One Un Certain Regard selected film (Lotfy Nathan‘s Harka), four films headed to Venice (Arian Vazirdaftari‘s Without Her, Bill Pohlad‘s Dreamin’ Wild, Steve Buscemi‘s The Listener and Georgia Oakley‘s Blue Jean), one San Sebastián comp title in Laura Mora‘s highly anticipated Kings of the World, and four market premieres in Hilmar Oddsson‘s Driving Mum, Avan Jogia‘s Door Mouse, Neil Maskell‘s Klokkenluider and Kasia Rosłaniec‘s Salt Lake are the ten films selected for TIFF 2022 Industry Selects – a pandemic solution that will indeed carry over into “normal” times. It’s a curated selection of ten films that are available for worldwide acquisition and will have in-person screenings during the Festival for accredited buyers and industry professionals. So North American premiere status will still apply once they hit the festival circuit. Here are the descriptions:
Blue Jean (Georgia Oakley, UK)
In Thatcher’s England, a closeted physical education teacher (Rosy McEwen) wrestles over whether to risk her
career ― and her safety ― by reaching out to a student (Lydia Page) wrestling with her own identity.
Driving Mum (Hilmar Oddsson, Iceland)
A middle-aged man (Thröstur Leó Gunnarsson) tries to honour his mother’s dying wish to be buried in her
home in a remote Icelandic village by propping her up in the back seat of his car and driving her there.
Dreamin’ Wild (Bill Pohlad, US)
In 1979, teenagers Donnie and Joe Emerson recorded an album on their family’s Washington State farm. In
2012, the world caught up to it ― forcing Donnie (Casey Affleck) to reckon with his first failed run at stardom.
Walton Goggins, Zooey Deschanel, Chris Messina, and Beau Bridges co-star.
Door Mouse (Avan Jogia, CAN)
A comic-book creator (Hayley Law, Riverdale) working at a burlesque club enlists the help of a colleague (Keith
Powers, The Tomorrow War) to figure out what’s behind the disappearances of young women in their circle in
this oddball neo-noir.
Harka (Lotfy Nathan, US/FRA/TUN/LUX/BLG)
Ali (Adam Bessa), a young Tunisian who makes a living bootlegging gasoline, finds himself pushed to the limit
when his father dies suddenly, leaving him responsible for the care of his two younger sisters in the first
dramatic feature from the award-winning director of 12 O’Clock Boys.
The Listener (Steve Buscemi, US)
In the early months of the pandemic, a young helpline volunteer (Tessa Thompson, who also produced) spends
her shift offering a compassionate ear to people (Logan Marshall-Green, Margaret Cho, Blu del Barrio, Alia
Shawkat, and more) in their darkest hours.
Kings of the World (Laura Mora, COL/LUX/FRA/MEX/NOR)
When one of them discovers he has an ancestral claim to a patch of land under a restitution agreement, five
street kids from Medellin leave the city to start a new life in the country, only to find absolutely nothing is easy
for five young men of no means in modern Colombia.
Klokkenluider (Neil Maskell, UK)
In this extremely bleak comedy, two security operatives (Tom Burke, Roger Evans) escort a British
whistleblower (Amit Shah) and his partner (Sura Dohnke) to a remote country home in Belgium, where they
await the arrival of the high-level journalist they hope will share their secret with the world.
Salt Lake (Kasia Rosłaniec, POL/SWE)
At the age of 64, Helena (Katarzyna Butowtt) announces her intention to pursue sexual experiences with other
men ― much to the shock of her husband of 40 years (Krzysztof Stelmaszyk). A powerful exploration of
late-life desire and emancipation.
Without Her (Arian Vazirdaftari, IRA)
As she prepares to emigrate to Denmark from Iran, Roya (Tannaz Tabatabaei) meets a strange, silent girl (Shadi
Karamroudi) and decides to take her in, introducing her to her husband and children ― entirely unaware of the
existential threat she’s welcomed into her home.
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Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
