Film Circuit Release Schedule FALL 2019

All Is True TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Photograph 3 HOT LIST – CURRENT nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up 4 The Farewell 5 All Is True 6 The Last Black Man in San Francisco 7 The Souvenir 8 Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind 9

Wild Rose 10 CURRENT A Colony 11 The Public 12 Hope Gap 13 The Biggest Little Farm 14 Menteur 15 Judy 16 Maiden 17 Village Rockstars 18 Where’d You Go, Bernadette? 19 Tel Aviv on Fire 20 Vita & Virgina 21 Mouthpiece 22 Mademoiselle de Joncquières 23 Sometimes Always Never 24 The Great Buster: A Celebration 25 Poms 26 Pipe Dreams 27 La Femme de mon frère 28 Ask Dr. Ruth 29 Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love 30 The Tomorrow Man 31 Parasite 32 After the Wedding 33

Turbine 34 SHORTS Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) 34 Norman Norman 34 Inuk Hunter 34 Forbidden Tikka Masala 34 Space Between Stars 34

The Song of Names 35 COMING SOON Dolce Fine Giornata 36 Official Secrets 37 Pain & Glory 38 The Aeronauts 39 The Climb 40 Il pleuvait des oiseaux 41 One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk 42

If you are interested in a fi lm for your series or festival and cannot Canadian film fi nd it listed here, please inquire with your programmer, who will French-language film be more than happy to check on the fi lm’s availability.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 1 INTRODUCTION

We hope the Release Schedule proves to be Please note that the information in this guide an entertaining and informative package that is correct at the time of publication. We advise maps out a world of intriguing possibilities that you check with your programmer when for your Film Circuit location as you plan for the submitting requests, as the information may season ahead. have changed.

What is the Film Circuit Release Schedule? Response Times The Film Circuit Release Schedule provides information about current and Each member of the TIFF Film Circuit team manages the needs of numerous upcoming Canadian and independent films, and is designed to be used by Film Circuit locations as well as other various departmental responsibilities, Film Circuit organizers as a resource tool for programming and promotional therefore we strive to respond within 2 business days of receiving emails. purposes. Most importantly, it provides a guide that approximates when Response times will vary from low to high booking periods. We continue to make these titles will be available for screening through Film Circuit. Due to the servicing Film Circuit locations our top priority! timelines of distributor release information, not all available films are included.

Laura Good What films are included in the Schedule? Manager, Film Circuit The titles included in the Release Schedule represent a select list of Canadian Programming for Western Ontario DCP; development of new and international films expected to have a limited theatrical release pattern and existing communities; departmental oversight — i.e., films that are unlikely to gain substantial (if any) screen time outside of key markets. However, it is worth noting that the term “limited release pattern” Tel: 416.934.3245 refers to a relative condition. Although the release may be “limited,” some titles Toll-Free: 1.888.599.8433, press 4 for Film Circuit may actually spill over to include an exhibitor run in some mid-range or larger Email: [email protected] Film Circuit markets. In other words, what is “limited” for some Film Circuit communities may not be for others. Given this variance, the information provided strives to cover the widest base of films possible. Please contact Lauren Coughlan your programmer for further information. Programming Coordinator, Film Circuit Programming for British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, What does the listed information mean? and Saskatchewan DCP and Francophone locations; guest requests and How can it be used? bookings Tel: 416.599.8433 ext. 2149 The Release Schedule is presented in its current form to aid locations Toll-Free: 1.888.599.8433, press 4 for Film Circuit in two ways: Email: [email protected] 1. It provides programmers with information to assist film selection.

2. It offers publicists a media package that they can use to promote the film. Charlotte Vincer Programming Coordinator, Film Circuit Exclusive Blu-ray pre-releases Programming for Eastern Ontario and Atlantic Canada DCP locations; Increasingly, distributors are making films on Blu-ray available to our locations festival registration; distributes all promotional materials in advance of their commercial release dates, when the Blu-ray becomes Tel: 416.599.8433 ext. 2147 widely available to the public. The “Formats” line in the credit block will indicate Toll-Free: 1.888.599.8433, press 4 for Film Circuit Blu-ray availability of the title. For more information, please get in touch with Email: [email protected] your Film Circuit programmer.

Booking timelines Rachel Barclay Between January and April, Film Circuit Centres will host over 1,200 screenings! Coordinator, Film Circuit In light of this volume, please request your films at least two weeks before Programming for Blu-ray and Quebec locations, and all short-film your publication date, and one full month before your screening date. The programming; oversees social media reason for this is twofold. Firstly, this ensures that we have enough time to confirm all requests with distributors. Distributors timelines vary, and they Tel: 416.599.8433 ext. 2639 are not always able to confirm requests right away. Secondly, these guidelines Toll-Free: 1.888.599.8433, press 4 for Film Circuit help us to ensure that you have enough time to promote your film and receive Email: [email protected] the film format in in a timely manner. Film Circuit also asks that when you request a film, the film selection be Film Circuit Box Office Reporting considered final, so as to maintain a streamlined request procedure across [email protected] all programming territories, and to allow Film Circuit to uphold strong Box-office reporting, shipment back-billing, and sustainability billing working relationships with our distribution partners. A screening should only be cancelled due to extenuating circumstances, such as extreme weather or a power outage.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 2 INTRODUCTION

Terms found in this Schedule Recently added terms

Distributor Programming tags The name of the company that owns the rights to distribute the specifi c We have added programming tags for each fi lm to this Release Schedule to fi lm title in Canada. This is the company that will receive payment from provide you with a quick understanding of each fi lm, which we hope will help Film Circuit locations. you create a holistic programme for your audiences, and provide an aid for quickly communicating the fi lms. Availability Canadian and Francophone icons Dates are approximate and are subject to change. For example, prior to a title’s theatrical release, the availability date can be affected by an unexpected We have also added maple leaves and fl eurs-de-lys to indicate Canadian and shift in the distributor’s release strategy, which may result in the fi lm being Francophone fi lms, respectively. available later than expected. After its release, a fi lm sometimes becomes available sooner than expected when distributor booking patterns become more clearly established. When distributors have assigned a season for release but have not specifi cally dated the fi lm, its availability will be listed as coming soon.

Synopsis The synopsis is drafted from a variety of sources and generally off ers the following information: • A press kit–style synopsis of the fi lm’s central themes, characters, and plot line. This promotional information is designed to highlight a fi lm’s strengths and notable performances, and does not necessarily refl ect the qualitative view of the Film Circuit offi ce. • An indication of the fi lm’s performance at major fi lm festivals, and/or any awards won. • Quotes from favourable reviews. If a quote is not attached to the synopsis, this does not mean that favourable reviews do not exist; it means a representative review was not available at the time of printing. Rating Films are rated separately by each province’s fi lm review board. Once your fi lm has been confi rmed, please contact the ratings board in your province from the list below to check the fi lm’s rating:

The Alberta Film Classifi cation Board 780.427.2006 www.albertafi lmratings.ca

British Columbia Film Classifi cation Offi ce 604.660.6821 www.BPCPA.ca

Maritime Film Classifi cation Board 902.424.4498 http://novascotia.ca/sns/access/alcohol-gaming/theatres-amusements.asp

Manitoba Film Classifi cation Board 204.945.0889 www.gov.mb.ca/chc/mfcb/

Ontario Film Review Board 416.314.3626 www.ofrb.gov.on.ca/

La Régie du cinéma du Quebec 514.873.2371 http://www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca/en/

Saskatchewan Film Classifi cation Board 306.787.5550 http://www.fcaa.gov.sk.ca/fi lmclassifi cation

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 3 HOT LIST

Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox, The Sense of an his grandmother happy. Soon enough, their Photograph Ending) returns with another nuanced love feigned love story begins to stir real emotions, story, about the hopes, dreams, and identities but it’s difficult for the potential couple to Ritesh Batra of ordinary people. With gentle poignancy, ignore some of the stark differences between GERMANY/INDIA/USA, 2018 Batra explores moments of both isolation their two worlds. Hindi, Gujarati, English w/ English subtitles and connection amidst the otherwise chaotic The Photograph is an insightful meditation 110 minutes urban landscape of Mumbai. on loneliness and the ache for connection. It’s Principal Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, An unlikely couple who come from differ- also a gratifying stroll through the streets of Sanya Malhotra, Sachin Khedekar ent walks of life meet in a busy public square. Mumbai that celebrates the small pleasures in Miloni (Sanya Malhotra, Pataakha) is a shy life, from sampling an endless array of street DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS young woman studying to become an accoun- food to spending summer nights at the cinema. Distributor: Mongrel Media Formats: DCP tant. Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Lion, The Lunchbox) is an older, reclusive street pho- “If the story is familiar, the storytelling can be Estimated availability: tographer, who makes ends meet by taking immersive — Batra shades in the leads and their Available now portraits of tourists at city landmarks. One worlds with a human specificity that makes day Rafi takes Miloni’s portrait, and it leaves Photograph compelling in a slice-of-life way.” character-driven an indelible imprint on them both. —Aisha Harris, A short time later, when Rafi’s elderly The New York Times film circuit favourite talent grandmother — who has always hoped Rafi uplifting would start a family — comes to town, Rafi tracks down Miloni and convinces her to pretend to be his fiancée in order to make

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 4 HOT LIST

Director and educator Tasha Hubbard (Birth Winner of the Best Canadian Feature nîpawistamâsowin: of a Family) returns with a personal refl ection Documentary Award at the 2019 Hot Docs We Will Stand Up on the death of Colten Boushie, a young Cree Film Festival, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will man, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of Stand Up is an important look at the past and Tasha Hubbard the man who shot him. future. This fi lm demands to be seen by all On August 9, 2016, Boushie died from a Canadians. CANADA, 2019 gunshot wound to the back of his head that he English, Cree w/ English subtitles 98 minutes sustained after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural “A multilayered look at Indigenous issues in property with friends. The jury’s subsequent Canada, one family’s painful fi ght for justice, and With: Tasha Hubbard acquittal of Stanley captured international emboldened racism in the age of social media.” attention, raising questions about racism DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS —Andrew Parker, Distributor: NFB embedded within Canada’s legal system and The Gate Formats: DCP/Blu-ray propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Estimated availability: nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up Available now weaves a profound narrative, encompassing the filmmaker’s own family life, the stark documentary female director history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children social awareness can live safely on their homelands.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 5 HOT LIST

Lulu Wang’s Sundance hit The Farewell is Tzi Ma (Meditation Park) as her father and The Farewell an intergenerational family drama that is Diana Lin (Australia Day) as her mother. at once celebratory, heart-wrenching, and Little by little, we realize that this story Lulu Wang life-affirming. is not only about Billi saying goodbye to her USA, 2019 Based on true events, the film follows a grandmother, but also about her reconnecting English, Mandarin w/ English subtitles young Chinese American woman named Billi with a country and extended family that she 98 minutes (Awkwafina,Crazy Rich Asians) as she travels left behind at a young age. The Farewell is truly Principal Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin back to China to visit her dying grandmother. remarkable. It will make you laugh out loud, Billi’s family has decided to spare their beloved cry both sad and happy tears, and contemplate DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS matriarch the news of her terminal diagnosis the meaning of home. Distributor: VVS so as not to darken what time she has left. In Formats: DCP order for everyone to have a chance to say goodbye without tipping her off that the end “It unearths the universality of complex familial Estimated availability: is near, they orchestrate an elaborate excuse to love that defies borders and language barriers.” September 2019 reunite in the form of a fake wedding. Though —Tomris Laffly, cultures clash and family conflict ensues, the Time Out critically acclaimed family ties story is told with universally relatable warmth female filmmaker and charm. Awkwafina is dazzling as the quick-witted and empathetic Billi, supported by a remarkable cast that includes the charming

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 6 HOT LIST

An all-star cast headlines this historical always reliable Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes, The All Is True drama from Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Lord of the Rings) as the Earl of Southampton. Orient Express, Much Ado About Nothing), a The tale of an artist coming to terms with Kenneth Branagh delightful telling of William Shakespeare’s his failings amidst a sea of success, All Is True UK, 2018 return home to his family after years of suc- is satisfying from start to finish. It’s the kind English cess in London. of comforting, intelligent cinema that makes 101 minutes It’s 1613, and Shakespeare (Branagh) is you want to cozy up with a warm cup of tea. Principal Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, the most celebrated playwright of his era. Yet Ian McKellen when a cannon misfires during a performance of Henry VIII, his beloved Globe Theatre “Slowly, as the thematic centre of the film begins DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS burns to the ground. With no other options, to take shape, so does Branagh's character — and Distributor: Mongrel Media Formats: DCP/Blu-ray Shakespeare must return to Stratford to once in those moments, the audience is treated to what again live with his family and face those he left amounts to nothing short of a Christmas gift for any Anglophile or Shakespeare lover.” Estimated availability: behind in pursuit of personal triumph. Available now All Is True meets the high standard we’ve —Dana Schwartz, come to expect of British period dramas: Entertainment Weekly crowd-pleasing family ties it is charming in wit, lush in costumes and setting, and gorgeous in cinematography, film circuit favourite talent all wrapped in a great story. This is also the most vulnerable portrayal we’ve seen of the oft-played Shakespeare. Haunted by the death of Hamnet, his only son, he does all he can to fall into the good graces of his family. Branagh provides depth and humour to the role, and he is anchored wonderfully by Judi Dench (Philomena, Red Joan) as Shakespeare’s long-neglected wife, Anne Hathaway, and the

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 7 HOT LIST

Director Joe Talbot’s debut feature is an ode to current owners. Unexpectedly, the house The Last Black Man the city of San Francisco, rooted in the real-life is one day left empty and an estate dispute in San Francisco experiences of his childhood best friend, ensues. Jimmie and Montgomery seize Jimmie Fails. Though Fails is a non-actor, no the opportunity to move in and live out a Joe Talbot one else could give a more genuine and heart- make-believe home life — but their dream felt performance than he could — so Talbot can’t last forever. USA, 2019 cast him in the lead role. This is a story about transformation, English 120 minutes The Last Black Man in San Francisco tells a friendship, resilience, and what it means to story of the city through the eyes of a fiction- belong to a community. And though the film Principal Cast: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, Danny Glover alized version of Jimmie, who is obsessed by is not directly about gentrification, that’s the idea of reclaiming the Victorian house so much a part of the day-to-day reality of DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS in Fillmore that his grandfather built. This San Franciscans that the force of it can’t be Distributor: levelFILM house is where he grew up, and was the last ignored. Formats: DCP real home he had before his family broke apart. Jimmie spends most of his time hanging Estimated availability: out with his best friend, aspiring playwright “An indelibly beautiful story of love, family, Available now Montgomery (Jonathan Majors, Out of Blue, and loss in America from two childhood friends White Boy Rick), haunting the neighbour- turned filmmakers.” award-winning critically acclaimed hoods they knew as children and watching —Manohla Dargis, social awareness old black-and-white movies at the small house The New York Times they share with Montgomery’s nearly-blind grandfather (Danny Glover, The Old Man and the Gun, The Color Purple). Jimmie also visits and fixes up the house his grandfather built to keep it from falling into disrepair, much to the annoyance of its

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 8 HOT LIST

Deeply personable and relatable, the acc- entanglement threatens to demolish Julie’s The Souvenir laimed new drama from director Joanna dream of becoming a filmmaker. Hogg (The Exhibition, Archipelago) is a Hogg sincerely captures the intensity and Joanna Hogg semi-autobiographical account of a dysfunc- naiveté of a first adult love.The Souvenir is at UK/USA, 2019 tional relationship between a young, ambitious once a period piece depicting a modern rela- English film student and an older, smooth-talking tionship long before the era of smartphones 119 minutes man, set in 1980s west London. The film won and social media, and a time capsule of our Principal Cast: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic collective bad decisions and tormented rela- Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade at Sundance in early 2019. tionships. A sequel is in the works, promising Julie (newcomer Honor Swinton Byrne) is that life after a bad romance can continue. DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS finding her place as an artist, trying to shed Distributor: Mongrel Media Formats: DCP her sheltered and privileged upbringing and immerse herself in the real world for the sake “The Souvenir clearly stands out as one of the year’s Estimated availability: of her art. Her journey is derailed by Anthony best films: pointedly personal art that somehow manages, in its specificity, to hit on something Available now (Tom Burke, television's War & Peace and The Musketeers), whose charm is equal to universal.” award-winning critically acclaimed his depravity but whom she cannot help but —Alissa Wilkinson, love — much to the dismay of her mother VOX female director (played by Swinton Byrne’s real-life mother, Tilda Swinton, I Am Love, We Need to Talk About Kevin) and her friends. The

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 9 HOT LIST

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind The fi lm, which played Hot Docs 2019, also Gordon Lightfoot: If You will delight any music fan. After all, Gordon interweaves contemporary interviews from Could Read My Mind Lightfoot is undoubtedly a gifted musician and infl uential voices from the music industry, storyteller. Canada loves him, and Lightfoot including Randy Bachman, Geddy Lee, and Martha Kehoe, Joan Tosoni loves Canada. Directors, writers, and produc- Sarah McLachlan, talking about Lightfoot’s ers Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni take us on impression on their own musical lives and CANADA, 2019 a journey back to the artist’s heyday — and an careers. English 90 minutes emerging folk scene in Yorkville, Toronto — Beyond it all, Lightfoot is undeniably with a treasure trove of archival footage and Canadian. As Lee puts it, he let the world know With: Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Randy Bachman, Steve Earle, Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, interviews with many of Lightfoot’s contem- that “we’re not just a bunch of lumberjacks Alec Baldwin, Anne Murray, Sarah McLachlan poraries, while Lightfoot himself refl ects back and hockey players here.” Canadians can be on his life: the songs, the creative process, and complicated, and the proof can be found in DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS the regrets. Lightfoot’s lyrics. Distributor: Kino Smith Inc. Culminating in Lightfoot’s performance at Formats: DCP Massey Hall in Toronto on July 1, 2018, this chronicle travels back through the Canadian “It’s rare that Lightfoot provides this type of access, Estimated availability: icon’s small-town roots, turning points, and and it gives writer-directors Martha Kehoe and Joan Available now dark spots, set against an extensive collec- Tosoni a lot of rich material to work with.” tion of footage and stills from his concerts —Richard Trapunski, crowd-pleasing documentary and personal life. Listen to the fi rst recording NOW Magazine female director of him as a soprano singing at his local Orillia church; hear how his meticulous, hard work led to a record deal that changed his life; and fi nd out what tragic and disturbing moments in his life inspired some of his best music.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 10 CURRENT

Wild Rose In this inspiring comedy-drama, a would-be come at a cost. Her mother (Julie Walters, country singer dreams of leaving her dreary, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Brooklyn), Tom Harper workaday Glasgow life for the bright lights who knows all about abandoning dreams, has UK, 2018 of Nashville. Rose-Lynn Harlan (TIFF 2017 always done what she can to help her daugh- English Rising Star Jessie Buckley, Beast) has dreamt ter realize hers, but she also wants her to take 101 minutes of becoming a country music star for as long responsibility and act like the grown-up that Principal Cast: Jessie Buckley, Sophie Okonedo, as anyone can remember. But Glasgow isn’t her kids need her to be. Julie Walters exactly Nashville, and, as a convicted crimi- Buckley delivers a vivacious and unforget- nal and single mother of two young children, table performance as Rose-Lynn, her voice a DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Rose-Lynn is more country song than star of its own. With a confident hand, director Distributor: Entertainment One Formats: DCP/Blu-ray country star. Tom Harper brings Nicole Taylor’s beautiful, Just released from prison, forced to wear textured script, full of authentic characters Estimated availability: an ankle monitor and keep curfew, she can’t and unexpected turns, to life in Glasgow, a Available now return to her job as the house-band singer city that, like his protagonist, might appear at Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry. Sporting her gritty on the surface but is bursting with spirit critically acclaimed crowd-pleasing white cowboy hat and white leather cowboy and personality. boots, Rose-Lynn lands a new job as a house- Rose-Lynn’s story reminds us that taking uplifting keeper for the lovely, and very posh, Susannah responsibility doesn’t have to mean giving (Sophie Okonedo, television’s Chimerica, up hope. And sometimes when we’re chasing Hotel Rwanda). After catching her singing our dreams, we realize we were living them on the job, Susannah’s kids quickly become all along. Rose-Lynn’s biggest fans and Susannah her enthusiastic patron, determined to help her “A happy-sad drama of starstruck fever that lifts get to Nashville. But Rose-Lynn’s dreams you up and sweeps you along, touching you down in a puddle of well-earned tears.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 11 CURRENT

This Québécois gem, the fi ction-feature debut home life. She fi nds friends in her classmates Une Colonie from Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, is a fresh, Jacinthe, her popular older cousin, and A Colony beautifully rendered, and radically optimistic Jimmy, who lives on a neighbouring Abenaki take on the coming-of-age genre. It won the reserve. From there, Mylia must fi gure out Geneviève Dulude-De Celles Crystal Bear at the Berlinale Film Festival, the how to handle the pressure of conformity and Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the fi nd her sense of self in spite of it. CANADA, 2018 Quebec Film Festival, and the awards for Best An apt exploration of identity that will French w/ English subtitles 102 minutes Canadian Feature, Best Director, and Best speak to the pre-teen in all of us, Une Colonie Performance at the Whistler Film Festival. reminds us that we should aim not only to Principal Cast: Emilie Bierre, Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie, Robin Aubert, Irlande Côté The director’s latest short film, The Cut, survive in live, but also to thrive. played at Sundance in 2014 and was named DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS one of Canada’s Top Ten short fi lms of that Distributor: Game Theory Films year, while her debut feature documentary, “[The fi lm] gains in confi dence and momentum as it Formats: DCP/Blu-ray Welcome to F.L., played at TIFF in 2015. progresses, leaving us eager to see where its young Une Colonie is a semi-autobiographical director will go now that the training wheels are off Estimated availability: coming-of-age drama about fi nding your voice. and the road up ahead is open.” Available now Set in rural Quebec, it follows 12-year-old —Jessica Kiang, Mylia (Emilie Bierre), who has a history of Variety award-winning coming-of-age being bullied and is trying to fi nd her bearings homegrown talent at a new school while navigating a turbulent

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 12 CURRENT

The United States was founded on organized and soon a team of riot police led by Detective The Public rebellion, its First Amendment celebrating Ramstead (Alec Baldwin, Still Alice, Blue “the right of the people peaceably to assem- Jasmine), a hard-charging crisis negotiator. Emilio Estevez ble.” But what happens when the outcasts of Outside, a TV reporter (Gabrielle Union, The USA, 2018 American society assemble in the very home Birth of a Nation) juices up the story for the English of free expression? Drawing on the clash of wider world. 119 minutes perspectives now galvanizing the States and With this terrific cast, The Public lays out Principal Cast: Emilio Estevez, Jacob Vargas, beyond, Emilio Estevez (The War at Home, the conflicts between rights and responsi- Gabrielle Union, Taylor Schilling, Jeffrey Wright, Bobby) has crafted a drama that returns poli- bilities, empathy, and authority. Baldwin and Christian Slater, Jena Malone, Alec Baldwin, Michael K. Williams tics to a human level. The Public is a story of Slater play characters working for powerful resistance for right now. interests, but they give their roles shades of DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS It begins quietly enough in a Cincinnati complicating nuance. The always-stellar Distributor: Mongrel Media library on a winter’s day. Stuart (Estevez) and Jeffrey Wright (The Manchurian Candidate, Formats: DCP/Blu-ray Myra (Jena Malone, Stepmom, Inherent Vice) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) turns up do their best to manage the daily assortment as an administrator trying to walk an ethical of knowledge seekers, loiterers, and homeless fine line. And Estevez himself, playing a man Estimated availability: people who frequent their branch. It’s freezing with integrity and a hidden past, embodies the Available now outside. As closing time draws near, Jackson intractable nature of this struggle. (Michael K. Williams, 12 Years a Slave, tele- all-star cast boundary-pushing vision's Boardwalk Empire) sparks an act of “Writer-director-star Emilio Estevez turns a library civil disobedience among his fellow library occupied by homeless citizens [into] ground zero for social awareness patrons who have nowhere to sleep. They our under-fire democracy.” refuse to leave, defying first the entreaties of —Peter Travers, the library staff, then a local political operative Rolling Stone (Christian Slater, The Wife, True Romance),

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 13 CURRENT

Hope Gap A man’s revelation that he is ending his Based on Nicholson’s Tony-nominated play 29-year marriage rocks an entire family unit, The Retreat from Moscow, the film gently William Nicholson in the latest from longtime screenwriter ushers us through the emotional fallout from UK, 2019 William Nicholson (Gladiator, Elizabeth: The Edward’s decision, and the ways in which English Golden Age, Breathe). each parent leans on Jamie in a way that both 110 minutes Together, Grace (Annette Bening, Film overwhelms and touches him. Principal Cast: Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, 20th Century As much about the dissolution of a marriage Josh O’Connor Women) and Edward (Bill Nighy, Sometimes as it is about the ever-evolving relationship Always Never, The Bookshop) live the kind between parent and child, Hope Gap deftly DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS of comfortable life that comes with decades considers the humanity in each of its char- Distributor: levelFILM Formats: DCP of familiarity. She works on her anthology of acters, masterfully exploring the many grey poetry while he edits Wikipedia; their com- areas inherent in matters of the heart. Estimated availability: munication has become the kind of short Available now form that barely constitutes any conversation beyond a sentence or two. all-star cast character driven Fearing the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt, Grace worries over whether her family ties and Edward’s marriage has entered troubled waters. When their adult son Jamie (Josh O’Connor, God’s Own Country, Florence Foster Jenkins), whom they rarely see, visits, Grace regains some of her characteristic spark. However, Jamie soon learns that his father has requested this visit not so he could cheer up his mother, but rather so Edward could tell Jamie that he is about to leave Grace.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 14 CURRENT

Emmy Award–winning filmmaker John extermination, and concentration on a single The Biggest Little Farm Chester and his wife, Molly, a culinary writer, crop, but, following their guide, John and trade city life to start their own farm on a Molly remain steadfast in their commitment John Chester stretch of depleted soil outside Los Angeles. to working with nature and not against it. USA, 2018 Part of their inspiration is to offer a better Teeming with stunningly beautiful images English life outdoors for their rescue dog, Todd. But of flora and fauna — including a pregnant hog 89 minutes they also want to live in better harmony with that will melt your heart — The Biggest Little With: John Chester, Molly Chester nature. Many of us hold similar dreams — but Farm, which played Hot Docs 2018, is a tes- John and Molly put theirs into action. tament to idealism. For urban viewers, it’s a DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS John chronicles their efforts for more than necessary confrontation with how our food Distributor: Elevation Pictures eight years in this sweeping epic about the is grown. It’s also a family adventure, full of Formats: DCP creation of Apricot Lane Farms. New to the suspense and emotion that will leave a lump world of agriculture and farming, John and in your throat. Estimated availability: Molly enlist the help of Alan York, a plant, soil, Available now and biodynamic consultant whose vision is to raise an array of crops and livestock. Alan cau- “In a time when climate news is near-uniformly crowd-pleasing documentary tions that it will take seven years before they depressing, this is a nature documentary that pays social awareness fully realize their potential. During that time, loving and hopeful tribute to the complex web of they face mounting obstacles: coyotes, insects, life — and it won’t scare your kids.” bad weather, and disease, like a modern-day —Sara Stewart, enactment of Little House on the Prairie. New York Post Most farmers would respond with pesticides,

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 15 CURRENT

Québécois director Émile Gaudreault (Nuit de recruits his twin brother (Antoine Bertrand), Menteur noces, De père en fl ic) and stand-up comedian who bears no resemblance to him, and his Louis-José Houde (Bon Cop, Bad Cop; De père co-worker to help him fi gure out how to wake Émile Gaudreault en fl ic) team up again in this laugh-out-loud, up from this living nightmare. surreal comedy that has been described as a This is the fourth time Gaudreault and CANADA, 2019 French w/ English subtitles cross between Groundhog Day and Liar, Liar. Houde have worked together. Their fi rst fi lm 111 minutes Simon (Houde) is a compulsive liar. No together, De père en fl ic, earned upwards of With: Louis-José Houde, Antoine Bertrand, matter the stakes or situation, he can’t help $10.5 million at the box offi ce, making it one Geneviève Schmidt, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé but falsify the facts. His family, friends, and of the biggest hits in Québécois cinema. colleagues are no longer fooled by his decep- DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS tions and stage an intervention where they Distributor: Les Films Séville demand that he learn how to tell the truth. Formats: DCP But Simon is in denial. He has bought into the stories he tells himself, and, when he tells Estimated availability: one lie too many, the truth comes out to fi nd Available now him. Overnight, all the lies he told become a reality. Hilarity and hijinks ensue as Houde comedy crowd-pleasing

homegrown talent

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 16 CURRENT

Beloved actor, singer, dancer, and vaudeville Featuring a career-defining turn for Zellweger Judy star Judy Garland had a career that spanned (herself no stranger to the cruelties of over four decades. Depicting her last engage- Hollywood scrutiny), Judy showcases some of Rupert Goold ment on the stage, Judy stars the inimitable the star’s most iconic songs like you’ve never UK, 2019 Renée Zellweger (Chicago, Cold Mountain) as experienced them before: the cheery, bright English the American icon in her final act. show tunes that she performed until the end 118 minutes In the winter of 1968, Garland travelled to reveal a pensiveness and melancholy here, Principal Cast: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, England for a sold-out, five-week engagement asking you to consider the life lived behind Bella Ramsey at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London. the smile. Nearly 30 years after she starred as Dorothy DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS in The Wizard of Oz — the role she became so Distributor: Entertainment One Formats: DCP widely beloved and remembered for — Garland arrived in London with deteriorating health Estimated availability: and a plethora of difficult situations nipping at October 2019 her heels. Plagued by substance abuse issues, predatory management figures, and a series of all-star cast biographical turbulent, failed marriages, Garland had left the United States during a period of financial character-driven instability, hoping to make her London run a success. But a lifetime of physical and mental health issues and the exploitative nature of those in charge of her well-being would not be left behind so easily.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 17 CURRENT

Exhilarating, suspenseful, and emotionally Holmes crafts a captivating braid of archi- Maiden charged, this documentary from director Alex val materials and new interviews in which Holmes chronicles Tracy Edwards’ 1989–90 Edwards and her crew members — all of them Alex Holmes precedent-setting sea voyage around the rousing storytellers — collectively narrate UK, 2018 world with an all-female crew. their experience. It is a classic tale of people English The Whitbread Round the World Race contending with the elements, though, in 93 minutes (rechristened the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001) this case, some of those elements are other With: Tracy Edwards was considered an exclusively masculine people. In a televised interview filmed before endeavour when Edwards came along and, in the Maiden set out, Edwards explains that DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS the face of much sexist condescension, proved she simply wants to be able to pursue her Distributor: Mongrel Media that skill, perseverance, and courage at sea passion… and prove the all-male sailing estab- Formats: DCP know no gender. lishment wrong. Maiden traces Edwards’ formative expe- Estimated availability: riences: the idyllic childhood that came to a “A rousing, real-life, feminist adventure tale.” Available now devastating halt with her father’s death and —Caryn James, the adolescent rebelliousness that resulted in The Hollywood Reporter crowd-pleasing documentary her expulsion from school. At 16, she ran away to Greece, where she had her first taste of the visually engaging seafaring life, rapidly graduating from cook to deckhand to first mate. She was still in her mid-twenties when she became determined to participate in the Whitbread with a crew of talented women from around the world. With its fundraising challenges and heated rivalries, the journey to prepare the Maiden was already complicated. But it was just the beginning of an epic adventure.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 18 CURRENT

Dhunu (Bhanita Das) wants a rock band. It’s It’s an idyllic world, although Dhunu still has Village Rockstars an admirable goal for a young girl, but out to navigate the mysterious ways of adults and of reach when you live in a remote village in boys. The same boys who want to join her in Rima Das northeast India. And when your mother is rock-star glory tease and mistreat her because INDIA, 2017 a widow struggling to put food on the table, she’s a girl. Her mother is a strong figure in Assamese w/ English subtitles dreams of electric guitars can seem like her life but seems to have little patience for 87 minutes madness. Yet a guitar is exactly what drives her daughter’s extravagant dreams. It’s only Principal Cast: Bhanita Das, Basanti Das Dhunu’s ambition. At 10 years old, she is alive when Dhunu sits at the feet of a village elder with a passion for music and a dazzling confi- as he describes how to unlock the power of DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS dence in her own convictions. thought that she begins to glimpse how she Distributor: Independent Village Rockstars, the second feature from might achieve her boundless musical vision. Formats: DCP/Blu-ray TIFF Share Her Journey Ambassador Rima Das and India's nominee submission for Best Estimated availability: Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy “Village Rockstars is heartbreaking and uplifting Available now Awards, paints an inspiring portrait of a young in equal measure. A young girl and her mother’s girl finding her own place in a world made for woes and misery are not music to the ears, but their spirit is.” critically acclaimed female director boys and men. Das grew up in the same village where she —Renuka Vyavahare, social awareness shot Village Rockstars, and recruited a local, Times of India non-professional cast. This may also have seemed daring, but the result is magic. The performances are natural and fresh. The marshlands and village textures are palpable in Das’s intimate, widescreen camerawork. When the rains come, they drench Dhunu and her playmates in scenes that could never be staged.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 19 CURRENT

Critically acclaimed filmmaker Richard The novel, written by Maria Semple, spent a Where’d You Go, Linklater has been hard at work after the year on the New York Times bestseller list and Bernadette? enormous success of Before Midnight (2013) has been praised for its easygoing, satirical tone and Boyhood (2014). Considered by many to and intriguing characters. The novel’s pace and be a modern auteur, Linklater has recruited an style are a perfect match for Linklater’s signa- Richard Linklater impressive cast (Cate Blanchett, Judy Greer, ture style. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? features USA, 2018 Laurence Fishburne, and Kristen Wiig, to an incredible cast that offers no-holds-barred English name a few) for his forthcoming feature, an performances and moments of intimate, deeply 112 minutes adaptation of the beloved novel of the same affecting familial drama. Principal Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, name: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? Troian Bellisario, Billy Crudup Bernadette Fox (Blanchett, Carol, Blue Jasmine) is a gifted architect and mother DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Entertainment One who suffers from agoraphobia, an anxiety Formats: DCP disorder characterized by feeling unsafe in open or public spaces. Bernadette’s increas- Estimated availability: ing distress in her home city of Seattle and September 2019 her discomfort around other people result in her disappearance, leaving behind a hus- all-star cast family ties band (Billy Crudup, 20th Century Women, Spotlight) and a daughter, Bee. Determined literary adaptation to find her mother, Bee launches into an investigation by compiling e-mails, docu- ments, and other secret correspondence to help track down the misunderstood genius.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 20 CURRENT

One of the most irreverent cinematic spins too unflattering to its Israeli characters. Salam Tel Aviv on Fire on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the latest has just begun life as a writer and he’s already from writer-director Sameh Zoabi follows a forced to compromise his integrity, while the Sameh Zoabi fledging soap-opera scenarist charged with entire country watches flabbergasted. concocting plot twists to suit viewers on both Zoabi’s ingenious satire exudes a deadpan LUXEMBOURG/FRANCE/ISRAEL/BELGIUM, 2018 Arabic, Hebrew w/ English subtitles sides. audacity that’s hard to resist, while Nashef’s 97 minutes A slacker sliding into middle age with little outwardly unflappable middleman grounds Principal Cast: Lubna Azabal, Kais Nashef, to show for it, Salam (Kais Nashef) lands a this battle of ideologies in comic pragmatism. Maisa Abd Elhadi, Yaniv Biton production-assistant gig on Tel Aviv on Fire, Films like this might not bring peace to the a popular Palestinian evening soap for which Middle East, but making everyone laugh at DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS his uncle is showrunner. A banal, offhand the same thing feels like a step in the right Distributor: Unobstructed View Inc. remark made during a shoot puts Salam in hot direction. Formats: DCP/Blu-ray water with the show’s head writer but curries favour with its star (Lubna Azabal), a French Estimated availability: diva who barely speaks Arabic. On Salam’s “A witty and warm-hearted look at a divided land.” Available now first day, he gets promoted. —Jordan Mintzer, Yet just as Salam’s prospects rise, he has comedy crowd-pleasing The Hollywood Reporter a fateful encounter with Assi (Yaniv Biton), social awareness an Israeli military officer at the Ramallah checkpoint. During his interrogation of Salam, who must cross daily to get between home and work, Assi sees an opportunity to influence Tel Aviv on Fire — which, in his mind, is far

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 21 CURRENT

The affair and the friendship of authors Between Virginia’s mental health struggles Vita & Virginia Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West — and Vita’s impulsiveness — not to mention both uncompromising in their insistence to the concern of their husbands, families, and Chanya Button live, love, and create to the fullest — consti- mutual friends — their romance is bound UK/IRELAND, 2018 tutes one of the most fascinating relationships to be tumultuous. Yet tumult can fuel creativ- English in literary history. Director Chanya Button’s ity; Vita’s singular persona will eventually 110 minutes sumptuous double portrait traces their fiery be channelled into one of Virginia’s greatest Principal Cast: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, connection from the moment their paths cross works. Isabella Rossellini, Rupert Penry-Jones, to the publication of the work that would be Based on Sackville-West and Woolf’s Peter Ferdinando their shared legacy. personal correspondence and co-scripted The year is 1922. Though happily married, by Eileen Atkins, who also wrote the screen DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Mongrel Media Vita (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace) adaptation of Mrs Dalloway, Vita & Virginia Formats: DCP is as notorious for her dalliances with women will make you swoon. Isobel Waller-Bridge’s and iconoclastic attitudes toward gender as part–chamber music, part-electronica score Estimated availability: she is famous for her aristocratic ancestry and creates a seductive sonic latticework, while August 2019 writerly success. Virginia (Elizabeth Debicki, Button and cinematographer Carlos De The Great Gatsby, Macbeth), meanwhile, is a Carvalho craft striking sequences in which celebrated writer, publisher, and member of the equally brilliant Arterton and Debicki biographical female filmmaker the Bloomsbury Group, those innovative mod- speak directly to camera. This film is bold, social awareness erns already revolutionizing literature. When sensuous, and smart, but most importantly, Vita receives an invitation to Bloomsbury, it’s something Vita and Virgina would have she is elated at the thought of meeting the been proud of. enigmatic Woolf and, not surprisingly per- haps, becomes obsessed with the notion of seducing her.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 22 CURRENT

French writer-director-actor Emmanuel Everything in this film is in its tidy place, Mademoiselle Mouret’s elegant film of courtly manners except the emotions that threaten to disrupt de Joncquières plays like an even more wicked variation the regulated order of society. Mouret does on Dangerous Liaisons. Beautifully shot, a superb job of setting up his film, and then Emmanuel Mouret brilliantly written, and exquisitely acted, it gently draws blood with a series of deft jabs, delivers delightfully its witty insights into precisely delivered. FRANCE, 2018 male and female folly as if engaged in an after- French w/ English subtitles 109 minutes noon session of decorous fencing. Thrusts are "Mouret manipulates our sympathies effortlessly as made and parried, while the technique of the the story zigzags its way ... to its ultimately surpris- Principal Cast: Cécile de France, Edouard Baer, Alice Isaaz participants is admirable; their footwork is ing and quite satisfying resolution." nimble and their ripostes artful. —Helen T. Verongos, DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Shot in the French countryside, where The New York Times Distributor: K Films Amerique the aristocracy lives and plays in manicured Formats: DCP/Blu-ray mansions, Mademoiselle de Joncquières strips away the layers of artifice beneath the play of Estimated availability: manners to tell an age-old story about a lib- Available now ertine pursuing a beautiful woman of virtue. Madame de La Pommeraye (Cécile de character-driven crowd-pleasing France, Summertime, A Secret) has retired literary adaptation into virtual seclusion following the death of her husband, only to find herself being wooed by the dashing Marquis des Arcis (Edouard Baer, Molière, Hopefully). Events develop in the most surprising ways, and Madame seizes an opportunity provided by a new acquain- tance (Alice Isaaz, Elle, The Gilded Cage), the young mademoiselle of the title.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 23 CURRENT

In Carl Hunter’s debut feature, Bill Nighy paternal connection that Peter resents in Sometimes Always (The Bookshop, Hope Gap) shines as Alan, more ways than one. While living with Peter, Never an eccentric, retired tailor with a uniquely Alan comes across an online Scrabble player keen talent for Scrabble — and for hustling who plays in a fashion eerily similar to that of Carl Hunter strangers in games. However, the pleasure he his missing son. As the mystery of the online takes in Scrabble is tainted by the memory player’s identity deepens, Alan and Peter’s UK, 2019 of his long-lost, favoured son, who stormed strained relationship teeters on the brink of English 91 minutes out while playing one night and was never calamity. seen again. Featuring quietly powerful performances Principal Cast: Bill Nighy, Sam Riley, Alice Lowe Shielding himself from the cruelties of from both Nighy and Riley, Sometimes Always the world with a cloak of quirky peculiari- Never employs an English eccentricity, visual DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Pacific Northwest Pictures ties and a gruff demeanor, Alan has made it inventiveness, and a whimsically offbeat style Formats: DCP his life’s work to locate his missing son. His that makes for a lovely tale of how difficult it efforts haven’t yielded much, except to effec- can sometimes be for even the most loqua- Estimated availability: tively estrange him from his other son, Peter cious of us to simply spell it out. September 2019 (Sam Riley, Suite Française, On the Road), whose feelings of being second best aren’t crowd-pleasing family ties much assuaged by his father’s obsessive “This film is a distinct, articulate pleasure.”

film circuit favourite talent quest. Father and son seem to share only one —Peter Bradshaw, common quality: an inability to understand The Guardian each other. When Alan moves in with Peter his family to improve their relationship, he manages to make gentle inroads with Peter’s introverted adolescent son, Jack — a demonstration of

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 24 CURRENT

In 1965, the year before his death, the Venice Director Werner Herzog may say it best in the The Great Buster: Film Festival gave a tribute to Buster Keaton film: “He is the essence of movies, one of the A Celebration where he received a five-minute standing ova- inventors of cinema.” Bogdanovich demon- tion. In Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary The strates this idea quite literally with a sequence Great Buster: A Celebration, the director and featuring one of Keaton’s more daring stunts — Peter Bogdanovich film historian pays his own tribute to Keaton’s his falling house bit, which has been repeated USA, 2018 life and legacy, with a focus on the films he in film and television countless times. The English made independently before he signed on to Great Buster is an ode to this cinema legend 102 minutes a major studio, and how the introduction of and evidence that comedy can be timeless. sound changed cinema forever. With: Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, Dick Van Dyke, Johnny Knoxvillew Bogdanovich sets out to remind us of the star’s influence and ingenuity through a com- bination of Bogdanovich’s narration, a series “Keaton and the era he symbolized is long gone, but DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: MK2 l MILE END of interviews with filmmakers, collaborators, this documentary reminds us that he lives forever.” Formats: DCP performers, and friends, and, of course, a cav- —Moira Macdonald, alcade of spectacularly restored footage from The Seattle Times Estimated availability: Keaton’s films. From his birth, to his time on December 2019 the vaudeville circuit, to his directing years, to what he called “the biggest mistake of his biographical comedy documentary life,” The Great Buster tracks the highs and lows of Keaton’s professional and personal lives. The final third of the film is a study of the actor-director’s finest and most visionary creative period, citing his dark comedy, The General, as not only his finest work but also one of the best films in cinema history.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 25 CURRENT

Iconic Canadian fi lmmaker Patricia Rozema The various Cassandras are sometimes at Mouthpiece (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, Into the odds and sometimes in unison. Their striking Forest) returns with a potent exploration physicality and stirring a cappella harmonies Patricia Rozema of how women across generations contend create a compelling portrayal of the tension CANADA, 2018 with their own socialization. One of her most between regression and progress that is often English vibrant fi lms to date, Rozema’s latest — an found within women. 91 minutes Offi cial Selection in TIFF's 2018 Canada's Principal Cast: Norah Sadava, Amy Nostbakken, Top Ten series — knots together the thematic “A fi lm that brandishes the messiness of self-doubt Maev Beaty threads of her past work: feminist conscious- and self-contradiction, but uses that morass of emo- ness and the struggle for self-expression. tions to unearth something very pertinent about the DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS In the aftermath of her mother’s sudden lives women live, and the lives they leave behind.” Distributor: levelFilm Formats: DCP/Blu-ray death, aspiring writer Cassandra struggles —Pamela Hutchinson, to compose a eulogy. She self-identifi es as the Sight & Sound Estimated availability: black sheep of the family, standing in brazen Available now opposition to her mother’s embodiment of feminine grace. In Cassandra’s eyes, to be a family ties female director “nurturing mother” and a “classy woman” is to be a vessel for self-sacrifi ce, and she roils homegrown talent over her mother’s failed career and incessant need for approval from others. Cassandra is only able to connect with her mother when she realizes that her own rebelliousness is as much a response to the male gaze as her mother’s conformity. In this adaptation of the play of the same name, the confl icting dialogue in Cassandra’s head is brilliantly expressed by two perform- ers: its original creators, Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 26 CURRENT

When Martha (Diane Keaton, Book Club, tele- controlling spouse, and a stadium filled with Poms vision’s The Young Pope) discovers her latest overly-flexible teenage cheerleaders. All the cancer diagnosis looks grim, she decides to while, Martha has decided to keep her cancer Zara Hayes skip her final chemotherapy session, pack up diagnosis a secret. This charming, spirited USA, 2019 her New York City apartment, and head to story is ultimately about women who come English a retirement community in Georgia. When together to support one another through the 91 minutes she arrives, the other residents lay down the ups and downs, the high and lows — on and off Principal Cast: Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, ins and outs of the facility. Much to Martha’s the stage. Celia Weston dismay, one of the rules is that everyone must The fiction-feature debut from Zara Hayes, participate in a club. Poms is a light-hearted, feel-good film that DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS After Martha meets her spunky and proves it’s never too late grab your pom-poms Distributor: Entertainment One Formats: DCP/Blu-ray fun-loving neighbour Sheryl (Jacki Weaver, and follow your dreams. Widows, Silver Linings Playbook), the two Estimated availability: reminisce about their younger years, where “Keaton is as radiant as ever, and Weaver is clearly Available now Martha reveals her long-lost dream of becom- having a blast.” ing a cheerleader. That night, Martha and —Nell Minow, crowd-pleasing female director Sheryl decide to take matters into their own RogerEbert.com hands and start a cheerleading team of their uplifting own. The women quickly form an out-of-shape but enthusiastic squad and set out to compete in a cheer competition. From there, the group must overcome the judgmental retirement community’s president (Celia Weston, The Intern, Adult Beginners), a conservative and

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 27 CURRENT

Pipe Dreams Following fi ve young and gifted musicians competitor: Alcee, a rural Texan who wants heading to the Olympics for organists — the to nothing more than to be himself. Alcee plans Stacey Tenenbaum prestigious Canadian International Organ to show the judges who he really is with a set CANADA, 2018 Competition (CIOC) — Pipe Dreams goes that will subvert their expectations. English, French, German, Mandarin w/ English behind the performances to tell a story cap- The talent and drive of the fi ve musicians subtitles turing the devotion, emotion, and artistry the reverberate from scene to scene, culminat- 78 minutes musicians pour into their practice and use to ing in a series of performances at some of With: Nick Capozzoli, Alcee Chriss III, Thomas fuel their fi erce, competitive spirit. Montreal’s most beautiful cathedrals and Gaynor, Sebastian Heindl, Yuan Shen Four months prior the CIOC, in Montreal, basilicas. As tensions rise to a new decibel director Stacey Tenenbaum begins to track level, the gloves come off , the music gets louder, DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Northern Banner each player as they train with their coaches and the camera cuts closer to the action. Who Formats: DCP on their home turf. A portrait of each competi- will bring down the house? Tenenbaum gives tor emerges. Sebastian, a former child prodigy nothing away until the very end. Estimated availability: born in the same town as Bach, is the youngest Available now organist to compete. He's ready for stardom, “Pulls out all the stops.” but his inexperience keeps him from fully —Glenn Sumi, crowd-pleasing documentary believing in himself. Yuan is the CIOC’s fi rst NOW Magazine Chinese competitor and is desperate to win. female director She has something to prove to her parents and, as she later realizes, herself. Nick is an intense perfectionist from Pittsburgh who is trying to break out of his comfort zone. Thomas trains in America but joins the competition as a New Zealander. His back-to-back competitions are burning him out, and it’s uncertain if he will have the stamina to challenge his greatest

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 28 CURRENT

La Femme de mon frère Winner of the Coup de Coeur award at the Chokri refreshingly presents with normalcy A Brother’s Love 2019 Cannes Film Festival, La Femme de mon and with a “no big deal” attitude), a romance frère is the debut feature from actor Monia is sparked between Karim and Sophia’s doctor, Chokri (Heartbeats, Laurence Anyways). Éloïse (Tom at the Farm, television’s Orphan Monia Chokri Sophia (Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Laurence Black), who seems to embody every quality CANADA, 2019 Anyways, Félix et Meira) is a recent PhD Sophia does not have. French w/ English subtitles graduate struggling through various growing Éloïse and Karim become serious, and they 117 minutes pains while attempting to fi nd her place in slowly edge Sophia out of their relationship Principal Cast: Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Patrick Hivon, the world. The close and somewhat emotion- as she tries to insert herself into it. Sophia is Evelyne Brochu ally dependent relationship between her and then forced to grow up and pursue the life and her handsome psychologist brother, Karim career she thinks she deserves but has thus far DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS (Patrick Hivon), allows them both to remain refused to truly strive for. Distributor: Entertainment One Formats: DCP in an immature, stagnant emotional state. Initially, Sophia does not seem to care whom Estimated availability: she off ends or bothers as long as she is able “A Brother’s Love certainly does confi rm Chokri as Available now to run back to Karim and his unconditional a directorial talent to watch with something to say.” aff ection and attention — but this also holds —Boyd van Hoeij, family ties female filmmaker her back from moving forward professionally The Hollywood Reporter or romantically. After Karim accompanies homegrown talent Sophia to the clinic for an abortion (which

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 29 CURRENT

Ask Dr. Ruth Chronicling the incredible life of the nonage- Beyond her insistence on open, honest dia- narian and world-renowned sex therapist, Ask logue around sexual pleasure and intimacy, Ryan White Dr. Ruth is as charming and fascinating as its Dr. Ruth also became an advocate for the USA, 2019 endlessly charismatic subject. gay community and women’s reproductive English Dr. Ruth Westheimer became famous in the rights, during a time when both were being 100 minutes United States for her frank and unapologetic dangerously disregarded in the larger cultural discussions about sex. Her 1980s radio show, conversation. With: Dr. Ruth Westheimer Sexually Speaking, was a cultural touchstone Endlessly watchable, Ask Dr. Ruth inspires a for millions of people. Her no-nonsense reverence and appreciation for this unwaver- DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Mongrel Media approach and cheeky smile might make the ingly warm, unstoppable woman. Formats: DCP first impression of a cheerful grandmother dispensing sex advice. However, her life story Estimated availability: is one of such astounding resilience that it Available now quickly becomes clear how her willingness to “The experience of watching Ask Dr. Ruth is a bit like name anatomical parts is the least surprising that of meeting someone unaccountably delightful documentary social awareness thing about her. and almost being knocked backward by the gale-force strength of her personality.” uplifting Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Westheimer was made an orphan by the —Justin Chang, Holocaust. Her early years, spent in a Swiss The Los Angeles Times orphanage — where she educated herself at night by reading textbooks — are filled with both deep sorrow and moments of stir- ring human tenacity. When Westheimer immigrated to New York in the 1950s, she established herself as a compassionate and unique voice in academia and relationship counselling.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 30 CURRENT

Marianne & Leonard: Most of what we know of Marianne Ihlen, we of his songs. But Ihlen was his longest-lasting Words of Love learned through Leonard Cohen’s enigmatic influence. Famously, he wrote to her not long “So Long, Marianne.” In his latest doc, Nick before her death: “Know that I am so close Nick Broomfield Broomfield Whitney:( Can I Be Me, Kurt & behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I Courtney) examines the love affair between think you can reach mine.” USA, 2019 Ihlen and Cohen that began on the Greek Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is English, Norwegian, w/ English subtitles 97 minutes island of Hydra in 1960. a remarkable and rare portrait of a love Through never-before-seen archival foot- that lasted a lifetime, from its intoxicat- With: Marianne Ihlen, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Helle Goldman, Richard Vick age and interviews with their friends and ing beginning to its poetic end. While the former colleagues, a portrait emerges of the proof of it will live on in Cohen’s songs, this DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS woman behind the lyrics and the long-lasting documentary captures the time, place, and Distributor: Elevation Pictures influence she had on Cohen. Broomfield circumstance that ignited the heart of a soulful Formats: DCP himself was inspired by Ihlen. After a brief singer-songwriter. romantic dalliance with Broomfield in 1968, Estimated availability: she encouraged him to make his first film. “As much poetry as documentary — it’s a gentle, Available now They remained friends until her death in 2016, rhapsodic film, an emotional change of pace for its three months prior to Cohen’s death. director and a moving portrait of a love that still biographical documentary Much of Ihlen and Cohen’s story is made resonates.” uplifting up of the time they spent apart, though Cohen —Steve Pond, continued to write to her after leaving Hydra The Wrap to pursue his music career. “I was always escaping. I was always trying to get away,” Cohen expressed in an interview. The interviews in Words of Love are a tell-all of Cohen’s concerts and conquests, revealing the women in his life to be the source of many

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 31 CURRENT

The Tomorrow Man Writer-director Noble Jones’ The Tomorrow Jones’ portrayal of finding love in the later Man is a dramatic and romantic character stages of life makes The Tomorrow Man a Noble Jones piece about two quirky seniors from a small must-see. This film pulls at your heartstrings town who look past their drastic differences and makes you think about your beliefs — and USA, 2019 English to find love. about conspiracy theories that may impact 94 minutes Ed (John Lithgow, Beatriz at Dinner, your life in an unexpected way. Principal Cast: John Lithgow, Blythe Danner Interstellar) is obsessed with the end of the world and spends his life preparing for a disas- “Jones’ screenplay and direction build up an atmosphere of gently humorous, non-threatening DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS ter that may never happen. Ronnie (Blythe Distributor: Pacific Northwest Pictures Danner, Hearts Beat Loud, What They Had) suspense over just what these two oldsters are really Formats: DCP is a lively woman who spends her time shop- up to.” ping for items she may never need in order to —Dennis Harvey, Estimated availability: feel close to her loved ones. When they meet, Variety Available now sparks fly and they soon begin their journey together. At first, their disparate lifestyles comedy crowd-pleasing cause some problems for Ed — but when an family-friendly incident lands him in the hospital, he must decide if going through life according to his own future plans is more important than living in the present with Ronnie.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 32 CURRENT

Parasite From the director whose films rank amongst is only one family member left to onboard: Kim the highest grossing in South Korea — includ- matriarch Chung-Sook (Chang Hyae-jin). Bong Joon-ho ing The Host and Snowpiercer — comes a tragic Nothing can prepare you for what happens SOUTH KOREA, 2019 family comedy (of sorts) unlike any film you next. The film travels through genres seam- Korean w/ English subtitles have ever seen; there is no one genre to accu- lessly to tell a story about greed and social 131 min rately describe it. disparity that is tragic (or maybe comedic) on Principal Cast: Song Kang-ho, Cho Yeo-jeong, Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Palme d'Or winner a Shakespearean scale. Bong Joon-ho is giv- Park So-dam, Chang Hyae-jin, Jung Hyeon-jun, tells the story of two families: the Kims and ing film lovers a reason to step inside a cinema Lee Sun-kyun, Choi Woo-shik, Lee Jung-eun, Jung Ziso the Parks. The Kims are an impoverished fam- and see this award-winning opus unfold on the ily living in squalor, but they are resourceful. big screen. DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS When opportunity strikes, they seize it — and Distributor: MK2 films never let go. “A luxuriously watchable and satirical suspense Formats: DCP After a family friend decides to move to the drama.” United States, he encourages Ki-woo (Choi —Peter Bradshaw, Estimated availability: Woo-shik, Okja) to replace him as a tutor to the The Guardian October 2019 daughter of the wealthy Park family. Ki-woo is unqualified for the job, but forges the cre- award-winning critically acclaimed dentials he needs with the help of his sister dark comedy Ki-jung (Park So-dam). One by one, each member of the Kim family finds their way into servitude to the Parks — without the Parks discovering who they really are. “Rich people are naive,” remarks the patriarch of the Kim family (Song Kang-ho, Snowpiercer). The Parks are the source of survival for the Kims now. There

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 33 CURRENT

After the Wedding This family drama is defined by its twists married — resulting in a last-minute invite and turns, and is at its most satiating if you to the nuptials for Isabel. At the wedding, Bart Freundlich can avoid any spoilers. A remake of the 2006 Isabel discovers a connection to Theresa that Danish film of the same name, After the opens a door to a darker past. What ensues is USA, 2019 English Wedding promises the high drama and exqui- world-shattering series of revelations that will 112 minutes site performances of the original, directed by upend the women’s lives. Principal Cast: Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Susanne Bier (In A Better World, Bird Box), Masterfully performed by Williams, Moore, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn with one major modification: the showdown at and newcomer Quinn, After the Wedding the centre of the film, so poignantly portrayed entangles audiences in its labyrinth of secrets DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS by Mads Mikkelsen and Rolf Lassgård, has as any real family drama would. Distributor: Mongrel Media been reimagined with women playing the Formats: DCP pivotal roles. The tightly guarded plot begins to unravel Estimated availability: shortly after Isabel (Michelle Williams, “After a point, the twists come so steadily that I Coming soon Manchester by the Sea, Take This Waltz), an actually found myself holding my breath for long idealistic orphanage director in Kolkata strug- stretches — despite the fact that I know the original all-star cast character-driven gling to make ends meet, reluctantly travels to well — eager to see how key revelations would play visually engaging New York to meet Theresa (Julianne Moore, out within this new dynamic.” Still Alice, Gloria Bell), a wealthy media mogul —Peter Debruge, and potential benefactor. When the two first Variety meet, Theresa is too distracted by the immi- nent wedding of her daughter, Grace (Abby Quinn, television's Better Call Saul), to make a final decision on funding the orphanage and delays giving a resolution until after Grace is

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 34 SHORTS

Turbine Biidaaban (The Dawn Norman Norman

Alex Boya | CANADA, 2018 | No dialogue | 6 min. Comes) Sophy Romvari | CANADA, 2018 | English | 7 min. A war pilot crash-lands through his apartment Amanda Strong | CANADA, 2018 | English | 19 min. A young woman spends the night grappling window. When his wife returns from work, she with the declining health of her beloved dog in Accompanied by a 10,000-year-old shapeshifter discovers that her husband’s face has been re- this fi lm about mortality, cloning, and Barbra and friend known as Sabe, Biidaaban sets out on placed by an airplane turbine. He’s also fallen in Streisand. a mission to reclaim the ceremonial harvest- love with their kitchen ceiling fan. To save their ing of sap from maple trees in an unwelcoming faltering marriage, his wife decides she will no suburban neighborhood in Ontario. Driven by longer let her humanity get in the way of love. the words of Anishinaabe writer Leanne Betasa- mosake Simpson, Amanda Strong’s mesmerizing stop-motion animation intricately weaves to- gether multiple worlds through time and space, calling for a rebellion.

Inuk Hunter Forbidden Tikka Masala Space Between Stars

George Annanack | CANADA, 2017 | No dialogue | 4 min. Rahul Chartuvedi | CANADA, 2018 | English | 15 min. Sam Bradley | CANADA, 2018 | No dialogue | 9 min. A poetic and contemplative fi lm about an Inuk Gayatri, a devoutly religious, vegetarian Indian This science-fi ction fable follows a group of man hunting for northern lights with his camera. woman, mistakenly eats chicken at her retire- ethereal creatures exploring a derelict space sta- ment party. When she can't get the succulent tion. As they’re drawn out into a vast, unsettling taste out of her mind, her life is thrown into environment and their fate begins to crystallize, chaos. Already challenged with adjusting to her questions are raised about the nature and ambi- new retired life, Gayatri struggles to fi nd her guity of confl ict. place in her family's hectic schedule. Resolving herself to her new cravings, Gayatri’s search for the chicken recipe takes her on an adventure that will forever change her.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 35 COMING SOON

The Song of Names Canadian director François Girard (The Red brother. When he picks up David’s trail again, Violin; Hochelaga, Land of Souls) helms this he throws caution to the wind in his search for François Girard tale of friendship, betrayal, and self-discovery what really tore his family apart that night. spanning decades. Featuring a luminous original score from CANADA/UK/GERMANY/HUNGARY, 2019 The Song of Names centres on 9-year-old Canadian composer Howard Shore (the man English violin prodigy and Polish Jewish refugee behind the iconic scores of the Lord of the 113 minutes Dovidl (or David, as he comes to be called), Rings trilogy), The Song of Names asks us to Principal Cast: Tim Roth, Clive Owen, Catherine whose parents leave him in the care of a consider how memory can be used as a tool of McCormack wealthy British benefactor at the beginning resistance, and how community and family of World War II. can bridge continents and generations. DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS: Distributor: Elevation Pictures David’s benefactor already has a son, Format: DCP Martin, who resents the special attention his new adopted brother receives, as well as his Estimated availability: apparently limitless gift with the violin. After Coming soon a rocky start to their relationship, the boys grow closer, and friendship turns into broth- family ties homegrown talent erhood. Martin sees David’s dismay and pain grow with each day that passes without news social awarness of his family, and stories from the war grow ever more gruesome. David tries to seek solace in his Jewish faith and tradition, clinging to the bond he shares with his family from afar. As the boys grow into young men, David suddenly vanishes before his debut concert performance at 21, sending Martin’s father into fi nancial ruin and splitting their fam- ily apart. Martin (Tim Roth, Selma, October Gale) loses all trace of David, but he always keeps one ear to the ground for his long-lost

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 36 COMING SOON

Dolce Fine Giornata Director Jacek Borcuch creates a drama that’s she touches are upended: during a ceremony just as much about family relationships as it in her honour, she delivers a speech that sends Jacek Borcuch is about politics and consequences. Borcuch shockwaves through her community and the POLAND echoes the adversarial nature of the current world, straining her relationships with her Italian, English, Polish w/ English subtitles cultural climate by contemplating the power family and her lover. 90 minutes of words and the value assigned to artists in Dolce Fine Giornata sits at the intersection Principal Cast: Krystyna Janda, Kasia Smutniak, society. of art and politics, freedom of speech and Vincent Riotta, Antonia Catania, Robin Renucci, Maria Linde (Krystyna Janda) is a moral consequence, public and personal life. Lorenzo de Moor free-spirited, Nobel Prize–winning poet Its final scene will inspire a discussion that living in a seemingly idyllic villa with her will likely go unresolved. DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Films We Like husband, daughter, and two grandchildren in Formats: DCP/Blu-ray the Tuscan town of Volterra. They enjoy all “Borcuch’s film asks the right questions about the their surroundings have to offer: fresh food, dangerously escalating xenophobia and leaves a Estimated availability: great wine, and dinner parties with their lasting impression with its final metaphoric shot.” Coming soon intellectual friends. Privately (or perhaps not —Tomris Laffly, so privately), Maria also enjoys the company RogerEbert.com boundary-pushing character-driven of a local tavern owner, a handsome and much younger Egyptian man named Nazeer. drama It’s not long before the cracks in the veneer become apparent; the air in the walled city is tinged with suspicion of any kind of otherness. A breaking point is finally reached when Rome is hit by a deadly terrorist attack. In its after- math, Maria’s life and the lives of the people

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 37 COMING SOON

Official Secrets Official Secrets recalls the prosecution of Weighed down by her conscience, she risks real-life whistle-blower Katharine Gun (Keira everything and leaks the memo in the hopes Gavin Hood Knightley, Colette, The Imitation Game), a of stopping the war — but no one can stand UK/USA, 2019 story that might otherwise be a footnote in the in its way. English campaign that led to the March 2003 invasion Did Gun break the law? Did she violate the 112 minutes of Iraq by British and American troops. The UK’s Official Secrets Act? Is she a traitor? Principal Cast: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, film offers a behind-the-scenes account of These are the motivating questions from here Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans events from the perspectives of Gun and the on out. Directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, winner journalists and lawyers that warn of the peril- of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS ous state of democracy at times of war. Language Film) and stacked with a who’s who Distributor: Entertainment One Formats: DCP Gun was a young translator at the United of British acting heavyweights, Official Secrets Kingdom’s Government Communications is an examination of the meaning, value, and Headquarters (GCHQ). George W. Bush, act of loyalty. Estimated availability: President of the United States, and Tony Blair, Coming soon Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, were “A sturdy, entertaining political thriller that pushes doing everything in their power to secure a all the right buttons and triggers all the right out- all-star cast based on true events United Nations resolution to sanction war. raged reactions.” As part of that effort, the States’ National —Tim Grierson, social awareness Security Agency sent a memo to GCHQ with Screen International an order to gather information on diplomats from certain nations so they could fix the UN vote and protect themselves from being charged with any unlawful acts. Gun is reluctant to follow the order, know- ing that the case for war has yet to be proven.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 38 COMING SOON

Pain and Glory Pedro Almodóvar (The Skin I Live In, Julieta) Almodóvar seamlessly uses flashbacks to returns with this emotional and visually move us through past and present, boyhood Pedro Almodóvar engaging story of an acclaimed filmmaker and manhood, memories and visions, cinema SPAIN, 2019 whose reflections on the past bring him closer and reality, as Salvador comes closer to his Spanish w/ English subtitles to the truth of the present. sense of identity. In keeping with his aes- 113 minutes Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas, Life thetic, Almodóvar uses rich colours and slow, Principal Cast: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz Itself, The Skin I Live In) is a veteran Spanish drawn-out sequences to pull us in and explore filmmaker who suffers from both physical themes of intimacy, dysfunctional families, DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS and mental ailments, as well as a creative and sexual complexity. Distributor: Mongrel Media drought. When the Madrid cinematheque The director’s most personal work to date, Formats: DCP invites Salvador to participate in a Q&A for a Pain and Glory competed for the Palme d’Or retrospective of his earlier work, he decides at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where Estimated availability: to reconnect with the film’s drug-addled star, Banderas took home the award for Best Actor Coming soon Alberto Crespo (Asier Etxeandia), whom he and Alberto Iglesias won for Best Soundtrack. hasn’t spoken to in 30 years. This film is a must-see for this year’s awards awards attention critically acclaimed Upon their reunion, Salvador learns that season. visually engaging Alberto is still abusing drugs in order to keep the creative juices flowing. On a whim, Salvador decides to try heroin for the first “Everything about Pain and Glory is awake and time. As he continues to chase the high, he alive, and Almodóvar’s nerve endings become ours, sinks deeper into the past, reflecting on a too.” series of firsts: his first taste of cinema, his first —Stephanie Zacharek, desire for men, his first partner, Alberto, and Time Magazine his first love — his mother, Jacinta (Penélope Cruz, Everybody Knows, Loving Pablo).

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 No image available

39 COMING SOON

The Aeronauts This edge-of-your-seat epic, inspired by their own stunts, which included filming at an real-life events, reunites The Theory of altitude of 2,000 feet. Tom Harper Everything acting duo Felicity Jones (On Director Tom Harper (television’s War & UK/USA, 2019 the Basis of Sex) and Eddie Redmayne (The Peace) re-teams with his Peaky Blinders cin- English Danish Girl) to tell this tale about a historic ematographer, George Steel, to create visually 109 minutes hot-air balloon expedition. breathtaking scenes that elevate the film’s Principal Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, In 1862, a determined scientist (Redmayne) big-screen viewing experience and the story’s Tom Courtenay, Anne Reid, Rebecca Front, Vincent and a wealthy widow (Jones) risk everything sense of adventure. Perez, Tim McInnerny, Phoebe Fox, Himesh Patel in an attempt to reach a flying height no one has dared reach before. On their journey, they DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Distributor: Entertainment One make important discoveries about themselves Formats: DCP and each other. The Aeronauts is based on the true story of Estimated availability: meteorologist James Glaisher and aeronaut Coming soon Henry Coxwell, who teamed up for a danger- ous series of flights in order to understand based on true events crowd-pleasing more about the atmosphere and the weather. Redmayne and Jones fully immersed them- visually engaging selves in these risk-taking roles by doing

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 40 COMING SOON

The Climb A clever and original comedy, The Climb charts The Climb is told in a series of chapters, spaced the evolution (and sometimes devolution) of months and sometimes years apart, each with Michael Angelo Covino the relationship between best friends Mike its own story arc and each playing for come- USA, 2019 (Michael Angelo Covino) and Kyle (Kyle dic effect. Mike and Kyle manage to turn an English Marvin). Though their friendship is endur- everyday relationship into a compelling and 96 minutes ing, it’s not without its faults. Well-written absorbing friendship for the ages. Principal Cast: Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino, and laugh-out-loud funny, the feature debut Gayle Rankin for director and co-star Covino premiered at “A clever, comic bromance backed by artful Cannes in Un Certain Regard, winning the filmmaking.” DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS jury’s Coup de Coeur prize. Distributor: Mongrel Media —Jordan Mintzer, Formats: DCP Don’t let the brilliant performances by The Hollywood Reporter real-life best friends Covino and Marvin Estimated availability: distract you completely from the work of the Coming soon cinematographer. The opening scene show- cases all the elements that make this film a character-driven comedy must-watch. It begins with a real bike ride in the south of France, a 10-minute take that sees crowd-pleasing Kyle struggling to pedal up a hill and keep up with a Mike, who rides ahead only to confess to sleeping with Kyle’s fiancée. And thus, the first great argument of the film begins — with hilarious results.

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 41 COMING SOON

Il pleuvait des oiseaux The latest from Louise Archambault (Film After Steve takes his aunt (Andrée Lachapelle) And the Birds Rained Down Circuit favourite Gabrielle), adapted from the to her brother’s funeral, she asks that she not acclaimed novel by Jocelyne Saucier, follows be taken back to the psychiatric hospital where a group of octogenarians who have decided to she has spent the greater part of her life — and Louise Archambault live on their own terms in the wilderness of Steve knows just the place to take her to keep CANADA, 2019 northern Quebec. her safe and under the radar. Around the same French w/ English subtitles Tom (Gilbert Sicotte, The Salesman) time, a young photographer fi nds her way to Principal Cast: Andrée Lachapelle, Gilbert Sicotte, and Charlie (Rémy Girard, The Barbarian the secluded compound as she investigates Rémy Girard, Ève Landry, Éric Robidoux, Louise Invasions, Incendies), who have been living survivors of the area’s greatest forest fi re. Portal in isolation for years in a small compound These two women shake up the men’s tran- along the water, experience a death in their quil routine, challenging each of them to look DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS community of three when their painter friend at the world in ways they may have previously Distributor: MK2 Format: DCP Ted suddenly passes away, leaving behind a been avoiding. The fi lm presents a story of locked shed full of beautiful canvases. Steve intertwined destinies, compassion, and love, Estimated availability: (Éric Robidoux, Love in the Time of Civil War), as well as the power of taking one’s life into Coming soon a young manager at an almost-always vacant his or her own hands. motel not too far away from the compound, female filmmaker starts working with Tom and Charlie, helping them maintain a low-key marijuana operation. film circuit favourite talent

homegrown talent

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019 42 COMING SOON

One Day in the Life of Master filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk First Peoples and the country’s colonizers. Noah Piugattuk (Maliglutit (Searchers), The Journals of When Boss insists that Piugattuk must relo- Knud Rasmussen) returns with One Day cate, or else he won’t receive his allowance Zacharias Kunuk in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, in which a from the government, the elder responds with single day in an Inuk man’s life represents as incredulity. What would he or his family ever CANADA, 2019 aspect of Canadian history that has aff ected need money for? English, Inuktitut w/ English subtitles 112 minutes generations. The fundamental disconnect between One morning in the spring of 1961, Noah Boss and Piugattuk provides moments both Principal Cast: Apayata Kotierk, Benjamin Kunuk, Kim Bodnia Piugattuk (Apayata Kotierk, Atanarjuat: poignant and humorous; the language bar- The Fast Runner, The Journals of Knud rier alone provides several wry asides from DISTRIBUTOR DETAILS Rasmussen) begins his day like any other in Piugattuk. However, the feeling of watching Distributor: Isuma Kapuivik, on Baffi n Island. Slowly preparing a moment suspended in time, knowing the Formats: DCP himself for a trip to get supplies, Piugattuk sips weight this interaction will carry for Piugattuk coff ee, packs supplies, and readies his dogs — a real-life Inuk elder who lived 1900–96 and Estimated availability: for the journey. Along the way, when his party who saw fi rsthand the erosion of his people’s Coming soon stops for a rest, a lookout spots an incoming language and lifestyle — imbues the fi lm with team. Piugattuk’s group wonders who they an incredible vitality and urgency. biographical character-driven might be and what provisions they might need. homegrown talent Once the other team arrives, Piugattuk is immediately introduced to “Boss” (Kim Bodnia, television’s Killing Eve), a government agent who has come to tell Piugattuk and his entire community that they must move to a settlement and put their children in school. The ensuing conversation — and nego- tiation — between Piugattuk, the government agent, and members of both teams serves as the centrepiece of the fi lm, providing a snap- shot of the relationship between Canada’s

Film Circuit Release Schedule • Fall 2019