New works from celebrated documentary filmmakers Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple, Lauren Greenfield, Alan Berliner, Feras Fayyad, Patricio Guzman, Fisher Stevens and Mark Cousins will be showcased in the TIFF DOCS section of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Thursday.
In addition to the 25 documentaries, the festival also revealed more than 50 additional films in the Midnight Madness, TIFF Discovery and TIFF Cinematheque sections.
The documentary section will open with “The Cave” from Feras Fayyad, director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo.” The film is set in an underground hospital led by a female doctor in Syria. Other former Oscar nominees and winners showing films at TIFF include Gibney with “Citizen K,” his portrait of Russian oligarch-turned-Putin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Kopple, with “Desert One,” about an Iranian hostage rescue mission; and Stevens, co-director with Malcolm Venville of “And We Go Green,” a Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film about the Formula E auto racing circuit for electric cars.
Among the films that focus on the immigrant experience are Andrew Renzi’s “Ready for War,” about Mexican immigrants who are deported after serving in the U.S. military; and Eva Mulvad’s “Love Child,” about a couple who are forced to flee Iran after their adulterous affair produces a child.
Other documentaries in the lineup come from Bryce Dallas Howard, whose film “Dads” explores the subject of fatherhood with several well-known comedians and with her own father, Ron Howard; Patricio Guzman, the Chilean master whose “The Cordillera of Dreams” explores the conflicts in his country from the vantage point of its mountains; Lauren Greenfield, who turns her cameras on former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos in “The Kingmaker”; former Obama administration aide Ebs Burnough, who makes his directorial debut with “The Capote Tapes,” based around interviews done by George Plimpton when he was working on a never-published biography of Truman Capote; Alan Berliner’s “Letters to the Editor,” inspired by the filmmaker’s voluminious collection of photos clipped from newspapers; and Gabe Polsky, who flips the script from his 2014 film “Red Army” (Russian hockey players coming to the NHL) with “Red Penguins,” in which American hustlers try to bring NHL-style showmanship to Russian hockey after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The most formidable documentary in the section, though, is likely Mark Cousins’ “Women Make Film: A New Road Movie,” a 14-hour look at female film directors around the world.
The Midnight Madness section consists of 10 films from seven different countries, including Richard Stanley’s “Color Out of Space,” an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation starring Nicolas Cage; Japanese action auteur Takashi Miike’s “First Love”; Joko Anwar’s “Gundala,” based on Indonesian superhero comics; Andrew Patterson’s Slamdance hit “The Vast of Night”; and Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud,” with Jennifer Ehle and Morfydd Clark.
TIFF Discovery, a section geared toward challenging work first- and second-time feature directors, announced a slate of 37 films, 20 of them directed by women. The section will open with Italian director Chiara Malta’s “Simple Women,” a film about a director meeting an actress she idolized.
The Discovery selections are drawn from 35 different countries, and 33 of them will have their world premieres at TIFF.
Finally, the TIFF Cinematheque section will feature five films, ranging from Robert Bresson’s 1959 drama “Pickpocket” to Pablo Larrain’s 2012 Oscar nominee “No.” The films will also include Martin Scorsese’s 1978 concert film “The Last Waltz,” which will be introduced by Robbie Robertson of the Band, whose final concert was documented in Scorsese’s film. A new film about Robertson, “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” will be the opening-night film at TIFF this year.
The 44th Toronto International Film Festival will begin on Sept. 5 and run through Sept. 15.
The new additions to the lineup:
TIFF DOCS
“And We Go Green,” Fisher Stevens, Malcolm Venville
“The Australian Dream,” Daniel Gordon
“Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator,” Eva Orner
“The Capote Tapes,” Ebs Burnough
“The Cave,” Feras Fayyad (opening night)
“Citizen K,” Alex Gibney
“Collective” (“Colectiv”), Alexander Nanau
“Coppers,” Alan Zweig
“The Cordillera of Dreams” (“La Cordillera de los Sueños”), Patricio Guzmán
“Cunningham,” Alla Kovgan
“Dads,” Bryce Dallas Howard
“Desert One,” Barbara Kopple
“I Am Not Alone,” Garin Hovannisian
“Ibrahim: A Fate to Define,” Lina Al Abed
“The Kingmaker,” Lauren Greenfield
“Letter to the Editor,” Alan Berliner
“Love Child,” Eva Mulvad
“My English Cousin,” Karim Sayad
“Paris Stalingrad,” Hind Meddeb
“Ready for War,” Andrew Renzi
“Red Penguins,” Gabe Polsky
“Sing Me A Song,” Thomas Balmès
“There’s Something in the Water,” Ellen Page, Ian Daniel
“This Is Not a Movie,” Yung Chang
“Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema,” Mark Cousins
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
“Blood Quantum,” Jeff Barnaby (opening film)
“Color Out of Space,” Richard Stanley
“Crazy World,” Isaac Nabwana
“First Love” (“Hatsukoi”), Takashi Miike
“Gundala,” Joko Anwar
“The Platform” (“El Hoyo”), Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
“Saint Maud,” Rose Glass
“The Twentieth Century,” Matthew Rankin
“The Vast of Night,” Andrew Patterson
“The Vigil,” Keith Thomas
TIFF DISCOVERY
“1982,” Oualid Mouaness
“AFRICA,” Oren Gerner
“The Antenna” (“Bina”), Orçun Behram
“The Audition” (“Das Vorspiel”), Ina Weisse
“August” (“Agosto”), Armando Capó
“Black Conflux,” Nicole Dorsey
“Bring Me Home” (“Na-reul cha-ja-jwo”), Kim Seung-woo
“A Bump Along The Way,” Shelly Love
“Calm With Horses,” Nick Rowland
“Certified Mail” (“Bi Elm El Wossul”), Hisham Saqr
“Comets,” Tamar Shavgulidze
“Disco Jorunn,” Myklebust Syversen
“Easy Land,” Sanja Zivkovic
“Entwined,” Minos Nikolakakis
“The Giant,” David Raboy
“The Good Intentions” (“Las Buenas Intenciones”), Ana García Blaya
“Hearts and Bones,” Ben Lawrence
“Hope” (“Håp”), Maria Sødahl
“Kuessipan,” Myriam Verreault
“Lina from Lima,” María Paz González
“The Lost Okoroshi,” Abba Makama
“Love Me Tender,” Klaudia Reynicke
“Murmur,” Heather Young
“My Life as a Comedian” (“En komikers uppväxt”), Rojda Sekersöz
“Noura’s Dream,” Hinde Boujemaa
“The Obituary of Tunde Johnson,” Ali LeRoi
“Pompei,” Anna Falguères, John Shank
“Raf,” Harry Cepka
“The Rest of Us,” Aisling Chin-Yee
“Sea Fever,” Neasa Hardiman
“Simple Women,” Chiara Malta (opening film)
“Sole,” Carlo Sironi
“Son-Mother” (“Pesar-Madar”), Mahnaz Mohammadi
“Stories From The Chestnut Woods” (“Zgodbe iz kostanjevih gozdov”), Gregor Božič
“Sweetness in the Belly,” Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
“Two of Us” (“Deux”), Filippo Meneghetti
“ZANA,” Antoneta Kastrati
TIFF CINEMATHEQUE
“A Dry White Season,” Euzhan Palcy (1989)
“Pickpocket,” Robert Bresson (1959)
“No,” Pablo Larraín (2012)
“The Last of Sheila,” Herbert Ross (1973)
“The Last Waltz,” Martin Scorsese (1978)