TIFF’s 48th edition runs Sept. 7 to 17 this year.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Movies featuring summer-camp killers, ancient demons, infrared action, and identical – and potentially incestuous – twin brothers lead the Midnight Madness slate at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
On Thursday, programmers announced the lineup for the perennially popular program highlighting unconventional genre cinema, and which in recent editions has launched everything from James Franco’s 2017 meta-comedy The Disaster Artist to last year’s Nazi-killing sensation Sisu.
Opening the Midnight Madness selection for TIFF’s 48th edition, which runs Sept. 7 to 17, will be the world premiere of Dicks: The Musical, a comedy directed by Larry Charles (Borat, The Dictator) and starring comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp as two identical brothers who are involved in what is described as a “subversive” spin on The Parent Trap. The film, the first musical from awards-magnet U.S. distributor A24 (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Whale), co-stars Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, and hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, and was filmed under the slightly more ribald title F*cking Identical Twins.
Other program highlights include the slasher Hell of a Summer co-directed by Billy Bryk and Canadian Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard; the action movie Aggro Dr1ft, which stars rapper Travis Scott and was reportedly shot entirely with an infrared camera by American provocateur Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers); the demonic-possession thriller When Evil Lurks by Argentina’s Demián Rugna; and two satires from countries making their Midnight Madness debuts: Meshal Aljaser’s Naga from Saudi Arabia, and Mladen Dordevic’s Working Class Goes to Hell from Serbia.
“Sides will be split – both figuratively and literally (on screen) – as Midnight Madness returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre with another stimulating concoction of unpredictable shock and ‘y’arr!’ cinema,” Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF’s Midnight Madness programmer, said in a statement. “A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up.”
Last year’s Midnight Madness program raised a stir after The People’s Joker, an unauthorized reimagining of Batman’s universe through the eyes of a transgender woman, was pulled after a single screening.
Meanwhile, TIFF programmers on Thursday also unveiled this year’s Discovery lineup, featuring four Canadian features that will be making their world debuts in Toronto: Fawzia Mirza’s Bollywood-backdropped romance The Queen of My Dreams; Meredith Hama-Brown’s drama Seagrass; M.H. Murray’s drama I Don’t Know Who You Are; and D.W. Waterson’s queer cheerleading film Backspot, starring Reservation Dogs breakout Devery Jacobs.
“We are honoured to highlight new and distinctive voices from artists creating their first or second feature on our global stage,” Dorota Lech, TIFF’s lead Discovery programmer, said in a statement. “This year’s program of 26 titles includes films from 25 countries, accounting for international co-productions and local talent.”
TIFF will continue to unveil its 2023 festival programming throughout August.
Barry Hertz