Julie Delpy and Toronto's Kazik Radwanski to compete for TIFF prize
One of the 10 films in competition will get $20K
New films from actress-turned-writer/director Julie Delpy and Toronto indie filmmaker Kazik Radwanski are among the titles chosen for the Toronto International Film Festival's competitive Platform section.
Radwanski's feature, a Canada/USA production entitled Anne at 13,000 ft, is the sole Canadian entry in the category, which offers a $20,000 juried prize to the best film. Delpy directs and stars in the film, My Zoe, as a divorcee forced into contact with her ex because they are co-parenting their daughter Zoe, played by Sophia Ally.
Festival organizers said the program's opening film will be the U.K. production Rocks from Sarah Gavron, which centres on a teenager who suddenly finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her little brother.
And the closing film is the Italy/France production Martin Eden, directed by Pietro Marcello, an adaptation of the 1909 Jack London novel of the same title.
"Whether they are debuts or mid-career works, these films push the boundaries of narrative filmmaking in surprising and rigorous ways, some using documentary or experimental techniques in their approaches," Platform co-curator Andrea Picard said Wednesday in a release.
Four of the 10 films chosen this year are directed by women. They include the France/Germany astronaut drama Proxima, directed by Alice Winocour and starring Eva Green as an astronaut and mother who signs up for a yearlong space mission.
⚡️ Directors' cinema now. Here's your <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TIFF19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TIFF19</a> Platform lineup.<a href="https://t.co/GSJuctGDlO">https://t.co/GSJuctGDlO</a>
—@TIFF_NETOther films in the program include The Moneychanger by Federico Veiroj from Uruguay/Argentina/Germany; The Sleepwalkers by Paula Hernandez from Argentina/Uruguay; and Workforce by David Zonana from Mexico.
Each year, the Platform program features up to 12 works that have high artistic merit and a strong directorial vision. The festival runs Sept. 5 to 15.
Toronto documentarian Alan Zweig won the inaugural Platform prize in 2015 with his biopic Hurt, a portrait of cancer survivor Steve Fonyo. Zweig is back at the festival this year with the documentary Coppers, about the careers of retired police officers.