TIFF '23: Final Farewells and a Jury of One

by Cláudio Alves

Since THE BOY AND THE HERON opened the festival, there was a Studio Ghibli pop-up store. Sadly, I didn't take either of these giant fur babies home. But it was tempting!

All things in life must come to an end, so it's time to say goodbye to TIFF '23. Words will never be enough to express my gratitude to Nathaniel and the Media Inclusion Initiative, whose help made this coverage possible. Overall, I watched 59 features and six shorts, reviewing most of them along the way, and getting positively drunk on cinema. It was especially incredible to experience so many of these films on giant screens, unlike the sort I get to experience in Lisbon-based festivals. To watch something like Rosine Mbakam's Mambar Pierrette on the Scotiabank Theater's IMAX screen is an experience I won't soon forget.

Beyond the films, I met amazing people at TIFF, from fellow critics to festival programmers and ex-directors, editors, and the like. I even got to take a selfie with Abe, my fellow Team Experience member who I only knew through Zoom until now. Pardon the sentimentality, but this was a dream come true…

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TIFF '23: "Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World" is one wild ride

by Cláudio Alves

So many films wear the label of "provocative" as a medal of honor, boasting about their challenges to the audience and engaging shock. Yet, most of those reveal themselves as anything but, their provocation an empty buzzword  for a press release. Because disappointment is so common, it feels doubly refreshing when a genuinely provocative film comes about, like a punch to the solar plexus that makes you smile and beg for more. That's the case of Radu Jude's Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, a Locarno prize-winner recently announced as Romania's official submission for the 96th Academy Awards. Pardon the vulgarity, but it's a fucking masterpiece...

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