As it gears up for its Venice premiere later this week, Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” has added another film festival. It’s been announced as a last-minute addition to the Toronto International Film Festival. A trailer has also been released.
I was hoping some other more important titles would get added — “Poor Things,” and “All of Us Strangers” — but, no, we’ll have to settle with DuVernay’s latest treatise on systematic racism.
We can also report that NEON has just bought the rights to distribute DuVernay’s film stateside. It’s set to be press screened at Venice tomorrow. DuVernay is set to be the first African American woman to have a film screen in competition in Venice’s 80 year history.
NEON has a deep bench of fall fest titles this year, including Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel” Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” and Win Wenders’ “Perfect Days.”
Back to “Origin.” If you remember, DuVernay had blamed the failure of her last film, the $100 million catastrophe known as “A Wrinkle in Time,” on racism. Before that debacle, she was critically acclaimed for “Middle of Nowhere” and “Selma.”
I’ll be leaving for Toronto tomorrow. This year’s lineup is, shall we say, a tad underwhelming. There’s still lots of stuff I’m curious about. As it stands, high atop my priority list are “The Beast,” “The Holdovers,” “The Boy and the Heron,” “The Royal Hotel,” “Dream Scenario,” “Hit Man,” and many more.
The 48th Toronto International Film Festival is set to take place from September 7 – 17, 2023. You can expect full coverage on my end.