Daily Screening & Events Schedule

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SEPTEMBER 13, 2020

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10 AM AN OLD LADY THE KID DETECTIVE MODERN PERSUASION THE WARRIOR QUEEN OF JHANSI EDT 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 97 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 87 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 102 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Private Screening TIFF Industry Selects Private Screening Private Screening P B P B B I P B

ASIA LIFE AS IT SHOULD BE MR. JONES THE WHALER BOY 85 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 107 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 119 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 90 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Private Screening Private Screening Private Screening Private Screening B I B I P B I P B

THE BARCELONA VAMPIRESS THE MARRIAGE ESCAPE THE PREDATORS MONKEY BEACH 103 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 103 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 105 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro XX min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Private Screening Private Screening Private Screening TIFF Industry Selects I B I B I B I P B

11 AM 180° RULE I CARE A LOT NEW ORDER VIOLATION EDT 83 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 118 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 86 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 107 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B B I P B I P B

40 YEARS A PRISONER THE INHERITANCE NOTTURNO THE WATER WALKER 110 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 102 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 13 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Special Event Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B I P B I P B I P B

76 DAYS MLK/FBI SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 04 93 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 104 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 98 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B I P B I P B

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10 AM EDT 12 PM EDT 1:15 PM EDT 3:15 PM EDT Spotlight Microsession Microsession Microsession UKRAINIAN PROJECTS READY FOR THE FUTURE OF FESTIVALS HARNESSING MEDIA TO MAKE GLOBAL APPETITE FOR DIVERSE INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE CONTENT CREATES OPPORTUNITY 60 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Conference 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks FOR CANADIAN TALENT TIFF Industry Conference I P B TIFF Industry Conference 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks I P B I P B TIFF Industry Conference I P B 10 AM EDT 1 PM EDT 2:15 PM EDT 4:30 PM EDT Spotlight In Conversation With... CAN’T SKIP FILMING SAOIRSE RONAN Microsession Press Conference IN PORTUGAL 50 min. | Bell Digital Talks FUSION: THE MUSIC, THE MOVIE, CONCRETE COWBOY 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks In Conversation With… AND THE MONEY 45 min. | Bell Digital Talks TIFF Industry Conference I P B 60 min. | Bell Digital Talks Press Conference I P B TIFF Industry Conference 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 13, 2020 at DIGITALPRO.TIFF.NET

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SEP 12 THE BIG HIT KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS SILVER SKATES: 10 AM 106 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 88 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 81 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro MAKING OF & FOOTAGE EDT Private Screening TIFF Industry Selects Private Screening 136 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro I P B P B I B Private Screening B CURVEBALL - A TRUE STORY. THE MACALUSO SISTERS THE REASON UNFORTUNATELY. 94 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 82 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro THE SPACEWALKER 108 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Private Screening Private Screening 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Private Screening I B I P B Private Screening B I B MAGIC MOUNTAINS ROCKFIELD: THE STUDIO IN BETWEEN DYING 82 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro ON THE FARM THE UNFAMILIAR 89 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects 91 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 89 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro TIFF Industry Selects I B Private Screening Private Screening P B B B

SEP 12 A SUITABLE BOY (EPISODES 1–6) FALLING SHORT CUTS PROGRAMME 03 WOLFWALKERS 11 AM 349 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 112 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 96 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 103 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro EDT Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection Official Selection I P B P B I P B I P B

BEANS THE NEW CORPORATION: SUMMER OF 85 92 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro THE UNFORTUNATELY 100 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection NECESSARY SEQUEL Official Selection I P B 106 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro I P B Official Selection DOWNSTREAM TO KINSHASA I P B TRUE MOTHERS* 88 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro 139 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Special Event QUO VADIS, AÏDA? Official Selection I P B 104 min. | TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Official Selection I P B Watch TIFF anywhere with Bell.

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™Tor™ orontoontnto Intn ernaerner tionio al Filmm FestF ival Inc., used under license e. 40 Years A Prisoner In 1978, a raid on the revolutionary group traumatic encounters with authorities in a Tommy Oliver MOVE’s commune in Philadelphia ended major US city — culminating in a 1985 bomb- USA, 2020 with the death of a police officer. Under ing by police that killed 11 people, including English highly questionable circumstances, nine five children. In its discussions with diverse 110 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) MOVE activists — all of them Black — community members, 40 Years A Prisoner Production Company: Confluential Films/ received maximum sentences of between raises compelling questions about why Freedom Road Productions/Get Lifted Film Co. 30 and 100 years in prison. Young married MOVE’s unique form of radical action was Executive Producer: Keith Gionet, Shelby Stone, Mike Jackson, John Legend, Derek Dudley, couple Debbie Africa and Mike Africa, perceived as a threat. Oliver has achieved Common, Kelly Ryan, Adam Platzner, expecting a child at the time, were among recent acclaim for his photography of the Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, those convicted. Debbie gave birth to Mike Black Lives Matter movement in cities Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson Producer: Tommy Oliver Africa Jr. inside prison walls, and he would across the US, and the same vibrant, pas- Screenplay: Tommy Oliver spend the next 40 years fighting for the sionate observation of Black advocacy and Cinematographer: Tommy Oliver release of his parents and the other MOVE collective resistance resonates throughout Editor: Tommy Oliver, Joe Kehoe Sound: David Kitchens, David Barber members. this film. Original Score: John Jennings Boyd Filmmaker Tommy Oliver documents CAMERON BAILEY Principal Cast: Mike Africa Jr. Mike Africa Jr.’s decades-long investigation and research into what really happened the Tommy Oliver was born in Philadelphia and studied econom- US Distributor: HBO day of the siege, diving into the conflicting ics and digital media at Carnegie Mellon University. He has International Sales Agent: Propagate Content, LLC produced numerous short films and features. He directed testimonies of those behind it and the effect the short films Second Chances (09) and Adjournment (11), of MOVE’s activism and way of life on the and the feature 1982 (13), which played the Festival. 40 Years rest of the community. With wide-ranging a Prisoner (20) is his latest film. access to archival footage and extensive interviews with MOVE members, neigh- Content advisories: racialized violence, racist language bours, journalists, former police officers, and politicians, Oliver crafts a comprehen- PLANET AFRICA 25 sive and searing examination of race, police Launched in 1995 for a decade-long run at the Festival, Planet Africa brought together films from across the African brutality, and criminal justice bias that will continent and diaspora to showcase Black creativity. Now, seem all too familiar to viewers today. in the age of Black Lives Matter, we continue to celebrate MOVE’s story remains largely untold in the voices that this programme first amplified 25 years ago. mainstream media even today, despite their

SPECIAL EVENTS • 94 76 Days The opening sequences feel like a genre Director Hao Wu has a strong track record Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, movie — science-fiction, zombie horror, making Chinese documentaries that reso- Anonymous apocalyptic thriller. We watch hospital nate with international audiences. Here he workers, encased in PPE so that we only teams with Wuhan collaborators Weixi USA, 2020 Mandarin see their eyes behind foggy goggles, as Chen and others, along with US producer 93 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) they race from one patient to another. At Jean Tsien (Asian Americans). Production Company: 76 Days LLC the hospital doors, a desperate crowd is 76 Days will be a lasting work of art for Executive Producer: Bryn Mooser, Roberto Grande, clamouring for entry. The overwhelmed future generations trying to understand Geralyn White Dreyfous, Naja Pham Lockwood workers can only admit a few people at this pandemic. Producer: Hao Wu, Jean Tsien Cinematographer: Anonymous, Weixi Chen a time. THOM POWERS Editor: Hao Wu For all the fantastical elements, this is Sound: Anonymous, Weixi Chen the reality of 2020. The filmmakers of Hao Wu is a Chinese-American writer, director, editor, and International Sales Agent: Dogwoof 76 Days capture an invaluable record documentarian. He received his BSc. in biology from the US Sales Agent: Creative Artist Agency University of Science and Technology of China, his MSc. in of life inside Wuhan, China, ground molecular biology from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, zero for the outbreak of COVID-19. On and his MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of January 23, the city of 11 million people Business. His films as director includeBeijing or Bust (05); went into a lockdown that lasted 76 days. The Road to Fame (13); People’s Republic of Desire (18), which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at South by This film concentrates mainly on medical Southwest; the short All in My Family (19); and 76 Days (20). workers and patients to give a pulse-racing account of what it was like to survive. Weixi Chen is a video reporter for Esquire China. His docu- 76 Days excels beyond mere reportage. mentary shorts have been supported by Tencent News and First Documentary Lab, and have won awards at the Hong The camera work is so strong that you Kong International Festival and the Caixin Media Awards. could frame still images. In the face of fear 76 Days (20) is his feature directorial debut. and uncertainty, we also witness perse- verance and humour, as medical workers Anonymous use magic markers to decorate their plas- tic outfits. One memorable figure is a head Content advisories: illness, dead bodies nurse who never fails to make a human connection with patients, even under the most dire circumstances.

36 Khate Farzi 180° Rule Sara (Sahar Dolatshahi), a beloved school untenability of rectitude. Samadi’s pierc- teacher, lives in Tehran with her husband, ing family drama plunges into the pitfalls Farnoosh Samadi Hamed (Pejman Jamshidi), and their five- of tradition, providing a glimpse into the year-old daughter, Raha. They are prepar- customary Iranian family structure while IRAN, 2020 ing to attend a wedding in northern Iran, adapting universal notions of remorse and Persian 83 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) but an unheralded work obligation for penance. Where moral dilemmas can usually Hamed throws a wrench into the wheels be perceived in one of two ways, 180° Rule is Production Company: Ali Mosaffa Productions Executive Producer: Mahan Heidary of the family plan. Sara is determined to a zero-sum portrait of atonement. Producer: Ali Mosaffa join the celebration, but stern and stub- DOROTA LECH Screenplay: Farnoosh Samadi born Hamed will not grant her permission Cinematographer: Masoud Salami Editor: Meisam Molaei to make the long journey with their child. Farnoosh Samadi was born in Iran. She graduated from the Production Designer: Siamak Karinejad When reasoning and sweet talk fail, dogged Fine Arts Academy in Rome. She directed the short films Sound: Amirhossein Ghasemi Sara devises a plan to flout her husband’s The Silence (16), Gaze (17), and The Role (18). 180° Rule (20) Original Score: Peyman Yazdanian is her first feature. Principal Cast: Sahar Dolatshahi, Pejman Jamshidi, authority. But an unforeseeable event Azita Hajian, Hassan Pourshirazi, Amirreza Ranjbaran, changes the family’s fortune and ensures Content advisory: traumatic scene Sadaf Asgari, Mohammad Heidari, Aylin Jahed that Sara’s trespass surfaces. Stealth and calculated choices are no longer possible, and in the blink of an eye, the pair are bar- relling toward a collision. Though the lens focuses on Sara’s plight, glimpses into the lives of her students further illuminate the trials of being born a woman in a country where what is desired and what is permitted are often at impos- sible odds. Inspired by true events and marking the beginning of a trilogy about secrets and lies, 180° Rule is the debut feature from writer-director Farnoosh Samadi. Cloaked under the veil of straightforward storytelling, the film lays bare the fallacy and

37 I Care A Lot Parens patriae refers to a government’s Part cautionary exposé of all-too-real J Blakeson obligation to protect those of its citizens elder abuse rackets, part welcome excuse UNITED KINGDOM, 2020 deemed too vulnerable to care for them- to pit the wickedly entertaining Pike and English selves. Although altruistic in intent, it Dinklage against each other in a game of 118 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) is a principle that has been exploited to uproarious reprisals, I Care A Lot barrels Production Company: Black Bear Pictures forcibly place senior citzens under the along a twisty trajectory rife with terribly Executive Producer: Andrea Ajemian, Sacha Guttenstein care and control of court-appointed dark, but darkly funny, behaviour — as well Producer: Teddy Schwarzman, Ben Stillman, Michael Heimler, J Blakeson guardians. With his sardonic thriller I Care as adamant reminders to please respect your Screenplay: J Blakeson A Lot, writer-director J Blakeson (The elders. Cinematographer: Doug Emmett Disappearance of Alice Creed) lays out the CAMERON BAILEY Editor: Mark Eckersley Production Designer: Michael Grasley duplicitous means by which these guardians Sound: Jared Detsikas can overmedicate, gaslight, swindle, and J Blakeson was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, Original Score: Marc Canham even kidnap their elderly wards, all within and studied film and literature at the University of Warwick. Principal Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, His credits as director include The Disappearance of Alice Eiza González, Dianne Wiest, Chris Messina, the bounds of the law. Creed (09), which premiered at the Festival, The 5th Wave Isiah Whitlock Jr., Macon Blair The ice-cool Marla Grayson (Rosamund (16), the BBC miniseries Gunpowder (17), and I Care A Lot Canadian Distributor: Elevation Pictures Pike) is one such unscrupulous profiteer. (20). International Sales Agent: STXinternational Having made a mint selling off the assets US Sales Agent: Creative Artists Agency (CAA) of the dozens of retirees trapped in her permanent care, she and her partner Fran (Eiza González) stumble upon a veri- table golden goose in the form of Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), a mark with no apparent family or debt, only a tidy fortune to be mined. But, while applying their scam, Marla and Fran soon discover that Ms. Peterson is not who they thought she was, and that their actions have disturbed the designs of a crime lord (Peter Dinklage) who will stop at nothing to protect his mother.

60 MLK/FBI MLK/FBI performs the vital task of examin- Pollard doesn’t back away from the murky Sam Pollard ing J. Edgar Hoover’s relentless campaign areas of the story — including the FBI wire- USA, 2020 of surveillance and harassment against taps alleging King’s non-monogamous English Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, when King relationships with over 40 women, which 104 minutes | Colour/DCP 4K (D-Cinema) is celebrated across political spectrums as a the FBI attempted to use to humiliate King Production Company: Tradecraft Films moral hero, it’s jolting to confront the years and break his spirit. The film grapples with Executive Producer: David Friend, Charlotte Cook, when US agents targeted him as a villain. how historians should treat such nefarious Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, Kate Hurwitz, Dana O’Keefe, Steven Farneth Inspired by the work of historian David recordings. Producer: Benjamin Hedin Garrow, the film uses recently declassi- King’s life was cut short at age 39. Hoover’s Screenplay: Benjamin Hedin, Laura Tomaselli fied files to study the FBI’s motives and FBI reign lasted 48 years. Today, we see their Cinematographer: Robert Chappell Animator: mindbomb films methods. In the 1950s and ’60s, when Black legacies continue in a new wave of protests Editor: Laura Tomaselli people started mobilizing to fight racial and pushback. This film is a crucial way to Production Designer: Dedalus Wainwright discrimination, Hoover saw the movement connect the past to the present. Original Score: Gerald Clayton as a communist plot. Rather than support THOM POWERS US Sales Agent: Cinetic Media equality, the FBI sought to undermine King through wiretapping and blackmail, in what Sam Pollard was born in Harlem. His work as an editor and former FBI director James Comey calls “the producer spans over 40 years. He is known for editing the Spike Lee filmsMo’ Better Blues (90), Clockers (95), 4 Little darkest part of the bureau’s history.” Girls (97), and Bamboozled (00). Pollard’s credits as director Filmmaker Sam Pollard has been im- include episodes of the series Eyes on the Prize (90); Slavery mersed in US racial politics for decades, by Another Name (12); Two Trains Runnin’ (16); and the TIFF from his collaborations with Henry Hampton selection Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me (17). MLK/FBI and Spike Lee to his own documentaries. (20) is his latest film. He applies his mastery of archival footage to draw upon eclectic sources, from news- Content advisories: racialized violence, police violence reels to Hollywood secret-agent movies. With visuals rooted in the ’50s and ’60s, he overlays contemporary audio interviews from multiple perspectives, including King’s colleagues Andrew Young and Clarence B. Jones.

67 Nuevo orden New Order Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is un- Intense, fast-paced, and unapologetic, afraid to take on difficult, often incendiary Franco’s film paints a picture of the devas- Michel Franco subject matter, and his latest feature is his tating failure that societies can experience most ambitious and prescient to date. A when the gap between classes is left MEXICO, 2020 cautionary tale set during a violent protest unchecked. While New Order speaks to the Spanish 88 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) in Mexico City, New Order challenges us to Latin American experience, the film reso- contemplate the depths of the fallout that nates well beyond it, capturing the current Production Company: Teorema/LES FILMS D’ICI Executive Producer: Lorenzo Vigas, Diego Boneta, can occur when the tenuous social fabric global crisis. Cecilia Franco, Charles Barthe we all depend on completely falls apart. DIANA SANCHEZ Producer: Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios, The streets are in chaos during a wedding Cristina Velasco L. Screenplay: Michel Franco in a posh neighbourhood in Mexico City. Michel Franco was born in Mexico City. He earned a degree Cinematographer: Yves Cape Bride Marianne (Naian Gonzaléz Norvind), in film direction from the New York Film Academy and began Editor: Oscar Figueroa Jara, Michel Franco frustrated by her family’s refusal to help out making films with his production company, Lucía Films. His Production Designer: Claudio Ramírez Castelli directorial credits include Daniel and Ana (09), After Lucía Sound: Raúl Locatelli a former employee’s ill wife, decides to take (12), A los ojos (14), Chronic (15), and the Festival selection Principal Cast: Naian González Norvind, Diego Boneta, the woman to a clinic herself, hoping to get April’s Daughter (17). New Order (20) is his latest film. Mónica del Carmen, Fernando Cuautle, Eligio Meléndez, back before the judge arrives to officiate Darío Yazbek her marriage. She is deterred by the upris- Content advisories: sexual violence, explicit violence, International Sales Agent: The Match Factory horror US Sales Agent: ICM Partners ing that has spread through the city and given the military an excuse to take over. Capitalizing on this opportunity to further stratify the class system, the authorities round up any member of the upper classes found outside their neighbourhoods, send them to holding cells, and then ransom them back to their families, who are tricked into believing the protesters carried out the kidnappings. In this new order, both rich and poor are captives of military rule, with the wealthy unwittingly financing their own takeover.

70 Notturno Known for his deep immersion into the An assembly of carefully composed Gianfranco Rosi communities and environments in which images and sounds, the film possesses an ITALY/FRANCE/GERMANY, 2020 he films, Gianfranco Rosi often takes years apparent serenity that seems under constant Arabic, Kurdish to craft each of his works. While he has threat amid battered buildings and distant 100 minutes | Colour/DCP (D-Cinema) been creating powerful portraits of people sounds of violent destruction — a reminder Production Company: Stemal Entertainment/ and places for over 25 years, it was his that everything could collapse back into 21UNO FILM/RAI CINEMA/LES FILMS D’ICI/ award-winning 2016 filmFire at Sea — a wartime terror at any moment. Rosi’s careful NO NATION FILMS GmbH/ MIZZI STOCK ENTERTAINMENT harrowing and humane account of migrants and patient study reveals the acute sense of Executive Producer: Donatella Palermo off the Sicilian coast on Lampedusa — that humanity and resilience of people living in Producer: Donatella Palermo, Gianfranco Rosi brought him wide international acclaim. an unfathomable environment and reality. Screenplay: Gianfranco Rosi Cinematographer: Gianfranco Rosi Rosi returns to the Festival this year with BRAD DEANE Editor: Jacopo Quadri, Fabrizio Federico Notturno, a delicate new film that brings Sound: Gianfranco Rosi light to the darkness of war in the Middle Gianfranco Rosi was born to Italian parents in Asmara, International Sales Agent: The Match Factory East. Eritrea, and grew up in Eritrea, Rome, and Istanbul before US Sales Agent: Submarine Entertainment moving to New York City, where he studied film at NYU. His Shot over two years on the borders be- documentaries include Boatman (93), which screened at tween Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon, the Festival, Below Sea Level (08), El Sicario, Room 164 (10), Notturno depicts the routines of people Sacro GRA (13), and the TIFF selection Fire at Sea (16), which trying to survive in the war-torn region. won the Berlin Golden Bear for Best Documentary Feature and was nominated for an Academy Award. Notturno (20) Eschewing the typical depictions of battles is his latest documentary feature. and violence, Rosi probes the collateral psy- chological trauma that the people endure by focusing on the fragility of their day-to-day lives: A group of women pray at the loca- tion of previous atrocities. A man navigates thick marshes in order to fish at night. A young boy wakes up early each morning and waits by the side of a road hoping to find work for the day.

74 SHORT CUTS: PROGRAMME 4

Zchuhit Bayam Comme la neige au printemps Strong Son Our Hearts Beat Like War As Spring Comes Ian Bawa Elinor Nechemya Marie-Ève Juste CANADA, 2020 English 4 minutes | Colour/H264 ISRAEL, 2020 Hebrew, Tigrinya CANADA, 2020 No dialogue 15 minutes | Colour/H264 14 minutes | Colour/H264 From the wonderfully weird mind of Winnipeg filmmaker Ian Bawa comes an endearing portrait of a South Asian In this affecting and unique drama by Israel’s Elinor A woman inhabits her lover’s secluded ice fishing cabin man and his relationship with the father who shares his Nechemya, a boy’s delightful fantasy world collides with in the dead of winter to begin a unique transformation, passion for weightlifting. LH the harsh, grown-up realities he discovers at the refugee- in Marie-Ève Juste’s masterfully composed and cryptic aid centre where his mother works. JASON ANDERSON piece full of spellbinding visuals. LISA HALLER

Every Day’s Like This Drought O Black Hole! Lev Lewis Remi Itani Renee Zhan CANADA, 2020 English LEBANON, 2020 Arabic UNITED KINGDOM, 2020 English 11 minutes | Colour/H264 15 minutes | Colour/H264 16 minutes | Colour/H264

Intimate and poignant, and with an exquisite cast, director In this erotically charged drama by Lebanese filmmaker In another very original and wild creation by Festival Lev Lewis’s film delicately captures a family coping with Remi Itani, a real estate agent begins to close the gap alumna Renee Zhan, the animator deploys an array of the ongoing health decline of a loved one. LH between her private experiences in a series of empty animation techniques for a surreal and startling tale that apartments and the very different life she leads in public. mixes the cosmic with the acutely personal — and with JA songs to boot. JA

Comme une comète Shooting Star Ariane Louis-Seize CANADA, 2020 French 23 minutes | Colour/H264

Propelled by magnetic performances and complex dynamics, director Ariane Louis-Seize’s most accomplished short film to date showcases a wrenching mother–daughter drama. LH

SHORT CUTS • 111 The Inheritance The much-anticipated feature debut by the devastating bombing by police in 1985 — Ephraim Asili Ephraim Asili inventively weaves together a shocking event that continues to resonate USA, 2020 the history of the MOVE liberation group, loudly today in light of ongoing racialized English the Black Arts Movement, and the film- police brutality in the United States and 100 minutes | Colour/35mm maker’s own formative experiences in a beyond. Production Company: Asili Vision Black Marxist collective. Following Asili’s Produced, shot (on vibrant Super 16mm), Executive Producer: Ephraim Asili celebrated cycle of films about the African written, and directed by Asili, The Inheritance Producer: Ephraim Asili, Victoria Brooks Screenplay: Ephraim Asili diaspora — which collapse time and space is a timely and personal work that harnesses Cinematographer: Ephraim Asili, Ryan Jenkin in both literal and metaphorical ways — the cultural power of transformation. The Editor: Ephraim Asili The Inheritance urgently summons the film pays homage to a lineage of resis- Production Designer: Ephraim Asili Sound: Stephen McLaughlin past in today’s continued fight for racial tance and features inspiring appearances Principal Cast: Nozipho McClean, Eric Lockley, and social justice through a mix of fact and by MOVE members Debbie Africa, Mike Chris Jarell, Julian Rozzell Jr. fiction, portraits and performances. Africa Sr., and Mike Africa Jr., as well as the International Sales Agent: Asili Vision The film’s narrative core, described by remarkable poet-activists Sonia Sanchez Asili as a “speculative re-enactment” of his and Ursula Rucker. time in a West Philadelphia organization, ANDRÉA PICARD centres on a young man who inherits his grandmother’s house and, with the encour- Ephraim Asili is a New York City–based filmmaker, DJ, and agement of his girlfriend, turns it into a radio presenter. He studied film and video arts, earning his BA from Temple University and MA from Bard College, where Black socialist collective where community he is now full-time artist-in-residence and assistant professor forms the basis of family. Invoking Godard’s of film and electronic arts. His works as director include the La Chinoise in palette, structure, and playful shorts Forged Way (10), About Being Living (10), Kinda/One didacticism, Asili introduces an alternative Family (16), and Fluid Frontiers (17). The Inheritance (20) is revolutionary canon with an iconography his debut feature film. of Black artists and freedom fighters via vintage photos, books, and records. As the group’s dynamics evolve and the actors break character in moving addresses to the camera, the film also dynamically crosscuts archival footage of MOVE before and after

63 Violation Since 2017, writer-director duo Madeleine of catharsis, and instead recognize that Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli have pro- some horrors cannot be so easily exorcised Dusty Mancinelli vocatively probed many a moral boundary or reconciled. Photographed with a nervous CANADA, 2020 in their award-winning short films, which and haptic intimacy that methodically gives English often scrutinize the emotional stresses of way to interludes of startling surrealism 107 minutes | Colour/DCP 4K (D-Cinema) characters who are confronted by acts of and riveting suspense, Violation brings a Production Company: One Plus One transgression. In their remarkable debut unique tempo to Midnight Madness and a Executive Producer: Deepa Mehta, David Hamilton, feature, this étude of disturbed psychology is thousand-yard stare into human cruelty. François Dagenais, David James Producer: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli ratched into a hypnotic horror register — one PETER KUPLOWSKY Screenplay: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli that recalls the uncomfortable simmering Cinematographer: Adam Crosby extremities of a Catherine Breillat or Lars Madeleine Sims-Fewer was born in Little Britain, Ontario, Editor: Gabriella Wallace and raised in England. She studied film production at York Production Designer: Joshua Turpin von Trier psychodrama. University and completed an MFA in acting at Drama Centre Sound: James Lazarenko, Matt Chan Sims-Fewer herself achingly portrays London. In 2015 she participated in TIFF Talent Lab. Her Original Score: Andrea Boccadoro the film’s principal psyche, Miriam, a short-film credits include The Substitute (15), Rape Card Principal Cast: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili woman treading water in an unhappy mar- (17), Slap Happy (17), Woman in Stall (18), and Chubby (19). riage who hopes to find solace in a weekend Violation (20) is her first feature. reunion with her estranged younger sister, Greta (Anna Maguire), at a secluded cot- Dusty Mancinelli is a Toronto-based writer, director, and tage estate. Along with their respective producer. He studied film production at York University. In 2015 he participated in TIFF Talent Lab. His short films include husbands, Miriam’s brooding partner Caleb the TIFF selections Soap (09), Pathways (11), and Broken (Obi Abili) and Greta’s affable Dylan (Jesse Heart Syndrome (12), Winter Hymns (15), Slap Happy (17), LaVercombe), they find themselves navi- Woman in Stall (18), and Chubby (19). Violation (20) is his gating a minefield of one another’s sensitiv- first feature. ies and histories, culminating in a traumatic series of betrayals — the root of which is a Content advisories: sexual violence, explicit violence deeply upsetting act of sexual violence. Scrambling the temporality of what would normally proceed as an archetypal, linear revenge thriller, Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer judiciously eschew the genre’s conventions