Every year, I try to come up with a reasonable list of films to see at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This year, I’d say it looks quite reasonable… My list may not include films from all programmes but I hope you venture out to see something outside your comfort zone, if you can.
This list contains a few documentaries from theReal to Reel programme, some Midnight Madnessfilms, some films from the City to City programme among others. In no particular order, here is my list thus far…
Life Without Principle
“Hong Kong auteur and festival favourite Johnnie To, returns to TIFF with his latest film, Life Without Principle, a suspenseful drama starring Denise Ho, Lau Ching Wan and Ritchie Yen, that takes a hard look at Hong Kong’s money obsessed culture through three characters whose destinies will cross over one fateful day.”
“As the specter of sectarian conflict looms over a village in the Lebanese countryside, women of different religious affiliations band together and resort to most innovative and surprising schemes to save their community from surrendering to violence. A heartfelt and charming musical follow-up feature to director Labaki‘s widely successful Caramel.”
Las Acacias
“Pablo Giorgelli’s feature debut unfolds almost entirely along the fifteen hundred kilometres of highway that links Asunción, Paraguay, to Buenos Aires, a route that Rubén (Germán de Silva), a trucker with thirty years under his belt, knows well. Yet Las acacias disregards the pervading road-movie convention of decorating its journey with predictably unpredictable characters and instead detours, focusing its energies on the exchanges that transpire within the confines of Rubén’s cab – conversations that quietly accumulate into something tremendously moving.”
Alois Nebel
“This moody Czech gem, about a train dispatcher haunted by memories at the close of the Cold War, uses rotoscope animation in black and white to look back on still resonant moments in history. Destined to become a classic of the form.”
Bunohan (Return to Murder)
“From Malaysia’s thriving indie scene director Dain Said crosses cultural and genre boundaries in his latest film. Both realistic and stylish, Bunohan is a complex story of murder, passion and haunting memories for three estranged brothers and their ailing father.”
Girl Model
“Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry.”
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
“For 18 years, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have followed the case of the “West Memphis 3? who remain in prison for murders despite strong evidence pointing to their innocence. This new film revisits the case and presents surprising new information.”
Undefeated
“A high school football team in inner-city Memphis gains an inspirational coach and aspires to win the first playoff game in the school’s 110-year history.”
Urbanized
“This stylish and inspiring documentary from the director behind Helvetica and Objectified examines ideas about cities and urban design with examples from around the world and interviews with architects, politicians, artists and city planners.”
The Island President
“President Mohamed Nasheed governs the small territory of the Maldives, but he’s capable of wielding a large influence over anyone who watches The Island President.”
Into The Abyss
“Trust filmmaking legend Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Grizzly Man) to bring a unique approach to the crime story. This powerful documentary traces the legacy of a triple homicide in Texas, from the victims’ families to a man on death row.”
The Student (El Estudiante)
“The graffitied halls, run down classrooms and surrounding streets of the University of Buenos Aires provides the ideal location for Santiago Mitre’s briskly paced debut, The Student. Mitre brilliantly exposes the backroom dealings and negotiations in the murky world of student politics, a microcosm for the world at large, in this fictional account of a young man’s discovery of his talent for politicking through his seduction of an assistant professor and activist.”
In Conversation With…Francis Ford Coppola
“The director of The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation and this year’s Festival premiere, Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola is one of cinema’s most impressive and unique voices. This is a rare opportunity to witness a conversation with Coppola, peppered with plenty of audience interaction.”
Fatherland
“This rigorously structured and visually engrossing essay film explores Argentina’s fractious modern history through the words of writers – both founding fathers and oppositional voices – who lay buried in Buenos Aires’s famed Recoleta Cemetery.”
The Loneliest Planet
“A local guide takes a young couple through a backpacking trip across the Georgian wilderness.”
Smuggler
“In this wacky and shocking comedy, a failed actor is forced to work smuggling dead bodies and contraband in a world full of underground bankers and crazed fashionista yakuza killers. ”
“This rigorously structured and visually engrossing essay film explores Argentina’s fractious modern history through the words of writers – both founding fathers and oppositional voices – who lay buried in Buenos Aires’s famed Recoleta Cemetery.”
The Raid
“A swat team is trapped in a rundown apartment block filled with heavily armed drug dealers and killers.”
Sleepless Night (Nuit Blanche)
“A cop races through a packed nightclub, dodging drug dealers, and corrupt cops in a mad chase to rescue his kidnapped son.”
The Day
“A band of survivors must fight to keep humanity alive in a bleak post-apocalyptic world.”
“Fast, fun and hilarious, Alexander Brugués’s 2nd feature film, Juan of the Dead, gives a decidedly Cuban touch to the zombie genre when an outbreak hits the island on the anniversary of the revolution. Juan and his friends are determined to conquer the un-dead, reported by the government as being unruly Americans continuing their quest of undermining the regime. Brugués’s fresh take on the genre is both hilarious, and politically acute.”
Michael
“Michael, a mousy insurance salesman, keeps an under-aged boy locked in his basement, while doing his best to appear ordinary to the outside world. Provided they don’t come knocking on his door.”
So there you have it…Most films will have two or up to three screenings. If you check online, via phone or in person, it may help to know the following:
OFF SALE = Not necessarily sold out; some tickets may become available. Check daily.
RUSH = Technically sold out. Show up up to 30 minutes before the actual screening for a chance to get in.
If you need help planning your schedule around work, screenings with friends and so on, I highly, highly recommend using tiffr.com. These guys have made it super simple for you to narrow down a shortlist of films, linking it to the TIFF website and also generating a schedule for you…super easy! I did not need my Excel list this year!
For full details on screening times, film descriptions and box office information, visit tiff.net/festival. Happy TIFF’g!