The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival® unveiled the lineup for its 2019 Contemporary World Cinema (CWC) program. The rich slate of titles from 48 countries features a wide range of thought-provoking stories that delve into cultural issues and social struggles in poetic and captivating ways. Introducing 21 works directed and co-directed by women, this year’s edition of CWC focuses on fractured families, self-exploration, female-driven narratives, and the consequences of social and political crises.
“Contemporary World Cinema is a place where different cultures meet,” said Kiva Reardon, international programmer and new lead programmer for the section. “The vision for the program is to help expand the cinematic canon and push the definition of what has previously been deemed as fundamental. This is a selection of essential, urgent cinema. It has been a pleasure to work with my fellow programmers in this new role to offer bold stories and invigorating films that ask our audiences to reflect on their position in the world.”
“Contemporary World Cinema is the heartbeat of the Festival,” said Cameron Bailey, TIFF artistic director and co-head. “This is where audiences feel the pulse of what’s happening now all around the world in screen storytelling. It takes a strong curatorial vision to shape that vast variety of films.
With contributions from Bailey, Brad Deane, Giovanna Fulvi, Steve Gravestock, Dorota Lech, Michael Lerman, Michèle Maheux, Diana Sanchez, and Ravi Srinivasan, Reardon has decided to emphasize the importance of showing the current state of the world through the lens of international, deeply talented filmmakers who help guide us through the reality of our social and political environments.
The African continent is represented in the lineup by eight films beaming with creativity. Opening the program is Atiq Rahimi’s third feature, Our Lady of the Nile, which follows a group of Rwandan girls in a Catholic boarding school. The bewitching work, which boasts hypnotic cinematography, foreshadows the country’s 1994 genocide. The program also serves as a platform for acclaimed regional projects such as Jenna Bass’ South African road movie Flatland, Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s Knuckle City, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s Terminal Sud, and Amjad Abu Alala’s mystical You Will Die at Twenty.
Winner of the Grand Prix in Cannes, Mati Diop’s exploration of migration, Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story, leads a bold wave of films exploring pressing global issues: Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante presents an examination of his country’s political wounds with La Llorona, in which civil war victims haunt their torturer’s life; Laos’ first and only female director to ever present a film at TIFF, Mattie Do, couples family loss and time-traveling in The Long Walk; and Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu offers a daring allegory on toxic masculinity in a remote Indian village. Other award-winning films included in the slate are Synonyms, the Golden Bear–winning film from Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, and the recipients of the 2019 Cannes Jury Prize: French director Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables and the Brazilan film Bacurau, co-directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles.
This year’s CWC slate is also rich in contributions from internationally renowned actors — both in front of and behind the camera — with Mexican actor Gael García Bernal’s second film as director, Chicuarotes; Austrian performer Karl Markovics’s third feature, Nobadi; Dutch actor-turned-director Halina Reijn’s Instinct; and an extraordinary performance from Iranian icon Golshifteh Farahani in Manele Labidi’s Arab Blues. And produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, Minhal Baig’s Hala is a coming-of-age story about an American Muslim teenager trying to balance her relationship with her strict parents and her own desires. The film is inspired by Baig’s own life and brings to the screen a fresh look at the teen experience.
Other highlights in the program study the complexity of family dynamics, such as Taiwanese Chung Mong-Hong’s lyrical A Sun, which focuses on a fractured father–son relationship. Balloon, directed by Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, tells the conflicting struggles of a family dealing with China’s one-child policy. And Yaron Zilberman returns to TIFF with the World Premiere of Incitement, the first-ever fiction film to depict the cataclysmic assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Spotlighting the struggles and triumphs of women in societies around the world are: Maryam Touzani’s domestic epic Adam; Hikari’s 37 Seconds, which follows a young manga artist who uses her craft as a tool of self-discovery; and Sharipa Urazbayeva’s Mariam, the story of a strong Kazakhstani mother and her drive to help her family survive. Films centring on working-class women include internationally acclaimed Bengali director Rubaiyat Hossain’s Made in Bangladesh, which follows a factory worker fighting for dignity in the world of fast fashion; The County, from Cannes prize–winning Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson; and Edward Burns’ intriguing family portrait Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies.
The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019.
Films screening as part of the Contemporary World Cinema program include:
37 Seconds Hikari | Japan/USA
Canadian Premiere
Adam Maryam Touzani | Morocco/France/Belgium
North American Premiere
Arab Blues (Un Divan à Tunis) Manele Labidi | France
North American Premiere
Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story Mati Diop | France/Senegal/Belgium
North American Premiere
Atlantis Valentyn Vasyanovych | Ukraine
North American Premiere
Bacurau Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles | Brazil
North American Premiere
Balloon (Qi Qiu) Pema Tseden | China
North American Premiere
The Barefoot Emperor Jessica Woodworth, Peter Brosens | Belgium/Netherlands/Croatia/Bulgaria
World Premiere
Beanpole (Dylda) Kantemir Balagov | Russia
North American Premiere
Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies Edward Burns | USA
World Premiere
Blow the Man Down Danielle Krudy, Bridget Savage Cole | USA
International Premiere
Bombay Rose Gitanjali Rao | India/United Kingdom/Qatar
North American Premiere
Chicuarotes Gael García Bernal | Mexico
North American Premiere
The Climb Michael Angelo Covino | USA
Canadian Premiere
Corpus Christi (Boze Cialo) Jan Komasa | Poland/France
North American Premiere
The County (Héraðið) Grímur Hákonarson | Iceland/Denmark/Germany/France
International Premiere
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Koirat eivät käytä housuja) J-P Valkeapää | Finland/Latvia
North American Premiere
The Father (Bashtata) Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva | Bulgaria/Greece/Italy
North American Premiere
Flatland Jenna Bass | South Africa/Luxembourg/Germany
North American Premiere
A Girl Missing (Yokogao) Koji Fukada | Japan/France
North American Premiere
Hala Minhal Baig | USA
Canadian Premiere
Henry Glassie: Field Work Pat Collins | Ireland
World Premiere
Incitement Yaron Zilberman | Israel
World Premiere
Instinct Halina Reijn | Netherlands
North American Premiere
The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão (A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão) Karim Aïnouz | Brazil/Germany
North American Premiere
Jallikattu Lijo Jose Pellissery | India
World Premiere
Knuckle City Jahmil X.T. Qubeka | South Africa
International Premiere
La Llorona Jayro Bustamante | Guatemala/France
North American Premiere
Les Misérables Ladj Ly | France
North American Premiere
The Long Walk (Bor Mi Vanh Chark) Mattie Do | Laos/Spain/Singapore
North American Premiere
Made in Bangladesh Rubaiyat Hossain | France/Bangladesh/Denmark/Portugal
World Premiere
Mariam Sharipa Urazbayeva | Kazakhstan
North American Premiere
Maria’s Paradise (Marian paratiisi) Zaida Bergroth | Finland/Estonia
World Premiere
Nobadi Karl Markovics | Austria
World Premiere
*Contemporary World Cinema Opening Film*
Our Lady of the Nile (Notre-Dame du Nil) Atiq Rahimi | France/Belgium/Rwanda
World Premiere
The Perfect Candidate Haifaa Al-Mansour | Saudi Arabia/Germany
North American Premiere
Red Fields (Mami) Keren Yedaya | Israel/Luxembourg/Germany
International Premiere
Resin (Harpiks) Daniel Joseph Borgman | Denmark
World Premiere
So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang) Wang Xiaoshuai | China
North American Premiere
Spider (Araña) Andrés Wood | Chile
International Premiere
A Sun (Yang Guang Pu Zhao) Chung Mong-Hong | Taiwan
World Premiere
Synonyms (Synonymes) Nadav Lapid | France/Israel/Germany
North American Premiere
Terminal Sud (South Terminal) Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche | France
North American Premiere
Three Summers (Três Verões) Sandra Kogut | Brazil/France
World Premiere
Verdict Raymund Ribay Gutierrez | Philippines/France
Canadian Premiere
A White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur) Hlynur Pálmason | Iceland/Denmark/Sweden
North American Premiere
The Wild Goose Lake (Nan Fang Che Zhan De Ju Hui) Diao Yinan | China/France
North American Premiere
You Will Die at Twenty Amjad Abu Alala | Sudan/France/Egypt/Germany/Norway/Qatar
North American Premiere
Previously announced Canadian features screening at the Festival as part of the Contemporary World Cinema program include: And the Birds Rained Down, Antigone, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, Castle in the Ground, The Last Porno Show, Tammy’s Always Dying, and White Lie.
