Three feature films with Colombian participation in the Contemporary World Cinema section and the short film Todo Incluido (All Inclusive) by Duván Duque in Short Cuts are part of the Official Selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, to be held from September 8 to 18.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), created in 1976, is one of the world's top film showcases and a prelude for the contenders at the Academy Awards. The Contemporary World Cinema section of the Festival's 47th edition will feature Colombian co-productions La Jauría (The Pack) by Andrés Ramírez Pulidoand Vicenta B., directed by Cuban Carlos Lechuga. It will also feature So Much Tenderness, directed by Colombian Lina Rodriguez.
As stated by Diana Cadavid, the festival's international programmer, this section presents "a careful selection of unique stories from established filmmakers and talents with bold visions from all over the world. Through an ambitious program of over 50 films, audiences will be able to engage with the exciting ways cinema can take our understanding of human issues and experiences."
La Jauría, directed by Andrés Ramírez Pulido and produced by Valiente Gracia will have its North American premiere in this section. The film is a double recipient of incentives from the Film Development Fund (FDC) and the winner of the Grand Prix at the 61st edition of the Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival. Selected in Horizontes Latinos at the upcoming San Sebastian Festival, La Jauría becomes the first Colombian film to be part of the Official Selection at all three festivals. According to the festival's official communications, the premiere of this debut movie is a "disturbing and resonant" film release.
Vicenta B., Carlos Lechuga's third feature film, is an ode to life and the healing power of letting go. It portrays a Cuban woman who can see the future and talk to spirits facing an existential crisis and confronting her anxiety. The film was co-produced by Cuba, France, the United States, Colombia, and Norway. It is also part of the upcoming Horizontes Latinos in San Sebastian and will have its world premiere in Toronto.
TIFF will also be the stage for the world premiere of So Much Tenderness, the fourth feature film by Colombian-Canadian director Lina Rodriguez, supported by Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. The film follows Aurora (Noëlle Schonwald), a Colombian environmental lawyer forced to flee her country after her husband (Juan Pablo Cruz) is murdered. Helped by a young couple (Deragh Campbell and Kazik Radwanski), Aurora illegally crosses into Canada from the United States in the trunk of a car. There she finds herself compelled to start her life over as a refugee. Six years later, Aurora leads a seemingly ordinary life in Toronto with her temperamental daughter Lucía (Natalia Aranguren). Suddenly Edgar (Francisco Zaldua), her cousin and a suspect in her husband's murder, appears, threatening everything she has built.
Lastly, Todo incluido, by Duván Duque, will have its world premiere in the Short Cuts section. In the film, an 11-year-old boy becomes a witness to events that might change his life while staying at a luxurious resort for a business trip combined with a family vacation with his father and stepmother.
