2015 TIFF: Wheatley, Trapero, Lafosse, Verbeek & Sue Brooks in Platform Comp

The TIFF folks have unveiled their slated dozen features for their spanking brand new competitive section and they’ve managed to lasso some high profile world preems that will compete alongside Int. and NA premieres. Claire Denis, Agnieszka Holland and Jia Zhang-ke for which the name of the programme section is named after (TIFF referenced his 2000 film), will see a class comprised of the likes Joachim Lafosse and his piping hot The White Knights, David Verbeek (Full Contact starring Grégoire Colin – see pic above), Fabienne Berthaud and yet again actress Diane Kruger with Sky and Ben Wheatley‘s highly anticipated High Rise. Also included in the comp we find Pablo Trapero‘s Venice-bound The Clan, Eva Husson‘s hotly tipped directorial debut Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) and a docu entry that sounds absolutely brutal true story from Alan Zweig in HURT. The winner will be announced on the final day of the fest. Here is the comp line-up:

Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) (Eva Husson, France): A risky group game tests the limits of personal sexuality for a group of suburban high schoolers. Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier, Lorenzo Lefebvre, Marilyn Lima, and Finnegan Oldfield star.

The Clan (Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain): The family that preys together stays together. Fact-based story of an Argentine family which made its living through kidnapping and murder to fatten bank accounts and advance brutal government policies. Guillermo Francella and Peter Lanzani star.

French Blood (Diastème, France): The story of a ferocious French skinhead, born in 1965 on the outskirts of Paris, and his clashes with the races, religions and cultures that infuriate him. Alban Lenoir, Paul Hamy, Samuel Jouy and Patrick Pineau star.

Full Contact (David Verbeek, Netherlands/Croatia): A man who accidentally bombed a school through a remotely operated drone must face his victims, if he has any hope of rebuilding his own life. Grégoire Colin, Lizzie Brocheré and Slimane Dazi star.

High-Rise (Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom): In this screen adaptation of this dystopian novel by JG Ballard (Crash), manners and morals quickly vanish after a London doctor moves into a soulless high-rise. His sanity may follow. Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss star.

HURT (Alan Zweig, Canada): Whatever happened to Steve Fonyo, the one-legged cancer survivor who heroically ran across Canada for charity in 1985? This doc by Toronto filmmaker Zweig has the answers, and they shock.

Land of Mine (Martin Zandvliet, Denmark/Germany): The Second World War is over, but not for a group of young German POWs captured by the Danish army, who are forced into a dangerous new path. Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Emil Buschow, Oskar Buschow and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard star.

Looking for Grace (Sue Brooks, Australia): Teen runaway Grace has escaped her family home in western Australian, with retired detective Norris in hot pursuit. Lives are about to change in ways no one could anticipate. Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell, Odessa Young and Terry Norris.

Neon Bull (Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands): An ad hoc Brazilian family of oddballs care for rodeo bulls in this film Bailey describes as “Lynchian” as well as “lyrical” and “bizarre.” Juliano Cazarré, Aline Santana, Carlos Pessoa and Maeve Jinkings star.

The Promised Land (He Ping, China): A small-town Chinese woman loses her fiancé in Beijing. A broken heart brings her home, with all the complications that implies. Jiajia Wang, Yi Zhang, and Zhiwen Wang star.

Sky (Fabienne Berthaud, France/Germany): A Palm Springs holiday for a vacationing European couple turns serious after an argument changes life plans for one of them. Diane Kruger, Norman Reedus, Gilles Lellouche, Lena Dunham and Q’orianka Kilcher star.

The White Knights (Joachim Lafosse, France/Belgium): The Zoe’s Ark controversy of orphaned West African kids being sold for adoption goes from 2007 headlines becomes a 2015 abduction thriller. Vincent Lindon, Valérie Donzelli, Reda Kateb, Louise Bourgoin and Rougalta Bintou Saleh.