The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced its latest lineup for the Wavelengths program, showcasing a diverse range of experimental films. Highlighting the program is a remarkable 14-hour documentary titled exergue – on documenta 14, directed by Dimitris Athiridi, which will be screened in three parts.
Wavelengths will feature 11 new films, including works by renowned avant-garde directors. Among the offerings are North American premieres of the final chapters of Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy, including Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming). Also featured is Miguel Gomes' Grand Tour, which earned him the Best Director award at Cannes, and Roberto Minervini’s The Damned, a Civil War drama that also won Best Director at Cannes' Un Certain Regard section. Additionally, Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias' Pepe explores the life and death of a hippo with ties to Pablo Escobar.
The Wavelengths section will revisit Wang Bing's earlier work, Youth (Spring), which premiered in Cannes last year and focused on Chinese garment workers. This year’s program also includes Jessica Sarah Rinland’s Collective Monologue, a film set in various animal rescue centers in Argentina; Trương Minh Quý's Viêt and Nam, a queer romance that debuted at Cannes; and Nicolás Pereda’s Lázaro at Night, a drama set in Mexico City.
Additional North American premieres include Muhammed Hamdy’s Perfumed With Mint, a Venice Film Festival entry about a doctor treating a patient with mint plants growing from his body, and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, a biopic of the anti-colonialist writer and Afro-surrealist pioneer.
The Wavelengths program will also feature a special presentation of Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882, an opera showcased at the Egyptian pavilion during the Venice Biennale 2024.
Short films making their debut in this year’s Wavelengths include Malena Szlam’s Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, Rhayne Vermette’s A Black Screen Too, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s The Diary of a Sky, which will have its North American premiere.
In addition to the Wavelengths announcement, TIFF revealed that its Classics strand will showcase restored 4K versions of notable films, including Shahid Sohrab Saless' Time of Maturity, Lino Brocka’s Bona, Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, and Raj Kapoor’s Awāra, in which he also starred.
The Toronto International Film Festival is set to take place from September 5 to 15.