Film director Barry Jenkins attends a red carpet for the movie "If Beale Street Could Talk" during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018. Acclaimed filmmaker Jenkins has been selected as this year's jury chair member for this year’s Platform program at the Toronto International Film Festival. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Thornhill
TORONTO – Nicolas Cage’s surrealist comedy “Dream Scenario” will open the competitive Platform program at the Toronto International Film Festival, with acclaimed filmmaker Barry Jenkins set to lead the jury.
Cage stars in the satirical feature from U.S.-based filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli as an academic “thrust into the limelight after he starts inexplicably appearing in people’s dreams.”
Brampton, Ont.’s Michael Cera and U.S. actress Julianne Nicholson also star.
It’s joined by the Canadian drama “The King Tide,” directed by Christian Sparkes, and eight other titles chosen for their “unique directorial perspectives,” TIFF said Wednesday in a release.
“Moonlight” director Jenkins will head a three-member panel that will select the winner of a $20,000 award.
The jury includes Canadian filmmaker Anthony Shim, whose film “Riceboy Sleeps” won last year’s prize, and Nadine Labaki whose Oscar-nominated film “Capernaum” won the 2018 jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
All 10 films will have their world premiere at the festival, set to run Sept. 7 to 17.
They include India’s “Dear Jassi,” from “The Cell” director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, and France’s “Spirit of Ecstasy (La Vénus d’argent),” from Héléna Klotz and starring French pop star Claire Pommet in her acting debut as “an ambitious non-binary person eager to make their mark.”
The annual movie marathon gears up amid historic dual Hollywood strikes that have sent unionized writers and actors off the job in fractious disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
It’s unclear how the labour action will affect the star wattage at this year’s fest, but TIFF has acknowledged it will have an impact.
Platform’s programming lead Robyn Citizen said Cage delivers some of his finest work in “Dream Scenario.”
“This surrealist satire-comedy has sharp, timely observations about social media culture – especially “˜going viral’ – and its impact on the way that we interact with others in our day-to-day life,” Citizen said in Wednesday’s release.
Here’s a look at the rest of the Platform lineup:
-“Great Absence,” directed by Kei Chika-ura, Japan;
-“I Told You So (Te l’avevo detto),” directed by Ginevra Elkann, Italy;
-“Not A Word (Kein Wort),” directed by Hanna Slak, Germany/Slovenia/France;
-“The Rye Horn (O Corno),” directed by Jaione Camborda, Spain/Belgium/Portugal;
-“Sisterhood (HLM Pussy),” directed by Nora El Hourch, France;
-“Shame on Dry Land (Syndabocken),” directed by Axel Petersén, Sweden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 02, 2023.
