It is finally upon us. The biggest cinematic event of the Canadian calendar year, the 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, September 4th and runs through Sunday the 14th, bringing to the city ten days of celebrities, industry hobnobbing, heavy drinking, lavish special events and parties, and most importantly, 393 films from all over the world.
With 143 world premieres, the festival hardly seems hurting after its gauntlet throwing that stated films that show during the first four days couldn’t be shown anywhere else, a clear dig at the American Telluride festival that tended to unknowingly sneak world premieres away from the festival in past years.
Opening this year with The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, and closing with A Little Chaos – directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet – there’s no shortage of star power to bookend this year’s line up. There are also plenty of chances to catch cutting edge pieces of world cinema, shorts, glorious works of art in the Wavelengths and Special Projections programs, chow down on genre fare in Midnight Madness and Vanguard, catch some films with the family in TIFF Kids or through one of the teen approved Next Wave selections, or just take a chance on some good old Canadian cinema.
That last one is particularly appealing this year with a lot of first time filmmakers making the important leap to features, and many of them are homegrown. Stay tuned throughout the week as we talk to some of these filmmakers in a special focus on up and coming talent. We’ll also be chatting with a couple of the TIFF film and industry programmers throughout the festival to find out what’s been catching their eye.
And of course, we’ll be reviewing as much as we can throughout the festival here at this one stop hub (or portal, or whatever you want to call it) that will be updated multiple times throughout the day! Posts designated as *NEW* have been added within the past 24 hours.
We would also like to give a hearty thanks to the great folks at SPiN Toronto for sponsoring our coverage this year. Be sure to check them out and grab a drink, some food, and unwind with some ping pong right near the festival’s ground zero area.
Thanks to SPiN TORONTO for sponsoring our TIFF 2014 coverage.
And now without further ado, here is your Dork Shelf Guide to TIFF 2014.
For more information about TIFF, tickets, venues, and a full list of films playing at this year’s festival, please visit TIFF.NET.
Reviews
’71 – Discovery (Zack Kotzer)
99 Homes – Special Presentations
*NEW* Adult Beginners – Discovery (Dave Voigt)
Alleluia – Vanguard (Phil Brown)
Backcountry – Discovery
Bang Bang Baby – Discovery
Beats of the Antonov – TIFF Docs (Cameron Bryant)
*NEW* Before We Go – Special Presentations
Beyond the Lights – Special Presentations (Dave Voigt)
Big Game – Midnight Madness
Big Muddy – Discovery (Dave Voigt)
Black and White – Gala
Boychoir – Gala
Breathe – Contemporary World Cinema (Dave Voigt)
Cake – Special Presentations
*NEW* Charlie’s Country – Contemporary World Cinema (Dave Voigt)
Clouds of Sils Maria – Special Presentations (Elena Lowe)
The Cobbler – Special Presentations
Coming Home – Special Presentations (Dave Voigt)
The Connection – Gala (Phil Brown)
Corbo – Discovery (Jenna Hossack)
Cut Bank – Contemporary World Cinema
*NEW* The Drop – Special Presentations
The Duke of Burgundy – Vanguard (Zack Kotzer)
The Editor – Midnight Madness
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films – Midnight Madness
Elephant Song – Special Presentations (Zack Kotzer)
An Eye for Beauty – Special Presentations (Dave Voigt)
The Forger – Gala
Foxcatcher – Gala
The Good Lie – Special Presentations
Good Kill – Special Presentations (Noah R. Taylor)
The Guest – Midnight Madness
Guidance – Discovery (Noah R. Taylor)
Haemoo – Gala (Phil Brown)
A Hard Day – City to City (Zack Kotzer)
Hector and the Search for Happiness – Special Presentations (Zack Kotzer)
Heartbeat – Contemporary World Cinema
The Humbling – Special Presentations (Phil Brown)
Hyena – Vanguard (Zack Kotzer)
I am Here – TIFF Docs (Kirk Haviland)
The Imitation Game – Special Presentations
Infinitely Polar Bear – Gala
In Her Place – Discovery
It Follows – Midnight Madness
The Judge – Gala/Opening Night Film
*NEW* Kill Me Three Times – Contemporary World Cinema (Dave Voigt)
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness – TIFF Docs (Dave Voigt)
The Last Five Years – Special Presentations
Letters to Max – Wavelengths (Cameron Bryant)
Leviathan – Masters (Noah R. Taylor)
A Little Chaos – Gala/Closing Night Film
*NEW* The Look of Silence – TIFF Docs
Luna – Vanguard (Zack Kotzer)
Merchants of Doubt – TIFF Docs (Elena Lowe)
Maps to the Stars – Gala (Phil Brown)
Men Who Save the World – Contemporary World Cinema (Jenna Hossack)
Men, Women, & Children – Special Presentations
Mommy – Special Presentations
Mr. Turner – Special Presentations (Dave Voigt)
National Gallery – TIFF Docs
The Narrow Frame of Midnight Discovery (Cameron Bryant)
*NEW* Ned Rifle – Special Presentations (Cameron Bryant)
Nightcrawler – Special Presentations
Over Your Dead Body – Vanguard (Phil Brown)
Pasolini – Special Presentations (Phil Brown)
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence – Masters (Zack Kotzer)
Preggoland – Special Presentations
The Price We Pay – TIFF Docs
Pride – Special Presentations (Jenna Hossack)
[REC] 4: Apocalypse – Midnight Madness (Dave Voigt)
Red Army – TIFF Docs
Revenge of the Green Dragons – Special Presentations
The Riot Club – Gala (Phil Brown)
*NEW* Roger Waters The Wall – Special Presentations
Rosewater – Special Presentations
Samba – Gala (Elena Lowe)
Seymour: An Introduction – TIFF Docs (Cameron Bryant)
Songs She Wrote About People She Knows – Discovery
Spring – Vanguard
St. Vincent – Special Presentations
Tales of the Grim Sleeper – TIFF Docs (Phil Brown)
Teen Lust – Contemporary World Cinema (Noah R. Taylor)
The Theory of Everything – Special Presentations
They Have Escaped – Vanguard (Cameron Bryant)
Time Out of Mind – Special Presentations
Tokyo Tribe – Midnight Madness (Dave Voigt)
Top Five – Special Presentations (Phil Brown)
Trick or Treaty? – Masters (Elena Lowe)
Tusk – Midnight Madness
Two Days, One Night – Special Presentations (Noah R. Taylor)
Two Shots Fired – Contemporary World Cinema (Zack Kotzer)
The Valley Below – Discovery (Cameron Bryant)
Tu Dors Nicole – Contemporary World Cinema (Dave Voigt)
The Vanished Elephant – Discovery (Kirk Haviland)
*NEW* The Voices – Vanguard (Zack Kotzer)
The Wanted 18 – TIFF Docs (Cameron Bryant)
Waste Land – Vanguard
Wet Bum – Discovery
We Were Wolves – Discovery (Jenna Hossack)
Wild – Gala (Dave Voigt)
Wild Tales – Special Presentations (Zack Kotzer)
*NEW* Winter Sleep – Masters (Elena Lowe)
What We Do in the Shadows – Midnight Madness (Phil Brown)
While We’re Young – Special Presentations (Phil Brown)
Whiplash – Special Presentations
The Yes Men Are Revolting – TIFF Docs (Cameron Bryant)
Short Cuts Canada Reviews
Program 4 (Noah R. Taylor)
Program 5 (Noah R. Taylor)
Program 6 (Noah R. Taylor)
Short Cuts International Reviews
Program 1 (Kirk Haviland)
Program 2 (Kirk Haviland)
Program 3 (Kirk Haviland)
Program 4 (Kirk Haviland)
Program 5 (Kirk Haviland)
Wavelengths Short Programs
Wavelengths 1: Open Forms (Cameron Bryant)
Wavelengths 2: Something in the Atmosphere (Cameron Bryant)
Wavelengths 3: Tales Told (Cameron Bryant)
Wavelengths 4: Night Noon (Cameron Bryant)
Interviews
Juliette Binoche – Mavericks Session Highlights (Cameron Bryant)
Colin Geddes – TIFF Programmer – Midnight Madness/Vanguard
Jeffrey St. Jules – Director – Bang Bang Baby
Adam MacDonald – Director – Backcountry
Dave McKean – Director – Luna (Zack Kotzer)
Thanks to SPiN TORONTO for sponsoring our TIFF 2014 coverage.