Hollywood stars like Jennifer Lawrence, George Clooney, Halle Berry and Benedict Cumberbatch have been announced to descend upon TIFF17, and the German talent are not far behind, with a record VIP list of guests en route to Toronto:
Director Valeska Grisebach (script consultant on last year’s run-away hit TONI ERDMANN) comes from Berlin for her North American premiere of WESTERN (
trailer). Unveiled and a critical hit at Cannes Film Festival 2017, the modern-day Western is part of Contemporary World Cinema at TIFF17. ""Rarely has German cinema been more present or intelligent," gushed FAZ newspaper.
Review to follow here for the TIFF opening on 7 September.
Fatih Akin, last in town with SOUL KITCHEN eight years ago, returns to TIFF with the North American premiere of his political thriller IN THE FADE (
trailer), a Special Presentation.
Acting in her native German for the first time, Diane Kruger won Best Actress at Cannes 2017 for her difficult role in this film – catch her on the red carpet with Akin at TIFF17.
Wim Wenders (WINGS OF DESIRE, 1987), a fan of and frequent visitor to Toronto, brings his globe-trotting romantic thriller SUBMERGENCE, led by Alicia Vikander, as a world premiere to TIFF17.
Actress Vikander (THE DANISH GIRL) runs her own Swedish-German production company, which is also represented in Toronto with their first feature EUPHORIA.
As with Alicia Vikander, you will have two chances to see Alexander Fehling (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) at TIFF17. He is the brilliant lead of Jan Zabeil’s THREE PEAKS that just won the Variety Piazza Grande Award at Locarno –review coming here next week. Fehling also plays in THE CAPTAIN (see below), where he meets Frederick Lau (VICTORIA), who in turn stars in GUTLAND at TIFF.
They are joining other stars with “double features” at TIFF this year, see Matt Damon (SUBURBICON & DOWNSIZING) and Nicole Kidman (THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER & THE UPSIDE).
Another Special Presentation is THE CAPTAIN, a much-anticipated world premiere at TIFF17. The WWII drama is Robert Schwentke‘s (INSURGENT) first
German language film after 14 years – the director will attend TIFF17 as well for the occasion.
Baran bo Odar (WHO AM I) will see the World Premiere with two of his 10 episodes of his series DARK (
trailer) in the Primetime slot at TIFF17.
The family drama with a supernatural twist is the first German Netflix original series, starring this year’s European “Shooting Star” Louis Hofmann (LAND OF MINE), who is also headed to Toronto.
Louis Hofmann might run into Volker Bertelmann (LION) at the Goethe-Institut’s annual TIFF Film Breakfast.
Oscar-nominated Düsseldorf musician-composer Bertelmann aka Hauschka is in town to promote his new score to Cumberbatch-starrer THE CURRENT WAR. Other than working on Dev Patel’s HOTEL MUMBAI, slated for 2018, he will also score the German production 1000 WAYS TO DESCRIBE RAIN, out later this year and starring Louis Hofmann.
If you spot any of these German actors or directors, send me a photo and we'll give you German film on DVD!
by
@JuttaBrendemuhl
image: Diane Kruger, member of the international jury at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival cc Siebbi
