The Toronto International Film Festival announced the 10 eclectic films that will make up this year’s Midnight Madness lineup. Midnight Madness welcomes new genre filmmakers with remarkable debuts, including Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s dystopian sci-fi film The Platform; Rose Glass’s unnerving psychological thriller Saint Maud, starring Morfydd Clark (Love & Friendship) and Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty); Andrew Patterson’s paranormal period piece The Vast of Night, which won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance and features breakout performances by Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick; and Keith Thomas’s supernatural horror film The Vigil.
Other highlights from this year’s selection include Richard Stanley’s H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space, which stars Nicolas Cage and signals the director’s return to the Midnight Madness lineup after 29 years; Joko Anwar’s Gundala, based on the Indonesian superhero comic books by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata; and Takashi Miike’s Japanese action-comedy First Love. The programme will close with the World Premiere of the international version of Isaac Nabwana’s gonzo action flick Crazy World, a celebration of the Ugandan film movement Wakaliwood.
The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 to 15, 2019.
2019 TIFF Midnight Madness program
*Midnight Madness Opening Film*
Blood Quantum
Jeff Barnaby | Canada
World Premiere
Color Out of Space
Richard Stanley | USA W
orld Premiere
*Midnight Madness Closing Film*
Crazy World
Isaac Nabwana | Uganda
World Premiere
First Love (Hatsukoi)
Takashi Miike | Japan/United Kingdom
North American Premiere
Gundala
Joko Anwar | Indonesia
International Premiere
The Platform (El Hoyo)
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia | Spain
World Premiere
Saint Maud
ose Glass | United Kingdom
World Premiere
The Twentieth Century
Matthew Rankin | Canada
World Premiere
The Vast of Night
Andrew Patterson | USA
Canadian Premiere
The Vigil
Keith Thomas | USA
World Premiere
Previously announced Midnight Madness films include Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century