The bare-knuckle fighting drama Donnybrook starring Jamie Bell and Frank Grillo will open 2018 Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Platform, while Jessica Forever from debutants Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel will close the section.
The 12 films in the festival’s fourth annual juried programme include new work from Karyn Kusama, Alex Ross Perry, Ho Wi Ding, Alejandra Márquez Abella and Carol Morley.
The line-up includes four features directed or co-directed by women, while seven feature strong female lead roles. The roster includes what TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling described as “transformative” portrayals of detectives by Nicole Kidman in Destroyer and Patricia Clarkson in Out Of Blue.
Hailing from the Americas, Europe and China, every selection in Platform except Kusama’s Destroyer and Emir Baigazin’s The River will receive their world premiere in Toronto.
“It’s a programme that’s designed to put the focus on adventurous talent,” said Handling, adding that the roster of mostly third and fourth-time filmmakers “deserve further prominence”.
“More and more sales agents have been asking us about [Platform] and want to be there,” he continued. “The curation of the programme is very strong. We feel very confident about… telling filmmakers there’s a programe that will celebrate [vision] at a time when it’s getting harder and harder for films like this to find financing.”
Platform’s three-person jury will present the winner with a CAD $25,000 award [USD $19,200] funded by Air France. Highlights from previous years include Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Armando Iannucci’s The Death Of Stalin, Pablo Larraín’s Jackie and Lady Macbeth. TIFF runs from September 6-16.
The Platform 2018 line-up:
Angelo (Austria-Luxembourg), dir. Markus Schleinzer
World premiere
Cities Of Last Things (Taiwan-China-US-France), dir. Ho Wi Ding
World premiere
Destroyer (US), dir. Karyn Kusama
International premiere
Donnybrook (US), dir. Tim Sutton
World premiere
Platform Opening Film
The Good Girls (Las Niñas Bien, Mexico), dir. Alejandra Márquez Abella
World premiere
Her Smell (US), dir. Alex Ross Perry
World premiere
The Innocent (Switzerland-Germany), dir. Simon Jaquemet
World premiere
Jessica Forever (France), dirs. Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel
World premiere
Platform Closing Film
Mademoiselle de Joncquières (France), dir. Emmanuel Mouret
World premiere
Out Of Blue (UK), dir. Carol Morley
World premiere
The River (Kazakhstan-Poland-Norway), dir. Emir Baigazin
North American premiere
Rojo (Argentina-Brazil-France-Netherlands-Germany), dir. Benjamín Naishtat
World premiere.
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