2014 TIFF: From Locarno with Love…Wavelengths Offers Rich Programme with Diaz, Costa, Piñeiro & Ming-liang

Yesterday, TIFF’s Wavelengths program unveiled a Locarno-heavy line-up of feature-length films that all aim to push the cinematic medium to its breaking point. Highlights include new films by Pedro Costa’s first “proper” feature in eight years, Horse Money (scarequotes because Ne change rien really is quite a singular, musky piece of work – see pic above); Eugène Green’s typically Baroque La Sapienza; 338 minutes of gruelling Filipino mastery from Lav Diaz in the form of From What is Before; Yoo Soon-mi’s essay film on the tensions between North and South Korea, Songs From the North; and The Princess of France, Matías Piñeiro’s follow-up to his breakout revisionist Shakespeare drama. Other features include Tsai Ming-liang’s sixth and longest entry in his Walker series, Journey to the West (complete with a Denis Lavant (Holy Motors) cameo); Cannes hits like Sergei Loznitsa’s Maidan and Lisandro Alonso’s Jauja; and the short film The Old Man of Belem, directed by Manuel de Oliveira (three months away from his 106th birthday!).

Of course, there are also the short films, with which Wavelengths established its name over a decade ago. Divided into four themed programmes, the selection brings Toronto audiences highly rigorous, intellectual, and aesthetically beautiful films from established masters and emerging new voices. Among the more recognizable names, we have Ken Jacobs (Canopy), Mary Helena Clark (The Dragon is the Frame), Friedl vom Gröller (Poetry for Sale), and Shambhavi Kaul (Night Noon), while there are other less-well-known Wavelengths regulars with new work this year such as Jean-Paul Kelly (The Innocents), T. Marie (Panchrome I, II, III), and yours truly (Red Capriccio). For the entire list of Wavelengths titles, see below:

Short Film Programs

Wavelengths 1: Open Forms
“brouillard – passage #14,” Alexandre Larose, Canada
“Against Landscape,” Josh Gen Solondz, USA
“Open Form – Game on an Actress’s Face,” KwieKulik Group, Poland
“The Dragon is the Frame,” Mary Helena Clark, USA
“Open Form – Street and Tribune in Front of PKiN,” KwieKulik Group, Poland
“Poetry for Sale,” Friedl vom Gröller, Austria
“Under a Changing Sky,” Jean-Claude Rousseau, France
“Panchrome I, II, III,” T. Marie, USA

Wavelengths 2: Something in the Atmosphere
“The pimp and his trophies,” Antoinette Zwirchmayr, Austria
“The Innocents,” Jean-Paul Kelly, Canada
“Catalogue,” Dana Berman Duff, USA
“Relief,” Calum Walter, USA
“Red Capriccio,” Blake Williams, Canada
“Under the Atmosphere,” Mike Stolz, USA
“Beep,” Kim Kyung-man, South Korea

Wavelengths 3: Tales Told
“Twelve Tales Told,” Johann Lurf, Austria
“San Siro,” Yuri Ancarani, Italy
“Intransit,” Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand
“Canopy,” Ken Jacobs, USA
“Detour de Force,” Rebecca Baron, Austria/USA

Wavelengths 4: Night Noon
“Lunar Almanac,” Malena Szlam, Canada/Chile
“Deep Sleep,” Basma Alsharif, Malta/Greece/France/Palestine
“Orizzonti Orizzonti!,” Anna Marziano, Italy
“The Policeman’s House,” Mich’ael Zupraner, Israel/Palestine
“Night Noon,” Shambhavi Kaul, USA/Mexico
“Sea of Vapors,” Sylvia Schedelbauer, Germany

Medium-length Groupings
“The Figures Carved into the Knife by the Sap of the Banana Trees,” Joana Pimenta, USA/Portugal International Premiere
“The Old Man of Belem,” Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France / North American Premiere
“Taprobana,” Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal/Sri Lanka/Denmark / North American Premiere
“Journey to the West” (“Xi You”), Tsai Ming-liang, France/Taiwan / Canadian Premiere
“Spectrum Reverse Spectrum,” Margaret Honda, USA / North American Premiere

Features
“A Single Word” (“Une Simple Parole”), Mariama Sylla, Khady Sylla, Senegal/Qatar / World Premiere
“Horse Money” (“Cavalo Dinheiro”), Pedro Costa, Portugal / North American Premiere
“Episode of the Sea,” Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan, the inhabitants of Urk, Netherlands / World Premiere
“Fires on the Plain” (“Nobi”), Shinya Tsukamoto, Japan / North American Premiere
“From What is Before” (“Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon”), Lav Diaz, Philippines / North American Premiere
“Heaven Knows What,” Joshua Safdie, Benny Safdie, USA/France / North American Premiere
“Jauja,” Lisandro Alonso, Denmark/USA/Argentina/Mexico/Netherlands/Germany/France / North American Premiere
“La Sapience” (“La Sapienza”), Eugène Green, France/Italy / North American Premiere
“Le beau danger,” René Frölke, Germany / North American Premiere
“Letters to Max,” Eric Baudelaire, France / International Premiere
“Maidan” (“Maïdan”), Sergei Loznitsa, Ukraine/Netherlands / North American Premiere
“Songs From the North,” Soon-Mi Yoo, USA/South Korea/Portugal / North American Premiere
“The Princess of France” (“La Princesa de Francia”), Matías Piñeiro, Argentina / North American Premiere