TIFF 2019 Deals: The Complete List of Festival Purchases So Far
With the Toronto International Film Festival’s 2019 edition unspooling September 5 through September 15, IndieWire has compiled all of the film acquisitions out of the fest so far. Check back for updates as the festival unfolds.
Look for the upcoming awards season’s major Oscar players to bow in Toronto, including the world premiere of “The Goldfinch,” the Safdie Brothers’ “Uncut Gems,” the Mr. Rogers film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” Sundance winner “Clemency,” and many more. There are also gems to be found across the Discovery, Platform, Midnight Madness, and Contemporary World Cinema programs, as well as highly anticipated auteur works in the Masters sidebar, including new films from Terrence Malick, Bertrand Bonello, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Marco Bellocchio, Ken Loach, and Roy Andersson, among others.
IndieWire will be on the ground covering the festival to keep you up-to-date with reviews, interviews, features, and more news.
“Sound of Metal”
Buyer: Amazon Studios
Section: Platform
From IndieWire’s review: “Riz Ahmed is the sort of frantic screen actor who always looks like he might jut out of the frame, and in ‘Sound of Metal,’ he’s trapped. As Ruben, the heavy-metal drummer going deaf at the center of the mesmerizing debut from writer-director Darius Marder, Ahmed conveys the complex frustrations of losing touch with the world around him no matter how much he fights to hold onto it. This devastating conundrum relies on the best use of sound design in recent memory, as Marder immerses viewers within the confines of Ruben’s deteriorating relationship to the world around him, and he sorts through the wreckage to construct a new one. Ahmed’s brilliant performance coasts on a complex soundscape that resonates even in total silence.”
“Greed”
Buyer: Sony Pictures Classics
Section: Special Presentations
“Martin Eden”
Buyer: Kino Lorber
Section: Platform
From IndieWire’s review: “Pietro Marcello’s ‘Martin Eden,’ a dreamy and surprisingly faithful adaptation made with more than 100 years of hindsight, doesn’t bend over backwards to prevent modern audiences from missing the same point. In and of itself, that wouldn’t be much of a problem; London’s novel is all the more powerful because it’s not prescriptive — because it gives readers just enough rope to hang themselves, and sets them all the same traps that Martin himself falls into. Marcello’s film is more explicit in some regards (especially on the subject of education as the most pernicious tool for keeping the poor in check), but this spry yet increasingly bitter romantic drama is so vague and un-targeted that its social critiques feel less defined than ever. The anger is palpable, but its targets are hard to pinpoint.”
“Once Were Brothers”
Buyer: Magnolia Pictures
Opening Night Gala Presentation
From IndieWire’s review: “Bolstered by an enviable array of talking heads (from Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison to Band obsessive and executive producer Martin Scorsese), the history of The Band energetically unspools, with Robertson gamely holding the center. Still, even Band neophytes who might not know so many of its members have passed away over the years will be unable to dismiss the early, gaping holes. Robertson has every right to tell his version of events, but by the time a second talking head is introduced as a ‘friend of Levon Helm’ or Roher leans on archival interview footage of the drummer and singer clearly never meant for his film, it grates.”
“True History of the Kelly Gang”
Buyer: IFC
Section: Gala Presentations
“Beanpole”
Buyer: Kino Lorber
Section: Contemporary World Cinema
From IndieWire’s review: “Inspired by Svetlana Alexievich’s book ‘The Unwomanly Face of War,’ Balagov’s frigid ‘Beanpole’ tells a glacially paced but gorgeously plotted story about two women — two best friends — who grow so desperate for any kind of personal agency that they start using each other to answer the unsolvable arithmetic of life and death. The chipped green paint of Iya’s apartment walls, the sour white light that soaks the hospital windows, and the 600 meters of period-perfect set that Balagov’s ‘Roma’-caliber production team built for the transportive exterior scenes all cohere into a vivid snow-globe of space-time in which everything is believable, but nothing feels quite real.”
“Deerskin”
Buyer: Greenwich Entertainment
Section: Special Presentations
“The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão”
Buyer: Amazon Studios
Section: Contemporary World Cinema
“The Personal History of David Copperfield”
Buyer: Fox Searchlight
Section: Galas
“The Twentieth Century”
Buyer: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Section: Midnight Madness
Synopsis: “Toronto, 1899. Aspiring young politician Mackenzie King (Dan Beirne) dreams of becoming the Prime Minister of Canada. But his romantic hesitations between a British soldier, a French-Canadian nurse, and a furtive, fetishistic obsession may well bring about his downfall. In his quest for power, King must gratify the expectations of his imperious Mother, the hawkish fantasies of a war-mongering Governor-General, and the utopian idealism of a Québécois mystic before facing the final test of leadership. Culminating in an epic battle between good and evil, King learns that disappointment may be the only way to survive the 20th century.”
“Blow the Man Down”
Buyer: Amazon Studios
Section: Contemporary World Cinema
In Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole’s seaside noir “Blow the Man Down,” two sisters in a small Maine fishing village try to disguise a violent crime while evading the imperious proprietor of a local brothel, played by Margo Martindale.
“Western Stars”
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Section: Gala Presentations
Co-directed by Thom Zimny and Bruce Springsteen (in his filmmaking debut), the project is reportedly a concert film with some added riffs, all spinning off the new eponymous record from The Boss released earlier this year.
