The Toronto Film Festival has introduced its Wavelengths program, showcasing a lineup of experimental and artist-driven films by avant-garde directors such as Wang Bing, Roberto Minervini, and Miguel Gomes. Among the 11 films featured, the Wavelengths section will present Dimitris Athiridi’s 14-hour documentary exergue – on Documenta 14 across three screenings.
The program will also host North American premieres of the final chapters of Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy: Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming); Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, which earned him the Best Director award at Cannes; Roberto Minervini’s The Damned, an American Civil War drama that won Best Director in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; and Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’ Pepe, reflecting on life and death through a hippo linked to Pablo Escobar. Last year’s Wavelengths included Wang’s Youth (Spring), a Cannes competition entry about Chinese garment workers.
Additional North American premieres in the 2024 Wavelengths lineup feature Jessica Sarah Rinland’s Collective Monologue, which explores zoos and animal rescue centers in Argentina; Trương Minh Quý’s queer romance Viêt and Nam, previously showcased at Cannes; and Nicolás Pereda’s Lázaro at Night, a drama about a love triangle in Mexico City.
The strand will also present North American debuts of Perfumed With Mint, Muhammed Hamdy’s Venice title about a doctor treating a patient with mint plants growing from his body, and The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, a biopic by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich about the anti-colonialist and Afro-surrealist pioneer.
Wavelengths will feature a special presentation of Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882, an opera created for the Egyptian pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024. Short films premiering at TIFF’s Wavelengths include Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya by Malena Szlam, A Black Screen Too by Rhayne Vermette, and the North American debut of Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s The Diary of a Sky.
Additionally, TIFF announced that its Classics strand will present restored 4K versions of films such as Shahid Sohrab Saless’ Time of Maturity, Lino Brocka’s Bona, Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, and Raj Kapoor’s Awāra, which he also starred in.