I probably had the best time you can possibly have at TIFF 2013, where I saw 34 features or feature-length shorts programs. I found plenty to admire even in the weakest of them, and I flat out adored at least a dozen others. If I had to invent any regret about last year, it could only be that I went in colder on some of the directors' past bodies of work than I'd wanted to. I made time in the weeks pre-TIFF to see Albert Serra's lovely, eccentric Don Quixote adaptation Honor de cavallería, which definitely helped me appreciate his louche and strange Casanova/Dracula mashup Story of My Death. I also screened Wiseman's High School; I got to ask him a question about it in Toronto, which he found incredibly stupid. The payoffs of this prep work were so rich that this year I vowed to do more, investigating at least one prior film by directors who have a new feature programmed at this year's TIFF. Some, like Jean-Luc Godard or Olivier Assayas, have been favorites for a long time but I still have plenty to pick up from their filmographies. Some, like Hong Sang-soo, Pedro Costa, and Wang Xiaoshuai, are major names I've never caught up with, and many others I've only made contact with once or twice in the past: Ramin Bahrani, Naomi Kawase, Isabel Coixet, Céline Sciamma... Wherever possible, I've selected a movie I've never seen by each director, and I'll be linking to a new, short review in the weeks leading up to TIFF. This MUBI Notebook page might be the quickest snapshot of what's playing in all the festival's sections, with more announcements still to come. Hopefully if you see a name you love or find yourself wondering about, I've got a DVD here ready to pop in!
