The 2015 Toronto International Film Festival announced the lineup for the Short Cuts program. Thirty-eight international shorts join the previously announced Canadian shorts, which will screen in 11 curated program. The compelling lineup encompasses works from filmmakers representing an impressive 35 countries. From provocative narratives to compelling animation, from insightful dramas to profoundly moving documentaries, the works in Short Cuts showcase unique, yet universal, stories about the human condition, in short form. The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10 to 20, 2015. Films screening in 2015 Toronto International Film Festival Short Cuts Program include: (Otto) Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw and Job Roggeveen, Netherlands, 10’ World Premiere As one couple try, and fail again, for the baby they’ve dreamed of, a little girl accidentally leaves her imaginary baby brother, Otto, behind at a restaurant. Suddenly, the definition of ‘baby’ takes on a new and completely unexpected dimension. Will Otto find a way back home? From the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival filmmakers who brought us the Oscar-nominated animation A Single Life. 7 sheep Wiktoria Szymanska, Poland/United Kingdom/Denmark/Mexico, 21’ World Premiere A lonely little girl tries to create a new world for herself and an equally lonely man. In a visually stunning dreamscape, she finds that freedom and home are synonymous — and that they come at a steep cost. Barbados Misha Manson-Smith, USA, 7’ World Premiere David is a middle-class guy with middle-class problems, despite his lovely home and beautiful middle-class wife. His son Gary is the same, just 30 years younger. Both are looking for a way out from suburbia and all its trappings. One Sunday lunchtime, however, when the police come knocking, David’s world suddenly becomes even more claustrophobic. Starring Michael Sheen, Radha Mitchell and Ty Simpkins. Beneath the Spaceship (Under Rymdskeppet) Caroline Ingvarsson, Sweden, 15’ World Premiere A young girl and her older neighbour share an unusual friendship. Together they are inseparable until the outside world peeks in. Bird Hearts Halfdan Olav Ullmann Tøndel, Norway, 25’ North American Premiere Benjamin and Maya share a life in Oslo. During a late-night dinner party, Maya tells a story about a sexual experience she had in Brazil. As a consequence, Benjamin’s insecurities begin to surface. Bird Hearts is a film about the power of the stories lovers tell. Starring Stine Sørensen, André Sørum and Trine Wiggen. Blue Spring Andreea Cristina Bortun, Romania, 15’ World Premiere A woman confronts the uselessness of words when confronted by the inevitable departure of her much younger lover. The Boyfriend Game Alice Englert, Australia, 7’ World Premiere Twelve-year-old friends Tomika and Edith set out in the bush to play their creation, The Boyfriend Game, only to struggle when the lines between real and pretend become blurred. Bunny Megha Ramaswamy, India, 19’ North American Premiere Bunny is an elegiac look at how fantastical childhood is, and evocative of the heartbreak with which we leave it behind. Wreathed in surrealist imagery, the story is about a little girl and her pet toy Bunny. Starring Syesha Adnani and Faizan Mohammad. The Call Zamo Mkhwanazi, South Africa, 11’ Canadian Premiere This arresting urban drama from Johannesburg’s Zamo Mkhwanazi focuses on a key moment in the relationship between a taxi driver and a prostitute. When Sibongiseni finds out that Purity is pregnant, he begins to question his own place in the world. Starring Fana Mokoena, MoMo Matsunyane, Ronnie Nyakale and Abena Ayivor. Concerning the Bodyguard Kasra Farahani, USA, 10’ World Premiere An anonymous henchman fulfils his role in a rigid hierarchy of power and control in this adaptation of a razor-sharp satire written by Donald Barthelme; and recited with great relish by Salman Rushdie. Deszcz (Rain) Malina Maria Mackiewicz, Australia, 5’ World Premiere In the summer of 1983 in Kraków, Poland, prisoners sentenced to death are not informed of the date of their execution. As Jedzrej waits for his lover Magda in the visitation hall of the Montelupich Political Detainment Centre, a sun shower pours down on Kraków. Each visit could be their last. Starring Lech Mackiewicz and Victoria Haralabidou. Dragstrip Pacho Velez and Daniel Claridge, USA, 4’ World Premiere At the Lebanon Valley Dragstrip in New York state, spectators, drivers and mechanics wait for their races. Dream the Other (Soñar el otro) Abril Schmucler Iñiguez, Mexico, 16’ International Premiere Diego is a lonely man with a humdrum life in Mexico City. In his sleep, he dreams of the (far more invigorating) life of a man named Alejandro Valle. As his friend Fabian looks on in disbelief, Diego’s shifting realities begin to take on new forms and new meaning. El Adiós Clara Roquet, Spain 15’ Canadian Premiere Rosana, a Bolivian maid, has worked for Angela, the elder matriarch of the Vidal family for the last 10 years. On the day of the funeral of her beloved Angela, Rosana is not allowed to grieve with the rest of the family. On the contrary: she is forced to work. El Adiós is an intimate story about how emotional bonds supersede social conventions, racial labels or family regimes. End of Puberty (Kamaszkor vége) Fanni Szilágyi, Hungary, 13’ International Premiere On a beautiful summer day, teenage twins meet a boy — he acquaints them with matters of sex, anger and jealousy. This is the end of puberty. Exit/Entrance or Trasumanar Federica Foglia, Italy/Canada, 7’ World Premiere A flow of words and images portrays an artist’s journey through a variety of Italian landscapes and interiors, evoking an eminently modern strain of melancholy: the feeling of belonging to two places and being fully at home in neither. Starring Antonio De Luca. The Fantastic Love of Beeboy & Flowergirl Clemens Roth, Germany, 10’ North American Premiere Peter is being followed by killer bees; Elsa collects exotic flowers from all over the world. To be together, they both have to overcome their fantasies. But what if love itself is nothing but fantasy? Starring Elisa Schlott and Florian Prokop. A Few Seconds Nora El Hourch, France, 16’ North American Premiere (pictured in main image above) Five girls live at a Paris home for wayward teens, each of them branded by a deeply troubling past. Forming an ad hoc communitywithin-a-community, the girls struggle to identify themselves no longer as victims but as something new and hopeful. Starring Marie Tirmont, Charlotte Bartocci, Camille Lellouche, Maly Diallo and Charlotte-Victoire Legrain. Following Diana (Sendiri Diana Sendiri) Kamila Andini, Indonesia, 40’ International Premiere Diana, a 30-year-old housewife, lives with her husband and son at home, across the street from a building construction site. She spends every day with her only child until her husband comes from work in the evening. One night, Diana’s husband presents her with a chart that reveals his shocking plan to share their little family with another woman. Starring Raihaanun, Tanta Ginting and Panji Rafenda Putra. Hide & Seek Kimie Tanaka, France/Japan/Singapore, 22’ International Premiere Shoichi, a Japanese male nurse living in the city, returns home to the countryside after his mother’s sudden death to sort out the situation of his younger brother Kotaro, who’s been a shut-in for over a decade. Shoichi seeks help from social services, only to be disappointed with their bureaucratic treatment. Frustrated, Shoichi makes a radical decision. Starring Masaki Miura, Kuniaki Nakamura and Sachiko Matsuura. Latchkey Kids (Yaldey Mafteah) Elad Goldman, Israel, 22’ North American Premiere Gur and his sister Daniel have a remarkably close relationship after years of caring for each other in their empty house. Although Daniel is looking outside for a chance to grow up and fall in love, Gur feels safer at home and refuses to let their bond come undone. Starring Yoav Rottman, Gaia Shalita Katz, Hillel Cappon and Tamara Friedland. The Magnetic Nature (El ser magnético) Mateo Bendesky, Argentina, 17’ North American Premiere Fifty-five-year-old Aldo and his older brother Pablo live together and take part in a religious practice invented by their father, whose congregation meets mainly online. But for Aldo, the allure of the world outside the garden gates is growing much stronger than “philosophical magnetism.” Starring Claudio Rangnau, Claudio Kustin and Iván Moschner. Maman(s) Maïmouna Doucouré, France, 21’ North American Premiere The family of eight-year-old Aida is thrown into chaos when her father returns from Senegal with young Rama, whom he introduces as his second wife. Aida may not exactly understand the details, but she understands that her mother is in deep distress, and that there seems to be but one way to make things better again. Starring Sokhna Diallo and Maïmouna Gueye. New Eyes Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, France/United Kingdom 12’ North American Premiere A girl who is in the transition of puberty, Selam, encounters something that arouses her sexually for the first time. She becomes restless as the day goes by in her oblivious semi-urban environment. Nulla Nulla Dylan River, Australia, 6’ North American Premiere Fresh out of the academy, White Cop experiences his first taste of aboriginal community life, as Black Cop puts him to the test. Starring Wayne Blair, Khan Chittenden, Pamela Nangala Sampson and Audrey Napanangka Martin. One Last Night (Laila Acharon) Kerem Blumberg, Israel, 22’ International Premiere It’s the last night Noa and Orr have together in Tel Aviv, before Orr leaves for Berlin. Outside a punk gig, when the police arrive and Orr jumps in to help a friend, both she and Noa get arrested. Now Noa will have to make a final decision about their relationship at the police station. Starring Michal Korman and Agam Schuster. Oslo’s Rose The Sporadic Film Collective, Norway, 7’ International Premiere For more than two years, Nader has been head over heels in love with Janne but unable to let her know, making for an untenable situation for both his work and creativity. At last, one night at the bar, it appears Nader may be able to finally speak and free himself from the writer’s block that has plagued him. Paradise (Het Paradijs) Laura Vandewynckel, Belgium, 6’ Canadian Premiere Paradise is the story of people heading for a better place on either side of the ocean. Although at times their paths do cross, they never really seem to meet. Starring Thomas Bellinck, Nico Sturm, Liesje De Backer, Jerom Sturm and Rocky Sturm. Peacock (Furiant) Ondrej Hudecek, Czech Republic, 26’ International Premiere Set in a 19th-century Bohemian village, this twisted queer romance tells a taboo true story about revered Czech writer Ladislav Stroupežnický. Starring Julius Feldmeier and Cyril Dobry. People Are Becoming Clouds Marc Katz, USA, 15’ World Premiere We follow John and Eleanor, a married couple who are faced with a problem: Eleanor keeps turning into a cloud. The couple visits Weather and Relationship Specialist Dr. Corduroy, hoping to resolve unusual situation. He tries to counsel them through the difficulties in their relationship and also get to the bottom of why exactly people are becoming clouds. Starring Libby Woodbridge, David Ross and Sean Cullen. Peripheria David Coquard-Dassault, France, 12’ World Premiere A journey into the heart of a large and abandoned council estate, Peripheria portrays an urban environment becoming wild: a modern Pompeii where the wind blows and dogs roam. Rate Me Fyzal Boulifa, United Kingdom, 17’ North American Premiere A portait of a teenage escort known only as Coco. The Return of Erkin Maria Guskova, Russia, 29’ North American Premiere Erkin gets out of prison and wants to return to his former life, but everything has changed and he does not know if he can live as a free man. Starring Kahramonjon Mamasaliyev. Semele Myrsini Aristidou, Cyprus/Greece/USA, 13’ World Premiere Semele will do anything to spend some time with her long absent father. A school note becomes just the excuse for her to visit him at his workplace, where her presence highlights their fragile relationship. The Signalman (O Sinaleiro) Daniel Augusto, Brazil, 15’ World Premiere A railroad signalman is haunted by a series of otherworldly events in this adaptation of a Charles Dickens short story. Are they truly ghostly manifestations, or the signalman’s psychological response to his isolation and repetitive work? The Society (Al mujtamaa) Osama Rasheed, Iraq/Germany 13’ World Premiere Lovers Muhamad and Ahmed live in a society that not only rejects homosexuality but also actively and insistently pressures its young men into marriage and fatherhood. Starring Muhamad Atshan, Ahmad Moneka and Fouad, Yaser. A Tale of Love, Madness and Death (Un Cuento de Amor, Locura y Muerte) Mijael Bustos Gutiérrez, Chile, 22’ North American Premiere “My uncle is schizophrenic and my grandmother suffers from a terminal illness. My grandfather, who is unable to take care of them both, must decide between his wife and his son.” So begins the remarkable documentary from Mijael Bustos about his family, caught between love and duty. THAT DOG Nick Thorburn, USA, 15’ World Premiere A dark comedy of errors unfolds as two interloping idiots inadvertently wreak havoc on the lives of others. Starring Michael Cera, Tim Heidecker and Andrea Riseborough. Tuesday (SALI) Ziya Demirel, Turkey/France, 12’ North American Premiere An ordinary day for a teenage girl in Istanbul and her encounters with three different men as she goes to school, plays basketball and takes a bus home. Starring Melis Balaban, Zeki Ocak, Yonca Hiç and Can Karaçayli. Violet Maurice Joyce, Ireland, 8’ North American Premiere There are many natural enemies for a self-loathing youth. But for Violet O’Reilly, the worst of them all was an unforgiving rectangle that hung on the wall. Violet is the cautionary tale of a young girl who despises her reflection. Tired of the abuse, Violet’s reflection decides she’s not going to take it anymore. Waves ’98 Ely Dagher, Lebanon/Qatar, 15’ North American Premiere In the crumbling tower blocks of post-war Beirut, Omar is restless and isolated, until a luminescent light draws him across the segregated city to a utopian world of enchantment — and he finds himself drifting further away from home. Wellington Jr. Cécile Paysant, France, 12’ World Premiere A tentative young hunter sets out into the wilderness under the tutelage of his seasoned father. But the rite of passage leads to increasingly surreal and grisly developments in this stop-motion animated marvel. Starring Aurélien Gabrielli and Rémy Lacquittant. Canadian shorts previously announced include Ashley McKenzie’s 4 Quarters, Marie-Ève Juste’s A New Year, Sol Friedman’s Bacon & God’s Wrath, Hector Herrera’s The Ballad of Immortal Joe, Howie Shia’s BAM, Sherren Lee’s Benjamin, Ryan J. Noth’s Beyond The Horizon, Grayson Moore and Aidan Shipley’s Boxing, Connor Jessup’s Boy, Kent Monkman’s Casualties of Modernity, Trevor Mack and Matthew Taylor Blais’ Clouds of Autumn, Cristina Martins’ Dogs Don’t Breed Cats, Phillip Barker’s Dredger, Jean-François Leblanc’s The Guy From Work, Don McKellar’s It’s Not You, Kevin Papatie’s KOKOM, Joël Vaudreuil’s The Magnificent Life Underwater, Barry Avrich’s The Man Who Shot Hollywood, Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett’s Mia’, Caroline Monnet’s Mobilize, Mark Slutsky’s Never Happened, Kathleen Hepburn’s Never Steady, Never Still, Halima Elkhatabi’s NINA, Steven McCarthy’s o negative, Patrice Laliberté’s Overpass, Vivieno Caldinelli’s Portal to Hell!!!, David Bryant and Karl Lemieux’s Quiet Zone, Luiza Cocora’s Remaining Lives, Katherine Monk’s Rock the Box, Zack Russell’s She Stoops To Conquer, Theodore Ushev’s The Sleepwalker, Olivia Boudreau’s The Swimming Lesson, Bahar Noorizadeh Wolkaan, and Chelsea McMullan and Douglas Nayler’s World Famous Gopher Hole Museum.

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The 2015 Toronto International Film Festival Wavelengths program will present 54 films, videos and installations by some of the world’s most influential auteurs and artists who challenge conventional expression and seek to redefine the art of cinema. Curated by Andréa Picard, with contributions from members of TIFF’s international programming team, Wavelengths comprises experimental film and video art, category-defying feature-length films — many of which flout the traditional fact-fiction boundaries and opt instead for cinema at its most expansive — and immersive, captivating installations, which redefine the potential for moving image art. The 2015 edition features a seductive mix of master filmmakers, award-winning artists and emerging, new talent. Some of the highlights include the critical hit of this year’s Cannes, Miguel Gomes’ breathtakingly inventive, three-part Arabian Nights; disarmingly intimate dialogue-portraits by iconic and iconoclastic auteurs Chantal Akerman and Tsai Ming-liang, respectively; a major new montage film by Ukrainian master, Sergei Loznitsa; World Premieres by Nicolás Pereda, Pablo Agüero, and Mark Lewis; and two important works from a new Italian cinema, Pietro Marcello’s exquisite Bella e perduta, and Roberto Minervini’s powerful and all-too prescient The Other Side. “This year’s Wavelengths is marked by a certain youthful exuberance — one that is caught up in the contradiction of exhibiting energy, inventiveness and ample daring, while taking stock of the world’s various states of emergency, on large levels and intimate scales,” said Picard.“With renewed faith in the image — abstract ones, even frail ones, and those stemming from reality, remembrance or imagination — the filmmakers and artists in this year’s program are actively proving cinema’s singular ability to engage with collective, individual, social and political memory.” Additional highlights of this year’s program include a new short and feature-length film by British filmmaker and artist Ben Rivers; the Festival’s first appearance by this year’s Baloise Art Prize winners, UK artist Beatrice Gibson and French artist Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc; the Abraaj Art Prize winner Yto Barrada; new works by emerging filmmaking talents, Lois Patiño and Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias; a record number of Canadian (and Toronto) contributions, including the World Premiere of a major new film by Montreal-based experimental filmmaker Daïchi Saïto and two recent discoveries presented in restored archival prints of films by Paul Sharits and by Philippe Garrel. New to Wavelengths this year, works outside the cinema include the latest installation by Indian-American filmmaker Shambhavi Kaul; a lecture-performance by Toronto-based artist Annie MacDonell and French artist Maïder Fortuné originally commissioned by Le Centre Pompidou’s Hors Pistes festival; and TIFF’s first collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario to present lauded Thai filmmaker and artist, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s installation, Fireworks (Archives), as well as a new work by Corin Sworn and Tony Romano. Wavelengths 1: Fire in the Brain Like a fire in the brain that lights up perceptive powers, this programme is a seductively surreal visual exploration of the relationship between image, sound, and movement. 3D Movie Paul Sharits, USA (restored archival print courtesy of Anthology Film Archives) Fugue Kerstin Schroedinger, Canada/Germany Prima Materia Charlotte Pryce, USA The Fire in My Brain That Separates Us Benjamin Ramírez Pérez, Germany Something Horizontal Blake Williams, Canada/USA The Exquisite Corpus Peter Tscherkassky, Austria Wavelengths 2: YOLO Subjective experience is channeled through artistic collaborations in this programme, which offers YOLO-infused reflections on identity and contemporary dislocation. A Distant Episode Ben Rivers, UK An Old Dog’s Diary Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel, India The Reminder Behrouz Rae, USA Solo for Rich Man Beatrice Gibson, UK YOLO Ben Russell, USA/South Africa Analysis of Emotions and Vexations Wojcieck Bąkowski, Poland Bunte Kuh Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko, Canada/Germany Wavelengths 3: Light Space Modulator This program explores ways of recording and reshaping space with light, of measuring and mapping our bodily presence and impact vis-à-vis regional, global and abstracted cartographies. Navigator Björn Kämmerer, Austria/Germany Théodolitique David K. Ross, Canada Office Space Modulation Terrarea (Janis Demkiw, Emily Hogg, Olia Mishchenko) Canada Palms Mary Helena Clark, Canada/USA Occidente Ana Vaz, France/Portugal Terrestrial Calum Walter, USA Tarlabaşı Cynthia Madansky,Turkey Wavelengths 4: Psychic Driving Is now a time for outrage? This program of political statements and personal inquiries breathes new life into the politics of the image. Actua1 Philippe Garrel, France (restored archival print courtesy of La Cinémathèque française) Time for Outrage! Friedl vom Gröller, Austria Untitled Behrouz Rae, USA Many Thousands Gone Ephraim Asili, Brazil/USA Neither God nor Santa Maria Samuel M. Delgado and Helena Girón, Spain Psychic Driving William E. Jones, USA UNcirCling John Creson and Adam Rosen, Canada Engram of Returning Daïchi Saïto, Canada PAIRINGS Night without distance (Noite Sem Distância) Lois Patiño, Spain/Portugal North American Premiere An instant in the memory of a landscape: the smuggling that for centuries crossed the line between Portugal and Galicia. The Gerês Mountains knows no borders, and rocks cross from one country to another with insolence. Smugglers also disobey this separation. The rocks, river, and trees: silent witnesses to help them to hide. Night without distance precedes previously announced feature-film, Minotaur by Nicolás Pereda. Santa Teresa and Other Stories (Santa Teresa y Otras Historias) Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias Mexico/Dominican Republic/USA North American Premiere Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias radically extrapolates from Roberto Bolaño’s unfinished, posthumous novel 2666, to produce a baroque fictionalized account of Ciudad Juárez. This noir-tinged tale soon begins to dovetail and intersect with a host of other stories recounted by a chorus of disembodied voices, creating a narrative palimpsest that blurs the line between factual documentation, lyrical observation, and fictional imagination. Preceded by: Paradox of Praxis 5 Francis Alÿs, Mexico International Premiere The latest in Belgian-born, Mexico City-based contemporary artist Francis Alÿs’ series of performative videos that politicize absurd or seemingly futile gestures, Paradox of Praxis 5 documents the artist’s nocturnal perambulations through Juárez as he kicks a ball of fire along the city’s desolate streets. Transcending metaphor, the eerie, mobile conflagration traces out an imaginary map of a devastated city. Sector IX B (Secteur IX B) Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, France/Senegal North American Premiere Taking inspiration from L’Afrique fantôme — the controversial diary by surrealist writer Michel Leiris recounting his participation in the ambitious French ethnographic expedition of the 1930s to Dakar and Djibouti — Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc’s arresting first feature reflects on identity, cultural appropriation, and the transference of memory though objects. Preceded by: Faux Départ (False Start) Yto Barrada, Morocco/USA North American Premiere The latest film by French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada observes the elaborate fossil industry in Morocco. Paying homage to the “preparators” in the arid region between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert, whose intrepid work is fueling a thriving trade in artifacts real, faux and hybrid, False Start is a rebuke to the fetishistic thirst for foreign objects, a sly meditation on authenticity, and a paean to creativity. Previously announced was the pairing of Isiah Medina’s 88:88 preceded by Denis Côté’s short film May We Sleep Soundly. FEATURES Afternoon (Na ri xia wu) Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan North American Premiere A disarmingly candid, insightful and ultimately very moving conversation between Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang and his muse, actor Lee Kang-sheng, whose storied relationship represents one of the great collaborations in cinema history. Arabian Nights: The Restless One Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland North American Premiere A major hit at this year’s Cannes, this epic, three-part contemporary fable by Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes (Tabu) adopts the structure from the Arabian Nights texts in order to explore Portugal’s plunge into austerity. The first volume of this thrillingly inventive and wildly ambitious triptych includes appearances by cunning wasps, virgin mermaids, an exploding whale, erection-inducing potions and a talking rooster. Arabian Nights: The Desolate One Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland North American Premiere Part Two of Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’ majestic, mutating modern-day folk tale relates how desolation has invaded humanity through stories involving a distressed judge on a night of three moons, a runaway, a teleporting murderer, a wounded cow, a sad, chain-smoking couple in a concrete apartment block, and a ghost dog named Dixie. Arabian Nights: The Enchanted One Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland North American Premiere The third and concluding volume of Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’ Scheherazadean triptych brings this epic to a close with the sound of birdsong and the promise of the ineffable. Eva Doesn’t Sleep Pablo Agüero, France/Argentina/Spain World Premiere One of Argentina’s most visionary and politically engaged cinematic voices, director Pablo Agüero takes the unbelievable story of the transport of the embalmed body of beloved First Lady Eva Perón, and transforms it into a strangely riveting cinema experience, with a supremely creepy performance from Gael García Bernal. The Event Sergei Loznitsa, Netherlands/Belgium North American Premiere Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa follows his monumental documentary Maïdan with this found-footage epic about the failed coup of August 1991 that signaled the fall of the Soviet Union. Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta) Pietro Marcello, Italy North American Premiere (pictured in main image above) Part fable, part documentary, part film poem, the latest exquisite feature by Pietro Marcello (La bocca del lupo) pays homage to a humble shepherd who became a symbol of hope and generosity for a struggling and conflicted Italy. No Home Movie Chantal Akerman, Belgium North American Premiere Shuttling between fiction, adaptation, documentary and essay film, Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman has created one of the most original, daring and influential oeuvres in film history. No Home Movie is a sober, profoundly moving portrait of Akerman’s mother in the months leading up to her death, when she was mostly confined to her Brussels apartment. A Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz, her mother suffered from chronic anxiety, an affliction that shaped Akerman’s thematic preoccupations with gender, sex, cultural identity, existential ennui, solitude and mania. The Other Side Roberto Minervini, France/Italy North American Premiere In turns tender and disturbing, Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini produces a powerful hybrid docu-fiction film, profiling drug addicts and private militia in Louisiana, who live on the fringes of society. The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers Ben Rivers, United Kingdom North American Premiere Partially inspired by Paul Bowles’ short story A Distant Episode, the latest feature by British filmmaker Ben Rivers (Two Years at Sea, A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness) charts a mysterious transformation from observational making-of to inventive adaptation shot against a staggering Moroccan landscape. Previously announced feature films include Mark Lewis’ Invention, and Evan Johnson and Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room. INSTALLATIONS Fallen Objects Shambhavi Kaul, USA/India World Premiere Presented in partnership with Scrap Metal Gallery from September 10-20, this new installation by Indian-American artist-filmmaker Shambhavi Kaul is comprised of a large projected video loop composed of seven shots that continuously rearrange themselves based on an internal code, and floorbound sculptures in the form of scraps of cloth — the “fallen objects” of the title. Stripping away the narrative potential of its genre cinema-derived source material, Fallen Objects considers cinematic space outside the cinema and imagines humans inside it. Fireworks (Archives) Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/Mexico Canadian Premiere Presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario from September 10-27 (Closed on Mondays), the new installation from Palme d’Or-winning Thai filmmaker and contemporary artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul fuses the artist’s exploration of memory, ephemeral elements like light and phantoms, and the malleable nature of history and storytelling while exhuming Thailand’s political legacy through an ingenious use of pyrotechnics. Previously announced programming includes the lecture-performance, Stories Are Meaning-Making Machines by Annie MacDonell and Maïder Fortuné; and film installations La Giubba by Corin Sworn and Tony Romano; The Forbidden Room – A Living Poster by Galen Johnson; and Bring me the Head of Tim Horton by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10 to 20, 2015.

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