Anna and the Apocalypse[/caption]
Scary Movies XI, the horror festival presented by New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center returns August 17 to 23, 2018. The festival kicks off with the New York premiere of the delightful yet blood-soaked holiday-set high-school musical Anna and the Apocalypse, as a band of Scottish teens fight, sing, and dance to survive the undead horde taking over their small town in John McPhail’s sophomore feature. Closing Night is Jonas Åkerlund’s harrowing black-metal tragedy Lords of Chaos, the true story of legendary Norwegian band Mayhem starring Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, and Sky Ferreira.
Other highlights of this year’s lineup include a trio of creepy Latin American offerings featuring possessions (Guillermo Amoedo’s The Inhabitant), dark fairy tales (Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid), and haunted hospitals (J.C. Feyer’s The Trace We Leave Behind); the new film from last year’s closing night director Colin Minihan, who reunites with his It Stains the Sands Red actress Brittany Allen for What Keeps You Alive; and a selection of new indie horror at its most promising, including Sonny Mallhi’s gruesome slasher flick Hurt, Patrick von Barkenberg’s Swedish novelist nightmare Blood Paradise, and Andy Mitton’s house-flipping horror The Witch in the Window.
Scary Movies XI also presents the retrospective sidebar Tainted Waters, comprising a quartet of 35mm titles whose horrors take place above or below the surface—or sometimes come creeping onto the land: Phillip Noyce’s Dead Calm (featuring an early breakout performance by Nicole Kidman), Lewis Teague’s creature-feature classic Alligator, horror master Stuart Gordon’s H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Dagon, and Ken Wiederhorn’s Nazi zombie flick Shock Waves, starring the late, great Peter Cushing. Finally, the dynamic duo of Glenn McQuaid and Larry Fessenden present a brand new live edition of Glass Eye Pix’s acclaimed radio-play series Tales from Beyond the Pale. Entangling creatures, creeps, and ghouls with observations both personal and political, this special event offers two new Tales written and directed by Fessenden and McQuaid performed live on-stage with actors, foley artists, sound designers, and musicians.
FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
All screenings held at the Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street) unless otherwise noted.
OPENING NIGHT
Anna and the Apocalypse
John McPhail, UK/USA, 2017, 92m
New York Premiere
As Anna (an enchanting Ella Hunt) nears the end of high school, the most pressing concerns are her questionable taste in guys and how to break the news to her widowed father that she plans to take a year of travel before heading to college. But those issues lose all importance when an unexplained plague begins spreading in her tiny Scottish town of Little Haven before Christmas break, and she and her classmates must battle hordes of zombies—and their unhinged headmaster (Paul Kaye)—in order to make it to graduation. Oh and they sing and dance, too… A highly accomplished musical, full of infectious songs and performance setpieces, and like one of its clear inspirations Shaun of the Dead, Anna and the Apocalypse features merriment and menace in perfect balance. An Orion Pictures release.
CLOSING NIGHT
Lords of Chaos
Jonas Åkerlund, UK/Sweden, 2018, 112m
New York Premiere
Pioneering Norwegian black-metal band Mayhem experienced a rise and fall so notorious that it’s provided the subject of multiple books and documentaries. And now a dramatization of their tragic tale finally makes it to the screen courtesy of Swedish music video and film director extraordinaire Jonas Åkerlund. It’s a devastating portrait of youth mixed with power in dangerous doses, yet it humanizes its antiheroes in unexpected ways, in part due to memorable performances from Rory Culkin as Euronymous, Mayhem co-founder and a key figure in the world of black metal; Emory Cohen as Varg Vikernes, his bandmate and eventual murderer; and Jack Kilmer as Mayhem’s ultra-melancholic first lead singer known as Dead. Like the best of Åkerlund’s video work and his dynamite 2002 film Spun, Lords of Chaos is profoundly disturbing but with a macabre, comical touch. A Gunpowder & Sky release.
Await Further Instructions
Johnny Kevorkian, UK, 2018, 91m
New York Premiere
Nick (Sam Gittins) brings his girlfriend Annji (Neerja Naik) home for the holidays after three years of avoiding his massively dysfunctional family. And it’s no wonder he chose to stay away: his grandfather (David Bradley) is a virulent racist, his father (Grant Masters) runs the family like it’s a business, and his mother (Abigail Cruttenden) just tries to hold it all together. Add in Nick’s high-strung pregnant sister (Holly Weston) and her dim-witted boyfriend (Kris Saddler) and Nick and Annji soon reach their breaking point. They attempt to leave early Christmas morning only to discover that a metallic substance has surrounded the house and there is no way out. The only clues to what’s happening come through the television, which, in the first of many cryptic messages, tells them to “STAY INDOORS AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.” Familial tensions and paranoia escalate into blood-soaked chaos in this ever-relevant chiller that contemplates the state of today’s technology-ruled world. A Dark Sky Films release.
Blood Paradise
Patrick von Barkenberg, USA/Sweden, 2018, 82m
English and Swedish with English subtitles
World Premiere
Reeling after her latest novel flops, best-selling crime writer Robin Richards (Andréa Winter) is sent by her publisher to the Swedish countryside to regain inspiration. There alone, she indeed comes across an assortment of peculiar characters, including her driver and most obsessive fan, his explosively jealous wife, and the progressively more unhinged man who owns the farm that’s hosting her. Totally out of place in her new surroundings—for one, she is always dressed for glamorous, big-city life—Robin discovers just how dangerous these oddballs may be. The unpredictable debut feature by Patrick von Barkenberg (who also appears as Robin’s boyfriend) is bathed in dreamy atmospherics and streaked with offbeat humor, but remains grounded throughout by Winter, who holds your attention rapt.
Boogeyman Pop
Brad Michael Elmore, USA, 2018, 90m
New York Premiere
Tony (James Paxton) is a punk who dreams of escaping his small town but finds his release in drugs—until a friend gives him a new kind of pill called Wendigo and can’t remember what he did the night before. Meanwhile, Danielle (Dominique Booth), who likes Tony, spends her night taking care of her drugged-out friends at a punk club and getting tied up with the town dealer, Matt (Greg Hill), who is trading in something much darker and more sinister than pills. And three kids from Danielle’s neighborhood have a run in with a bat-wielding, black Cadillac–driving, masked killer. This trio of perspective-shifting stories intersect into a maelstrom of murder, adolescent angst, sex, drugs, and black magic. Set during the course of one summer weekend, this indie film has punk-rock energy to spare and a distinct cinematic vision that transcends its micro budget.
Hurt
Sonny Mallhi, USA, 2018, 93m
New York Premiere
Halloween in New Caney, Texas, is slow and quiet. Rose (model Emily van Raay, in a striking debut performance) is having trouble connecting with her husband Tommy (Andrew Creer), who recently returned from military deployment and is struggling with PTSD. Rose’s sister and her husband urge them to head to the town’s haunted hayride to relive old traditions and maybe try to rekindle their relationship. The fairgrounds are filled with masked monsters and fake blood and death. Tommy runs off and the night gradually descends into chaos. Sonny Mallhi’s exquisitely realized third feature digs up the violence bubbling under the modern American experience and serves up a smart treatise on trauma. This truly gruesome and terrifying slasher flick reminds us that death is very real, and it’s not only the monstrous villains who wear masks.
Impossible Horror
Justin Decloux, Canada, 2017, 75m
New York Premiere
Following a bad breakup, aspiring filmmaker Lily (Haley Walker) struggles with a crippling creative block. Unable to sleep, she begins hearing a sinister scream outside her window every evening. Convinced she needs to help, she heads out into the dark night and meets Hannah (Creedance Wright), a veteran scream hunter obsessed with stopping the creepy occurrence. The two women team up to try and locate the source before they become the scream’s next victims. As much a horror movie as a movie about the horror of creation, Justin Decloux’s ultra-indie second feature references everything from Asian horror to giallo, and its DIY spirit and eerie underlying dread secures its place as a small but mighty genre discovery.
The Inhabitant / El habitante
Guillermo Amoedo, Mexico/Chile, 2017, 92m
Spanish with English subtitles
North American Premiere
In an attempt to secure some quick cash, three sisters break into the home of a super-wealthy family—and get a whole lot more than they bargained for. If this sounds tediously familiar, have no fear: The Inhabitant is no simple take on the old home-invasion-gone-wrong scenario. The film has serious political undertones—the house the women target belongs to a high-profile, and highly corrupt, senator—and its action opens up to also make room for a child possession tale like no other. Uruguayan-born, Chile-based filmmaker Guillermo Amoedo has made a name for himself working on screenplays for Eli Roth projects (The Green Inferno, Knock Knock, Aftershock), but this one outshines them all, featuring genuine chills and higher-gloss production values than usually found within such confined spaces. A Pantelion release.
Tales from Beyond the Pale Live Event
Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid’s “Tales from Beyond the Pale” returns to the Film Society of Lincoln Center for a double bill of contemporary audio dramas. Now in its eighth year, the primarily spooky show, produced by Glass Eye Pix, has taken cues from the likes of Inner Sanctum Theatre and the Mercury Theatre Company while putting its own rich spin on the format. Observations both personal and political are often deeply entangled with whatever creature, creep, or ghoul Fessenden and McQuaid conjure up. Two new “Tales” written and directed by Fessenden and McQuaid will be performed live with actors, foley artists, sound designers, and musicians; it’s quite a sight, and if you dare to close your eyes, quite a listen! Previous shows have featured the vocal talents of the likes of Ron Perlman, Michael Cerveris, Lance Reddick, Doug Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sean Young, and Alison Wright… so you never know who might show up.
Tigers Are Not Afraid / Vuelven
Issa López, Mexico, 2017, 83m
Spanish with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In the midst of a world plagued by gang violence, 10-year-old Estrella (Paolo Lara) is left to her own devices after her mom disappears. As a protection measure—or is it a stroke of the supernatural?—Estrella believes to have been granted three wishes, and she uses one to bring her mother back, though failing to mention that she wanted her alive. Haunted by the dead shell of her mother, she leaves home and ends up taking up camp with a group of local orphan boys in their small Mexican village, nervously trying to remain hidden from murderous drug-dealing local thugs and forming a strong familial bond in the process. A fantastical tale that is also steeped in hard-bitten realities, writer-director Issa López’s alternately heart-wrenching and chilling film inevitably elicits Guillermo del Toro comparisons, mostly for its ability to extract wholly believable performances from its young cast, but stands firmly on its own as inspired cinema. A Shudder release.
The Trace We Leave Behind / O Rastro
J.C. Feyer, Brazil, 2017, 96m
Portuguese with English subtitles
North American Premiere
João (a commanding Rafael Cardoso) is a doctor coordinating the removal of patients from a Rio de Janeiro public hospital that, despite harsh protests from the community, is scheduled to close due to Brazil’s recession. On the night of the transfer, a 10-year-old girl disappears without a trace and João must find her, even if just to prove to his pregnant wife Leila (Leandra Leal) that he can be a dependable father. The more he searches, the deeper he is drawn into a world he wishes he never entered. Long-kept secrets are unearthed and João struggles against the darkness that is closing in around him. Is the hospital haunted? Is he losing his mind? The feature debut by J.C. Feyer—a strong case for the resurgence of Brazilian horror—is relentless in both its dedication to scaring the pants off the audience and to shining a light on the country’s social unrest.
What Keeps You Alive
Colin Minihan, Canada, 2018, 98m
New York Premiere
The follow-up to Colin Minihan’s It Stains the Sands Red, a closing-night selection of last year’s Scary Movies, offers another twisty thrill ride starring the always compelling Brittany Allen. Here, she plays Jules, who heads to a lakeside cabin with her wife, Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson), to celebrate their one-year anniversary. The tranquil setting—the nearest neighbors are Jackie’s childhood friend and her husband across the lake—quickly turns terrifying, but to say anything more would spoil the surprises. Audacious and unsparing, the film veers into pitch-black comedy to keep the bloodletting and betrayal fun and boasts impressive cinematography that captures both the beauty and isolation of its remote environment and the ferocious violence that unfurls within. An IFC Midnight release.
The Witch in the Window
Andy Mitton, USA, 2018, 77m
U.S. Premiere
A divorced dad (Alex Draper) takes his 12-year-old son (Charlie Tacker) to the farmhouse he’s purchased to flip in middle-of-nowhere Vermont. It was cheap—and for a reason: there is an old witch, Lydia (Carol Stanzione), haunting the premises, mainly planted in a chair by an upstairs window. At first her presence seems harmless enough, but as the renovations continue, it becomes more apparent that she, the previous owner, has no interest in sharing her home. As in the two previous features he co-directed, YellowBrickRoad and We Go On, Andy Mitton’s solo directorial debut proves that big scares can come in small packages, and his latest refreshingly character-driven film, which sees a father desperately trying to protect a child he wants to reconnect with and the house he has always fantasized about, has way more on its mind than it initially lets on. A Shudder release.
HURT
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Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces 11th Scary Movies Horror Film Festival Lineup
[caption id="attachment_29258" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Anna and the Apocalypse[/caption]
Scary Movies XI, the horror festival presented by New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center returns August 17 to 23, 2018. The festival kicks off with the New York premiere of the delightful yet blood-soaked holiday-set high-school musical Anna and the Apocalypse, as a band of Scottish teens fight, sing, and dance to survive the undead horde taking over their small town in John McPhail’s sophomore feature. Closing Night is Jonas Åkerlund’s harrowing black-metal tragedy Lords of Chaos, the true story of legendary Norwegian band Mayhem starring Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, and Sky Ferreira.
Other highlights of this year’s lineup include a trio of creepy Latin American offerings featuring possessions (Guillermo Amoedo’s The Inhabitant), dark fairy tales (Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid), and haunted hospitals (J.C. Feyer’s The Trace We Leave Behind); the new film from last year’s closing night director Colin Minihan, who reunites with his It Stains the Sands Red actress Brittany Allen for What Keeps You Alive; and a selection of new indie horror at its most promising, including Sonny Mallhi’s gruesome slasher flick Hurt, Patrick von Barkenberg’s Swedish novelist nightmare Blood Paradise, and Andy Mitton’s house-flipping horror The Witch in the Window.
Scary Movies XI also presents the retrospective sidebar Tainted Waters, comprising a quartet of 35mm titles whose horrors take place above or below the surface—or sometimes come creeping onto the land: Phillip Noyce’s Dead Calm (featuring an early breakout performance by Nicole Kidman), Lewis Teague’s creature-feature classic Alligator, horror master Stuart Gordon’s H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Dagon, and Ken Wiederhorn’s Nazi zombie flick Shock Waves, starring the late, great Peter Cushing. Finally, the dynamic duo of Glenn McQuaid and Larry Fessenden present a brand new live edition of Glass Eye Pix’s acclaimed radio-play series Tales from Beyond the Pale. Entangling creatures, creeps, and ghouls with observations both personal and political, this special event offers two new Tales written and directed by Fessenden and McQuaid performed live on-stage with actors, foley artists, sound designers, and musicians.
FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
All screenings held at the Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street) unless otherwise noted.
OPENING NIGHT
Anna and the Apocalypse
John McPhail, UK/USA, 2017, 92m
New York Premiere
As Anna (an enchanting Ella Hunt) nears the end of high school, the most pressing concerns are her questionable taste in guys and how to break the news to her widowed father that she plans to take a year of travel before heading to college. But those issues lose all importance when an unexplained plague begins spreading in her tiny Scottish town of Little Haven before Christmas break, and she and her classmates must battle hordes of zombies—and their unhinged headmaster (Paul Kaye)—in order to make it to graduation. Oh and they sing and dance, too… A highly accomplished musical, full of infectious songs and performance setpieces, and like one of its clear inspirations Shaun of the Dead, Anna and the Apocalypse features merriment and menace in perfect balance. An Orion Pictures release.
CLOSING NIGHT
Lords of Chaos
Jonas Åkerlund, UK/Sweden, 2018, 112m
New York Premiere
Pioneering Norwegian black-metal band Mayhem experienced a rise and fall so notorious that it’s provided the subject of multiple books and documentaries. And now a dramatization of their tragic tale finally makes it to the screen courtesy of Swedish music video and film director extraordinaire Jonas Åkerlund. It’s a devastating portrait of youth mixed with power in dangerous doses, yet it humanizes its antiheroes in unexpected ways, in part due to memorable performances from Rory Culkin as Euronymous, Mayhem co-founder and a key figure in the world of black metal; Emory Cohen as Varg Vikernes, his bandmate and eventual murderer; and Jack Kilmer as Mayhem’s ultra-melancholic first lead singer known as Dead. Like the best of Åkerlund’s video work and his dynamite 2002 film Spun, Lords of Chaos is profoundly disturbing but with a macabre, comical touch. A Gunpowder & Sky release.
Await Further Instructions
Johnny Kevorkian, UK, 2018, 91m
New York Premiere
Nick (Sam Gittins) brings his girlfriend Annji (Neerja Naik) home for the holidays after three years of avoiding his massively dysfunctional family. And it’s no wonder he chose to stay away: his grandfather (David Bradley) is a virulent racist, his father (Grant Masters) runs the family like it’s a business, and his mother (Abigail Cruttenden) just tries to hold it all together. Add in Nick’s high-strung pregnant sister (Holly Weston) and her dim-witted boyfriend (Kris Saddler) and Nick and Annji soon reach their breaking point. They attempt to leave early Christmas morning only to discover that a metallic substance has surrounded the house and there is no way out. The only clues to what’s happening come through the television, which, in the first of many cryptic messages, tells them to “STAY INDOORS AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.” Familial tensions and paranoia escalate into blood-soaked chaos in this ever-relevant chiller that contemplates the state of today’s technology-ruled world. A Dark Sky Films release.
Blood Paradise
Patrick von Barkenberg, USA/Sweden, 2018, 82m
English and Swedish with English subtitles
World Premiere
Reeling after her latest novel flops, best-selling crime writer Robin Richards (Andréa Winter) is sent by her publisher to the Swedish countryside to regain inspiration. There alone, she indeed comes across an assortment of peculiar characters, including her driver and most obsessive fan, his explosively jealous wife, and the progressively more unhinged man who owns the farm that’s hosting her. Totally out of place in her new surroundings—for one, she is always dressed for glamorous, big-city life—Robin discovers just how dangerous these oddballs may be. The unpredictable debut feature by Patrick von Barkenberg (who also appears as Robin’s boyfriend) is bathed in dreamy atmospherics and streaked with offbeat humor, but remains grounded throughout by Winter, who holds your attention rapt.
Boogeyman Pop
Brad Michael Elmore, USA, 2018, 90m
New York Premiere
Tony (James Paxton) is a punk who dreams of escaping his small town but finds his release in drugs—until a friend gives him a new kind of pill called Wendigo and can’t remember what he did the night before. Meanwhile, Danielle (Dominique Booth), who likes Tony, spends her night taking care of her drugged-out friends at a punk club and getting tied up with the town dealer, Matt (Greg Hill), who is trading in something much darker and more sinister than pills. And three kids from Danielle’s neighborhood have a run in with a bat-wielding, black Cadillac–driving, masked killer. This trio of perspective-shifting stories intersect into a maelstrom of murder, adolescent angst, sex, drugs, and black magic. Set during the course of one summer weekend, this indie film has punk-rock energy to spare and a distinct cinematic vision that transcends its micro budget.
Hurt
Sonny Mallhi, USA, 2018, 93m
New York Premiere
Halloween in New Caney, Texas, is slow and quiet. Rose (model Emily van Raay, in a striking debut performance) is having trouble connecting with her husband Tommy (Andrew Creer), who recently returned from military deployment and is struggling with PTSD. Rose’s sister and her husband urge them to head to the town’s haunted hayride to relive old traditions and maybe try to rekindle their relationship. The fairgrounds are filled with masked monsters and fake blood and death. Tommy runs off and the night gradually descends into chaos. Sonny Mallhi’s exquisitely realized third feature digs up the violence bubbling under the modern American experience and serves up a smart treatise on trauma. This truly gruesome and terrifying slasher flick reminds us that death is very real, and it’s not only the monstrous villains who wear masks.
Impossible Horror
Justin Decloux, Canada, 2017, 75m
New York Premiere
Following a bad breakup, aspiring filmmaker Lily (Haley Walker) struggles with a crippling creative block. Unable to sleep, she begins hearing a sinister scream outside her window every evening. Convinced she needs to help, she heads out into the dark night and meets Hannah (Creedance Wright), a veteran scream hunter obsessed with stopping the creepy occurrence. The two women team up to try and locate the source before they become the scream’s next victims. As much a horror movie as a movie about the horror of creation, Justin Decloux’s ultra-indie second feature references everything from Asian horror to giallo, and its DIY spirit and eerie underlying dread secures its place as a small but mighty genre discovery.
The Inhabitant / El habitante
Guillermo Amoedo, Mexico/Chile, 2017, 92m
Spanish with English subtitles
North American Premiere
In an attempt to secure some quick cash, three sisters break into the home of a super-wealthy family—and get a whole lot more than they bargained for. If this sounds tediously familiar, have no fear: The Inhabitant is no simple take on the old home-invasion-gone-wrong scenario. The film has serious political undertones—the house the women target belongs to a high-profile, and highly corrupt, senator—and its action opens up to also make room for a child possession tale like no other. Uruguayan-born, Chile-based filmmaker Guillermo Amoedo has made a name for himself working on screenplays for Eli Roth projects (The Green Inferno, Knock Knock, Aftershock), but this one outshines them all, featuring genuine chills and higher-gloss production values than usually found within such confined spaces. A Pantelion release.
Tales from Beyond the Pale Live Event
Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid’s “Tales from Beyond the Pale” returns to the Film Society of Lincoln Center for a double bill of contemporary audio dramas. Now in its eighth year, the primarily spooky show, produced by Glass Eye Pix, has taken cues from the likes of Inner Sanctum Theatre and the Mercury Theatre Company while putting its own rich spin on the format. Observations both personal and political are often deeply entangled with whatever creature, creep, or ghoul Fessenden and McQuaid conjure up. Two new “Tales” written and directed by Fessenden and McQuaid will be performed live with actors, foley artists, sound designers, and musicians; it’s quite a sight, and if you dare to close your eyes, quite a listen! Previous shows have featured the vocal talents of the likes of Ron Perlman, Michael Cerveris, Lance Reddick, Doug Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sean Young, and Alison Wright… so you never know who might show up.
Tigers Are Not Afraid / Vuelven
Issa López, Mexico, 2017, 83m
Spanish with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In the midst of a world plagued by gang violence, 10-year-old Estrella (Paolo Lara) is left to her own devices after her mom disappears. As a protection measure—or is it a stroke of the supernatural?—Estrella believes to have been granted three wishes, and she uses one to bring her mother back, though failing to mention that she wanted her alive. Haunted by the dead shell of her mother, she leaves home and ends up taking up camp with a group of local orphan boys in their small Mexican village, nervously trying to remain hidden from murderous drug-dealing local thugs and forming a strong familial bond in the process. A fantastical tale that is also steeped in hard-bitten realities, writer-director Issa López’s alternately heart-wrenching and chilling film inevitably elicits Guillermo del Toro comparisons, mostly for its ability to extract wholly believable performances from its young cast, but stands firmly on its own as inspired cinema. A Shudder release.
The Trace We Leave Behind / O Rastro
J.C. Feyer, Brazil, 2017, 96m
Portuguese with English subtitles
North American Premiere
João (a commanding Rafael Cardoso) is a doctor coordinating the removal of patients from a Rio de Janeiro public hospital that, despite harsh protests from the community, is scheduled to close due to Brazil’s recession. On the night of the transfer, a 10-year-old girl disappears without a trace and João must find her, even if just to prove to his pregnant wife Leila (Leandra Leal) that he can be a dependable father. The more he searches, the deeper he is drawn into a world he wishes he never entered. Long-kept secrets are unearthed and João struggles against the darkness that is closing in around him. Is the hospital haunted? Is he losing his mind? The feature debut by J.C. Feyer—a strong case for the resurgence of Brazilian horror—is relentless in both its dedication to scaring the pants off the audience and to shining a light on the country’s social unrest.
What Keeps You Alive
Colin Minihan, Canada, 2018, 98m
New York Premiere
The follow-up to Colin Minihan’s It Stains the Sands Red, a closing-night selection of last year’s Scary Movies, offers another twisty thrill ride starring the always compelling Brittany Allen. Here, she plays Jules, who heads to a lakeside cabin with her wife, Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson), to celebrate their one-year anniversary. The tranquil setting—the nearest neighbors are Jackie’s childhood friend and her husband across the lake—quickly turns terrifying, but to say anything more would spoil the surprises. Audacious and unsparing, the film veers into pitch-black comedy to keep the bloodletting and betrayal fun and boasts impressive cinematography that captures both the beauty and isolation of its remote environment and the ferocious violence that unfurls within. An IFC Midnight release.
The Witch in the Window
Andy Mitton, USA, 2018, 77m
U.S. Premiere
A divorced dad (Alex Draper) takes his 12-year-old son (Charlie Tacker) to the farmhouse he’s purchased to flip in middle-of-nowhere Vermont. It was cheap—and for a reason: there is an old witch, Lydia (Carol Stanzione), haunting the premises, mainly planted in a chair by an upstairs window. At first her presence seems harmless enough, but as the renovations continue, it becomes more apparent that she, the previous owner, has no interest in sharing her home. As in the two previous features he co-directed, YellowBrickRoad and We Go On, Andy Mitton’s solo directorial debut proves that big scares can come in small packages, and his latest refreshingly character-driven film, which sees a father desperately trying to protect a child he wants to reconnect with and the house he has always fantasized about, has way more on its mind than it initially lets on. A Shudder release.
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Fantasia 2018 Unleashes Second Wave of Films, Opens with JUST A BREATH AWAY
[caption id="attachment_30222" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Just a Breath Away (Dans la brume)[/caption]
The Fantasia International Film Festival, celebrating its 22nd Anniversary in Montreal this summer, from July 12 to August 1, revealed a selected Second Wave of titles and events. Its Frontières International Co-Production Market will be held July 19 to 22.
The festival’s 22nd edition will open with the North American Premiere of DANS LA BRUME (“Just a Breath Away”), a large-scale genre co-production between France and Canada, directed by celebrated Quebec filmmaker Daniel Roby (LOUIS CYR, WHITE SKIN), starring Romain Duris (MOOD INDIGO), Olga Kurylenko (QUANTUM OF SOLACE), and Fantine Harduin (HAPPY END). Paris is hit by an earthquake, then filled with a mysterious toxic gas that seems to come from below ground. A family attempts to survive the massive catastrophe, but first… they will have to face the fog.
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF RUSTY CUNDIEFF AND DARIN SCOTT’S TALES FROM THE HOOD 2
Fantasia will present the highly-anticipated world premiere of Universal 1440 Entertainment’s TALES FROM THE HOOD 2. The sequel to the groundbreaking original film TALES FROM THE HOOD reunites Executive Producer Spike Lee and writers/directors/producers Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott for an all-new gripping, horrifying, and oftentimes devilishly comical anthology. This next installment will keep viewers on the edge of their seats, as they course through several stories that explore socially relevant topics from the past and present.WORLD PREMIERIN’ SATOSHI MIKI’S LOUDER! CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SINGIN’, WIMP!
After a five-year hiatus from feature-filmmaking following 2013’s IT’S ME, IT’S ME, Fantasia favorite Satoshi Miki is back with LOUDER! CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SINGIN’, WIMP! An explosive musical comedy with energy to spare, Miki’s usually quirky, offbeat characters, extravagant hairdos and vintage costumes are back, colliding here with a renewed sense of energy and chaos, as the charismatic Sin (THE APOLOGY KING’S Sadao Abe), a rock musician with an superhuman, steroid-enhanced voice, meets the shy Fuka (AKEGARASU’S Riho Yoshioka), a gifted busker with a whisper quiet style. With an eclectic soundtrack oscillating from J-pop to metal to clerical music, with contributions from TOO YOUNG TO DIE!’s Kankuro Kudo, Hyde from L’Arc~en~Ciel, and comedian Abe himself, this is the rock ‘n’ roll feel-good-movie for the ages!SAM ELLIOTT IS THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT (World Premiere)
Sam Elliott stars as a legendary World War II veteran who many years ago assassinated Adolf Hitler – an incredible secret that he’s frustratingly unable to share with the world. One day, just as he’s coming to terms with rounding out his life, Calvin gets a visit from the FBI and RCMP. They need him to take out Bigfoot. A wondrous feature debut from writer/director Robert D. Krzykowski, featuring visual effects by celebrated two-time Academy Award Winner Douglas Trumbull (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, BLADE RUNNER), who also co-produced alongside the great John Sayles and Lucky McKee. A fantastical discourse on the melancholia of old age and a singular blast of entertaining wit, THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT (World Premiere) also stars Aidan Turner, Caitlin FitzGerald, and Ron Livingston.THE INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE OF THE BLOODY ACTION-FANTASY THE WITCH: PART 1. THE SUBVERSION
A nefarious agency has been genetically engineering children. One of the telekinetic kids escapes and goes into hiding with an adopted family. Ten years later, she appears on a talent show, where she’s spotted by the bad guys and becomes prey for both her peers and a hit squad. Writer/Director Park Hoon-jung, who wrote the savage I SAW THE DEVIL, is back with THE WITCH: PART 1. THE SUBVERSION. Nothing will prepare you for the fusion of over-the-top sci-fi thrills, surprising twists and a climactic bloodbath that will leave you gasping. After THE VILLAINESS, South Korea has a new girl in town (Kim Da-mi) to kick butts and give action fans what they always dreamed of.ACHIEVEMENT AWARD GOES TO THE LEGENDARY CYNTHIA ROTHROCK
Fantasia will bestow its first-ever Action! Achievement Award upon U.S. athlete and action legend Cynthia Rothrock, an unstoppable action starlet who inspired a generation of martial artists and kicked open doors for women in the male-dominated action industry. Her skills, courage, and determination – along with black belts in seven separate martial arts – paved the way for today’s action starlets such as Charlize Theron, Gina Carano, and Milla Jovovich. Rothrock – or Law Fu Lok, as she was known to millions of Hong Kong cinephiles – was a five-time World Champion before becoming the first western actor to headline a Hong Kong action film with 1989’s THE BLONDE FURY. A member of Black Belt Magazine’s Hall of Fame and the inspiration for the Mortal Kombat character Sonya Blade, Rothrock would go on to star in over thirty martial arts films and inspire a generation. Fantasia is deeply honored to bestow their debut Action! Achievement Award to the amazing Cynthia Rothrock, a true pioneer in the worlds of martial arts and action cinema.CANADIAN PREMIERE OF SEARCHING
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John Cho stars in the LAAPFF Audience Award Winning film SEARCHING – directed by Aneesh Chaganty. Photo Courtesy of Screen Gems[/caption]
Fantasia will be showcasing the Canadian Premiere of Aneesh Chaganty’s Sundance smash SEARCHING, produced by Timur Bekmambetov (working with Sev Ohanian, Natalie Qasabian, and Adam Sidman) in his innovative “screenlife” storytelling approach that brilliantly captures the way we engage online. After David Kim (John Cho)’s sixteen-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter’s laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace his daughter’s digital footprints before she disappears forever.
DENNISON RAMALHO’S AMONG THE LIVING (World Premiere)
Brazilian Writer/Director Dennison Ramalho instantly captured the hearts and nightmares of legions with his brilliant shorts LOVE FROM MOTHER ONLY (2003) and NINJAS (2011), in addition to scripting José Mojica Marins’ celebrated Coffin Joe comeback EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008). His entry in ABCS OF DEATH 2 (2014) further cemented the filmmaker as a hellishly original talent to watch in world horror cinema. Fantasia will proudly be bringing Brazil’s subterranean maestro of the macabre back to Montreal for the World Premiere of his long-awaited feature debut, AMONG THE LIVING, a film brimming with grotesque imagination and otherworldly magick in which a morgue attendant working the night shift in a very large, very violent city possesses an occult ability to communicate with cadavers. He commits the sin of acting on information obtained from the dead and horrifically curses himself and those that he loves. Brace yourself.WITTY COMEDY-FANTASY I HAVE A DATE WITH SPRING
Multiple award-winning director Baek Seung-bin brings us to doomsday with a smile in the omnibus styled intimist South Korean apocalyptic dramedy I HAVE A DATE WITH SPRING (North American Premiere). Different characters, all with unique personalities, celebrate their birthday the day before the end of the world, meeting bizarre individuals in surreal circumstances in this truly unique gem of a film that debuted at 2018’s International Film Festival Rotterdam.HURT (World Premiere)
The world first discovered Sonny Mallhi’s poignant style of character-driven horror storytelling with 2015’s ANGUISH (a Fantasia World Premiere). Earlier this year, his second feature, the vampiric drug addiction chiller FAMILY BLOOD debuted on Netlfix. And now, Sonny Mallhi has teamed with Blumhouse for his third feature, HURT, in which the collective psychosis of American culture is an inescapable horror film and a waking nightmare. Its story honors masked mascots of fear such as Jason, Freddy, and Michael…. but explores those who helplessly wear a mask of normalcy while desperately fighting the traumatic monsters within.WORLD PREMIERE OF PLEDGE
It’s not getting into an exclusive fraternity that three geeky college freshmen need to worry about, it’s getting out – alive! Boasting amazingly well-rounded characters, endearing performances, a wicked streak of black humour, and a desperate situation that erupts into sickening violence, in many ways Daniel Robbins’ PLEDGE (World Premiere) is an intense, acceptance-themed companion film to Jeremy Saulnier’s similarly gasp-inducing GREEN ROOM. Rats, torture, knife fights, and vodka shots – who’s ready to pledge?WRITER/DIRECTOR LEE CHANG-HEE’S THE VANISHED (North American Premiere)
In this clockwork thriller, nothing is what it seems – not even a corpse. THE VANISHED (North American Premiere) is a piece of classic cinematic construction right out of the Golden Age of Hollywood, polished to a sleek modern sheen, South Korean-style. Without an ounce of padding, this is modern suspense in gothic drag, full of old school brio, dolly zooms, a ticking clock, entitled murderers, and vengeful ghosts.CAMERA LUCIDA UNVEILS TWO INTERNATIONAL PREMIERES: TADASHI NAGAYAMA’S BEING NATURAL AND AARON SCHIMBERG’S CHAINED FOR LIFE!
The Camera Lucida section, dedicated to experimental, boundary-pushing and auteur-driven works on the borders of genre cinema, unveils two major International premieres! Taka (SAUDADE’s Yota Kawase) is a bong-playing, turtle-loving saint. When a hypocritical couple from Tokyo moves into town, intent on opening a health-conscious, eco-friendly coffee shop at all costs, the man’s peaceful existence is shattered to pieces. Tadashi Nagayama’s second feature, BEING NATURAL, is a total revelation; a surprising and eccentric satirical rural comedy, with a dash of the absurd and the supernatural! A unique introduction to one of Japanese cinema’s most promising new auteurs! The beautiful Mabel (TEETH’s Jess Weixler) admits to being pushed outside of her comfort zone on the set of a foreign auteur’s shlocky English-language horror film debut. Playing the role of a blind woman, she soon meets her disabled co-star Rosenthal (UNDER THE SKIN and DRIB’s Adam Pearson) and soon, the boundaries between fiction, reality, exploitation, and fair representation become blurry. GO DOWN DEATH’s Aaron Schimberg returns to Fantasia with CHAINED FOR LIFE, a reflexive and surreal black comedy about life on set – casting a critical eye on cinematic representations of disability and difference, from ELEPHANT MAN to FREAKS and beyond. The full Camera Lucida lineup will be unveiled on June 26.FANTASIA 2018’S ACTION! SECTION UNVEILS BUYBUST, CHUCK STEEL: NIGHT OF THE TRAMPIRES, AND LÔI BÁO
Dedicated to discovering the world’s best undiscovered action films, Fantasia’s Action! Section, now in its seventh year, is proud to announce three new titles and one incredible retrospective film. Following the section becoming competitive in 2017, Action! will introduce its debut Action! Achievement Award, which will be bestowed on U.S. martial arts legend Cynthia Rothrock. For the occasion, Fantasia will present a 35mm print of the 1989 Hong Kong classic THE BLONDE FURY with star Rothrock in attendance. Four years after seducing Fantasia audiences with his short film RAGING BALLS OF STEEL JUSTICE, Michael Mort will return to the festival with his animated feature debut, CHUCK STEEL: NIGHT OF THE TRAMPIRES (North American Premiere), hot off its World Premiere at Annecy. Chuck Steel is a maverick, renegade, loose cannon, lone wolf, cop-on-the-edge who doesn’t play by the rules. He’s the best goddamn man on the force and, once again, Los Angeles needs him to save the city from an army of Trampires – a mutated hybrid of vampire and hobo. With LÔI BÁO (North American Premiere), Vietnam has officially jumped on the wave of superhero movies in a very big way. Without a single cape or hero clad in spandex, Victor Vu’s clever interpretation of what it means to be a superhero brings a wildly unique vision to the genre, as a man on the receiving end of a head transplant finds himself suddenly granted a seemingly endless supply of superhuman abilities. With LÔI BÁO, Vietnam has created a world of very unlikely superheroes – and villains – like no other. [caption id="attachment_30085" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
BuyBust[/caption]
Five years after the impressive ON THE JOB, director Erik Matti returns to Fantasia with the Canadian Premiere of BUYBUST, one of the most action-packed movies ever to come out of the Philippines. Here he writes, produces, and directs a truly one-of-a-kind actioner about a rookie female cop who finds herself in hot water with an anti-narcotics squad. Starring Filipino superstar Anne Curtis, over 1200 extras, and featuring an unbelievable 300 stuntmen and women, BUYBUST is packed with spectacular gunplay, nonstop hand-to-hand combat, and a nearly-uncountable number of people being stabbed in the face.
As of 2017, all titles selected in the Action! Section are eligible for Fantasia’s Best Action Film Award, awarded by a jury composed of Quebec director Alain Desrochers (BON COP BAD COP 2), actor/stuntman Alain Moussi (KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE), and filmmaking duo Sebastien Landry and Laurence Morais-Lagace (GAME OF DEATH).
MAJOR ANIME PREMIERES ARAGNE: SIGN OF VERMILLION AND PENGUIN HIGHWAY
Fantasia’s Axis section is thrilled to announce two more anime titles in its lineup, each a major premiere. Something sinister is manifesting itself – something at the cursed crossroads of mythology, monstrosity, and medical science – in Saku Sakamoto’s ARAGNE: SIGN OF VERMILLION, a potent new slash of independent, high-standard horror anime from Japan making its World Premiere at Fantasia this summer. One memorable summer, a precocious schoolboy contends with a crush on an older woman and a strange penguin invasion in the sentimental, surreal science fiction anime PENGUIN HIGHWAY (International Premiere). The first feature from Japanese director Hiroyasu Ishida, creator of the 2009 indie online sensation FUMIKO’S CONFESSION, and his colleagues at Studio Colorido, PENGUIN HIGHWAY is a delight for the mind, eye, and heart.FANTASIA UNDERGROUND’S INSPIRED 2018 LINEUP REVEALED!
Fantasia’s section dedicated to bold, ultra-independent, outsider works returns with a charming, counter-cultural teen film made by a twenty-year-old girl who cut classes to shoot it, a single-take Japanese zombie oddity, a genuinely shocking and surprising black comedy/crime thriller from Colorado, and a Mexican-Canadian action siege assault that’s likely the bloodiest coming-of-age film ever made. Described at the latest Berlinale as the “distant cousin of Louis Malle’s ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO crossed with the DIY spirit of punk Japanese cinema from the 1980s (Tsukamoto, Sogo Ishii, and co.), one thing’s for sure: twenty-year-old Yoko Yamanaka’s AMIKO (North American Premiere) will instantly charm you with its gleeful irreverence, and its crystalline, sour-sweet candied confection of extreme emotions, forged in the fiery pits of adolescence, and effectively turning the schoolgirl into a counter-culture icon. Let’s be honest – a low-budget zombie movie shot in one take about a film crew shooting a low-budget zombie movie in one take sounds bad. Add the fact that the indie film crew stumbles across real-life zombies and Shunichiro Ueda’s debut, ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (Canadian Premiere) sounds worse. And you couldn’t be more wrong. This indie marvel isn’t a just zombie movie or even a one-take stunt. Instead, it’s Japan’s smartest comedy of the year: a touching father-daughter story, a tale about the value of perseverance, and a meta puzzlebox that cleverly unpacks itself onscreen, one severed limb at a time. Pick your rotting jaw up off the floor, because this is pure horror-comedy gold in the vein of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. A neurotic, introverted young military veteran forces himself to go to a party to meet new people and finds himself plunged into a bizarre criminal underworld of sex and blood in Drew Barnhardt’s utterly mad RONDO (World Premiere). An exuberantly seedy, obsessively well-directed gonzo thriller that’s funny in the darkest ways, RONDO’s violent twists and genuinely uncomfortable moments will leave you breathless from gasping, laughing, and screaming – possibly at the same time. Oddly reminiscent of CRIMEWAVE-era John Paizs by way of De Palma, this is a squirm-inducing, one-of-a-kind exploitation oddity that even the most brazen viewers will never be able to unsee. Award-winning Mexican-Canadian filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero bathes the screen with ferocity in her scorching web series LA QUINCEAÑERA (Canadian Premiere), in which a girl’s fifteenth birthday party becomes a demented, blood-fuelled journey of revenge when the cartel shows up to attack her relatives. This ultra-violent homage to the strength of women and the power of family may be the bloodiest coming-of-age tale ever told.2018 DOCUMENTARIES FROM THE EDGE LINEUP REVEALED!
Fantasia’s showcase of compelling documentary works returns with a trio of docs hailing from Quebec, China, and the USA. Jailed for comics?! The unbelievable true story of the only U.S. artist convicted of obscenity is explored in the chilling and captivating BOILED ANGELS: THE TRIAL OF MIKE DIANA (International Premiere), directed by the legendary Frank Henenlotter (BASKET CASE, BAD BIOLOGY) and narrated by Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra, neither of whom are strangers to censorship struggles themselves. The obsessively well-researched doc features Neil Gaiman, Stephen Bissette, Peter Bagge, and Diana himself, alongside the case’s investigating officers, prosecution, defense, and even members of the local Florida press who initially reported on the situation. This truly thoughtful account won a well-deserved Audience Award at NYC’s What The Fest!? and should be considered required viewing for anyone remotely interested in confrontational art or stories of overreaching law enforcement. Marginally-talented internet personalities skyrocket to fame in Hao Wu’s provocative, dystopian documentary PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF DESIRE (Quebec Premiere), where hordes of devoted fans tune in to find comfort in virtual relationships through live streaming. A Grand Jury Prize-winner at SXSW, the film tracks China’s emergent breed of off-the-rails celebrity-making obsession, and the impact of plunging into the virtual to satisfy real human needs. Fantasia’s screening will be a co-presentation with the RIDM. Shot over a period of three years, Jean-Simon Chartier’s PLAYING HARD (Quebec Premiere) gives us a sprawling behind-the-scenes window into the drama, tension, and compromises behind the creation of a blockbuster Ubisoft video game, and the grueling personal tolls the process can take on its creators, both in terms of fractured relationships and mental anguish. An engrossing film that met with major acclaim at its recent Hot Docs launch.
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Vancouver Film Critics Circle Reveals 2016 Nominations, ‘Room’ Leads Canadian Nominations
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant leads all films in the 2016 Vancouver Film Critics Circle International section with three nominations.
The nominees for Best Documentary are Amy, Cartel Land and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, while The Assassin, Goodnight Mommy and Son of Saul are up for Best Foreign Language Film.
A riveting and uplifting tale of a mother and son escaping confinement, the Canadian-Irish co-production Room has earned six VFCC nominations in the Canadian categories, including one for Best Canadian Film, and director Lenny Abrahamson is nominated for Best Director of a Canadian Film,
Room (pictured above) will face off against Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson’s The Forbidden Room and Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant for Best Canadian Film.
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World will also compete with Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World, Alan Zweig’s Hurt and Damien Gillis & Fiona Rayher’s Fractured Land for Best Canadian Documentary.
The full list of 2016 Vancouver Film Critics Circle International nominees.
BEST FILM
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michal Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST SCREENPLAY
Emma Donoghue, Room
Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Son of Saul
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Amy
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
The full list of nominees in the 2016 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Canadian categories.
BEST CANADIAN FILM
The Forbidden Room
Room
Sleeping Giant
BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Michael Eklund, Eadweard
Christopher Plummer, Remember
Jacob Tremblay, Room
BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Marie Brassard, Sabali
Brie Larson, Room
Julia Sarah Stone, Wet Bum
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Patrick Huard, My Internship in Canada
Reece Moffett, Sleeping Giant
Nick Serino, Sleeping Giant
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Joan Allen, Room
Suzanne Clement, My Internship in Canada
Tara Pratt, No Men Beyond This Point
BEST SCREENPLAY FOR A CANADIAN FILM
Benjamin August, Remember
Andrew Cividino, Blain Watters & Aaron Yeger, Sleeping Giant
Emma Donoghue, Room
BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Andrew Cividino, Sleeping Giant
Atom Egoyan, Remember
BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World
Fractured Land
How to Change the World
Hurt
BEST FIRST FILM BY A CANADIAN DIRECTOR
Hit 2 Pass, Kurt Walker
Sleeping Giant, Andrew Cividino
Wet Bum, Lindsay Mackay
BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
Eadweard
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World
No Men Beyond This Point
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12 Bold + Unique Films In Inaugural Platform Lineup of 40th Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival revealed the inaugural lineup for Platform, the new juried program that champions director’s cinema from around the world.
“We created this new program as a way to sharpen our focus on artistically ambitious cinema in our 40th year and we are thrilled to be able to put the spotlight on these 12 brilliant filmmakers this September,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “They are major creative forces: the next generation of masters whose personal vision will captivate audiences, industry members and media from around the world.”
“Each of the filmmakers in the program fearlessly transforms a wide range of compelling realities through their unique visual and narrative styles, and they do so with incredible command and precision,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. “From a stark coming-of-age story, a retro-futuristic science-fiction and a lyrical post-western to an abduction thriller, a raw documentary and hard-hitting and topical dramas, this lineup reflects the diversity of international directors’ cinema today.”
Platform films will screen from Thursday, September 10 to Thursday, September 17. Each film will have its first screening for public, press and industry at the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre.
An international jury composed of acclaimed filmmakers Jia Zhang-ke, Claire Denis and Agnieszka Holland will award the Toronto Platform Prize ($25,000 CAD) to the best film in the program, which will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on September 20, 2015.
Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)
Eva Husson, France
World Premiere
Biarritz. Sixteen-year-old George, a beautiful high-school student, falls in love with Alex. To get his attention, she initiates a group game with Alex, Nikita, Laetitia and Gabriel during which they will discover, test, and push the limits of their sexuality. Through scandals, love and the breakdown of their value systems, each of them manages this intense period in radically different ways. Starring Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier, Lorenzo Lefebvre, Marilyn Lima, and Finnegan Oldfield.
The Clan (El Clan)
Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain
North American Premiere
Within a typical family home in the traditional neighborhood of San Isidro, a sinister clan makes its living off kidnapping and murder. Arquímedes, the patriarch, heads and plans the operations. Alejandro, his eldest son, is a star rugby player who gives into his father’s will and identifies possible candidates for kidnapping. To a greater or lesser extent, the members of the family are accomplices in this dreadful venture as they live off the benefits yielded by the large ransoms paid by the families of their victims. Based on the true story of the Puccio family, this film full of suspense and intrigue takes place in the context of the final years of the Argentine military dictatorship and incipient return to democracy. Starring Guillermo Francella and Peter Lanzani.
French Blood (Un Français)
Diastème, France
International Premiere
This is the story of a Frenchman, born in 1965 on the outskirts of Paris. The story of a skinhead, who hates Arabs, Jews, blacks, communists and gays. An anger that will take 30 years to die out. A bastard, who will take 30 years to become someone else. And he will never forgive himself for it. Starring Alban Lenoir, Paul Hamy, Samuel Jouy and Patrick Pineau.
Full Contact
David Verbeek, Netherlands/Croatia
World Premiere
A contemporary tale of a man who accidentally bombed a school through a remotely operated drone plane. Modern warfare keeps Ivan safe and disconnected from his prey. But after this incident, this disconnectedness starts to apply to everything in his life. He is unable to process his overwhelming feelings of guilt, but needs to open up to his new love Cindy. Only by facing his victims can he rediscover his humanity and find a new purpose in life. Starring Grégoire Colin, Lizzie Brocheré and Slimane Dazi.
High-Rise
Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom
World Premiere
1975. Two miles west of London, Dr. Laing moves into his new apartment seeking soulless anonymity, only to find that the building’s residents have no intention of leaving him alone. Resigned to the complex social dynamics unfolding around him, Laing bites the bullet and becomes neighborly. As he struggles to establish his position, Laing’s good manners and sanity disintegrate along with the building. The lights go out and the elevators fail but the party goes on. People are the problem. Booze is the currency. Sex is the panacea. Starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss.
HURT
Alan Zweig, Canada
World Premiere
Steve Fonyo is a one-legged cancer survivor who completed a cross-Canada run raising $13 million in 1985. The next 30 years were straight downhill: petty theft, larceny and drug addiction. The run has nothing to do with the life of this one-time hero, and everything to do with it. Starring Steve Fonyo.
Land of Mine (Under Sandet / Unter dem Sand)
Martin Zandvliet, Denmark/Germany
World Premiere
A story never told before. WWII has ended. A group of German POWs captured by the Danish army, boys rather than men, are forced into a new kind of service under the command of a brusque Danish Sergeant. Risking life and limbs, the boys discover that the war is far from over. Starring Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Emil Buschow, Oskar Buschow and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard.
Looking for Grace
Sue Brooks, Australia
North American Premiere
Grace, 16, runs away from home. Her parents, Dan and Denise, head off on the road across the Western Australian wheat belt with a retired detective, Norris, to try and get her back. But life unravels faster than they can put it back together. Grace, Dan and Denise learn that life is confusing and arbitrary, but wonderful. Starring Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell, Odessa Young and Terry Norris.
Neon Bull (Boi Neon) (pictured above)
Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands
North American Premiere
Iremar and his makeshift family travel through Northeast Brazil taking care of bulls at the Vaquejadas, a Brazilian rodeo. But the region’s booming clothing industry has stirred new ambitions and filled Iremar’s mind with dreams of pattern-cutting and exquisite fabrics. Starring Juliano Cazarré, Aline Santana, Carlos Pessoa and Maeve Jinkings.
The Promised Land (Hui Dao Bei Ai De Mei Yi Tian)
He Ping, China
World Premiere
Ai Ling, growing up in a small town, loses her fiancé Jiang He in Beijing. After returning to her hometown with a broken heart, she has to face all the complications life and love have in store for her. Starring Jiajia Wang, Yi Zhang, and Zhiwen Wang.
Sky
Fabienne Berthaud, France/Germany
World Premiere
Romy is on holiday in the USA with her French husband, but the journey quickly turns into a settling of old scores for this worn out couple. After a huge argument, Romy decides to break free. She cuts her ties to a stable and secure life that has become alienating and escapes to the unknown. Drifting through a noisy Las Vegas to the wondrous high desert, she goes on with her solitary journey, abandoning herself to her sole intuitions and making it up as she goes. Liberated, she will cross paths with a charismatic and solitary man, with whom she’ll share an inconceivable but pure love. Starring Diane Kruger, Norman Reedus, Gilles Lellouche, Lena Dunham and Q’orianka Kilcher.
The White Knights (Les Chevaliers Blancs)
Joachim Lafosse, France/Belgium
World Premiere
Critically acclaimed Joachim Lafosse brings to the screen the Zoe’s Ark controversy which made headlines in 2007: a story about the limits of the right of interference. Jacques Arnault, head of Sud Secours NGO, is planning a high impact operation: he and his team are going to exfiltrate 300 orphans, victims of Chadian civil war and bring them to French adoption applicants. Françoise Dubois, a journalist, is invited to come along with them and handle the media coverage for this operation. Completely immersed in the brutal reality of a country at war, the NGO members start losing their convictions and are faced with the limits of humanitarian intervention. Starring Vincent Lindon, Valérie Donzelli, Reda Kateb, Louise Bourgoin and Rougalta Bintou Saleh.
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10 to 20, 2015.