The end of Summer in Toronto comes for many of us with the excitement that is planning for the Toronto International Film Festival, or better known as TIFF.
This year, I’ve decided to compile a list of 10 films for you to see at the festival. The key point in making this list was to pick films that would not classify as Hollywood Blockbusters nor films that would most likely be released at a theatre near you in the future. They are listed here under the Programme you can find them in.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
The Animal Project (Dir. Ingrid Veninger)
A Toronto theatre director endures a series of creative and personal travails in this affecting and typically inventive new film from Festival favourite Ingrid Veninger (MODRA, i am a good person/i am a bad person).
Cristo Rey (Dir. Leticia Tonos Paniagua)
Set in the Dominican Republic, Paniagua’s uniquely Caribbean retelling of Romeo and Juliet chronicles the love between a kind-hearted teenager, ostracized for his mixed Haitian-Dominican descent, and the beautiful sister of a local drug kingpin he’s hired to protect.
When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism (Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu)
A director (Bogdan Dumitrache) with two weeks left on his latest film fakes an ulcer in order to delay production and pursue a romance with his lead actress and muse (Diana Avramut). In the hands of Romanian fimmaker Corneliu Porumboiu, this seemingly simple love story becomes a force of cinematic deconstruction similar to his meta police procedural, Police, Adjective.
DISCOVERY
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (Dir. Jeff Barnaby)
Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent in this fiercely irreverent debut feature from Canadian director Jeff Barnaby.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
The Station (Dir. Marvin Kren)
The crew of a remote weather research station in the German Alps finds that a retreating glacier is turning the local wildlife into ravenous biological monstrosities, in this timely horror thriller from director Marvin Kren (Rammbock).
Why Don’t You Play In Hell? (Dir. Sion Sono)
A renegade film crew becomes embroiled with a yakuza clan feud in this wild, perverse and blood-soaked orgy of outrageousness from cult director Sion Sono (Suicide Club).
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Cannibal (Dir. Manuel Martín Cuenca)
In the sleepy Spanish town of Granada, a mild-mannered tailor and secret cannibal unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with his latest prospective victim, in director Manuel Martín Cuenca’s disturbing yet intoxicating tale of bizarre romance.
TIFF DOCS
The Mayor (Dirs. Emiliano Altuna Fistolera, Carlos Federico Rossini, Diego Osorno)
This engrossing documentary introduces us to Mexican millionaire mayor Mauricio Fernandez, a larger-than-life and frequently controversial politician who lords over Latin America’s wealthiest municipality from his eccentrically decorated palace — and has a predilection for taking justice into his own hands.
VANGUARD
PROXY (Dir. Zack Parker)
Seeking consolation in a support group after a vicious attack, a young woman gradually comes to realize that nothing in her life is as it appears, in this shocking and challenging thriller from director Zack Parker (Scalene).
WAVELENGTHS
A Field in England (Dir. Ben Wheatley)
A single muddy West Country field provides the setting for this brilliantly bizarre English Civil War drama and psychedelic horror film from genre-fusing cult director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers), which features a group of deserters, a necromancer, psychoactive plants and buried treasure.
Single-tickets go on sale on Sunday, September 1st at 9am. I suggest having a list of First and Second Choice for better chances to obtain tickets. Alternatively, you can also go for same-day tickets the day of the film screening. Taking risks during the festival is also a good way to discover a new favourite film, actor(s), or director. For full descriptions of all TIFF films, go to tiff.net. Under Tickets, you will also find information on box office locations, prices, venues, and more.