media release
July 23, 2024
TIFF unveils its 2024 Platform programme and jury
Acclaimed filmmakers Atom Egoyan, Hur Jin-ho, and Jane Schoenbrun to preside over the Platform jury
Toronto — TIFF today announced its 2024 Platform lineup, TIFF’s competitive programme featuring 10 exceptional films representing 17 countries. This year’s jury includes the Academy Award–nominated Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer Atom Egoyan, who will serve as the Jury Head. Celebrated South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho, known for his poignant explorations of love and humanity in movies and whose film A Normal Family had its world premiere at TIFF last year, joins the esteemed jury, alongside award-winning American filmmaker and essayist Jane Schoenbrun, who will bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the selection process. Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo, best known for Colossal (TIFF ’16), will open the programme with his latest work, Daniela Forever.
Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, and now in its ninth year, the programme showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent, offering audiences a first look at some of the most innovative and compelling works from around the globe. Platform has showcased films that have gone on to achieve significant success. Notable previous Platform selections include Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing.
The 10 films in the programme are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 CAD given to the best film in the programme. Previous jury members include: Claire Denis, Béla Tarr, Brian De Palma, Mira Nair, Riz Ahmed, Jia Zhang-Ke, Patricia Rozema, and Barry Jenkins. Platform titles are nominated by TIFF’s programming team, led by Robyn Citizen, Director of Programming, Festival and Cinematheque.
Watch Citizen’s insights into this year’s lineup here.
OPENING FILM
Daniela Forever Nacho Vigalondo | Spain/Belgium
World Premiere
Sales Title
Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) soulfully portrays a bereaved man who enrolls in a clinical trial for a drug that allows him to reunite with his lost lover, played by Beatrice Grannò (The White Lotus) through lucid dreams.
Daughter’s Daughter Huang Xi | Taiwan
World Premiere
Sales Title
Taiwanese filmmaker Huang Xi’s (Missing Johnny, Twisted Strings) latest work is Daughter’s Daughter. After a terrible accident takes the life of her youngest, a mother must confront her eldest daughter who she gave up after a teenage pregnancy.
Mr. K Tallulah H. Schwab | Netherlands/Belgium/Norway
World Premiere
Sales Title
This is a second feature by Amsterdam-based director Tallulah H. Schwab (Confetti Harvest). Mr. K star Crispin Glover brings his best to Schwab’s delightfully Kafkaesque tale of a travelling magician who finds himself in a hotel full of unusual guests — with no way out.
Paying For It Sook-Yin Lee | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title
Canadian filmmaker, musician, and actor Sook-Yin Lee connects the past with the present, bringing together Canadian underground artists and innovative cross-generational musicians in a cultural snapshot of turn-of-the-millennium Toronto in Paying For It. With subtle comic energy and a great cast, this adaptation of Chester Brown’s autobiographical 2011 graphic novel is a movie only Lee could make… because it’s her story, too.
Pedro Páramo Rodrigo Prieto | Mexico
World Premiere
Unfolding in a seemingly abandoned Mexican town where past and present beguilingly coexist, the feature directorial debut of legendary cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon) is a mesmerizing story of desire, corruption, and inheritance.
The Wolves Always Come at Night Gabrielle Brady | Australia/Mongolia/Germany
World Premiere
Sales Title
Australian director and screenwriter Gabrielle Brady (Island of the Hungry Ghosts) lays bare the emotional ruptures of climate change and urban migration on Mongolian herders, told through the experiences of one family. After a devastating storm wrought by climate change forces them from their home in the Mongolian countryside to the city, a young couple are forced to adapt to a new way of life in this breathtaking and heartbreaking hybrid film.
They Will Be Dust (Polvo serán) Carlos Marqués-Marcet | Spain/Italy/Switzerland
World Premiere
Sales Title
Spanish film director, screenwriter, and film editor Carlos Marqués-Marcet, whose 2014 film 10.000 KM won the Goya for best new director, treats the audience to a unique, daring, and rewarding look at our unavoidable death. Unequal parts contemporary dance-musical and ensemble drama, They Will Be Dust reaches for the raw emotional core of humanity in all its inherent messiness.
Triumph Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva | Bulgaria/Greece
World Premiere
Sales Title
This latest work from co-directors Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, combined with their previous films The Lesson (TIFF ’14) and Glory (2016), forms a trilogy inspired by sensationalist news stories from their homeland that prove once and for all that truth is stranger than fiction.
Viktor Olivier Sarbil | Ukraine/USA
World Premiere
Sales Title
This bold documentary from filmmaker and veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil offers a deeply personal perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Crafting an audiovisual experience carefully designed to match that of its subject, Viktor is an intimate portrait of a Deaf person navigating chaos and violence.
Winter in Sokcho Koya Kamura | France
World Premiere
Sales Title
In this debut from filmmaker Koya Kamura, a young woman struggling to claim her identity and independence has her routine disrupted when a French artist checks into the small guesthouse in snowy Sokcho where she works.
Atom Egoyan
With 18 feature films and many opera and theatre productions, Atom Egoyan is internationally known for his award-winning films including Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Chloe. His latest film, Seven Veils, had its World Premiere at TIFF last year before its International Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, and was the Opening Night Gala at the Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia this summer.
Hur Jin-ho
Since 1998, Hur Jin-ho made a debut Christmas in August, he has attracted the attention of the film industry. He has also directed international works, A Good Rain Knows and Dangerous Liaisons, and spread the boundary of his artistry to the TV series Lost. His recent film, A Normal Family, premiered at TIFF 2023 as a Gala Presentation.
Jane Schoenbrun
A non-binary filmmaker and writer dedicated to making and supporting personal, queer cinema, Jane Schoenbrun’s work includes I Saw the TV Glow, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, A Self-Induced Hallucination, and the punk rock variety TV show The Eyeslicer. Their first novel, Public Access Afterworld, will be published by Hogarth in 2025.
TIFF Takeover: This week’s programming alerts
Note: All rights availability details are subject to change. Accredited industry professionals, including buyers, can download the full TIFF 2024 Rights List in the Delegate Resources section of tiff.net/industry. The complete list will be posted in late August.
Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, and now in its ninth year, the programme showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent, offering audiences a first look at some of the most innovative and compelling works from around the globe. Platform has showcased films that have gone on to achieve significant success. Notable previous Platform selections include Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing.
The 10 films in the programme are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 CAD given to the best film in the programme. Previous jury members include: Claire Denis, Béla Tarr, Brian De Palma, Mira Nair, Riz Ahmed, Jia Zhang-Ke, Patricia Rozema, and Barry Jenkins. Platform titles are nominated by TIFF’s programming team, led by Robyn Citizen, Director of Programming, Festival and Cinematheque.
Watch Citizen’s insights into this year’s lineup here.
2024 Platform Programme (in alphabetical order)
OPENING FILM
Daniela Forever Nacho Vigalondo | Spain/Belgium
World Premiere
Sales Title
Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) soulfully portrays a bereaved man who enrolls in a clinical trial for a drug that allows him to reunite with his lost lover, played by Beatrice Grannò (The White Lotus) through lucid dreams.
Daughter’s Daughter Huang Xi | Taiwan
World Premiere
Sales Title
Taiwanese filmmaker Huang Xi’s (Missing Johnny, Twisted Strings) latest work is Daughter’s Daughter. After a terrible accident takes the life of her youngest, a mother must confront her eldest daughter who she gave up after a teenage pregnancy.
Mr. K Tallulah H. Schwab | Netherlands/Belgium/Norway
World Premiere
Sales Title
This is a second feature by Amsterdam-based director Tallulah H. Schwab (Confetti Harvest). Mr. K star Crispin Glover brings his best to Schwab’s delightfully Kafkaesque tale of a travelling magician who finds himself in a hotel full of unusual guests — with no way out.
Paying For It Sook-Yin Lee | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title
Canadian filmmaker, musician, and actor Sook-Yin Lee connects the past with the present, bringing together Canadian underground artists and innovative cross-generational musicians in a cultural snapshot of turn-of-the-millennium Toronto in Paying For It. With subtle comic energy and a great cast, this adaptation of Chester Brown’s autobiographical 2011 graphic novel is a movie only Lee could make… because it’s her story, too.
Pedro Páramo Rodrigo Prieto | Mexico
World Premiere
Unfolding in a seemingly abandoned Mexican town where past and present beguilingly coexist, the feature directorial debut of legendary cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon) is a mesmerizing story of desire, corruption, and inheritance.
The Wolves Always Come at Night Gabrielle Brady | Australia/Mongolia/Germany
World Premiere
Sales Title
Australian director and screenwriter Gabrielle Brady (Island of the Hungry Ghosts) lays bare the emotional ruptures of climate change and urban migration on Mongolian herders, told through the experiences of one family. After a devastating storm wrought by climate change forces them from their home in the Mongolian countryside to the city, a young couple are forced to adapt to a new way of life in this breathtaking and heartbreaking hybrid film.
They Will Be Dust (Polvo serán) Carlos Marqués-Marcet | Spain/Italy/Switzerland
World Premiere
Sales Title
Spanish film director, screenwriter, and film editor Carlos Marqués-Marcet, whose 2014 film 10.000 KM won the Goya for best new director, treats the audience to a unique, daring, and rewarding look at our unavoidable death. Unequal parts contemporary dance-musical and ensemble drama, They Will Be Dust reaches for the raw emotional core of humanity in all its inherent messiness.
Triumph Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva | Bulgaria/Greece
World Premiere
Sales Title
This latest work from co-directors Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, combined with their previous films The Lesson (TIFF ’14) and Glory (2016), forms a trilogy inspired by sensationalist news stories from their homeland that prove once and for all that truth is stranger than fiction.
Viktor Olivier Sarbil | Ukraine/USA
World Premiere
Sales Title
This bold documentary from filmmaker and veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil offers a deeply personal perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Crafting an audiovisual experience carefully designed to match that of its subject, Viktor is an intimate portrait of a Deaf person navigating chaos and violence.
Winter in Sokcho Koya Kamura | France
World Premiere
Sales Title
In this debut from filmmaker Koya Kamura, a young woman struggling to claim her identity and independence has her routine disrupted when a French artist checks into the small guesthouse in snowy Sokcho where she works.
Platform Jury Biographies
Atom Egoyan
With 18 feature films and many opera and theatre productions, Atom Egoyan is internationally known for his award-winning films including Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Chloe. His latest film, Seven Veils, had its World Premiere at TIFF last year before its International Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, and was the Opening Night Gala at the Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia this summer.
Hur Jin-ho
Since 1998, Hur Jin-ho made a debut Christmas in August, he has attracted the attention of the film industry. He has also directed international works, A Good Rain Knows and Dangerous Liaisons, and spread the boundary of his artistry to the TV series Lost. His recent film, A Normal Family, premiered at TIFF 2023 as a Gala Presentation.
Jane Schoenbrun
A non-binary filmmaker and writer dedicated to making and supporting personal, queer cinema, Jane Schoenbrun’s work includes I Saw the TV Glow, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, A Self-Induced Hallucination, and the punk rock variety TV show The Eyeslicer. Their first novel, Public Access Afterworld, will be published by Hogarth in 2025.
TIFF Takeover: This week’s programming alerts
- Wednesday, July 24, at 10am ET: Discovery Programme
- Thursday, July 25, at 10am ET: Midnight Madness Programme
Note: All rights availability details are subject to change. Accredited industry professionals, including buyers, can download the full TIFF 2024 Rights List in the Delegate Resources section of tiff.net/industry. The complete list will be posted in late August.