Category Archives: Film Festivals

In one week, the 37th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins, drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees to what is, for many, the true start of awards season. Annually screening close to 300 features, the majority world or international premieres, TIFF provides attendees with an advance look at some of the most eagerly-anticipated titles of the Fall.

I’ll be at the festival for its first half, hoping to see some of the buzzed about fiction offerings, but TIFF’s bounty of non-fiction programming will no doubt dominate my schedule. There are significantly more feature-length docs in the program this year – last year saw just under 40, while this year’s count is closer to 50, not including a few hybrids and retro screenings. Of these, more than half are part of the fest’s dedicated non-fiction section, TIFF Docs (formerly Real to Reel), programmed by Thom Powers, with the remainder represented across a variety of other fest sections. Continue reading →

Yesterday marked the start of the 69th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, notable as the oldest film festival in the world. Running through September 8, the festival comes right before Toronto, and many titles appear in both events. Unlike TIFF, Venice is competitive, with eighteen titles in the main competition, and additional prizes awarded to films screening in the Orizzonti section.

Notably contained for a major international cinema event, the festival’s lineup includes just over 100 new features – 69 in the official selection, and an additional 39 presented in the autonomous sections selected by independent film associations. Retrospectives and shorts fill out the schedule, but it’s a far cry from the nearly 300 films presented in Toronto. Venice isn’t really known for its non-fiction programming, which is comprised of less than 30 new doc features. None appear in the official competition, special screenings, or the autonomous International Critics’ Week. The majority are included in the out of competition section, the retrospective Venice Classics, and in the autonomous Venice Days – and, frankly, most seem strictly of local interest. Still, I’d love to go to Venice at some point, and if I were there now, there are some docs I’d want to check out: Continue reading →

Celebrating its 13th edition, the New York International Latino Film Festival begins this coming Monday, August 13 and runs through Sunday, August 19. This annual showcase celebrates the work of Latino/a talent both behind and in front of the camera, and was a regular partner of NewFest when I ran that event, co-presenting programs of interest to both communities.

This year’s lineup presents more than thirty features and thirty shorts, of which five are feature documentaries, including the closing night gala, Laura Brownson and Beth Levison’s portrait of a Puerto Rican slam poet and ex-con, LEMON. Artistic expression is also at the heart of another doc, Daniel Fridell’s EL MÉDICO: THE CUBATÓN STORY, about a young Cuban doctor who really wants to be a popstar (which I wrote about previously here). Diego Graue and Raymundo Marmolejo’s WAITING FOR THE BEATLES (ESPERANDO A LOS BITLES) picks up on the music theme by focusing on present-day Beatlemania in Mexico. The final two docs both involve personal quests – María Paz González’s DAUGHTER (HIJA) follows the filmmaker and her mother on a road trip in which each woman searches for missing parts of her past, while Andrés Pardo’s intriguing LOOKING FOR LARISA (BUSCANDO A LARISA) (pictured) details an investigation into the origins of a roll of found Super 8 footage from the 70s and the haunting woman it pictures.