You Kurt Walker | Canada
North American Premiere
Moonrise Vincent Grenier | USA, Canada
World Premiere
The Newest Olds Pablo Mazzolo | Argentina, Canada
World Premiere
Puerta a Puerta Jessica Sarah Rinland, Luis Arnías | Mexico, USA, Venezuela
International Premiere
The Time That Separates Us Parastoo Anoushahpour | Canada, Jordan, Palestine
World Premiere
What Rules the Invisible Tiffany Sia | USA
North American Premiere
EXHIBITION
Meriem Bennani: Life on the CAPS (2022) and 2 Lizards (2020)
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, September 9–18
Free Admission
Presented in partnership with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and The Vega Foundation.
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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