TIFF Industry Online Daily Screening & Events Schedule

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

I Industry user access P Press user access Press & Industry B Buyer user access

* Availability per country on the schedule at TIFF.NET/INDUSTRY Daily Schedule Access TIFF Digital Cinema Pro September 10, 2020 at DIGITALPRO.TIFF.NET

NEW TODAY Films are available for 48 hours from start time.

10 AM AND TOMORROW THE ENTIRE LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE MY NAME IS FRANCESCO TOTTI TELEFILM CANADA FIRST LOOK EDT WORLD 85 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 106 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 51 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 111 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects Private Screening TIFF Industry Selects I B B I B I B THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN THE TRANSLATOR BABYSPLITTERS 90 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 113 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 105 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 119 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects Private Screening TIFF Industry Selects Private Screening B I B I B B MY HEART GOES BOOM! SAINT-NARCISSE THE GARDEN 90 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 101 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 115 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects B P B I P B

11 AM ANOTHER ROUND* THE DISCIPLE ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... SPRING BLOSSOM* EDT 116 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 127 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 114 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 73 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B I P B BEGINNING* UNDER THE OPEN SKY 125 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro GET THE HELL OUT 126 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection 96 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 77 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B DAVID BYRNE’S I P B I P B AMERICAN UTOPIA THE WAY I SEE IT 105 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro NIGHT OF THE KINGS SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 01 102 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection 93 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 97 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Special Event P Official Selection Official Selection I P B I P B I P B

TALKS

9:30 AM EDT 1:45 PM EDT 4 PM EDT Master Class Dialogues Perspectives VIOLA DAVIS & THE WRITERS’ ROOM NARRATIVE SOVEREIGNTY JULIUS TENNON 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks 75 min. | Bell Digital Talks TIFF Industry Conference TIFF Industry Conference TIFF Industry Conference I P B I P B I P B 2:45 PM EDT 5:30 PM EDT 12 PM EDT Perspectives Spotlight Microsession KILLER INSTINCTS: POWERHOUSE NEW UK TALENT ACROSS FALL 2020 WINDOWS TO THE WORLD: FROM PRODUCERS PROPELLING COM- FESTIVALS ART HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE MERCIAL SUCCESS 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks TIFF Industry Conference TIFF Industry Conference TIFF Industry Conference I P B I P B I P B I Industry user access P Press user access Press & Industry B Buyer user access

* Availability per country on the schedule at TIFF.NET/INDUSTRY Daily Schedule Access TIFF Digital Cinema Pro September 10, 2020 at DIGITALPRO.TIFF.NET

STILL AVAILABLE

SEP 9 APPLES HOLLER MY BEST PART TOVE 10 AM 90 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 90 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 110 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro EDT TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects I P B I P B P B P B

BABY DONE KARNAWAL PASSION SIMPLE 91 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 95 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 99 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects B P B P B

FALLING FOR FIGARO LA VERONICA THE TIES 104 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 105 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects TIFF Industry Selects B B I P B OFFICIAL SELECTION INDUSTRY SELECTS NOTTURNO THE TIES by Gianfranco Rosi by Daniele Luchetti Italy/France/Germany Italy/France world sales: world sales: MK2 FILMS THE MATCH FACTORY Sept. 9th · 10.00 am

Press & Industry Screening MY NAME IS Sept. 13th · 11.00 am FRANCESCO TOTTI TIFF Digital Cinema Pro by Alex Infascelli world sales: Public Screenings VISION DISTRIBUTION th Sept. 15th · 9.00 pm Sept. 10 · 10.00 am Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 1 Sept. 17th · 6.00 pm Bell Digital Cinema Sept. 18th · 9.00 pm MARKET SCREENINGS Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 Sept. 18th · 9.15 pm THE MACALUSO Tiff Bell Lightbox Cinema 4 SISTERS Paul & Leah Atkinson by Emma Dante Family Cinema world sales: CHARADES Sept. 12th · 10.00 am THE PREDATORS by Pietro Castellitto world sales: FANDANGO SALES Sept. 13th · 10.00 am

The times listed are in Eastern Standard Time (EST) Druk Another Round In their first collaboration since 2012’s fore and the men are faced with a choice: Oscar-nominated The Hunt, Thomas reckon with their behaviour or continue on Vinterberg reunites with actor Mads the same course. Mikkelsen for Another Round, a film that Directed with insight and energy by , 2020 ranks among each man’s best, most memo- Vinterberg, and driven by a great ensemble Danish 116 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) rable work. Once the brightest teacher at cast (Bonnevie, Millang, Lars Ranthe, and his high school, Martin (Mikkelsen) has ) with the incomparable Production Company: Zentropa Entertainments/ Film i Väst/Zentropa Sweden/Topkapi Films fallen into a seemingly permanent funk. Mikkelsen at its centre, Another Round is Producer: Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Kasper Dissing He’s barely present in his classes — the a boisterous and sobering comedy about Screenplay: Thomas Vinterberg, students and their parents even attempt an how men deal (and don’t deal) with aging Cinematographer: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen Editor: Anne Østerud, Janus Billeskov Jansen intervention — and his marriage is slowly — though underlying it all is a shared, Production Designer: Sabine Hviid dissolving. At a birthday celebration, his unnerving suspicion they may never have Sound: Jan Schermer, Hans Møller three closest colleagues (all men), cajole actually grown up in the first place. Principal Cast: , Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe, Maria Bonnevie teetotaller Martin into boozing along with STEVE GRAVESTOCK

Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media them. They get progressively drunker and International Sales Agent: TrustNordisk the shit-disturber of the group, Nikolaj Thomas Vinterberg was born in Copenhagen and graduated (Magnus Millang), tells them about an from the National Film School of Denmark. He co-founded the movement and directed its inaugural film, obscure philosopher who argued humans The Celebration (98), which screened at the Festival, as did aren’t born with enough alcohol in their (05), The Hunt (12), (16), and blood. As an “experiment,” he proposes they Kursk (18). His other features include (10) and all drink constantly throughout the day to Far From the Madding Crowd (15). Another Round (20) is maintain the “proper” blood-alcohol level his latest work. of 0.05%. Initially the boozing seems enormously beneficial. A reinvigorated Martin begins to engage with his students and shocks his long-suffering wife, Trine (Maria Bonnevie), with his new-found zest. But as the gang pushes their experiment further, issues that have been simmering for years come to the

39 DASATSKISI Beginning Submerged in feelings of restlessness, Yana experimental electronic composer Nicolás (Ia Sukhitashvili) sees a stranger’s reflection Jaar, who scored Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan Dea Kulumbegashvili looking back at her from the mirror. Along- (2015) and Pablo Larraín’s Ema (2019), side her son, George, and husband, David Beginning is an unsettling plummet down GEORGIA/FRANCE, 2020 (Rati Oneli), she is a Jehovah’s Witness a rabbit hole. Sukhitashvili, barefaced and Georgian 125 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) missionary in a predominantly Christian forthright, is brilliant as Yana. Not for the Orthodox mountainside village in Georgia. faint of heart, Kulumbegashvili’s latest Production Company: First Picture/Office of film Architecture/ZADIG FILMS The isolated community of Witnesses is pierces logic and challenges us to not only Executive Producer: Gaetan Rousseau, Carlos Reygadas, aghast when their Kingdom Hall is attacked see, but also feel the inexplicable horrors Steven Darty, Adrien Dassault, Paul Rozenberg during a service and the modest place of that can be endured by the vulnerable when Producer: Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Rati Oneli Screenplay: Dea Kulumbegashvili, Rati Oneli worship left in ashes. The steadfast couple at the mercy of the almighty. Cinematographer: Arseni Khachaturan now stands at the crossroads of continuing DOROTA LECH Production Designer: Guram Navrozashvili to reside in hostile territory and honour- Sound: Séverin Favriau Original Score: Nicolás Jaar ing their commitment to a higher power. Dea Kulumbegashvili was born and raised in Georgia. She Principal Cast: Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, David manages to obtain CCTV footage of studied film directing at Columbia University School of the Kakha Kintsurashvili, Saba Gogichaishvili Arts in New York. She wrote and directed the short films the attack and Yana, who is searching for Invisible Spaces (14) and Léthé (16). Beginning (20) is her International Sales Agent: Wild Bunch International purpose in life, becomes fixated on justice. first feature film. Her path to retribution leads her to a con- frontation with a local police officer (Kakha Content advisories: sexual violence, explicit violence Kintsurashvili) that triggers an irreversible series of traumatic events. Beginning is the harrowing and sensorial debut feature from Dea Kulumbegashvili, whose debut short, Invisible Spaces, was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2014. Impeccably shot on 35mm by Kulumbegashvili’s collaborator Arseni Khachaturan; edited by Matthieu Taponier, who is known for editing László Nemes’s Son of Saul; and with original music by

43 David Byrne’s American Utopia Deeply thoughtful and wildly exuberant, “Hell You Talmbout” is a showstopper, with David Byrne’s theatrical concert American the band chanting out the names of Black Spike Lee Utopia lit up Broadway last year with Byrne’s Americans killed by police. Lee’s powerful trademark mix of rhythm and ideas. Working visuals bring it right up to the present. USA, 2020 with a vibrant new band and dancers, the Calling on all of us to think, connect, English 135 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) former Talking Heads frontman turned his engage, and dance, David Byrne’s American music into an antidote to America’s current Utopia unites the brain and the backside, Production Company: 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks/ Participant/River Road/Warner Music Entertainment divisions. Spike Lee’s latest joint brings all which may be exactly what we need right Executive Producer: Jeff Skoll, David Linde, this joyous stagecraft to the screen in a vital now. Diane Weyermann, Len Blavatnik, David Bither, call to connect with one another, to protest CAMERON BAILEY Charlie Cohen, Kurt Deutsch, Bill Pohlad, Christa Zofcin Workman, Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick, injustice, and, above all, to celebrate life. Meredith Bennett, Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, The cerebral first song, “Here,” from Spike Lee was born in Atlanta and raised in Brooklyn. His Patrick Catullo Byrne’s 2018 American Utopia , debut feature, She’s Gotta Have It (86), won the Prix de la Producer: David Byrne, Spike Lee Jeunesse at Cannes. His many films include the features Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras, ASC opens in a mood of cool reflection, but School Daze (88), Do the Right Thing (89), Jungle Fever (91), Editor: Adam Gough, ACE that soon builds as Byrne is joined on Malcolm X (92), Clockers (95), Bamboozled (00), 25th Hour Sound: Philip Stockton, Paul Hsu, Craig Kyllonen stage by vocalist-dancer Tendayi Kuumba (02), Inside Man (06), Miracle at St. Anna (08), Chi-Raq (15), Principal Cast: David Byrne, Jacquelene Acevedo, BlacKkKlansman (18), and Da 5 Bloods (20), and the docu- Gustavo Di Dalva, Daniel Freedman, Chris Giarmo, and dancer-vocalist Chris Giarmo, with mentaries 4 Little Girls (97) and When the Levees Broke: A Tim Keiper, Tendayi Kuumba, Karl Mansfield, their uncanny mix of artful gesture and Requiem in Four Acts (06). David Byrne’s American Utopia Mauro Refosco, Stéphane San Juan, Angie Swan, dance-floor funk. Then, on come nine more (20) is his latest work. Bobby Wooten III musicians, including percussion masters Canadian Distributor: Crave from the US, Brazil, France — even Toronto’s US Distributor: HBO Content advisory: strobe effect own Jacquelene Acevedo. “Most of us are immigrants,” Byrne says at one point, “and we couldn’t do it without them.” They launch into “Everybody’s Coming to My House.” The classics are all here, too, but trans- formed — the aching beauty of “This Must Be The Place”; “Once in a Lifetime” now a euphoric anthem. In a film of countless highlights, Byrne’s cover of Janelle Monáe’s

OPENING NIGHT • 35 The Disciple From a young age, Sharad (Aditya Modak) With an incomparable mentor and execu- Chaitanya Tamhane was nurtured into the world of Indian clas- tive producer in Alfonso Cuarón, and a INDIA, 2020 sical music through his father’s passion and years-long education in the world of Indian Marathi, Hindi, English, Bengali scholarly pursuits. As a vocalist, he is fixated classical music he previously knew little 127 minutes | Colour/DCP 4K (D-Cinema) on succeeding where his father failed in about, Tamhane displays an adept commit- Production Company: Zoo Entertainment Pvt Ltd the competitive performance niche, study- ment to his own craft with The Disciple. The Executive Producer: Alfonso Cuarón, Rakesh Mehra ing intonation and precise phrasing under fidelity of this portrait of an artist is sure to Producer: Vivek Gomber Screenplay: Chaitanya Tamhane the tutelage of a strict and quietly demanding resonate with audiences as he continues to Cinematographer: Michał Sobocin´ski master, Guruji. His lifetime of surrender and establish his transcendent cinematic voice. Editor: Chaitanya Tamhane sacrifice is guided by the secretly recorded CAMERON BAILEY Production Designer: Pooja Talreja, Ravin D. Karde Sound: Anita Kushwaha, Naren Chandavarkar theoretical teachings of Maai, an almost Principal Cast: Aditya Modak, Dr. Arun Dravid, mythical figure who espouses unbending Chaitanya Tamhane is a writer-director from Mumbai. Sumitra Bhave, Deepika Bhide Bhagwat, discipline. Despite Sharad’s devotion to his His films include the short Six Strands (11) and his feature Kiran Yadnyopavit, Abhishek Kale, Neela Khedkar, directorial debut, Court (14), which premiered at Venice and Makarand Mukund, Kristy Banerjee, Prasad Vanarse master and his art, the realities of life and the won Best Director at the Mumbai Film Festival. The Disciple modern world — with its rapidly degrading International Sales Agent: New Europe Film Sales (20) is his latest feature. US Sales Agent: Endeavor Content musical standards that threaten to render classical techniques extinct — force him into an existential crisis. Moving on from his critically lauded 2014 debut, Court, director Chaitanya Tamhane meticulously dedicates every frame to ob- serving and illuminating the relationship between student and master. Retaining his layered style, he brings a depth of insight to Sharad’s creative journey. The serene score transports audiences from one expertly composed scene to the next, as if entranced by not only the motivations but also the internal, sublime experience of the artist.

49 Tao Chu Li Fa Yuan Get the Hell Out Taiwan’s parliament, the Legislative Yuan, Director Wang choreographs this chaos has an infamous reputation for sessions with a breathless deployment of gory I-Fan Wang that get so spirited its members have been slapstick, satirical sing-alongs, and hi- known to get into physical brawls on the larious, fourth-wall-shattering graphics, TAIWAN, 2020 legislature floor. Enter the imagination of generating a formal silliness and elasticity Mandarin 96 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) I-Fan Wang, who, in his uproariously enter- akin to Stephen Chow’s mid-’90s nonsense taining feature debut, cheekily satirizes comedies. Production Company: Greener Grass Culture Co., Ltd. Executive Producer: Han-Hsien Tseng this escalation from filibusters to fisticuffs Yet another demonstration of the zom- Producer: Yi-Sen Ko with a premise that sees these passion- bie genre’s undying dexterity with social Screenplay: I-Fan Wang, Shih-Keng Chien, Wan-Ju Yang ate politicians mutate into ravenous and political critique, Get the Hell Out is Cinematographer: Seven Tsai Editor: Po-Han Shih, I-Fan Wang flesh-eating zombies. ambitious and infectious entertainment by Production Designer: Shih-Hui Wang Our vantage point on this political a filmmaker who recognizes the mileage to Sound: James Lin bloodbath is split between two young par- be gained from making shrewd choices. As Original Score: Jimmy Lin, CK Chang Principal Cast: Bruce Ho, Megan Lai liamentary representatives: the brash and the film itself warns at its onset: “A wrong

International Sales Agent: Greener Grass Culture Co., Ltd. badass Hsiung (Megan Lai), and her meek, movie makes you suffer for only 90 minutes. unrequitedly lovesick confidant, security A wrong government makes you suffer for guard Wang (Bruce Ho). Cruelly kicked four years.” out of office after her martial arts prowess PETER KUPLOWSKY makes her a liability to her corrupt and sex- ist rivals, Hsiung must rely (reluctantly) I-Fan Wang is a writer, director, and cinematographer who on Wang to enter the political arena on her graduated from the Taipei National University of the Arts. His short films include02-06 (17), which won Best Short behalf and fight (literally) for her policies. at the Taipei Film Awards and Best Director at Taiwan’s As she secretly directs Wang’s words and Golden Harvest Awards, and Temple of Devilbuster (20). actions via headset, her strategy is compro- Get the Hell Out (20) is his feature directorial debut. mised when nearly the entire government falls victim to a pathogen that renders them undead — and so ensues the deadliest assem- bly of Hsiung and Wang’s lives.

57 La Nuit des Rois Night of the Kings When a young man is incarcerated in and dance (and a cameo by icon Denis Côte d’Ivoire’s largest prison, La MACA, he Lavant), Night of the Kings is a mesmeriz- Philippe Lacôte finds himself entering a world as dangerous ing meditation on the art of storytelling and and complex as the one he was navigating its role in survival. CÔTE D’IVOIRE/FRANCE/CANADA/ on the outside. While ostensibly overseen KIVA REARDON SENEGAL, 2020 French, Dioula, Nouchi (Ivorian slang) by a team of rundown guards, the prison is 93 minutes | Colour / DCP (D-Cinema) really ruled by Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu, Philippe Lacôte grew up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He has directed short films, documentaries, and series, including Production Company: Banshee Films/ seen at TIFF last year in Les Misérables). Somnambule (96), Cairo Hours (03), Chronicles of War in the Wassakara Productions/Peripheria/ On his last legs, and seeing his power Ivory Coast (08), the TIFF selection To Repel Ghosts (13), and Yennenga Production waning, Blackbeard makes one final play to Producer: Delphine Jaquet, Yanick Létourneau, Run (14). Night of the Kings (20) is his latest film. Ernest Konan, Yoro Mbaye keep his power over the prison: on the night Screenplay: Philippe Lacôte of the red moon, he designates MACA’s new- Cinematographer: Tobie Marier Robitaille CSC comer “Roman.” Editor: Aube Foglia Production Designer: Samuel Teisseire In a griot role that recalls Scheherazade Sound: Pierre-Jules Audet, Emmanuel Croset in One Thousand and One Nights, Roman Original Score: Olivier Alary (Koné Bakary) must recount a story until Principal Cast: Koné Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, the sun rises if he wants to keep his life and Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Abdoul Karim Konaté, the prison from falling into chaos. Roman Anzian Marcel, Laetitia Ky, Denis Lavant spins a story about Zama King, a notorious Canadian Distributor: Axia Films gang leader whose life spanned from an- International Sales Agent: Memento Films International cient times to the fall of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, and was filled with intrigue and magic. With his sophomore feature — his first, Run (2014), debuted at Cannes in Un Certain Regard — writer-director Philippe Lacôte refuses all genre expectations, flow- ing between a prison drama and visually stunning sequences that depict Roman’s elaborate tale. Further incorporating song

71 One Night in Miami Fresh on the heels of her Academy Award Should successful Black entertainers speak Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk and her ac- out against racism? How best can Black USA, 2020 claimed lead performance in the Watchmen celebrities serve the Black community? Are English television series, Regina King makes her money and fame reward enough for humili- 110 minutes | Colour/DCP 4K (D-Cinema) feature directing debut with a drama that ation? Working with screenwriter Kemp Production Company: ABKCO Films/Snoot draws entertainment and activism, fame and Powers to bring his original stage play to Entertainment principle, together on one fabled evening. the screen, King and her actors attack these Executive Producer: Regina King, Kemp Powers, Paul O. Davis, Chris Harding One Night in Miami imagines a night conversations with the urgency, depth, and Producer: Jody Klein, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder in February 1964, when real-life friends humour the subject still demands today. Screenplay: Kemp Powers Cassius Clay, Jim Brown, , CAMERON BAILEY Cinematographer: Tami Reiker Editor: Tariq Anwar and Malcolm X gather to celebrate Clay’s Production Designer: Barry Robison win over Sonny Liston, which made him Regina King was born in Los Angeles. She began her profes- Sound: Paul Ledford, Andy Hay the heavyweight champion of the world. sional acting career at age 15. Her many acting credits include Original Score: Terence Blanchard the features Boyz n the Hood (91), Poetic Justice (93), Friday Principal Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Triumphant and playful, Clay (Eli Goree) (95), Jerry Maguire (96), How Stella Got Her Groove Back Leslie Odom Jr. — who’d soon take the name Muhammad (98), Enemy of the State (98), Down to Earth (01), Ray (04), Canadian Distributor: Amazon Ali — is looking to party, but both he and Year of the Dog (07), and If Beale Street Could Talk (18), for US Distributor: Amazon football star Brown know that’s only a tem- which she won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for International Sales Agent: ICM Partners porary escape from the civil rights abuses Best Supporting Actress; and the television series Southland US Sales Agent: ICM Partners (09–13), American Crime (15–17), for which she won two best that limit the lives of even celebrated Black actress Emmys, Seven Seconds (18), which also earned her a Americans. In one potent early scene, best actress Emmy, and Watchmen (19). One Night in Miami Brown, played by Aldis Hodge (Clemency), (20) is her feature directorial debut. visits the home of a white benefactor (Beau Bridges) and gets a harsh reminder of just Content advisory: racist language where he stands. When Clay and Brown are joined at a swank Miami motel by the sober-minded Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and the flashy pop star Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), the four men begin with banter but soon root down to the hard questions facing them.

76 Shiva Baby Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby focuses on Sennott and including Polly Draper and Fred Emma Seligman twentysomething Danielle (), Melamed, is spot-on. USA/CANADA, 2020 a perennial student who’s been lying to her Sharp-witted and hilarious, Shiva Baby English supportive but overbearing parents about is an assured, vibrant debut from Seligman. 77 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) her faltering academic career. Then again, It’s also a homecoming: Seligman was a Production Company: Thick Media/Neon Heart she has a lot of secrets she’s keeping, includ- jury member at TIFF’s Sprockets festival Productions/It Doesn’t Suck Productions/Dimbo ing her relationship with an older man, for kids when she was nine, she was part Pictures/Irving Harvey Executive Producer: Rhianon Jones, Rachel Sennott, Max (Danny Deferrari), who also gives her of TIFF’s Next Wave Committee, and her Victoria Ku, Martin Altmann, Fiona Altmann, Sue Collins money. Hauled off to a shiva by her parents, short filmShiva Baby — the basis for this Producer: Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro, Emma Seligman, she’s mortified to encounter her embittered feature — screened at the TIFF Next Wave Kieran Altmann Screenplay: Emma Seligman ex Maya (Molly Gordon from ), Film Festival in 2019. Cinematographer: Maria Rusche followed by other people who make things CAMERON BAILEY Editor: Hanna Park increasingly more awkward for Danielle. Production Designer: Cheyenne Ford Sound: Hunter Berk, Matthew Bunker Much to her chagrin, she finds out that many Emma Seligman is a Canadian filmmaker based in New York. Original Score: Ariel Marx of them have secrets of their own. (Like She is a graduate of NYU’s Undergraduate Film & Television Principal Cast: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, many people who aren’t especially truthful, program. She directed the short films Shiva Baby (18) and Polly Draper, Danny Deferrari, , Void (18). Shiva Baby (20) is her first feature film. she’s deeply offended when she discovers someone’s been lying to her.) US Sales Agent: Paradigm Shiva Baby is a caustically affectionate TIFF NEXT WAVE comedy about tightly knit families and Celebrating the highs and lows (and everything in between) Presented by RBC. of young voices in today’s fast-moving world. This film has communities, and the comfort and anguish been selected for the next generation of film lovers by the they’re often responsible for. Seligman TIFF Next Wave Committee. expertly structures the film, as Danielle lurches from one potentially catastrophic encounter to another — each one threat- ening to expose her multiple fabrications — while navigating spilled drinks, wailing babies, and an endless string of friends and relations anxious to give Danielle advice. Seligman’s stellar ensemble cast, led by

82 SHORT CUTS: PROGRAMME 1

David История Цивилизации 4 North A Zach Woods History of Civilization Jordan Canning, Howie Shia USA, 2020 English Zhannat Alshanova CANADA, 2020 No dialogue 12 minutes | Colour/H264 KAZAKHSTAN, 2020 Russian 11 minutes | Colour/H264 15 minutes | Colour and Black and White/H264 Will Ferrell, William Jackson Harper, and Fred Hechinger A woman facing an inevitable loss escapes her loneliness are all in top form in this hilarious comedy about a therapy As she prepares to leave her home in Kazakhstan for a new — and the constant din of the hospital — through vivid session that goes off the rails. David marks the directorial life in London, a young university tutor feels conflicting childhood memories. This animated NFB collaboration debut of actor Zach Woods (Silicon Valley, The Office). emotions about her decision, in this remarkably astute between Festival alumni Jordan Canning and Howie JASON ANDERSON and compelling drama by Zhannat Alshanova. JA Shia is a tender, bittersweet exploration of both grief and the connections that can be found in unlikely places. LISA HALLER

In Sudden Darkness Still Processing Found Me Tayler Montague Sophy Romvari David Findlay USA, 2020 English CANADA, 2020 English CANADA, 2020 French 13 minutes | Colour/H264 17 minutes | Colour/H264 9 minutes | Colour/H264

Film critic and programmer Tayler Montague moves Memories are awakened and immediately captured on Winter drags on, but when a young man stumbles upon the behind the camera to create this beautifully observed and camera after a collection of photos and videos that had dynamic world of underground wrestling his life takes a deeply felt portrait of a Black family in the Bronx who find been stored unseen for decades is unearthed. Director turn, in this remarkably impressive exploration of self that what they need in each other when the power goes out in Sophy Romvari’s profoundly elegant and deeply personal pushes boundaries and blurs genre expectations. LH the summer of 2003. JA documentary pieces together a family’s past of unspoken grief. LH

Marlon Brando Vincent Tilanus NETHERLANDS, 2020 Dutch 20 minutes | Colour/H264

In this warm, wise, and irrestibly energetic film by Dutch director Vincent Tilanus, the tight friendship between two queer teens, Cas and Naomi, is imperilled by the many complications that go along with growing up and becom- ing who you need to be. JA

SHORT CUTS • 108 Spring Blossom Suzanne (writer, director, and star Suzanne A subtle dance budding with innuendo, Suzanne Lindon Lindon) is a 16-year-old Parisian girl bored Spring Blossom is a remarkable and risqué FRANCE, 2020 with life. From the outside, everything debut heralding a burgeoning talent. Now French appears lovely in her charmed world, but 20 years old, Lindon penned the script when 73 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) the everyday monotony of school and her she was 15. Directed with poise and per- Production Company: Avenue B Productions relationships with friends and family feels formed with an elegance beyond her years, Producer: Caroline Bonmarchand completely uninspired. Suzanne is on the Lindon authentically exudes the passion of a Screenplay: Suzanne Lindon Cinematographer: Jérémie Attard verge of womanhood, and her inner world young woman who gets swept away without Editor: Pascal Chavance brews with fantasy — but the ennui grows ever losing herself. Bursting with detail and Production Designer: Caroline Long Nguyen like a weed, and kissing her own reflection a je ne sais quoi charm that seems uniquely Sound: Guilhem Domercq, Rémi Durel, Julie Tribout Original Score: Vincent Delerm won’t nourish her blooming sexuality. French, Lindon’s story is simultaneously Principal Cast: Suzanne Lindon, Arnaud Valois, Passing a theatre in Paris’s 18th arron- fresh and wholly universal. Florence Viala, Frédéric Pierrot, Rebecca Marder dissement on her way to class, she notices a DOROTA LECH Canadian Distributor: Axia Films 35-year-old actor named Raphaël (Arnaud International Sales Agent: Luxbox Valois). While stewing in his own feelings Suzanne Lindon is a French director, writer, and actor. Spring of listlessness, he is preparing to play the Blossom (20) is her first film. character of Erastes — the word in ancient Greece for an adult man in a relationship with a pubescent boy. Despite their differ- ences in age, Suzanne and Raphaël discover in each other an answer to their lackadaisi- cal routines, and Suzanne finds herself balancing on a fine line between innocence and agency. But like a Gauloises inelegantly paired with a grenadine-lemonade, the rela- tionship, though tempting, is ill-matched. Immersed in the world of grown-ups and adult choices, Suzanne begins questioning the pitfalls of blossoming too quickly.

84 The Way I See It Images matter. That’s what Pete Souza stood for, hearing perspectives from other Dawn Porter learned in his job as a White House photogra- Obama insiders such as former Deputy USA, 2020 pher under two transformative presidencies, National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and English those of and Ronald Reagan. former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha 102 minutes | Colour/H264 When he went to work for Obama as Chief Power. The film captures the hope and anxi- Production Company: Ace Content/Jaywalker Pictures/ Official White House Photographer, he set a ety of this current, pivotal election year in Platform One Media goal “to create the best photographic archive which US democracy will decide which Executive Producer: Justin Barocas Producer: Evan Hayes, Laura Dern, Jayme Lemons, of a president that had ever been done.” He images represent its future. Dawn Porter achieved that with images that became Beyond politics, The Way I See It is a Cinematographer: Clair Popkin, Keith Walker famous — collected in his book Obama: An testimony to the power of photography. Editor: Jessica Congdon Original Score: Buck Sanders, Brandon Roberts, Intimate Portrait — such as the one taken in Decades from now, the debates that raged Marco Beltrami the Oval Office of a five-year-old Black boy in the Oval Office will be a distant memory. With: Pete Souza touching President Obama’s hair. But the images will last. Canadian Distributor: Universal Studios Canada During the decades Souza spent in photo- CAMERON BAILEY US Distributor: Focus Features, MSNBC Films journalism and in the White House, he kept his opinions to himself. But when Donald Dawn Porter grew up in . She attended Trump became president, Souza couldn’t Georgetown University Law School, later becoming a pro- ducer and founding Trilogy Films. She made her directorial hold back. He surprised himself, becoming debut with the award-wining documentary Gideon’s Army an Instagram superstar by posting photos (13). Her other works as director include Spies of Mississippi that placed Obama in stark contrast to (14), Trapped (16), the documentary series Bobby Kennedy Trump on countless issues — race, health for President (18), and John Lewis: Good Trouble (20). The care, gun control, climate change, LBGTQ+ Way I See It (20) is her latest film. equality, and more. Souza compiled them in the book Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents. PLANET AFRICA 25 Filmmaker Dawn Porter also knows the Launched in 1995 for a decade-long run at the Festival, Planet Africa brought together films from across the African power of images from her documentaries continent and diaspora to showcase Black creativity. Now, such as John Lewis: Good Trouble and Bobby in the age of Black Lives Matter, we continue to celebrate Kennedy for President. In telling Souza’s the voices that this programme first amplified 25 years ago. personal story, she simultaneously tells the story of Obama’s presidency and what it

SPECIAL EVENTS • 105 Subarashiki Sekai Under the Open Sky In her complex and brilliantly textured A nuanced fresco of Japanese society, as redemption drama Under the Open Sky, well as a character study revolving around Miwa Nishikawa Miwa Nishikawa explores the tensions, the larger-than-life Mikami — masterfully insecurities, small joys, and frustrations interpreted by Yakusho in one of his best JAPAN, 2020 of Mikami (Koji Yakusho), a middle-aged performances to date — Under the Open Japanese 126 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) ex-yakuza who must adjust to his “new nor- Sky brings the pains and hopes of life to the mal” when he is released from prison after silver screen, reminding us of how precious Production Company: “Under the Open Sky” Production Committee serving a 13-year sentence for murder. the experience of sharing emotions with Producer: Asako Nishikawa, Taichi Ito, Eiji Kitahara Mikami’s code of conduct, deeply rooted others really is. Screenplay: Miwa Nishikawa in the rules of the yakuza society he belonged GIOVANNA FULVI Cinematographer: Norimichi Kasamatsu Editor: Ryuji Miyajima, Tomomi Kikuchi to, does not fit into Japan’s orderly social Production Designer: Keiko Mitsumatsu welfare system. The world into which he Miwa Nishikawa was born in Hiroshima. She received a Sound: Mitsugu Shiratori is suddenly catapulted is one he doesn’t degree in literature from Waseda University, and apprenticed Original Score: Masaki Hayashi under Hirokazu Kore-eda before embarking on a directorial Principal Cast: Koji Yakusho, Taiga Nakano understand. Being pitied or looked down on career. Her films include Wild Berries (03), Sway (06), Dear International Sales Agent: Gaga Corporation is not part of his cultural baggage; he does Doctor (09), and the Festival selections Dreams for Sale not comprehend the social grammar of gov- (12) and The Long Excuse (16). Under the Open Sky (20) ernment aid aimed at finding him poorly is her latest film. paid odd jobs. Even the predatory media, which initially offered to give Mikami money and help him find his long-lost mother, soon reveal their malevolent intention: to exploit his past and present life experiences for their success- ful, sensational TV program. If it weren’t for Tsunoda (Taiga Nakano), a young and well-meaning TV director who genuinely wants to help Mikami, life outside prison or the yakuza wouldn’t really be worth caring for.

90