Yahoo News Wang Bing, Chantal Akerman, Jean-Luc Godard Films Join Toronto Film Fest Lineup
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled its Wavelengths program for artist-driven experimental work that includes films by avant garde directors Denis Côté, Radu Jude, the late Chantal Akerman and Wang Bing.
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Jenna Ortega's 'Finestkind,' Dakota Johnson's 'Daddio' Added to Toronto Film Fest Lineup
'Family Portrait' Review: A Highly Cinematic Glimpse of a Fractured Reunion
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,” Andréa Picard, TIFF senior curator, said in a statement while unveiling the Wavelengths program on Friday.
On the artistic documentary front, the TIFF section selected Youth (Spring), the Cannes competition title about Chinese garment workers from Wang Bing; Miko Revereza’s Nowhere Near, which explores neoliberal capitalism; Brazilian auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Pictures of Ghosts; and Paul B. Preciado’s Orlando, My Political Biography, which celebrates trans life, past and present while inspired by the Virginia Woolf novel.
Not shying away from controversy, Wavelengths booked Radu Jude’s feminist satire Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World; and Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3, about borders, gender and language as it was shot between Peru, Sri Lanka and Taiwan using 360-degree cameras.
Elsewhere, the program has a restored selection of the late Chantal Akerman’s early films in Chantal Akerman: Her First Look Behind the Camera; Jean-Luc Godard’s last film, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars; and Pedro Costa latest film, Daughters of Fire.
The Classics lineup, also unveiled on Friday, will feature a 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s Palme d’Or winner Farewell My Concubine; Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature doc Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got; Jacques Rivette’s New Wave film, L’amour fou; a 50th anniversary screening of Touki Bouki, from Sengalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty; and Ousmane Sembène’s Xala, presented in 4K.
The Toronto Film Festival, set to run Sept. 7 to 17, earlier announced it would open its 2023 edition with Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki’s much anticipated final film, The Boy and the Heron.
A list of the 2023 Wavelengths program follows:
Features
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Radu Jude | Romania/Luxembourg/France/Croatia North American Premiere
Here Bas Devos | Belgium North American Premiere
The Human Surge 3 Eduardo Williams | Argentina/Portugal/Brazil/Netherlands/Taiwan/Hong Kong/Sri Lanka/Peru
North American Premiere
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell Phạm Thiên Ân | Vietnam/Singapore/France/Spain North American Premiere
Mademoiselle Kenopsia Denis Côté | Canada North American Premiere
Mambar Pierrette Rosine Mbakam | Belgium/Cameroon North American Premiere
Music Angela Schanelec | Germany/France/Serbia North American Premiere
Luminaries
Nowhere Near Miko Revereza | Philippines North American Premiere
Orlando, My Political Biography Paul B. Preciado | France Canadian Premiere
Pictures of Ghosts Kleber Mendonça Filho | Brazil North American Premiere
Youth (Spring) Wang Bing | France/Luxembourg/Netherlands North American Premiere
Luminaries
He Thought He Died Isiah Medina | Canada World Premiere
Laberint Sequences Blake Williams | Canada North American Premiere
Short Films
Bouquets 31-40 Rose Lowder | France Canadian Premiere
Film Sculpture (1) Philipp Fleischmann | Austria World Premiere
Film Sculpture (2) Philipp Fleischmann | Austria World Premiere
Film Sculpture (4) Philipp Fleischmann | Austria World Premiere
Film Sculpture (3) Philipp Fleischmann | Austria World Premiere
It follows It passes on Erica Sheu | Taiwan/USA World Premiere
Mast-del Maryam Tafakory | United Kingdom/Iran North American Premiere
Shrooms Jorge Jácome | Portugal World Premiere
Quiet as It’s Kept Ja’Tovia Gary | USA International Premiere
Let’s Talk Simon Liu | Hong Kong World Premiere
Light, Noise, Smoke, and Light, Noise, Smoke Tomonari Nishikawa | Japan World Premiere
NYC RGB Viktoria Schmid | Austria/USA Canadian Premiere
Slow Shift Shambhavi Kaul | India/USA World Premiere
Sundown Steve Reinke | USA/Canada/Austria World Premiere
We Don’t Talk Like We Used To Joshua Gen Solondz | USA/Japan/Hong Kong World Premiere
Chantal Akerman: Her First Look Behind the Camera Chantal Akerman | Belgium North American Premiere
The Daughters of Fire Pedro Costa | Portugal North American Premiere
Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars Jean-Luc Godard | France/Switzerland North American Premiere
2023 Classics Program
Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got Brigitte Berman | Canada
Farewell My Concubine Chen Kaige | China/Hong Kong
L’amour fou Jacques Rivette | France
Touki Bouki Djibril Diop Mambéty | Senegal
Xala Ousmane Sembène | Senegal
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
