CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA

Beyond the Circle Golam Rabbany Biplob, Bangladesh
World Premiere
In this political fable from Bangladesh’s leading filmmaker, a simple village musician gets swept up in the market economy of big city Dhaka.

Blessed Ana Kokkinos, Australia
International Premiere
During the course of one day and night, seven children wander the streets in an urban odyssey. Blessed is a film about mothers and children, about love and beauty, about being lost and finding your way home.

Down for Life Alan Jacobs, USA
World Premiere
Based on a New York Times article, this film depicts a single, fateful day in the life of a 15-year-old Latina gang leader. Leaving the gang, she discovers, is more difficult than joining. Shot in South-Central Los Angeles, the film stars local youths in the lead roles.

Giulia Doesn’t Date at Night Giuseppe Piccioni, Italy
International Premiere
A young novelist is intrigued by his daughter’s swimming instructor. When he asks her out, he learns that she doesn’t date at night and discovers that she is serving a sentence for a crime of passion. Tentatively they start a relationship that leads both of them in unforeseen directions.

Heiran Shalizeh Arefpour, Iran
World Premiere A young Iranian girl falls in love with an immigrant student from Afghanistan, causing her family to react with anger.

The House of Branching Love Mika Kaurismäki, Finland
International Premiere
Family therapist Juhani and business trainer Taula decide to divorce in a civilized manner. Despite these good intentions, things turn ugly and the Pandora’s Box of their marriage flies open, releasing plagues of love and hate.

Rabia Sebastián Cordero, Spain/Colombia
World Premiere
Rabia is a romantic thriller about a construction worker on the run for killing his foreman who hides in the mansion where his girlfriend works as a housekeeper.

Sawasdee Bangkok Wisit Sasanatieng, Aditya Assarat, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee and Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand
World Premiere
Directed by four distinctly talented Thai directors, this collection of tales about Bangkok is less a love letter than a funny, touching and surprising expression of the city’s reality.

Shameless Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic
International Premiere
This film, freely inspired by stories form Michal Viewegh’s bestseller, Tales of Marriage and Sex, is a wry comedy about sex and marriage and a story about losing and finding love.

Slovenian Girl Damjan Kozole Slovenia/Germany/Serbia/Croatia
North American Premiere
A young university student solicits sex clients through newspaper ads, involving her in a hellish adventure.

Tanner Hall Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana von Furstenberg, USA
World Premiere
Tanner Hall is a vivid peek into the private world of an all-girls boarding school. In a cozy, but run down New England town, the knot of adolescent complexity is unraveled through the coming of age stories of four teen-age girls.

VISIONS

Between Two Worlds Vimukthi Jayasundara, Sri Lanka
North American Premiere
Rajith, a young man, flees the city in which he lives and where violent confrontations are common. He goes to a village in a valley where the inhabitants seem to be still strongly influenced by an old legend.

Gaia Jason Lehel, USA
World Premiere
A group of Native Americans discover a young woman, left for dead, in the Arizona desert and take her to their reservation. Through her relationship with American Natives she manages to re-connect with her own innocence, but is forced to make a choice between being reborn out of the chaos of her past and dying in the grips of her darkness.

Hiroshima Pablo Stoll, Uruguay/Colombia/Argentina/Spain
World Premiere Juan sings in a rock band, but he doesn’t talk much. He also works at a bakery during the night and sleeps most of the day. This is the story of one of his days and what happens when he wakes up. Hiroshima is a silent musical, based on real facts.

I Am Love Luca Guadagnino, Italy
International Premiere
Academy Award®-winner Tilda Swinton stars in this drama about the devastating effects of a forbidden passion between a woman who belongs to a rich northern-Italian family and her son’s best friend, a cook.

Lebanon Samuel Maoz, Israel
North American Premiere
Set in June 1982 during the Israel-Lebanon War, the film follows a young and heroic tank crew that finds itself in a situation that cannot be contained. The crew copes with impossible conflicts, losing its way amid the chaos of war.

To the Sea Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico
World Premiere
Before their inevitable farewell, a young Mexican man and his half Italian son, Natan, embark on an epic journey to the second-largest coral reef on the planet.

Trash Humpers Harmony Korine, USA/United Kingdom
World Premiere
Harmony Korine returns to Gummo territory in this handheld video of a loser-gang cult-freak collective who do antisocial things in a nonnarrative way, except for the song-and-dance numbers.

The Contemporary World Cinema programme is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Sun Life Financial.

About TIFF: TIFF is a charitable, not-for-profit, cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world. Its vision is to lead the world in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image. TIFF generates an annual economic impact of $135 million CAD and currently employs more than 100 full-time staff, 500 part-time and seasonal staff, and counts upon the largesse of over 2,000 volunteers year-round.

About TIFF Bell Lightbox: Currently under construction, TIFF Bell Lightbox, a breathtaking five-storey complex located in downtown Toronto, will provide a permanent home for film lovers to celebrate cinema from around the world and will propel TIFF forward as an international leader in film culture. Designed by innovative architecture firm KPMB, TIFF Bell Lightbox’s fluid structure encourages exploration, movement and play. The campaign to build TIFF Bell Lightbox is generously supported by founding sponsor Bell, the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario, the King and John Festival Corporation – consisting of the Reitman family and the Daniels Corporation – RBC as major sponsor and official bank, Visa†, the Copyright Collective of Canada, NBC Universal Canada, the Allan Slaight Family, the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and CIBC. The Board of Directors, staff and many generous individuals and corporations have also contributed to the campaign. For more information on the TIFF Bell Lightbox campaign, visit belllightbox.ca.

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For further information, contact the Communications Department at 416-934-3200 or by email at proffice@tiff.net.