Sharing more titles from my TIFF short list in this second volume, which includes about 26 films, in alphabetical order. Again, this will give you an idea of the variety of films at this year’s festival.
As well, this list includes short films, feature films and Primetime / Series titles. Lastly, this short list contains film titles for which I have public tickets; it also includes films I have screened pre-festival and others I aim to see using my media/press pass.
Pedro Páramo
Unfolding in a seemingly abandoned Mexican town where past and present beguilingly coexist, the feature directorial debut of legendary cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon) is a mesmerizing story of desire, corruption, and inheritance.
Pimpinero: Blood and Oil (Pimpinero: Sangre y Gasolina)
Set in the early 2010s, this gripping thriller by director Andrés Baiz (Griselda, Narcos) takes place in the treacherous desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, where gasoline smugglers or pimpineros risk their lives transporting illegal fuel.
Quota (Short Cuts Programme 05)
The delightful Dutch animation team of Job, Joris & Marieke returns with a wickedly funny parable that suggests a rather extreme means of getting people to think about their footprint on this world.
Really Happy Someday
A rising musical-theatre star before his transition, Z (Breton Lalama) has to figure out how to sing in his new register in order to return to the thing he loves most — and, in the process, integrate his past and present selves.
Rez Ball
Set in the beautiful Navajo Nation, the film shares the inspiring story of the Chuska Warriors basketball team in their quest for championship glory after a devastating loss.
The Room Next Door
Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore star in this visually exquisite and intimate adaptation of What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature.
Rumours
Cate Blanchett (The New Boy, TIFF ’23) joins a strong ensemble cast and plays the German chancellor in this absurd satire of a G7 world leaders meeting that spins wildly out of control — the latest from co-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson.
Seeds
Kaniehtiio Horn (Alice, Darling, TIFF ’22) wrote, directed, and stars in this film, a tense thriller that weaves Kanienʼkehá꞉ka connections to the land with a cat-and-mouse game.
The Shadow Strays
From action auteur Timo Tjahjanto (Headshot, TIFF ’16, The Night Comes For Us), a young assassin breaks rank from her clandestine organization to rescue a young boy from gangsters with ultra-violent repercussions.
Shepherds
A Montréal copywriter sets out to reinvent himself as a sheep herder in the French Alps despite knowing literally nothing about the centuries-old craft, in this adaptation from director and co-writer Sophie Deraspe.
The Shrouds
Still grieving the loss of his wife, a technological entrepreneur (Vincent Cassel) finds what’s left of his world collapsing into a nightmare of sex, paranoia, and grief in David Cronenberg’s most personal film.
Sketch
When a young girl’s peculiar drawings come to life, leaving a wake of chaos and crayon dust, a grieving family has to band together to fight them off in this feature debut reminiscent of classics like Gremlins, Jumanji, and The Goonies.
So Surreal: Behind the Masks
This interesting documentary unveils the fascinating connection between the work of famed Surrealist artists and Yupʼik and Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw ceremonial masks, and the quest to bring some of the masks back home.
The Swedish Torpedo
This beautifully textured period drama from director Frida Kempff tells the story of Sally Bauer, a Swedish mother who pursues her dream of swimming the English Channel before the Second World War envelops Europe.
Sweet Angel Baby
Eliza is an unassuming and beloved member of a small fishing community in Newfoundland who sees all of her relationships put in jeopardy after her secret social media persona is exposed.
They Will Be Dust
Unequal parts contemporary dance-musical and ensemble drama, this film reaches for the raw emotional core of humanity in all its inherent messiness.
Universal Language
Matthew Rankin’s second feature is a lovingly detailed, charmingly impossible story of a Canada where Persian and French are the two official languages, and loneliness is the common currency.
Vice Is Broke
Eddie Huang of Huang’s World undertakes a first-person investigation into how Vice went from scrappy Montreal indie magazine to media giant. He interviews former contributors who were crucial to its rise and witnessed its downfall.
Viktor
Fusing rigorous reportage with innovative cinematic subjectivity, this bold documentary from veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil is a uniquely intimate portrait of a Deaf person’s experience of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Village Keeper
After a massive loss, an overwhelmed Toronto mother discovers a very unusual way to process her grief.
welima’q (Short Cuts Programme 01)
The picking of sweetgrass becomes an action — and word — with profound meaning in this gently mesmerizing piece by multidisciplinary writer and artist shalan joudry.
Went Up the Hill
Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) and Vicky Krieps (The Dead Don’t Hurt) deliver haunting performances in Samuel Van Grinsven’s atmospheric ghost story that explores the legacy of loss and dark family secrets.
The Wolf (Short Cuts Programme 05)
Deploying a groundbreaking technique, revered Canadian animator Theodore Ushev, returns with a spellbinding of the ageless conflict between nature and humankind.
The Wolves Always Come at Night
After a devastating storm wrought by climate change forces them from their home in the Mongolian countryside to the city, a young couple are forced to adapt to a new way of life in this breathtaking and heartbreaking hybrid film.
You Are Not Alone (Vous n’êtes pas seuls)
With their first feature film, long-time collaborators (and real-life partners) Marie-Hélène Viens and Philippe Lupien are performing a radical genre experiment, mashing up P.T. Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (TIFF ’02) and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (TIFF ’13) to create a new hybrid lifeform.
Your Tomorrow
Ali Weinstein’s documentary captures the final year of Toronto’s celebrated Ontario Place, as the beloved provincial park is sectioned off for redevelopment while visitors keep showing up to walk its trails, enjoy the lake, or just check on the tomatoes they’re cultivating by the shore.
I am curious what the final list will be and final tally. If you are curious about how my TIFF experience unfolds in real time, follow me on social media @HyeMusings.
Information on all of the films listed here, as well as, other festival details including ticketing information, is available at tiff.net.
