Toronto Lift-Off Film Festival 2022 - Network Round Features

Thursday 7th July - Thursday 14th July

1.

Liar-In-Chief: A Chronicle of the Trump Presidency Through the Eyes of An Outraged Graphic Artist
Dir. M Kaplan
United States
Logline: A multi-award winning, often biting satirical documentary, using original still photo montages and short videos created by the director, chronicling the horrors of Trump's presidency.

2.

Resilience
Dir. Alyssa Kuzmarov
Canada
Logline: Human, touching and real, this medium-length docu-fiction is based on the real life stories of 15 youth who have faced adversity in the Child Welfare System since their early childhood or who were involved with the Young Offender's Act. Our 7 protagonists, aged 14-17, of diverse cultural backgrounds, living in different neighbourhoods around Montreal, in English and in French, wrestle with isolation, bullying, confusion around sexual orientation and cultural identity, violence, confrontation with the law, rejection and abandonment. They are honest, dramatic, exuberant, enraged, resilient and touching all at once. Full of unanswered questions and not knowing where to turn, they find strength in themselves and in their communities, helping them find their way, little by little, one day at a time.

3.

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE
Dir. Xianhe Lei
China
Logline: During the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping was demoted to Jiangxi Province for re-education through labor. He went deeply into the grass roots and perceived the suffering together with the ordinary people and kept thinking about China’s future and destiny, laying an ideological foundation for the policy of Reform and Opening-up.

4.

A Vipers' Pit
Dir. Martin Bonnici
Malta
Logline: 1984, Malta is in the middle of a political crisis from years of corruption and a protracted fight between the socialist government and the catholic church. Richard Sammut Petri, a young father, is inducted into a shady organisation by his friend Roger Tabone and convinced to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malta.

5.

Bad Luck
Dir. Jean-Louis Uzan
France
Logline: A trip around the world could be any one's dream, right? Except when one is a fugitive in the midst of an existential crisis, like me.
A schizophrenic Hollywood screenwriter who has seen to many movies is searching me for murder.

6.

Catnip Nation
Dir. Tina Traster
United States
Logline: Good Samaritans risk hostility, political persecution, and legal prosecution to care for feral cats living in colonies. The three main characters in the documentary Catnip Nation, who live miles apart and come from different walks of life, invite us into a world of advocacy, political wrangling, and legal intrigue. Despite their passion for animals, the success of their battles are mixed but the message is consistent: This nation needs better policy to humanely manage “community cats,” and to protect people who look after them.

7.

Tokyo Toilets
Dir. Andrea Pompili, Ryan Bruss
Italy
Logline: Tokyo Toilets is a documentary about one of the most interesting urban design projects of all time. Launched last year in Shibuya Tokyo, Japan by The Nippon Foundation, the Shibuya City Government and the Shibuya Tourism Association, this project is based on the redesign of 17 public toilets by some of the most important contemporary architects and designers.

8.

SHADOWS IN THE BOX
Dir. Emmanuel Martin Di Feliciantonio
United States
Logline: "A JOURNEY INTO IN THE AESTHETIC OF A PHOTOGRAPHER - SHADOWS IN THE BOX.
Shadows in the box is the the exploration of the life and times of mercurial existentialist photographer, Thomas Clark.

9.

Silenced, as mercury rises
Dir. Karl Talbot
Canada