‘The Aeronauts’, ‘Lucy In The Sky’, ‘Our Lady Of The Nile’ join TIFF line-up
Toronto International Film Festival top brass announced on Tuesday (13) The Aeronauts and Wasp Network among a cluster of additions to Galas and Special Presentations, and also unveiled Contemporary World Cinema, which Our Lady Of The Nile will open, as well as Masters, and Wavelengths.
Tom Harper’s ballooning adventure The Aeronauts starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones will receive its Canadian premiere in Galas, suggesting a Telluride world premiere slot, while Olivier Assayas’ spy saga Wasp Network with Penélope Cruz and Edgar Ramírez gets a North American premiere in Special Presentations after the Venice world premiere.
New to Special Presentations are world premieres of Noah Hawley’s Lucy In The Sky starring Natalie Portman as a returning astronaut who has had a transcendent experience; Gregor Jordan’s romantic drama Dirt Music with Kelly Macdonald as a resident of an Australian fishing town stuck in a loveless marriage; and Daniel Radcliffe in Jason Lei Howden’s kidnapping action comedy Guns Akimbo.
Giuseppe Capotondi’s art heist tale The Burnt Orange Heresy is the second new addition to Galas. The new arrivals round out the Gala and Special Presentations programmes at 20 and 55 selections, respectively.
A slate of 48 films in Contemporary World Cinema includes 21 works directed and co-directed by woman, such as Jenna Bass’ South African road movie Flatland, Mati Diop’s Cannes jury grand prize winner Atlantics, and Sharipa Urazbayeva’s tale of a Kazakh mother’s struggle to protect her family in Mariam.
The section includes Ladj Ly’s Cannes hit Les Misérables, and Guatemalan auteur Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona. The section opens with Atiq Rahimi’s Our Lady Of The Nil , which follows a group of Rwandan girls in a Catholic boarding school and is one of eight selections from the African continent.
International programmer Kiva Reardon is the new lead programmer for the section. Cameron Bailey, Brad Deane, Giovanna Fulvi, Steve Gravestock, Dorota Lech, Michael Lerman, Michèle Maheux, and senior director of film Diana Sanchez contributed.
The Masters section features 11 titles curated by lead programmer Deane, who continues in his role as director of TIFF Cinematheque and a member of the festival’s Platform selection committee. There is a world premiere for Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein’s Devil Between The Legs, about a warring old couple and their maid who eventually takes matters into her own hands. Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson is back with About Endlessness, a series of vignettes documenting our lack of awareness, and the line-up includes Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor.
Now in its 19th edition, Wavelengths comprises 37 titles made up of four experimental short film programmes, two curated pairings, and 10 features curated and overseen by Andréa Picard, with contributions from members of TIFF’s international programming team – Deane, Fulvi, Lech, and Reardon — and programming associate Jesse Cumming.
The 44th annual TIFF runs from Sept. 5-15.