The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the 2023 selections for the Midnight Madness and Discovery programs, including the world premieres of Dicks: The Musical from Larry Charles and Gonzo Girl from Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Patricia Arquette. The 48th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7-17, 2023.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programs for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.”
The Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, 7 of which are World Premieres. Last year, Eric Appel’s off the wall ‘biopic’ Weird: The Al Yankovic Story wowed TIFF audiences and last month was nominated for 7 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie and Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Daniel Radcliffe in the titular role. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts World and International Premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total program are featured in this year’s Discovery program.
“Sides will be split — both figuratively and literally (on screen) — as Midnight Madness returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre with another stimulating concoction of unpredictable shock and ‘y’arr!’ cinema,” said Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness. “Featuring two timely satiric provocations from Saudi Arabia (NAGA) and Serbia (Working Class Goes to Hell) — nations that are making their section debut — this year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!”
Opening Midnight Madness this year will be A24’s Dicks: The Musical (originally titled F***ing Identical Twins) from Seinfeld producer Larry Charles. The film just received an R rating from the MPA earlier this week for ‘strong crude sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language and brief drug use’ and stars Megan Mullally, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane and Megan Thee Stallion in a musical spin on The Parent Trap about a pair of business rivals discover that they’re identical twins and decide to swap places in an attempt to trick their divorced parents to get back together. Based on an Upright Citizens Brigade stage show, the film also stars and is written by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
“The Discovery section, which is curated by a brilliant team of international programmers, is an integral part of TIFF,” stated Dorota Lech, TIFF Lead Programmer, Discovery, & International Programmer for Central, Eastern, & Southern Europe, the Caucasus, Iran, & Turkey. “It is a bold and exciting showcase of cinema and emerging talent from around the world, and we are honoured to highlight new and distinctive voices from artists creating their first or second feature on our global stage. This year’s program of 26 titles includes films from 25 countries, accounting for international co-productions and local talent.”
Arquette’s Gonzo Girl, about a struggling young writer (Camila Morrone) takes a job working as an assistant to a novelist with a wild reputation (played by Willem Dafoe), opens the Discovery Program, which will also see the North American Premiere of Molly Manning Walker’s Cannes-winning How to Have Sex, a rite of passage sex comedy and a cautionary tale about a group of three British best mates – Tara, Skye, and Em – who party non-stop on holiday in Malia, Crete.
Here are the complete lineups of the Midnight Madness and Discovery Programs of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
Photos: Shutterstock
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