 |
| Juliette Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria) gets a Mavericks talk! Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
TIFF, finally, released the official schedule for the
festival today, so festivalgoers best start their planning ASAP!
The new entries for TIFF 2014 include:
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Roger Waters The Wall
Sean Evans and Roger Waters, United Kingdom World Premiere
Filmed during Waters’ sold-out 2010–2013 “The Wall Live”
tour, Roger Waters The Wall delivers an exhilaratingly visceral experience of
rock ‘n’ roll showmanship and storytelling. And it does much more, illuminating
the music’s themes of war and loss as it follows Waters on a personally
revealing road trip.
The Sound and the
Fury
James Franco, USA
North American Premiere
The Sound and the Fury captures the lives and passions of
the Compsons, a once proud Southern family caught in a tragic spiral of loss
and misfortune. Based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winner author William Faulkner
and considered among the 20th century’s greatest works, The Sound and the Fury
encapsulates the universal theme of the death of honour, social injustice and
forbidden love.
Starring James Franco, Tim Blake Nelson and Joey King.
St. Vincent
Theodore Melfi, USA World Premiere
Maggie, a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn
with her 12-year-old son, Oliver. Forced to work long hours, she has no choice
but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbour, Vincent, a retired
curmudgeon with a penchant for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon
blossoms between the improbable pair. Together with a pregnant stripper named
Daka, Vincent brings Oliver along on all the stops that make up his daily
routine — the race track, a strip club, and the local dive bar. Vincent helps
Oliver grow to become a man, while Oliver begins to see in Vincent something
that no one else is able to: a misunderstood man with a good heart. Starring
Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O'Dowd, Terrence Howard, and
Jaeden Lieberher.
MASTERS
Foreign Body (Obce
Cialo)
Krzysztof Zanussi,
Poland/Italy/Russia World Premiere
A dashing young Italian in Poland finds himself caught
between two women — a novitiate nun and a ruthless corporate ladder-climber — in
this lacerating vision of contemporary Poland from master filmmaker Krzysztof
Zanussi. Starring Riccardo Leonelli, Agnieszka Grochowska, Agata Buzek and
Weronika Rosati.
Murder in Pacot (Meurtre à Pacot)
Raoul Peck, Haiti/France/Norway World
Premiere
After the terrible January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, a
privileged couple struggles to reinvent a life amid the rubbles of their villa
in Port-au-Prince’s upscale neighborhood of Pacot. Destitute and in desperate
need for money to repair their home, the couple decides to rent the remaining
habitable part of the villa to Alex, a high-level foreign relief worker, who
brings Jennifer, aka Andrémise, his Haitian girlfriend, a sassy and ambitious
young woman. Co-written with acclaimed author Lyonel Trouillot, the powerful
huis clos set in the earthquake’s urban and social ruins evokes a kind of
“Haiti Year Zero”. Starring Alex Descas, Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, Thibault
Vinçon and Lovely Kermonde Fifi.
The Tale of The
Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-hime no Monogatari)
Isao Takahata, Japan
North American Premiere
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo, a tiny girl grows
into an exquisite young lady, raised by an old bamboo cutter and his wife. From
the countryside to the grand capital city, even unseen she enthralls all who
encounter her, including five noble suitors. Ultimately she must face her fate,
the punishment for her crime. Based on the classic Japanese folktale, The Tale
of The Bamboo Cutter, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya is the newest film from
Studio Ghibli and the strikingly beautiful culmination of decades of
contemplation by its director, Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata. Starring
Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii and Nobuko Miyamoto.
Winter Sleep (Kis
uykusu)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Germany North American
Premiere
Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in Central
Anatolia with his young wife Nihal, with whom he has a stormy relationship, and
his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the
snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable
place that fuels their animosities.
TIFF DOCS
The Kingdom of Dreams
and Madness (Yume to kyôki no ohkoku)
Mami Sunada, Japan
North American Premiere
Granted unfettered access to the notoriously insular Studio
Ghibli, director Mami Sunada follows the three men who are the lifeblood of one
of the world’s most celebrated animation studios — the eminent director Hayao
Miyazaki, the producer Toshio Suzuki, and the elusive and influential “other
director” Isao Takahata, as they rush to complete production of Miyazaki’s The
Wind Rises and Takahata’s The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (Toronto
International Film Festival 2014 official selection).
The Years of Fierro
(Los años de Fierro)
Santiago Esteinou,
Mexico North American Premiere
The Years of Fierro tells the story of César Fierro, the
oldest Mexican prisoner on death row in the United States. César has waited for
an execution date for more than 30 years, always insisting that he is innocent.
This documentary is a reflection on justice, imprisonment and brotherly love,
through the eyes of César and his brother, Sergio. These two brothers hope to
meet again, no matter the time or the distance.
VANGUARD
The Voices
Marjane Satrapi, USA/Germany Canadian Premiere
This genre-bending tale centres around Jerry, a lovable but
disturbed factory worker who yearns for attention from a woman in accounting.
When their relationship takes a sudden, murderous turn, Jerry’s evil talking
cat and benevolent talking dog lead him down a fantastical path where he
ultimately finds salvation. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna
Kendrick and Jacki Weaver.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
Cut Bank
Matt Shakman, USA International Premiere
Twenty-five-year-old Dwayne McLaren, a former athlete turned
auto mechanic, dreams of getting out of tiny Cut Bank, Montana — the coldest
town in America. But his effort to do so sets in motion a deadly series of
events that change his life and the life of the town forever.
Tigers
Danis Tanović,
India/France/United Kingdom World Premiere
Devastated when he discovers the effects of the cheap,
locally-made drugs he peddles for a Pakistani pharmaceuticals firm, a young
salesman challenges the system and the powers that be, in this based-on-fact drama
from Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanović (No Man’s Land).
MAVERICKS
Mavericks Conversation With… Denzel Washington
and Antoine Fuqua
Denzel Washington is one of the film world’s most prominent
leading men, known best for his galvanizing portrayals of both real-life
figures (Malcolm X, The Hurricane, American Gangster) and fictional characters
(Philadelphia, Devil in a Blue Dress, Flight). Washington returns to the
Festival starring in The Equalizer, an intense thriller that reunites him with
director Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn’s Finest, Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen) for the
first time since their Oscar-winning collaboration on Training Day. In this
Mavericks conversation, Washington and Fuqua will take the stage to discuss
their own work as well as their remarkable collaborations.
Mavericks
Conversation With… Juliette Binoche
From the moment Juliette Binoche stepped from stage to
screen, her career has blazed with magnificent intensity. Discovered by
Jean-Luc Godard, who cast her in 1985’s Je vous salue, Marie!, Binoche has been
honoured for a succession of very fine and sensitive performances that have
earned her the main prizes at the Berlin, Venice, and Cannes film festivals,
ascending to the heights of Oscar fame when she won Best Supporting Actress for
her work in The English Patient. Admired for the visionary filmmakers she has
chosen to work with, and for the daring choices she has made as an actor, she’s
never afraid to throw herself completely and fully into a variety of roles. As
one of the most beloved and honoured actors in contemporary cinema, Binoche
discusses an extraordinary career that has taken her from Godard to Godzilla,
and her performance in the Festival selection Clouds of Sils Maria.
Mavericks
Conversation With… Reese Witherspoon
A singular presence in Hollywood blockbusters and independent
cinema alike, Reese Witherspoon specializes in defying expectations. With
plenty of great characters under her belt that have seen her evolve from child
star to comedic heroine (Legally Blonde) to dramatic powerhouse (Walk the Line),
Witherspoon stars in two films at the Festival this year. In Jean-Marc Vallée’s
Wild she plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman who overcomes a series of personal
tragedies by hiking 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail; and in The Good Lie
she’s an employment agency counsellor whose encounter with a trio of Sudanese
refugees opens both her heart and her view of the world beyond her Kansas City
home. The Academy Award®-winner will hit the stage for a special conversation
on the occasion of the premieres of her highly anticipated new films.
Mavericks
Conversation With… Richard Gere
Richard Gere’s long and diverse career spans from his
sensational series of screen roles in the ’70s and ’80s (Looking For Mr.
Goodbar, Days of Heaven, American Gigolo) to box-office hits (Pretty Woman, Runaway
Bride, Chicago), and has seen him collaborate with heavyweight directors such
Terrence Malick, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader and Robert Altman. Gere
appears in the Festival in Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind — which he also produced
— starring as a homeless man desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter
in one of his most vital roles yet. It’s the opposite of the slick roles with
which he became associated early on, and proof of his continued commitment to
risk-taking and self-reinvention. An artist disinclined to rest on his laurels,
Gere takes the stage in this Mavericks session to reflect on his diverse
four-decade career as movie star, sex symbol, style icon, political activist
and devoted Tibetan Buddhist.
Mavericks
Conversation With… Robert Duvall
In a career that has spanned over half a century, Robert
Duvall has perhaps embodied more facets of the American psyche than any other
single actor, appearing in some of the most iconic films ever made such as To
Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, Colors, The Apostle, M*A*S*H and Apocalypse
Now, as well as in the hugely popular television series The Twilight Zone and The
Fugitive. With his new film, The Judge, opening this year’s Festival, the
Academy Award-winning actor and director takes the stage to discuss his
extensive and fascinating body of work.
Mavericks
Conversation With… Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart makes his directorial debut at this year’s
Festival with his feature film Rosewater, a notable departure from his
satirical comedy as host of The Daily Show. In 2009, Iranian-Canadian
journalist Maziar Bahari, who has a distinguished career as a documentary
filmmaker, was imprisoned in Iran for five months after his appearance on
Stewart's show, accused of being an American spy. Bahari chronicled the
experience in his book Then They Came For Me, which became the inspiration for
Stewart’s Rosewater. In this Mavericks conversation, Stewart will talk about
making the leap from performing television comedy to directing big-screen drama
and will reflect on roles that journalism and satire occupy when they clash
with authority. Bahari will join Stewart on stage.
The 50 Year Argument
Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, USA Canadian Premiere
The world of New York intellectuals has often been
memorialized in books, but rarely on film. Martin Scorsese teams up with David
Tedeschi (editor on several Scorsese documentaries) to direct The 50 Year
Argument, a documentary tribute to The New York Review of Books whose 50-year
history saw it frequently on the frontlines of cultural and political debate.
The film features a wide array of interviews with the magazine’s international
contributors, all of whom exemplify the power of language to provoke,
illuminate and effect change. Sitting at the helm is Bob Silvers, who has
edited the magazine for its entire history, having done so alongside Barbara
Epstein until her death in 2006. In this Mavericks presentation, the screening
of the film will be followed by a conversation with Silvers and co-director
Tedeschi.
Do I Sound Gay?
David Thorpe, USA World Premiere
In his feature-length documentary debut Do I Sound Gay?,
journalist David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious and touching journey of
self-discovery, confronting his anxiety about “sounding gay.” Enlisting acting
coaches, linguists, friends, family, total strangers and celebrities, he
quickly learns that many people — both gay and straight — often wish for a
different voice. His personal journey uncovers layers of cultural baggage
concerning sexuality, identity, and self-esteem, gaining frank and funny
perspectives from public figures such as comedian Margaret Cho, actor George
Takei, sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, fashion guru Tim Gunn, and writer David
Sedaris. This Mavericks world-premiere presentation of Do I Sound Gay? is
followed by a live discussion between Thorpe and Savage, whose trademark wit
and insight promise a dynamic, stimulating conversation.
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
Julie Taymor, USA
International Premiere
Of all Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the
most phantasmagorical, with fairies, spells, and hallucinatory lovers. His
flights of fancy are well matched to the talents of Julie Taymor, who turns out
a production that’s visually breathtaking, funny, sexy, and darkly poetic. This
immersive, inventive cinematic experience took place during Taymor’s highly
acclaimed inaugural stage production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the new
Polonsky Center in Brooklyn, New York in 2013. Characteristic of Taymor, the
feats of visual imagination are ingenious and plentiful, but beating at the
centre of the film is an emotionally moving take on the deeper human aspects of
this beloved tale. Having gone from experimental theatre to rejuvenating the
Broadway musical with The Lion King, Taymor repeatedly takes risks on films,
from Frida and Across the Universe to Titus and The Tempest. In A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, she displays her creative powers in their peak form. After the
screening, Taymor will participate in an extended conversation about its
making.
Please visit www.tiff.net for the complete list of films and for
the festival schedule.
TIFF runs Sept. 4 -14
2014.
