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TORONTO 2022 Platform

Toronto’s competitive Platform section announces its titles

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- 10 world premieres, half of which are either full or part-European productions, will compete for the Platform Prize at next month’s festival

Toronto’s competitive Platform section announces its titles
Thunder by Carmen Jaquier

The Toronto International Film Festival tends to have a large line-up of titles, which it wisely chooses not to announce all at once, in a single 200-film helping. After a batch of Galas and Special Presentations were unveiled last week (read the news), yesterday the festival lifted the curtain on its Platform selection, aiming to do just that for 10 first-time and established filmmakers. All are world premieres, of which five are part or full European productions, and they will compete for the Platform Prize of $20,000 CAD which will be chosen by an in-person international jury. 

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Notable selections include the opening title, Emily [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, by British-Australian actress Frances O’Connor (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Mansfield Park), a biopic of the English author Emily Brontë, forever loved for her classic gothic romance Wuthering Heights. Can we imagine the song by the once again popular Kate Bush might feature? Maïmouna Doucouré, whose previous feature Cuties [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maïmouna Doucouré
film profile
]
faced some controversy, is also back with Hawa [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
, a coming-of-age tale about a teenage girl who lives with her grandmother, and worries she will be removed by social services; facing this situation, she sets off on a quixotic quest to be adopted by someone she admires more than anything, one of the most powerful women in the world. The film has already been bought by Amazon Prime, and features the great Malian Wassoulou singer Oumou Sangaré in her first acting role. Iranian genre filmmaker Mani Haghighi is also in the line-up with Iranian-French production Subtraction [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, after his last feature Pig competed for the Golden Bear in 2018.  

“We launched Platform to shine a brighter light on some of the most original films and distinct voices at our Festival,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, when the selection was announced. “Now in year seven, it’s become a true home for international auteurs on the rise.”

“Eclectic in vision, this year’s selection not only represents all World Premieres of exciting, on-the-rise voices from around the world, but it also reflects the very timely and unique perspectives of racialised filmmakers from diasporic communities broadening the canvas,” TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee also remarked.

The full line-up is as follows:

Platform

Charcoal - Carolina Markowicz (Brazil/Argentina)
Emily [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Frances O’Connor (UK)
The Gravity [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
- Cédric Ido (France)
Hawa [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
- Maïmouna Doucouré (France/Bambara)
How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Daniel Goldhaber (USA)
Riceboy Sleeps - Anthony Shim (Canada)
Subtraction [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Mani Haghighi (Iran/France)
Thunder [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carmen Jaquier
film profile
]
- Carmen Jaquier (Switzerland)
Tora’s Husband - Rima Das (India)
Viking - Stéphane Lafleur (Canada)

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