Toll by Carolina Markowicz
The 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is in full swing now through Sunday, September 17, screening numerous Latin American films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and USA Latino, in its different sections.
Three films by Latin American directors are having their North American premiere in the Special Presentations program of the Canadian film festival: Memory by Mexican director Michel Franco, the Argentine drama The Rescue / El rapto by Daniela Goggi, and the Mexican dramedy El Sabor de la Navidad by Alejandro Lozano.
Memory, starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, just had its world premiere this week in the official competition at the Venice Film Festival, and in the film past, present, and future collide when Saul follows Sylvia home from their high school reunion.
The Rescue stars Rodrigo de la Serna (The Motorcycle Diaries) as Julio, who returns with his family to Argentina after the downfall of the brutal dictatorship that overpowered long-standing democracy. Things soon take an ugly turn as his brother is kidnapped and Julio becomes the lead negotiator with the criminals.
From producer Salma Hayek Pinault comes El sabor de la navidad, in its world premiere, which following three separate groups as they navigate that most emotionally fraught of seasons: Christmas. Mariana Treviño and Andrés Almeida star.
The Argentine horror movie When Evil Lurks / Cuando acecha la maldad by Demián Rugna (Terrified) is having its world premiere as the only Latin American entry in the Midnight Madness program. The shocking supernatural chiller tells the story of two brothers race to prevent the spawning of evil incarnate as an epidemic of demonic possessions spreads through their rural community.
When Evil Lurks by Demián Rugna
The Wavelengths section of the festival will host the North American premieres of the documentary feature Pictures of Ghosts from Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, a playful, joyous, and irresistible celebration of cinema and the filmmaker’s home city of Recife; and The Human Surge 3, in which Argentine director Eduardo Williams picks up where his 2016’s The Human Surge left off, this time following three groups of friends from Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Peru as they traverse a shapeshifting landscape rooted in our present reality but alert to alternative possibilities.
The Discovery program will feature the world premiere of the Colombian film La Suprema. Set in a remote Colombian village without electricity, the debut feature by Felipe Holguín Caro follows a strong-willed teenager who convinces her whole town to find a way of watching her estranged uncle compete in a world championship boxing match.
The Cuban film Wild Woman / La mujer salvaje, the directorial debut by director Alán González, will also have its world premiere in the Discovery section. The film stars Lola Amores as Yolanda, a woman who goes from dancing her heart out at a house party to running against the clock to find her son and skip town once a video circulates from that gathering that seems to incriminate her.
And rounding up the Latin American contingent in the Discovery section is the Mexican film Valentina or the Serenity / Valentina o la serenidad, the entertaining second feature by director-writer Ángeles Cruz, an intimate glimpse into the depths of loss and the healing power of love, which follows young Valentina, who uses all her might to believe that her deceased father is still alive.
Upon Open Sky by Mariana Arriaga and Santiago Arriaga
Five Latin American films are premiering in the Centerpiece section of the Canadian film festival, formerly known as the Contemporary World Cinema section: A Ravaging Wind / El viento que arrasa, a quietly powerful film by director Paula Hernández (The Sleepwalkers) starring Chilean actor Alfredo Castro, that depicts the complex relationships of two fathers and their children in the Argentinian countryside; Mountains, the narrative feature debut by Haitian-American director Monica Sorelle, is a slice-of-life portrait of an immigrant worker and family man gradually contending with his class aspirations and housing insecurities in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
They Shot the Piano Player / Dispararon al pianista by Spanish directors Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Chico & Rita) is a bold animated story of a New York music journalist (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) on a quest to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of a young Brazilian piano virtuoso.
Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz (Charcoal), who will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award, returns to the festival, with her second feature film Toll / Pedágio. Starring Maeve Jinkings, the film is about a Brazilian mother who falls in with a gang of thieves in an attempt to keep her family afloat.
Having its North American premiere at TIFF is the Mexican film Upon Open Sky / A cielo abierto, penned by Guillermo Arriaga and marking the feature debut for his children, co-directors Mariana Arriaga and Santiago Arriaga, following a trio of revenge-minded siblings who head to the US–Mexico border in search of the man responsible for a family death.
Additionally, TIFF will screen the short films La perra by Carla Melo Gampert from Colombia, Nada de todo esto by Francisco Cantón and Patricio Martínez from Argentina, Bird by Ana Cristina Barragán from Ecuador, Alberto and the Beast by John Paul Lopez-Ali, The Passing by Brazilian-American director Ivete Lucas and Patrick Xavier Bresnan, and A Bird Called Memory by Leonardo Martinelli from Brazil.
The 48th edition of TIFF takes places September 7-17 in Canada.
