Cathy Brady’s debut feature film Wildfire has been selected to World Premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. This year the festival will be a hybrid physical and online event owing to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
Nora-Jane Noone and the late Nika McGuigan play two sisters who grew up in the shadow of the Irish/Northern Irish border. When one of them, who has been missing, finally returns home, the intense bond with her sister is reignited. Together they unearth their mother’s past but uncovered secrets and resentments which have been buried deep threaten to overwhelm them.
Brady’s journey in making this film began by casting McGuigan (The Secret Scripture, Traders) and Noone (Brooklyn, The Magdalene Sisters, The Descent). From there, over a year-long workshop process of improvisations, transcript, rehearsal, voice and dance drills, she created the story and wrote the script. Brady has previously worked with McGuigan on the first series of Deadpan Pictures’ hit comedy Can’t Cope. Won’t Cope.
Wildfire is produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina for Tempesta Films, Charles Steel for Cowboy Films, and David Collins for Samson Films. Lizzie Francke, Celine Haddad, Lauren Dark, Emma Duffy, Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve are executive producers, with support coming from the BFI, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and the Wellcome Trust, with Film4, Sulcata Productions, Illium and Lexis Media as co-financiers.
The films selected for TIFF 2020 will play over the event’s first five days as physical, socially distanced screenings providing the festival gets the green-light from local authorities for the event to go ahead. Large gatherings are still not permitted in Toronto. Few international press and industry are expected to attend the festival in person, with screenings and market business also taking place online.
We began this year planning for a 45th Festival much like our previous editions but along the way we had to rethink just about everything. This year’s lineup reflects that tumult. The names you already know are doing brand new things this year, and there’s a whole crop of exciting new names to discover. We’re thankful to every filmmaker and company that joined us on this adventure, and we can’t wait to share these brilliant films with our audiences.
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head – TIFF
TIFF 2020 is a special edition and symbolizes what is possible when collaboration, ingenuity, and passion take centre stage. It’s also a time for us to celebrate and affirm some of the founding values of TIFF, including the power film has to propel us forward as a society and present a diversity of voices. I’m proud and excited to share these films with audiences.
Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head – TIFF
Toronto Lineup 2020
180 Degree Rule Farnoosh Samadi | Iran
76 Days Hao Wu, Anonymous, Weixi Chen | USA
Ammonite Francis Lee | United Kingdom
Another Round (Druk) Thomas Vinterberg | Denmark
Bandar Band Manijeh Hekmat | Iran/Germany
Beans Tracey Deer | Canada
Beginning (Dasatskisi) Dea Kulumbegashvili | Georgia/France
The Best is Yet to Come (Bu Zhi Bu Xiu) Wang Jing | China
Bruised Halle Berry | USA
City Hall Frederick Wiseman | USA
Concrete Cowboy Ricky Staub | USA
Opening Night Film – David Byrne’s American Utopia Spike Lee | USA
The Disciple Chaitanya Tamhane | India
Enemies of the State Sonia Kennebeck | USA
Falling Viggo Mortensen | Canada/United Kingdom
The Father Florian Zeller | United Kingdom/France
Fauna Nicolás Pereda | Mexico/Canada
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer | United Kingdom/USA
Gaza mon amour Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser | France/Germany/Portugal/Palestine/Qatar
Get the Hell Out (Tao Chu Li Fa Yuan) I-Fan Wang | Taiwan
Good Joe Bell Reinaldo Marcus Green | USA
I Care A Lot J Blakeson | United Kingdom
Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer | Canada
The Inheritance Ephraim Asili | USA
Lift Like a Girl (Ash Ya Captain) Mayye Zayed | Egypt/Germany/Denmark
Limbo Ben Sharrock | United Kingdom
Memory House (Casa de Antiguidades) João Paulo Miranda Maria | Brazil/France
MLK/FBI Sam Pollard | USA
The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott | Canada
New Order (Nuevo orden) Michel Franco | Mexico
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois) Philippe Lacôte | Côte d’Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal
Nomadland Chloé Zhao | USA
No Ordinary Man Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Canada
Notturno Gianfranco Rosi | Italy/France/Germany
One Night in Miami Regina King | USA
Penguin Bloom Glendyn Ivin | Australia
Pieces of a Woman Kornél Mundruczó | USA/Canada/Hungary
Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) Lili Horvát | Hungary
Quo Vadis, Aïda? Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway/The Netherlands/Austria/Romania/France/Germany/Poland/Turkey
Shadow In The Cloud Roseanne Liang | USA/New Zealand
Shiva Baby Emma Seligman | USA/Canada
Spring Blossom Suzanne Lindon | France
Closing Night Presentation – A Suitable Boy Mira Nair | United Kingdom/India
Summer of 85 (Été 85) François Ozon | France
The Third Day Felix Barrett, Dennis Kelly | United Kingdom
Trickster Michelle Latimer | Canada
True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) Naomi Kawase | Japan
Under the Open Sky (Subarashiki Sekai) Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
Violation Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada
Wildfire Cathy Brady | United Kingdom/Ireland