Andres Guzman News

TIFF19 First Wave Announcements [News]

This is what some of us have been waiting for over almost a year. Pretty much since the last festival has ended. As soon as it ended, we all took a day break and then collectively went “until next time.” So here are the first wave announcements and after the press release portion of the post, I’m gonna break down why some of these are so exciting – but also, what I want to see and not as intrigued about.

GALAS 2019

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood / Marielle Heller | USA World Premiere

Abominable / Jill Culton | USA World Premiere

American Woman / Semi Chellas | Canada Canadian Premiere

Blackbird / Roger Michell | United Kingdom World Premiere

Clemency / Chinonye Chukwu | USA  International Premiere

Ford v Ferrari  / James Mangold | USA Canadian Premiere

The Goldfinch / John Crowley | USA World Premiere

Harriet / Kasi Lemmons | USA World Premiere

Hustlers / Lorene Scafaria | USA World Premiere

Joker / Todd Phillips | USA North American Premiere

Just Mercy  / Destin Daniel Cretton | USA World Premiere

*Opening Night Film*

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band / Daniel Roher | Canada  World Premiere

Ordinary Love / Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn | United Kingdom World Premiere

*Closing Night Film*

Radioactive / Marjane Satrapi | United Kingdom World Premiere

The Sky Is Pink / Shonali Bose | India World Premiere

The Song of Names/  François Girard | Canada  World Premiere

True History of the Kelly Gang / Justin Kurzel | Australia World Premiere

Western Stars / Thom Zimny, Bruce Springsteen | USA World Premiere

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 2019 

A Herdade / Tiago Guedes | Portugal North American Premiere

Bad Education / Cory Finley | USA World Premiere

Coming Home Again / Wayne Wang | USA/South Korea World Premiere

Dolemite Is My Name / Craig Brewer | USA World Premiere

Ema / Pablo Larraín | Chile  North American Premiere

Endings, Beginnings / Drake Doremus | USA World Premiere

Frankie / Ira Sachs | France/Portugal North American Premiere

The Friend / Gabriela Cowperthwaite | USA World Premiere

Greed / Michael Winterbottom | United Kingdom World Premiere

Guest of Honour / Atom Egoyan | Canada North American Premiere

Heroic Losers (La odisea de los giles) / Sebastian Borensztein | Argentina/Spain  International Premiere

Honey Boy / Alma Har’el | USA  International Premiere

Hope Gap / William Nicholson | United Kingdom World Premiere

How to Build a Girl / Coky Giedroyc | United Kingdom World Premiere

*Opening Special Presentations Film*

I Am Woman / Unjoo Moon | Australia World Premiere

Jojo Rabbit / Taika Waititi | USA World Premiere

Judy / Rupert Goold | United Kingdom Canadian Premiere

Knives Out / Rian Johnson | USA World Premiere

La Belle Époque / Nicolas Bedos | France North American Premiere

The Laundromat / Steven Soderbergh | USA North American Premiere

The Lighthouse / Robert Eggers | USA North American Premiere

Marriage Story / Noah Baumbach | USA Canadian Premiere

Military Wives / Peter Cattaneo | United Kingdom World Premiere

Motherless Brooklyn / Edward Norton | USA International Premiere 

No.7 Cherry Lane / Yonfan | Hong Kong North American PremiereThe Other Lamb / Malgorzata Szumowska | Belgium/Ireland/USA World PremierePain and Glory / Pedro Almodóvar | Spain Canadian Premiere

The Painted Bird / Václav Marhoul | Czech Republic/Ukraine/Slovakia North American Premiere

Parasite (Gisaengchung) / Bong Joon-ho | South Korea Canadian Premiere

Pelican Blood (Pelikanblut) / Katrin Gebbe | Germany/Bulgaria North American Premiere

The Personal History of David Copperfield / Armando Iannucci | United Kingdom World Premiere

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) / Céline Sciamma | France Canadian Premiere

The Report / Scott Z. Burns | USA International Premiere

Saturday Fiction (Lan Xin Da Ju Yuan) / Lou Ye | China North American Premiere

The Two Popes / Fernando Meirelles | USA/United Kingdom/Italy/Argentina   Canadian Premiere

Uncut Gems / Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie | USA International Premiere

Weathering With You / Makoto Shinkai | Japan North American Premiere

 

While at War (Mientras Dure La Guerra) / Alejandro Amenábar | Spain/Argentina World Premiere

Okay, now that’s over,  let’s TRY to dive into this shall we? First with the Galas, then the Special Presentations.

 

Some of the standouts (read: most are, but regardless…) are obviously Joker. I know that it’s supposed to play at Venice Film Festival first, but still. To have their North American premiere at TIFF is a bit of a big deal.  Some of the films were ones that Arianne and myself have been guessing at for some time now, such as A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Ford V Ferrari, Harriet (the trailer for which dropped right before the press release, so no surprise there), Hustlers. I had semi-guessed Just Mercy, Destin Daniel Cretton’s film before he joins the MCU with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Abominable is also a surprise to me, but that’s also partially because that film currently does not seem appealing to me.

 

And onto the Special Presentations.

 

There are too many films to keep track of, between new releases and films in production, you lose sight of them sometimes. So when they announced Bad Education, I thought to myself, oh that sounds familiar. After looking at the press release, I realized it was directed by Cory Finley, and if that’s a name you’re unfamilar with, I’m ashamed to potentially have interacted with you because he directed one of the best films of recent with Thoroughbreds. Visusally, he and Vincent Lyle struck gold with this film. I also screamed of joy when I found out that Parasite, and The Lighthouse was part of the program. When The Witch played at TIFF, I rushed the film and waited in line for 3 or 4 hours. It was worth every minute, and I would do the same (if not longer) to be able to see The Lighthouse play at the festival.

 

My favourite Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain is back with his new film Ema. I don’t know much about the film – but music is involved apparently, and so is Gael Garcia Bernal. So I’m definitely buying a ticket for this. They are also playing Honey Boy, as in the film about Shia Labeouf starring Shia himself. It’s interesting idea to say the least. Rian Johnson’s Knives Out which we already know I’m excited for, and Taiki Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. You know, the one where Taiki plays imaginery Adolf Hitler? Yeah, I’m excited.

 

We are also talking about new Soderbergh film (The Laundromat), Motherless Brooklyn which is a film that Edward Norton has been wanting to make for possibly as long as he can even remember. And then Uncut Gems. From the brothers brought that brought you the expertly made rollercoaster of a film Good Time, we have a film they made with Adam Sandler, and Lakeith Stanfield. That should be enough for you to buy a ticket.

 

Until next set of films, what are some that you want to see? Let us know. I’m going to make a list right now of what I need to see at the festival. We’ll be in touch.