Well friends, that time has come. Toronto International Film Festival 2020 is upon us and we are so proud to be able to say that this year DrunkInAGraveyard.com has been selected to be a part of TIFF’s Media Inclusion Initiative which seeks to highlight marginalized voices in film critique and offer them a first time experience working as accredited press for TIFF. This is an incredible opportunity that has been given to us and we are so grateful to the team at TIFF and to our friends and fellows on the Media Inclusion Initiative. This is very much a different offering of the Toronto International Film Festival, what with COVID-19 ravaging the world, but we look forward to making connections and watching some awesome films – even if its in our underwear at home on the couch while drinking beers.

With that in mind, here’s our life of the ten must see films at Toronto International Film Festival 2020.

1. 76 DAYS

76 DAYS is a documentary like no other because it contains voices that some would like to silence, from a time we are still in the process of understanding. 76 DAYS chronicles the 76 day city-wide lockdown of Wuhan, China during the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on the medical workers and frontline staff who faced off with an unknown virus. There is a desperation and kind of despair to this film that is captured beautifully by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen & Anonymous sources. There is so much fear present in our society, and much of that fear is fear of the unknown. Documentaries like these offer education, portraits of people whose lives and jobs may seems worlds away from ours. We are offered the unique oppurtunity to unite in fear, grief, loss, and ultimately, hope with 76 DAYS. A total must-see!

76 DAYS will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema September 15, 2020 @ 6PM

2. GET THE HELL OUT

GET THE HELL OUT (逃出立法院) is described as a “gonzo martial arts infused zombie comedy” which in Drunk in a Graveyard speak means SIGN US THE HELL UP. Set in Taiwan, GET THE HELL OUT deals with a virus infecting politicians that turn them into flesh-hungry ghouls. Directed by I-Fan Wang, this film puts the laughter right back into slaughter, and mixes in some political commentary and even a musical number or two. Screening as part of Midnight Madness.

GET THE HELL OUT (逃出立法院) will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema September 11, 2020 @ 6PM

3. INCONVENIENT INDIAN

Michelle Latimer’s adaptation of Thomas King’s spectacular book INCONVENIENT INDIAN is a mixed media documentary that tells the story of Indigenous peoples in North America and how colonization has brutalized and destroyed Indigenous culture – first by overt and forceful racism, segregation, disenfranchisement, and worse. Inuk filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril whose essential documentary work ANGRY INUK and TUNNITT: RETRACING THE LINES OF INUIT TATTOOS are Graveyard favourites, is featured in the film. In a time of “Truth and Reconcilation”, the lies our governments have told us become laid bare in INCONVENIENT INDIAN. An absolutely essential watch.

INCONVENIENT INDIAN will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema September 11, 2020 @ 6PM

4. SCARS

SCARS is an 11 minute short film directed by Alex Anna that uses animation and deep self reflection to talk about the subject of mental health, self harm, and stigma. Mental health is an often vague and seemingly nebulous concept that changes and becomes concrete when one quite literally wears the scars of their struggle with mental health. There is a queer and feminist lens present within SCARS which makes it all the more essential as we examine the intersections of existence.

SCARS will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema as part of the SHORT CUTS Programme 05 on September 15, 2020 @ 6PM

5. SHADOW IN THE CLOUD

Roseanne Liang directs Chloë Grace Moretz as a “Greatest Generation version of Ellen Ripley” in this World War II action/horror film that explores the work of Allied women and their wartime contributions amongst their male counterparts. The unknown force aboard the aircraft sees the warnings of a female aviator ignored by her male co-pilots with disastrous results. This film promises some historical fiction meets pulp fiction and is sure to be a pulse pounder. Screening as part of Midnight Madness.

SHADOW IN THE CLOUD will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 13, 2020 @ 6PM

6. TRICKSTER

Another film by Michelle Latimer (with co-creator Tony Elliot) – this one is an adaptation of Eden Robinson’s book “Son of a Trickster” which is part of trilogy bearing the same name and theme. The trickster is an ever present figure in mythology from around the world – from West Africa’s Anansi, to Scandinavia’s Loki, to Coyote who is ever present in many First Nations myths, to Wee’git of the Haisla. This film examines poverty, culture, myth, magic, psychosis, and the nature of family in a story of magic surrealism that is beautiful, ancient and so very important all of us who seek to bring more magic into our lives, and most important to First Nations youth who balance our normative one with one of magic.

TRICKSTER will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 16, 2020 @ 6PM

7. UNDERPLAYED

Filmed over a summer festival UNDERPLAYED highlights the gender inequality of women in the EDM scene. Director Stacey Lee examines the roles of women with a scene that has been dominated by men and male voices, and takes a startling look at how this inequality shapes a scene that is supposed to be built on peace and love. Featuring Alison Wonderland, Shirelle, and Canada’s REZZ. Intensely necessary documentary for a generation who came of age with a tab of ecstasy and their head in a bass speaker.

UNDERPLAYED will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 16, 2020 @ 6PM

8. VIOLATION

Female directed rape and revenge film? Oh god, YES PLEASE. Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli examine the horror of sexual violence, in a decidedly family horror lens with the realization that not all acts of trauma can be excised like a piece of diseased flesh, and how trauma can instead leave an indelible mark. Challenging the structure of a basic rape and revenge film, VIOLATION is sure to bring something essential and new to Midnight Madness.

VIOLATION will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 17, 2020 @ 6PM

9. WOLFWALKERS

I was a very different person in 2009 when I saw BOOK OF KELLS – the animated Irish-French-Belgian film about the making of the illuminated manuscript known as The Book of Kells. The film was a beautiful animated feature that was whimsical and simultaneously serious and reminded me of other fae-like media that I have adored. WOLFWALKERS is made by the same studio who wrought BOOK OF KELLS, and tells the story of Cromwell’s colonization of Ireland and an unlikely friendship between Robyn Goodfellowe (how often does one find characters that share one’s name that aren’t in Shakespeare) and a girl who was raised by wolves. This astonishingly beautiful animated feature shows off incredible talent while remaining true to a common story – that wild things aren’t always the things to fear in a world of men.

WOLFWALKERS will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 17, 2020 @ 6PM

10. ANOTHER ROUND

A film about booze with a sexy drunken Mads Mikkelsen? Oh god, I’m getting the vapors. ANOTHER ROUND pairs director Thomas Vinterburg and Mads Mikkelsen together for the first time since 2012’s THE HUNT in a comedy about the friendships between men, alcoholism, and aging. Cheers Mads, I’ll drink to that.

ANOTHER ROUND will be available to stream online via TIFF Bell Digital Cinema on September 13, 2020 @ 6PM

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