The Toronto International Film Festival is rolling out more of its lineups. About a week ago, TIFF announced its most high-profile programs, Galas and Special Presentations (which include Susanna White’s Jessica Chastain-led Native American period drama “Woman Walks Ahead” and “Kings,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s follow-up to “Mustang”). Now the fest is unveiling films screening in the Documentary and Midnight Madness slates.
Of the 23 documentaries screening, 10 are directed or co-directed by women, amounting to a super respectable 43 percent of the slate. Sophie Fiennes’ “Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami” will open the program. Filmed over the course of 10 years, the doc is a revealing, unconventional portrait of the Jamaican-born multi-hyphenate whose hit albums include “Warm Leatherette” and “Slave to the Rhythm.” Other titles screening include “One of Us,” Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s look into an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, and Violeta Ayala’s “Cocaine Prison,” an exploration of Bolivia’s cocaine trade that interrogates the legitimacy of the War on Drugs.
“Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said TIFF Docs Programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports, and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.”
Just two of 11 films in the Midnight Madness lineup are women-directed or co-directed, accounting to about 18 percent of the program: Hélène Cattet’s “Let the Corpses Tan,” a story about thieves who take over a remote hamlet being used by a female artist, and Coralie Fargeat’s “Revenge,” which centers on three wealthy middle-aged CEOs who go on a hunting trip and end up being hunted themselves.
TIFF runs from September 7–17. Check out the women-directed and co-directed films in the Documentary and Midnight Madness slates below. List adapted from TIFF.
DOCUMENTARIES
Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent, Director: Sabiha Sumar, Pakistan
North American Premiere
BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Director: Sara Driver, USA
World Premiere
Cocaine Prison, Director: Violeta Ayala, Australia/Bolivia/France/USA
World Premiere
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, Director: Lili Fini Zanuck, United Kingdom
World Premiere
The Gospel According to André, Director: Kate Novack, USA
World Premiere
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, Director: Sophie Fiennes, United Kingdom/Ireland
World Premiere, Documentary Program Opening Film
The Judge, Director: Erika Cohn, Palestine/USA
World Premiere
One of Us, Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA
World Premiere
The Other Side of Everything, Director: Mila Turajlić, Serbia/France/Qatar
World Premiere
Silas, Directors: Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman, Canada/South Africa/Kenya
World Premiere
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Let the Corpses Tan, Directors: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France
North American Premiere
Revenge, Director: Coralie Fargeat, France
World Premiere
