The Toronto International Film Festival released its line-up, including a variety of (co-)productions from the Netherlands.
Still: Mr. K (credit: Kris Dewitte)
Starring Crispin Glover (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Back to the Future), Mr. K is a surrealist drama about a traveling magician, who finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he can’t find the exit of the hotel he slept in. His attempts to get out only pull him deeper inside, entangling him further with the hotel and its curious inhabitants.
Mr. K is produced by Lemming Film (NL), The Film Kitchen (NL), A Private View (BE) and Take 1 Production (NO). International sales are handled by Level K.
Tallulah’s debut feature Confetti Harvest* (2015), premiered at Berlinale’s Generation and screened at many children’s film festivals, including Kristiansand (Norway) and Zlin (Czech Republic).
The new animated short Quota* by Oscar nominated filmmakers Job, Joris & Marieke will world premiere in TIFF's Short Cuts programme. This will be Job, Joris & Marieke’s third animated short film world premiering at TIFF.
Job, Joris & Marieke show their concern about the current climate crisis. In their dark comedy every global citizen is mandated to participate in an app that tracks their CO2 emissions, but it makes little impression. Until they discover what happens when their designated quota has been reached.
Job, Joris & Marieke will not attend the festival themselves as they do not fly anywhere anymore in order to contribute less to climate change.
Quota is written, directed and produced by Dutch animation studio Job, Joris & Marieke. International sales are handled by SND Films and Kaboom Distribution handle festivals.
Previous work from the acclaimed animation trio includes A Single Life* (2014) which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film, screened at more than 200 festivals worldwide and was awarded 40 prizes. Their films (Otto)* (2015), A Double Life* (2018) and Nobody* (2022) also did well at the international film festivals, winning numerous awards and for the series Heads Together* (2017) they won and International Emmy Kids Award. In 2022 Job, Joris & Marieke were lauded at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, which showed a retrospective exhibition of their work titled A Triple Life.
Watch the trailer of Quota here.
Dutch co-productions at TIFF
Furthermore, several minority Dutch co-productions will be presented at Toronto, among them three Cannes titles: All We Imagine as Light* (co-produced by Amsterdam-based BALDR Film) by Payal Kapadia will get a Special Presentation and the Centrepiece programme includes When the Light Breaks** (NL co-producer: Revolver) by Rúnar Rúnarsson and Mahdi Fleifel's To a Land Unknown* (NL co-producer: Studio Ruba).
Feature documentary Tata* (NL co-producer: 100%) by Radu Ciorniciuc is part of TIFF Docs. And both Wang Bing's Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) (co-produced by Volya Films), will be screened in the Wavelength section following their premieres at Locarno and Venice. In addition Viet and Nam* by Truong Minh Quý will be screening in the Wavelenght section as well. The film, co-produced by An Original Picture (NL), world-premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard earlier this year.
The 49th Toronto International Film Festival takes place 5 – 15 September.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Production Incentive