Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) by Asghar Farhadi[/caption]
Some of the most highly anticipated films and episodic series will play in the Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy and Midnight sections at AFI FEST 2018 presented by Audi.
Narrative features screening in the Special Screenings section are COLD WAR (DIR Paweł Pawlikowski), EVERYBODY KNOWS (DIR Asghar Farhadi), THE FAVOURITE (DIR Yorgos Lanthimos), ROMA (DIR Alfonso Cuarón), the North American Premiere of STAN & OLLIE (DIR Jon S. Baird), UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (DIR David Robert Mitchell) and VOX LUX (DIR Brady Corbet). Documentaries screening are THE COLD BLUE (DIR Erik Nelson) and DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES (DIR Alexis Bloom). Also screening are are an episode of the docuseries ENEMIES: THE PRESIDENT, JUSTICE & THE FBI (DIR Jed Rothstein), and the World Premiere of the first episode of the limited series I AM THE NIGHT (DIR Patty Jenkins, AFI Class of 2000).
In this year’s Cinema’s Legacy program, AFI FEST highlights films directed by women. This section is a celebration of motion picture history and a special opportunity to screen recent restorations of classic and lesser-known films. The festival spotlights six independent filmmakers across subjects and genres, including two world-premiere restorations, and newly struck 16mm presentations: THE CRUZ BROTHERS AND MISS MALLOY (DIR Kathleen Collins, 1980), DRYLONGSO (DIR Cauleen Smith, 1998), THE JUNIPER TREE (DIR Nietzchka Keene, 1990), MEETINGS OF ANNA (DIR Chantal Akerman, 1978), NITRATE KISSES (DIR Barbara Hammer, 1992) and QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (DIR Nina Menkes, 1991).
The Midnight section features an international selection of macabre and provocative genre films: CAM (DIR Daniel Goldhaber), IN FABRIC (DIR Peter Strickland), KNIFE+HEART (DIR Yann Gonzalez) and PIERCING (DIR Nicolas Pesce).
In Fabric (2018)
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AFI FEST 2018 Announces Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy and Midnight Lineup
[caption id="attachment_27928" align="aligncenter" width="923"] Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) by Asghar Farhadi[/caption]
Some of the most highly anticipated films and episodic series will play in the Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy and Midnight sections at AFI FEST 2018 presented by Audi.
Narrative features screening in the Special Screenings section are COLD WAR (DIR Paweł Pawlikowski), EVERYBODY KNOWS (DIR Asghar Farhadi), THE FAVOURITE (DIR Yorgos Lanthimos), ROMA (DIR Alfonso Cuarón), the North American Premiere of STAN & OLLIE (DIR Jon S. Baird), UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (DIR David Robert Mitchell) and VOX LUX (DIR Brady Corbet). Documentaries screening are THE COLD BLUE (DIR Erik Nelson) and DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES (DIR Alexis Bloom). Also screening are are an episode of the docuseries ENEMIES: THE PRESIDENT, JUSTICE & THE FBI (DIR Jed Rothstein), and the World Premiere of the first episode of the limited series I AM THE NIGHT (DIR Patty Jenkins, AFI Class of 2000).
In this year’s Cinema’s Legacy program, AFI FEST highlights films directed by women. This section is a celebration of motion picture history and a special opportunity to screen recent restorations of classic and lesser-known films. The festival spotlights six independent filmmakers across subjects and genres, including two world-premiere restorations, and newly struck 16mm presentations: THE CRUZ BROTHERS AND MISS MALLOY (DIR Kathleen Collins, 1980), DRYLONGSO (DIR Cauleen Smith, 1998), THE JUNIPER TREE (DIR Nietzchka Keene, 1990), MEETINGS OF ANNA (DIR Chantal Akerman, 1978), NITRATE KISSES (DIR Barbara Hammer, 1992) and QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (DIR Nina Menkes, 1991).
The Midnight section features an international selection of macabre and provocative genre films: CAM (DIR Daniel Goldhaber), IN FABRIC (DIR Peter Strickland), KNIFE+HEART (DIR Yann Gonzalez) and PIERCING (DIR Nicolas Pesce).
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63rd Cork Film Festival to Showcase Films with a Focus on Current Global Issues
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Sissy Spacek and Robert Redford in The Old Man and the Gun.[/caption]
The 63rd Cork Film Festival, running from November 9 to 18, 2018, will showcase Irish and international films with a focus on current global issues.
The 2018 program for Ireland’s first and largest film festival, launched today features films with themes centered on LGBT, mental health, child poverty, gender equality, and human rights. Over 250 Irish and international features and shorts will be screened across the Festival, with 90% being Irish premieres.
Speaking on today’s program launch, Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “Our mission is to bring people together through an outstanding program of films and events and to create an unforgettable festival experience over 10 days in Cork.
“As a destination for great storytelling on film, this year’s program includes numerous award-winners from the 2018 international festival circuit, alongside fresh new voices, together showcasing the latest and best independent cinema. For many films presented, this is the only opportunity to see them on the big screen in Cork and Ireland.”
Special presentations include a cine concert of the 1920s silent horror Nosferatu (November 13) at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, with a new score by Cork composers Irene and Linda Buckley. This year’s collaboration with the National Sculpture Factory is Alan Butler’s On Exactitude in Science (November 12 – 14) a work comprising Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1983) in synchronicity with Butler’s 2017 remake.
Speaking on the representation of Irish film in the Festival, program Director Michael Hayden stated: “It is fantastic that we can open the Festival with a film with such distinct Cork connections. Carmel Winters’ highly anticipated and award-winning second feature Float like a Butterfly is a special film that fiercely challenges patriarchy and stereotypes. Carmel, and many of the cast and crew, will be in attendance for this European premiere on 9 November.
“Selecting Float like a Butterfly as the Opening Gala is indicative of the Festival’s commitment to celebrating Irish film, and we have secured some of the most celebrated films of the year. These include the Irish premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos’ feminist comedy The Favourite on 10 November, produced by Element Pictures and starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz; and The Dig, directed by Ryan and Andrew Tohill, starring Moe Dunford, which was awarded Best Irish Feature at Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year.”
The Closing Night Gala will also feature the work of an outstanding female director, with the Irish premiere of Nadine Labaki’s multi-award-winning Capernaum (November 18). This urgent and important film is on child poverty and the denial of an individual’s human rights. Other Irish premieres of international features include The Old Man and the Gun, starring Robert Redford as a septuagenarian bank robber; Peter Strickland’s sumptuous and spooky tale, In Fabric; and Wash Westmoreland’s period biopic, Colette, starring Keira Knightley.
The program features 40 documentaries, with highlights to include veteran auteur Frederick Wiseman’s Monrovia, Indiana, and Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev, cementing Cork Film Festival as the destination festival for documentary in Ireland.
Illuminate, the Festival’s unique series of film and discussion events exploring mental health and wellbeing, is presented in association with Arts+Minds, the HSE Cork Mental Health Service and Irish Rail Iarnród Éireann. Screenings include Trauma is a Time Machine, For the Birds, and Ordinary People.
The fun-packed family strand will be screened throughout the Festival at The Gate Cinema. The program includes the highly-anticipated family friendly animations, The Grinch (November 10) and The Overcoat (November 17), which features the voice of Cork actor Cillian Murphy.
In total, 117 world-class shorts will be presented across the 10 days and will be considered for either the Grand Prix Irish Short or the Grand Prix International Short Awards. The winners of both, announced at the Awards Ceremony on November 18 at the Triskel, will be automatically longlisted for the Oscars®.
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2018 Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Unveils Full Line-up, STARFISH, WELCOME TO MERCY, and More
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Welcome To Mercy[/caption]
The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival today unveiled the remainder of the massive line-up for the third edition, with highly anticipated TIFF Midnight Madness premieres IN FABRIC and THE WIND, World Premiere of brand new Vinegar Syndrome restoration of clown slasher BLOOD HARVEST and first-ever Secret Screening.
The films also completed the brand new Head Trip program lineup of films that push the boundaries of horror with Starfish and The Clovehitch Killer, and introduces the expansion of six shorts blocks, including the return of the showcase of locally made chills Home Invasion (previously Local’s Only) and new LGBT block Slayed: LGBT Horror Shorts, co-presented by NewFest.
The festival will return to Nitehawk Cinema, Syndicated, LIU Kumble Theatre, Videology, and the Wythe Hotel Cinema; and this year the IFP’s Made in NY Media Center.
STARFISH (East Coast Premiere)
USA | 2018 | 101 Min | Dir. A.T. White
Presented by Brooklyn Fireproof Stages
Stricken with grief, Aubrey is having a difficult time coping with the death of her best friend, Grace. To combat the overwhelming sadness, she breaks into Grace’s apartment and quietly picks up where her late friend left off, caring for her pets and using her possessions, not to mention sleeping in her bed. The next morning, though, everything’s changed. The streets outside are desolate, fires engulf the city, and people are being attacked by something inhuman. There’s only one person who can potentially save the world: Aubrey, thanks to clues found on mixtapes left by Grace.
An endlessly creative gambit that fuses multiple genres, including cosmic horror, director A.T. White’s STARFISH is one of the most ambitious feature debuts in years. It’s also one of the year’s best films, an emotionally potent, frequently terrifying, and wholly disorienting mash-up of a film that plays like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND as remixed by H.P. Lovecraft.
WELCOME TO MERCY (World Premiere)
USA | 2018 | 104 Min | Dir. Tommy Bertelsen
After returning to her family’s native Latvia to mourn her father’s death, American single mother Madaline begins suffering from inexplicable visions and physical scars, all of which point to the gift—or curse, rather—the Holy Stigmata. To seek help, Madaline travels to an island convent and ingratiates herself within the sisterhood of nuns. But much to her detriment, Madaline’s new acquaintances pray to something far more sinister than the Holy Spirit, leading her to realize that those newfound afflictions come from anywhere but Heaven.
Providing an effectively retro spin on modern religious horror, WELCOME TO MERCY utilizes the best sacrilegious genre tropes, everything from evil nuns to weaponized crosses, to weave a powerful story of tested faith and hard-earned redemption. Anchored by a fierce performance from lead actress Kristen Ruhlin, who also wrote the screenplay, WELCOME TO MERCY packs a serious punch.
IN FABRIC (East Coast Premiere)
UK | 2018 | 118 Min | Dir. Peter Strickland
There’s something off about the vintage department store in which single mother Sheila finds herself looking for a fancy new dress. The store’s employees are nearly robotic in their stone-faced dedication to sales, the mannequins seem to be whispering to one another, women nearly trample each other to enter as its doors, and its television commercials are hypnotically sinister. Nevertheless, Sheila buys a lavish red dress. Little does she know, her life will soon be overcome by a series of random misfortunes, supernatural phenomena, and living nightmares. And, it seems, the dress is to blame.
Having already proven his singular merits with the giallo-minded brain-scrambler BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO and the gorgeously erotic DUKE OF BURGUNDY, British filmmaker Peter Strickland ups the ante with IN FABRIC, his most awe-inspiring film to date. Combining the aesthetics and influences of his two previous films into a barrage of visually dazzling surrealism, IN FABRIC is an inventive, unsettling and mesmerizing ghost story about the doomed pursuit of happiness. Cynicism has rarely been this stunning.
THE WIND (East Coast Premiere)
USA | 2018 | 87 Min | Dir. Emma Tammi
A devastating scene sets the stage for a haunting account of demonic terror on the American frontier in the 1800’s. Lizzy and Isaac welcome a couple, Emma and Gideon from Illinois, who take up residence in a nearby abandoned cabin. Not long after, Emma fears she is being hunted down by an evil spirit who wants her unborn baby and violently succumbs to her mania. This event reawakens Lizzy’s buried memories of her encounters with the demons on the land and when Isaac leaves to accompany Gideon back to Illinois, Lizzy is left alone to wage battle against the evil on the land.
Emma Tammi’s narrative feature debut makes astoundingly affective use of the American Western frontier. The wide open, barren and desolate wastelands combined with the atmospheric sounds of the elements and unrelenting gusts of wind (or are they whispers from the dead?) create a sense of helplessness unmatched by the claustrophobia of a haunted house and makes a strong case that we need more western horror films in our lives.
POSSUM (US Premiere)
UK | 2018 | 85 Min | Dir. Matthew Holness
Following an undisclosed shame, former puppeteer Philip returns to his shabby Norfolk childhood home and only surviving family member, gratingly unpleasant stepfather Maurice. Hanging off the edge of his own sanity, Philip tries to destroy his horrid memories which are encapsulated in the form of Possum, a large and hideous spider puppet. But Possum only pretends to be dead.
Under-appreciated character actor Sean Harris (recently recognizable as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE antagonist Solomon Lane) stars with an insanely nuanced and chilling portrayal of isolation and trauma. Shot on 35mm with a fittingly yellow-and-brown-rotted palette and a puppet that delivers some seriously disturbing imagery, writer-director Matthew Holness’ first feature is a twisted psychological thriller that deep-dives into a bleak surrealist nightmare.
PARTY HARD, DIE YOUNG (North American Premiere)
Austria | 2018 | 93 Min | Dir. Dominik Hartl
To celebrate graduating from high school, Julia and her classmates take off for a party-resort in Croatia to experience the banger to end all bangers. As the epic party rages on, Julia’s best friend Jessica mysteriously disappears leaving nothing but a suspicious text and a Snapchat photo with her face scratched out. Then another friend slips off a roof to her death—and Julia receives another Snapchat photo. Uh oh.
Energetic and aesthetically gorgeous (mostly shot at the actual X-Jam Festival), Austrian director Dominic Hartl’s glossy homage to ‘90s teen slasher films is high on style while choosing to embrace new age connectivity when so many recent genre films would rather run from it, updating the slasher for the iPhone and EDM generation.
THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER (East Coast Premiere)
USA | 2018 | 109 Min | Dir. Duncan Skiles
Young churchgoing boy scout Tyler’s reputation takes a hit when his crush finds a pornographic bondage picture in his dad’s truck, believing it to be his. Ostracized from his group of friends, he falls in with Kassi, a teenage orphan obsessed with the Clovehitch Killer, a serial killer with a penchant for the clove hitch knot who once terrorized their town and was never found. After discovering more photos hidden in his dad’s work shed he’s left to fear the worst.
Rising talent Charlie Plummer is excellent as the innocent Tyler, but it’s Dylan McDermott playing his father, Don, who really owns the film with his paternal suburban transformation that’s every bit as campy and creepy as you would hope it to be. Directed by newcomer Duncan Skiles and written by Christopher Ford, frequent collaborator of Jon Watts on films such as CLOWN and COP CAR, this small town thriller has a sinister edge and sports an exciting narrative device that flips the story on its head.
GHOST MASK: SCAR (US Premiere)
South Korea | 2018 | 81 Min | Dir. Takeshi Sone
Miyu travels from Japan to Seoul, Korea trying to track down her older sister who has been missing for two years. Shortly after she arrives she meets plastic surgeon Hana, who invites her home to meet her lover Hyoshin. The three women cohabitate as Miyu’s search for her sister intensifies meanwhile Hyoshin, haunted by disturbing nightmares, becomes suspicious of Hana and Miyu’s relationship.
A tragic story of two Japanese sisters separated at childhood and plagued by jealousy, negligence and abandonment, GHOST MASK: SCAR is directed and shot by prolific cinematographer Takeshi Sone (he also shot recent festival hit ONE CUT OF THE DEAD) and features a ricocheting narrative that comes together beautifully in a bloody, gonzo final act.
BLOOD HARVEST (World Premiere of New Restoration)
USA | 2018 | 88 Min | Dir. Bill Rebane
Within the slasher movie canon, there are the indisputable giants: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers. But what about Marvelous Mervo? Sure, he’s not the omnipresent icon that those other homicidal maniacs are, but there’s something to be said about a madman who’s played by eccentric ’80s music star Tiny Tim dressed like a clown and who leaves victims’ bodies hanging upside down in a barn like cattle.
If that sounds weird enough on its own, just wait until you experience the entirety of BLOOD HARVEST, one of the strangest ’80s slasher movies you’ll ever see. BHFF is thrilled to host the world premiere of a newly restored print of director Bill Rebane’s unnerving and often uncomfortably hilarious oddity, courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome. Full of gnarly kills, Tiny Tim’s signature brand of weirdness, and relentless unpredictability, BLOOD HARVEST is ripe for watch-it-with-a-rowdy-crowd rediscovery.
SECRET SCREENING
??? | ??? | ?? Min | Dir. ???
For the first time ever, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is excited to present a mystery film, and, sorry, we won’t give any easy-to-solve hints for all of you proud cinema sleuths out there! Okay, fine, we’ll give you a little something: Our inaugural “Secret Screening” film will either be a can’t-miss new horror gem that everyone, both genre folks and general film lovers alike, will be talking about for years to come or an unexpected yet prescient genre classic from deep in the vaults. Sorry, that’s all you’re going to get. Now let the speculation begin!
Home Invasion 2018 – annual showcase of local NYC films featuring the popular shorts block and a spotlight screening of Yedidya Gorsetman’s dark indie sci-fi EMPATHY, INC.
EMPATHY, INC. (East Coast Premiere)
USA | 2018 | 96 Min | Dir. Yedidya Gorsetman
In the “high risk, high reward” world of venture capitalists, rising star Joel lets it all ride on a deal that, sadly for he and his actress wife, painfully falls apart, leaving him with no other choice than to move in with his wife’s parents for financial reasons. Feeling like a huge failure, Joel unexpectedly finds some hope via a run-in with an old friend, whose business partner asks Joel to invest in a new experiential technology called XVR, or Xtreme Virtual Reality, the latest product of which allows wealthy folks to see life through the eyes of the less fortunate. Unfortunately for Joel, XVR’s makers’ intentions aren’t what they seem.
Shot in stark black-and-white and going into exceedingly dark narrative places, NYC-bred director Yedidya Gorsetman’s EMPATHY, INC. is the best kind of lo-fi sci-fi, an intimate character piece rooted in big ideas and blending doses of brutal horror into its cerebral tapestry. Comparable to an extended and decidedly bleak BLACK MIRROR episode, EMPATHY, INC. is a homegrown slice of pure genre-mashing ambition.
2018 BHFF Shorts
HOME INVASION Covering the expansive scope of the genre from coming-of-age body horror to child-eating boogeymen, our annual local filmmaker showcase proves you don’t have to go far to find the future of horror. It’s right here at home—standing right next to you. An Actor Prepares, dir. Carey Knight, The Trouble With One-Night Stands, dirs. A.K. Espada, Belén Ferrer, Hushed, dir. Chase Kuertz, El Cuco is Hungry, dir. Daniel Garcia, Abeyance, dir. Charles Beale, The Woods, dir. Robbie Lemieux, Fell, dir. Holly Voges, Lucy’s Tale, dir. Chelsea Lupkin, 4:48 Psychosis, dir. Ariel Sinelnikoff, Witch Hunt, dirs. Conor Shillen, Justin Paul Ramirez, Midnight Delivery, dir. Nathan Crooker, The Invaders, dir. Mateo Márquez BHFF shorts are back with a vengeance! Full line-up of new and returning blocks and even more ways to leave you shaking in your seat! NIGHTMARE FUEL There’s no messing around here—it’s time to go straight for the jugular. Sleep will be scarce thanks to the sadists, human-eating fairies, shape-shifting demons, and faith-based reapers that inhabit these shorts. Milk, dir. Santiago Manghini (Canada), Welcome to Bushwick, dir. Henry Jinings (USA), Special Day, dir. Teal Greyhavens (USA), BEC, dir. Tony Morales (Spain), Salt, dir. Rob Savage (United Kingdom), Mother Rabbit, dir. Emma Skoog (Sweden), Nose Nose Nose EYES!, dir. Jiwon Moon (South Korea), The Girl in the Snow, dir. Dennis Ledergerber (Switzerland), Feast on the Young, dir. Katia Mancuso (Australia) HEAD TRIP At its boldest, horror doesn’t play by any rules. As you’ll see in these unclassifiable shorts, complete with punk-rock lunatics, malevolent aliens, lovesick fish, and nefarious pre-teens, the genre’s scope is boundless. The Beaning, dir. Sean McCoy (USA), Tick, dir. Ashlea Wessel (Canada), Voyager, dir. Kjersti Helen Rasmussen (Norway), Atomic Spot, dir. Stéphanie Cabdevila (France), Le otto dita della morte, dir. Frédéric Chalté (Canada), A Death Story Called Girl, dir. Nathalia Bas-Tzion Beahan (USA), 42 Counts, dir. Jill Gevargizian (USA), Proceeds of Crime, dir. James Chappell (Australia) CREEPING TERROR What’s more frightening than visceral shocks? When it comes to these shorts, it’s the dread-soaked and methodically unsettling horror marked by otherworldly presences, murderous weather, and soul-claiming ghouls. Jump-scares need not apply. Blood Runs Down, dir. Zendashe Brown (USA), Circle, dir. Martin Melnick (USA), Acid, dir. Just Philippot (France), Essere Amato, dir. Nathalia Bas-Tzion Beahan (USA), Bye Bye Baby, dir. Pablo S. Pastor (Spain) SLAYED: LGBT HORROR SHORTS Co-Presented by NewFest Representing the underrepresented, this collection of divinely crafted queer shorts mines chills from unexpected places, such as a close-minded church community, a sinister artist, and an erotically haunting dreamland, to explore connection and love through a horror lens. The Sermon, dir. Dean Puckett (United Kingdom), Disposition, dir. Eric Thirteen (USA), Payment, dir. Ben Larned (USA), Instinct, dir. Maria Arida (USA), Islands, dir. Yann Gonzalez (France)
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DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman, BIRDS OF PASSAGE Among 10 Films in Official Competition at 62nd BFI London Film Festival
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DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman[/caption]
Encompassing a mixture of oddball comedies, genre-bending kaleidoscopic dramas, entertaining crime capers, haunting ghost stories and nail-biting thrillers, the 62nd BFI London Film Festival revealed the ten contenders for the Official Competition, with 50% of the films from a female director or co-director.
The Festival will welcome as Jury President Academy Award-nominated director of ROOM (LFF Official Competition 2015), Lenny Abrahamson, whose long-awaited film adaptation of Sarah Waters’ horror novel THE LITTLE STRANGER will be released this September. For the first time, the winner of the Best Film will receive their Award in front of a public audience at a special screening on Saturday October 20th at Vue Leicester Square.
The 10 films in Official Competition are:
BIRDS OF PASSAGE sees co-directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent, LFF 2015) return to the Festival with their latest offering – a sprawling, spiritual exploration of family conflict and tribal warfare, laced with heady symbolism and surrealist flashes. Set during the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia bear witness to the thrilling rise and fall of the indigenous Wayuu clan in remote Colombia. A mystical meditation on colonialism, tribalism and modernism.
Nicole Kidman is astonishing, and almost unrecognizable, in Karyn Kusama’s (The Invitation, LFF 2015) brooding thriller DESTROYER. Kidman plays Erin, a jaded police detective haunted by her past and still reeling from the trauma of her experience years later, who is forced to confront her demons in order to close the case that almost destroyed her. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany and Toby Kebbell.
Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with HAPPY AS LAZZARO. A delightfully singular time and genre-bending rumination on the fate of innocence when faced with corruption and greed. Set in rural Italy, this is the tale of Lazzaro, a beautiful peasant so sweet natured he is often mistaken for simple-minded. A magnificent blend of Italian class struggle, folk tales, biblical allegory and pop culture reference, Rohrwacher deservedly shared the Best Screenplay award at Cannes for this kaleidoscopic work.
The World Premiere of HAPPY NEW YEAR, COLIN BURSTEAD. is Ben Wheatley’s triumphant return to the Festival after Free Fire (LFF 2016). A poignantly funny and razor-sharp observation of English family dysfunction. Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended family’s New Year celebrations. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit. Starring Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Asim Chaudhry, Doon Mackichan, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell and Sam Riley.
Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with IN FABRIC, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie. A haunting ghost story, laced with lashings of oddball humour and set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a strange department store, it follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
JOY, directed by Sudabeh Mortezai (whose debut feature Macondo competed for the LFF’s Sutherland Award in 2014), presents a vital and hugely affecting drama that tackles the vicious cycle of sex trafficking in modern Europe. It follows the life of Joy, a young Nigerian woman, who works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her young daughter in Vienna.
Iconic director Zhang Yimou presents SHADOW, set during China’s Three Kingdom’s era (AD 220-280). Blood spills in this visually stunning feature, as a great king and his people will be expelled from their homeland, with jaw-dropping combat scenes. Director Zhang presents mind-blowing visual design that revolutionises the colour palette, using water, calligraphy and graphic interpretations of yin and yang.
Academy Award© winner László Nemes follows up his critically acclaimed debut Son of Saul (Official Competition nominee LFF 2015) with his feverishly ambitious second feature, SUNSET. Set in 1913, nearing the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on the eve of the First World War. Írisz Leiter is a hat maker who returns to Budapest years after her parents, respected milliners, sent her to be fostered under mysterious circumstances. A fugue-like meditation on the end of an empire; the brilliantly willful Írisz is our witness to the flickering innocence of a Europe about to be plunged into hell.
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN, directed by David Lowery, stars Robert Redford, in what will be his final big screen performance after recently announcing retirement. A brilliantly entertaining crime caper, based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, the self-styled ‘Houdini’ whose many audacious prison breaks included an Alcatraz flight in a homemade kayak, and whose last robbery was committed when he was 79. Offering bittersweet reflections on time and age, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is a testament to a free-spirit who steadfastly refused to go quietly. The film also stars Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck
TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG is a woozily gorgeous evocation of life on the fringe of society. Set during the summer of 1990, after Pinochet’s fall, democracy has returned to Chile. Three youngsters drive up to a woodland commune below the Andes, where they idle the summer away while their parents debate the future. In their isolated community, Sofia, Lucas and Clara face their first loves and fears while building up for New Year’s Eve. Youthful desire, ennui and mischief have rarely felt so tangible. The film is directed by Dominga Sotomayor.
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BEAUTIFUL BOY, IN FABRIC, A FAITHFUL MAN to Compete for Golden Shell at San Sebastian Film Festival
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Beautiful Boy[/caption]
L’homme fidèle / A Faithful Man (Louis Garrel), Baby (Liu Jie), Alpha, the Right to Kill (Brillante Mendoza), In Fabric (Peter Strickland), Beautiful Boy (Felix Van Groeningen) and Blind Spot (Tuva Novotny) will compete for the Golden Shell at the 66th San Sebastian Film Festival. These six films join the latest works from Icíar Bollaín, Claire Denis, Simon Jaquemet, Kim Jee-woon, Naomi Kawase, Isaki Lacuesta, Benjamín Naishtat, Valeria Sarmiento, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Markus Schleinzer, Juan Vera and Carlos Vermut in the running for the Festival’s official awards.
The French actor and director Louis Garrel (Paris, 1983) will present his second feature as a moviemaker after Les deux amis / Two friends (2015), selected for the Semaine de la Critique at Cannes. Garrel, who has worked as an actor with Bertolucci, Bonello, Hazanavicius and Honoré, stars in L’homme fidèle alongside Laetitia Casta and Lily-Rose Depp.
Liu Jie (Tianjin, China, 1968), winner of the Orizzonti Award in Venice for his first film, Mabei shang de fating / Courthouse on Horseback, addresses in Bao bei er / Baby the tale of an 19 year-old girl determined to save a sick girl in the context of the birth control imposed by the Chinese Government.
After competing in Cannes, Berlin and Venice, Brillante Mendoza (San Fernando, Philippines, 1960) will do so for the first time in San Sebastian with Alpha: The Right to Kill, set against the backdrop of the Philippine Government’s crackdown on drugs. Last year, Mendoza’s production Pailalim / Underground, Daniel Palacio’s debut, competed in New Directors.
The Swedish actress Tuva Novotny (Stockholm, 1979), who recently starred in Annihilation (2018) and Borg / McEnroe (Pearls 2017), makes her directorial debut with Blind Spot, looking at the blind spots of the mind through the relationship between a mother and daughter.
Peter Strickland (Reading, UK, 1973) has become a cult author with only three movies: Katalin Varga (2009), which competed in Berlin and was recognised with the European Discovery of the Year award, Berberian Sound Studio (2012), a competitor in Locarno, and The Duke of Burgundy (2014). His fourth feature film, In Fabric, follows the trail of a cursed dress.
Beautiful Boy is the first film shot in English by Felix Van Groeningen (Ghent, Belgium, 1977), who presented De helaasheid der dingen / The Misfortunates (2009) at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and Alabama Monroe (2013) in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, where he won the Audience Award. The film was also nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Beautiful Boy, based on the true story of a father’s struggle to rescue his son from drugs, stars Steve Carell and Timothée Chamalet and is produced by the winners of the Academy Award for Moonlight and 12 Years a Slave (Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner).
Now, a month before the Festival, we have already announced the eighteen competing films, as well as those to participate out of competition (Gigantes) or as special screenings (Tiempo después and Dantza). The closing film will be announced in the coming weeks.
ALPHA, THE RIGHT TO KILL
BRILLANTE MENDOZA (PHILIPPINES)
Cast: Allen Dizon, Elijah Filamor, Baron Geisler
Set against the background of the government’s crackdown on illegal drugs, the SWAT-led police force launches an operation to arrest Abel, a major methamphetamine distributor, with PO3 Moises Espino and his informant Elijah providing the intelligence. A violent battle breaks out in the slums between the SWAT and Abel’s gang. Abel flees the scene with his bag full of money and methamphetamines. The SWAT kills him, but before the investigators arrive at the crime scene, Espino makes off Abel’s bag.
BAO BEI ER / BABY
LIU JIE (CHINA)
Cast: Yang Mi, Guo Jingfei, Lee Hong-Chi, Wang Yanjun, Zhu Shaojun, Yan Surong
Born 19 years ago in Nanjing with the VACTERL syndrome, Jiang Meng was abandoned by her parents. With the help of her foster mother and Director Wang, today Jiang works in a hospital as cleaner. One day, Jiang encounters a man coming into the hospital with a newborn baby. She learns that the baby is a girl who also has the VACTERL syndrome, and that the father has decided not to care for her.
BEAUTIFUL BOY
FELIX VAN GROENINGEN (USA)
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Steve Carell, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan
Based on the bestselling pair of memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff, Felix van Groeningen’s film chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
BLIND SPOT
TUVA NOVOTNY (NORWAY)
Cast: Pia Tjelta, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Oddgeir Thune, Per Frisch, Marianne Krogh
Blind Spot centres on a mother as she struggles to understand her teenage daughter’s crisis, when tragedy strikes the whole family.
IN FABRIC
PETER STRICKLAND (UK)
Cast: Gwendoline Christie, Hayley Squires, Marianne Jean-Baptiste
In Fabric is set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
L’HOMME FIDÈLE / A FAITHFUL MAN
LOUIS GARREL (FRANCE)
Cast: Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Lily-Rose Depp
Marianne leaves Abel for Paul, his best friend and the father of her unborn child. Eight years later, Paul dies. Abel and Marianne get back together, arousing feelings of jealousy in both Marianne’s son, Joseph, and Paul’s sister, Eva, who has secretly loved Abel since childhood.
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Toronto International Film Festival Announces Explosive 2018 Midnight Madness Lineup
[caption id="attachment_31336" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
The Predator[/caption]
The Toronto International Film Festival this morning announced its explosive lineup of films in the 2018 Midnight Madness program that will screen every evening at 11:59pm.
“This year’s Midnight Madness slate promises another idiosyncratic confluence of established and emerging genre filmmakers,” said Peter Kuplowsky, Midnight Madness Programmer. “To complement some of the buzziest provocations on the festival circuit, I have sought to curate an eccentric array of World Premieres that demonstrate the dexterity of genre cinema as a canvas for both sublime satisfaction and stunning subversion. That includes the section’s two much-anticipated sequels, The Predator and Halloween, each of which boldly and brilliantly builds upon its mythic iconography to thrilling and surprising effect.”
Kuplowsky continues to put his fearless stamp on the program, starting with the opening film: the World Premiere of Shane Black’s The Predator, the director’s reinvention of the iconic film series. The lineup will also feature the highly anticipated World Premiere of Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The program closes with the North American Premiere of Diamantino, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s bizarre, genre-bending film that fascinated audiences at Cannes earlier this year. Midnight Madness will also present the North American Premiere of the electrifying Gaspar Noé’s Climax.
The films in this year’s lineup will feature strong performances by actors such as legendary Italian star Monica Bellucci, who plays the queen of a demonic underworld in the World Premiere of Nekrotronic, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. Other films include Peter Strickland’s highly anticipated In Fabric, which follows the life of a cursed dress, and the Canadian Premiere of Assassination Nation, directed by Sam Levinson.
Additional World Premieres from this year’s selection will include Emma Tammi’s The Wind; The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, directed by Henry Dunham; and Vasan Bala’s The Man Who Feels No Pain, the first Indian film ever selected for the Midnight Madness programme.
The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2018.
2018 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness Program
Assassination Nation Sam Levinson | USA International Premiere Climax Gaspar Noé | France North American Premiere Midnight Madness Closing Film Diamantino Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt | Portugal/France/Brazil North American Premiere Halloween David Gordon Green | USA World Premiere In Fabric Peter Strickland | UK World Premiere The Man Who Feels No Pain Vasan Bala | India World Premiere Nekrotronic Kiah Roache-Turner | Australia World Premiere Midnight Madness Opening Film The Predator Shane Black | USA World Premiere The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Henry Dunham | USA World Premiere The Wind Emma Tammi | USA World Premiere