TIFF Reveals Midnight Madness, Platform, and Docs for 2019

Guest WriterAugust 8, 2019n/a7 min
TIFF 2019
September 5-15

A few weeks have passed since our first explosion of a TIFF wave with the announcement of this year’s Galas and Special Presentations. Since then, we’ve been finessed a few waves of films over several days, and I’m here to give the lowdown on what’s good!

This morning marked the announcement of all the Midnight Madness films. This was particularly exciting considering how we were absolutely blessed with an amazing selection of films in that programme last year. From Hollywood blockbusters The Predator and Halloween, to indie gems like Climax and Assassination Nation, there was a healthy balance of big and small.

Due to the release of the Canadian filmography lineup last week, we were given a chance to hear of two MM films before the entire lineup released today. The two films being Aboriginal Zombie-Apocalypse film Blood Quantum and the surrealist-looking satire William Lyon McKenzie King biopic The Twentieth Century.

After today’s announcement, while my expectations were admittedly skewed from last year (I was expecting some high-profile films such as Zombieland 2, and Doctor Sleep to show up), the lineup of small genre-filled films still sounds like a treat. From H.P. Lovecraft adaptation starring Nicolas Cage’s Color Out of Space, Ugandan action director IGG Nabwana’s Crazy World (follow up to 2010’s Who Killed Captain Alex?), and Takashi Miike’s already claimed genre flick First Love, which played at this year’s Cannes. It’s safe to say that the genre-goodness will not be lacking this year.

Not being a Doc-enthusiast, all of you out there still deserve to get noticed! The opening doc in the programme this year is The Cave which is from director Feras Fayyad (Last Men in Aleppo) and follows a handful of female doctors working in war-torn Syria, as they deal with systematic sexism. Some other notable talents attached to some docs include And We Go Green, which follows Formula E Racing, as Leonardo DiCaprio stars and produces that film. As well as Dads, which is directed by Hollywood actress Bryce Dallas Howard, and follows her relationship with her dad, as well as other celebrities such as Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon.

In yesterday’s Platform programme announcement (the challenging films of the fest), there were a few films announced worth talking about! First being actress/director Julie Delpy’s newest film My Zoe, which is a suspenseful drama about a divorced mother, as well as Sound of Metal which appears to be an intense drama starring Riz Ahmed as a heavy metal drummer.

What do you all think about these smaller films announced versus the last announcement of the larger films playing at the fest? Was there anything I didn’t talk about, that you’re interested in? Anything you’re bummed hasn’t shown up at the fest yet? Let me know!

To read up on any of the films we discussed, and the ones that we didn’t, view the entire lineup at tiff.net/films.

*still courtesy of TIFF*


Want more TIFF and film coverage from me that’s not just on this site? Follow my site whatshouldwesee.blogspot.ca and follow me on Twitter @izmebenji.

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