More Galas, Contemporary World Cinema, Primetime, Masters & Wavelengths at TIFF 2017

Molly’s Game

A second round of Galas and Special Presentations has been announced as part of the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival including World Premieres from Bille August, John Curran, Jon Avnet, Louis C.K., François Girard, Brie Larson, Tonie Marshall, Tali Shalom-Ezer, Lynn Shelton, Aaron Sorkin and Feng Xiaogang.

“We’re thrilled to bring Festival audiences some of the year’s most exciting films in our Gala and Special Presentations lineup,” stated TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey in a press release.   “But beyond the sizzle of the premieres, this year’s selections show filmmakers continuing to take chances and push boundaries, whether they’re working in Hollywood or Hong Kong, Montreal or Munich.”

The Captain

Featured among the additional 38 titles are Chappaquiddick which recreates the fatal and scandalous car crash involving Ted Kennedy starring Kate Mara and directed by John Curran, The Leisure Seeker revolving around the comic misadventures of an elderly couple portrayed by Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland, a German deserter attempts to survive the final days of the Third Reich in The Captain by Robert Schwentke, John Woo returns to the action genre with Manhunt which is about a fugitive attempting to clear his name, an aspiring novelist in Seville, Spain tries to create drama amongst his neighbours with humourist results in The Motive by Manuel Martín Cuenca, and the coming-of-age tale Youth by Feng Xiaogang.

Manhunt

The Contemporary World Cinema programme shines the spotlight on Diego Lerman, Rebecca Daly, Mohamed Jabarah Al-daradji, Vivian Qu and Simon Baker along with works from 43 countries, including Latin America, Scandinavia and Central Europe.

“Each film in Contemporary World Cinema offers a much-needed look at another part of the world through the eyes of a storyteller embedded in that culture,” remarked Bailey.  “Taken together, these four dozen films invite us all to expand and deepen our picture of the world.” 

Highlights among the cinematic offerings include April’s Daughter by Michel Franco, Birds Without Names by Kazuya Shiraishi, Dark is the Night by Adolfo Alix Jr., Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts by Mouly Surya, The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales by Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert; and Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle by Mike van Diem.

The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales

Episodic storytelling is the focus of the Primetime lineup with five shows from Canada, Brazil, Germany and the United States which were created by Amy Seimetz, Lodge Kerrigan, Sarah Polley, Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, David Simon, George Pelecanos, Andrucha Waddington and Jorge Furtado.

“As the lines of length and venue for cinema are dissolving, I feel honoured to be presenting some of the most cinematic, episodic content that is out in the world today,” stated TIFF Primetime Programmer Michael Lerman. “These shows not only represent great entertainment, but also the level of deep thought and research that can go into a long-term storytelling project.” 

The porn industry gets explored in The Deuce, high-priced escorts in the second season of The Girlfriend Experience, four families and supernatural forces in Dark, the trials and tribulations of a Rio de Janeiro based medical team in Under Pressure, and Margaret Atwood adaptation Alias Grace.

Dark

Veteran directors form the basis of the Masters programme which will present the efforts of Hong Sangsoo, Paul Schrader, Michael Haneke and Andrey Zvyagintsev.

“These are some of the greatest and most respected filmmakers working today, and we are excited to bring their latest films to TIFF audiences,” stated Bailey.  “This year’s Masters programme is a master class in creating bold, groundbreaking films that leave a mark on our cultural landscape.”  

Slated to appear are World War II love triangle tale Rainbow – A Private Affair by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, The Other Side of Hope follows a Syrian refugee looking for his sister in Finland and is directed by Aki Kaurismäki, and Zama by Lucrecia Martel which chronicles the perilous journey of a South American officer of the Spanish Crown towards freedom.

The Other Side of Hope

Experimental storytelling is recognized by the Wavelengths programme with the attention being placed upon Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Wang Bing, Ben Russell, Bruno Dumont, Neïl Beloufa, Sara Cwynar, Luis López Carrasco, Rosa Barba, Narimane Mari, Laura Huertas Millán, Michael Robinson and Xu Bing.

“Many films in Wavelengths are focused on proximity, intimacy, testimony, bodies, agency and listening as a fundamental task in an increasingly noisy world,” remarked TIFF Wavelengths Programmer Andréa Picard.  “The ethnographic meets the performative, even the musical, as many of the films subversively tap into the surrealism of our times.”  

Titles to watch out for include CCTV-source feature debut by Xu Bing called Dragonfly Eyes, a woman is dying from Alzheimer’s in Mrs. Fang by Wang Bing, and an evangelical gardener attends the funeral of his father in Cocote by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.

Cocote

The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017 and for more information visit tiff.net.

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