Canadian indie filmmaker makes the cut in Toronto festival's competitive sidebar

ENTERTAINMENT

Canadian indie filmmaker makes the cut in Toronto festival's competitive sidebar

The Canadian Press Published Wednesday, August 7, 2019 11:58PM EDT

A scene from the film "Anne at 13, 000 ft" , directed by Kazik Radwanski is pictured in this undated handout photo provided August 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, TIFF

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TORONTO -- New films from actress-turned-writer/director Julie Delpy and Toronto indie filmmaker Kaz 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 "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 year-long space mission.

Also making the cut is "Wet Season" by Singapore-based director Anthony Chen, whose debut feature "Ilo Ilo" won the Camera d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Then there's Darius Marder's debut feature "Sound of Metal," a U.S. production starring Riz Ahmed as a professional drummer "whose life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing."

Also in the program are: "The Moneychanger" (Asi Hablo El Cambista) by Federico Veiroj from Uruguay/Argentina/Germany; "The Sleepwalkers" (Los Sonambulos) by Paula Hernandez from Argentina/Uruguay; and "Workforce" (Mano De Obra) by David Zonana, from Mexico.

Each year, the Platform program features up to 12 works deemed to 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 one-legged cancer survivor Steve Fonyo. Zweig is back at the festival this year with the documentary "Coppers," about the careers of retired police officers.