TIFF picks

Here's my list.

Year of the Carnivore: I saw director Sook-Yin Lee's segment in Toronto Stories a few months ago, and liked the very different feel that it had compared to the other stories, which seemed a bit more conventional. I thought I'd give this film a try.

Vision: My friend, d269330400, pointed this one out to me. The director is described as a leader in feminist film making. How far wrong could that go?

Moloch Tropical: Start with a Russian play, and transplant it into Haiti. Base it on the life of Henri Christophe (but set in the modern day), and film it in the citadel near Pòtoprens. How could I not see this movie? My one concern is that it might end up being a "slag Aristide" film. Its write-up includes the line, "Even without reference to Haiti's recent history..." but I think that might be more of a reference to how much of a dolt Cameron Bailey is. The director, Raoul Peck, made the film, Lumumba, about the Congolese Prime Minister who was "disappeared"; I enjoyed Lumumba, so I'm gonna give this one a try.

If I Knew What you Said: A film from the Philippines. A lot of the films I choose tend to be foreign or documentaries. This one was a second choice film (when you submit your film list, you pick second choices in case your first choice is full). The write-up hypes the idea that it's been a long time since there's been a film involving a deaf lead. I dunno what to expect.

Same Same but Different: a German film starring David Kross (from The Reader).

Jean Charles: about the Brazilian man who was shot in the head by UK police for wearing a jacket on a warmish day. (Only suicide bombers would do that!).

Reel Injun: A film about the representation of Aboriginal people in Hollywood film, and how that affects both the Aboriginal communities and the public perception of Aboriginal people. Canadian film.

Road, Movie: An Indian film about a young man who decides to go on a road trip in a vehicle that can project movies.

I'm also gonna see Blessed, which my friend picked up tickets for. The one film that I really wanted tickets for, but missed out on was The Most Dangerous Man in America, which is about the guy who leaked the Pentagon Papers.

This year's festival has raised some controversy. Several people have called for a boycott of the festival because it chose Tel Aviv as its focus this year. I hadn't noticed the boycott before I bought my tickets, but I did notice the higher-than-usual number of Israeli films. So, I'm violating the boycott. I suck.

Naomi Klein on TIFF

For more than a year, Israeli diplomats have been talking openly about their new strategy to counter growing global anger at Israel's defiance of international law. It's no longer enough, they argue, just to invoke Sderot every time someone raises Gaza. The task is also to change the subject to more pleasant areas: film, arts, gay rights – things that underline commonalities between Israel and places such as Paris and New York. After the Gaza attack, this strategy went into high gear. "We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theatre companies, exhibits," Arye Mekel, deputy director-general for cultural affairs for Israel's Foreign Ministry, told The New York Times. "This way, you show Israel's prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war."

Toronto got an early taste of all this. A year ago, Amir Gissin, Israeli consul-general in Toronto, explained that a new "Brand Israel" campaign would include, according to a report in the Canadian Jewish News, "a major Israeli presence at next year's Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand." Mr. Gissin pledged that, "I'm confident everything we plan to do will happen." Indeed it has.

Let's be clear: No one is claiming the Israeli government is secretly running TIFF's Tel Aviv spotlight, whispering in Mr. Bailey's ear about which films to program. The point is that the festival's decision to give Israel pride of place, holding up Tel Aviv as a "young, dynamic city that, like Toronto, celebrates its diversity," matches Israel's stated propaganda goals to a T.

— Naomi Klein, "We don't feel like celebrating with Israel this year"