Every August I lose my will to live. And every first week of September, I go to Canada for the Toronto International Film Festival and get it right back! It’s the perfect, crisp autumn air, the city being a clean version of New York, and watching the best movies in the world that do it for me. I’m so grateful to both Rotten Tomatoes and to Critical Minded for their critics grants that allowed me to experience the 50th festival (lovingly nicknamed #TIFFTY) this year.
Other festivals, for me, have been about the parties and networking, but TIFF? It’s just about the movies. I can watch 5 movies in a day, skipping lunch because the films are feasts. It’s like putting my bare feet on the ground: I’m centered, I’m clear on what I’m supposed to do, and I’m more convinced than ever that movies are powerful. TIFF quite literally gives me life!
…And then I come back to the shitshow that is America and get depressed again by *gestures broadly.* But, here’s hoping that reliving my favorite life-giving Black films from the festival and sharing when you can watch them will pass some more life over to you! xx
Hedda
The buzziest film at TIFF lived up to its hype. A wicked Tessa Thompson stars as the iconic Hedda Gabler in Nia DaCosta’s dazzling adaptation of the 1891 Henrik Ibsen play. DaCosta sets her Hedda in 1950s London and makes her a Black socialite married to Charles, an obsessive, needy white man. The film opens 6 months into their marriage, on the day they’ve chosen to throw a party in their new massive estate that they cannot yet afford. Charles hopes to use the party to secure a professorship that will save them from financial ruin, but all hell breaks loose when Hedda’s former secret lover Eileen (a brilliant Nina Foss) arrives with a new girlfriend and protégé, and also just so happens to be vying for the same professorship as Charles. Hedda isn’t a love story; it’s a power struggle, and Thompson plays the title role like a runaway train. When the weight of racial, gender, and queer oppression collide, one might forgive Hedda for the devilish and quite literally insane things she does. Or not. Either way, Hedda is thrilling, fun, tragic, gorgeously shot and DaCosta’s best film to date. I’ll have a full break-down of the film next month when it comes to theaters, but until then: keep doing all the period pieces Tessa! This is your lane.
Watch Hedda in theaters on October 22 and on Prime October 29.
The Eyes of Ghana
The best documentary I saw at TIFF actually opened the festival’s documentary section and centered on Chris Hesse, the 93-year-old cinematographer of revolutionary leader of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. Filming Nkrumah everywhere he went through the 1950s and 60s as he became the first president of Ghana, declaring independence from Britain, Hesse captured the liberating history of a new nation that would go on to empower the continent to rise up against its European colonizers. Understanding the power of cinema through Hollywood’s exportation of American propaganda around the world, pan-Africanist Nkrumah was steadfast in believing that the “Africa for Africans” that he envisioned must include Africans telling their own stories on film. Hesse, in his 20s and 30s at the time, was mentored by Nkrumah and encouraged in his cinematography to be Ghana’s eyes for the world. By 1967, however, after a “rumored” CIA-backed coup, Nkrumah was deposed and all of the films he commissioned were ordered to be destroyed. Hesse kept 1,300 reels of film in secret and has spent the last 60 years trying to preserve, repatriate and digitize the never-before-seen footage.
Now in his 90s, the iconic filmmaker is losing his eyesight to a degenerative disease, but his passion and commitment to the preservation of Ghanaian cinema perseveres. The Eyes of Ghana follows him as he mentors and passes the torch to young Ghanaian filmmaker and absolute delight, Anita Afonu, whom he’s been doing preservation work with since 2011. Hesse shares his memories of Nkrumah and his final battle cry to Hesse as Nkrumah was being deposed: “keep filming.” It’s an inspiring opus of not only Nkrumah’s but Hesse’s life and the urgency of African filmmaking and historical preservation.
About 15 minutes of Hesse’s rare footage is shown throughout The Eyes of Ghana, which culminates in a screening of some of the footage at the once-iconic Rex Theatre in Accra, which is also being restored on camera. The call to action is clear: Hesse and Afonu need financial assistance to digitize all the reels of film and to keep the history of Ghanaian and African filmmaking alive and accessible. Proceeds from the documentary will go towards that effort. But why?
Executive produced by The Obamas, The Eyes of Ghana and Hesse and Afonu shouldn’t want for any cash for this worthy project, when the war criminal’s net worth is nearly $100 million, allegedly (re the money; the Obama war criminal stuff is widely available).
My other gripe with this otherwise deeply moving film is that white Canadian Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot directed the film, yet has spent the majority of the press tour and his time on stage at TIFF practically bragging that he had no idea who Kwame Nkrumah was two years ago when he first visited Ghana, and said as much on that visit to a group of Ghanaians who looked upon him with horror. Naturally, as white men do, he decided he should be the one to direct this film. As a result of his ignorance and overall white Canadianness, he relied heavily on what he called the most collaborative filmmaking he’s ever done, yet of course, his name is the only one with the director credit. Afonu joined not only as co-star and subject, but as a producer. But why couldn’t Proudfoot produce her movie about Hesse instead? Why not make her co-director at minimum, due to the unusual level of collaboration? And what did we miss out on, as a result?
The 15 minutes of Hesse’s footage that we see throughout The Eyes of Ghana focus on Nkrumah with famous white faces: dancing with Elizabeth, Phillip skulking colonizerly in the background; JFK and Jackie O make appearances too. It seems to serve as a legitimizing element for Nkrumah and by extension Hesse, to show these famous white faces that they were in proximity to. And I wonder what a Ghanaian director would have focused on in the recovered footage—especially in a film that is supposed to be about how filmmaking is a weapon against white colonial forces. That message just can’t hit home with the director they have at the helm.
Still, I’m thrilled to know more about Nkrumah and Hesse and his work, that there is more Ghanaian film history that we’ll see one day, and that Afona will make more films for Ghana in her bright future.
Stay tuned for a release date for The Eyes of Ghana.
Dinner with Friends
This romantic comedy feature from Black Canadian director and co-writer Sasha Leigh Henry is just as fun as the title suggests. Made on an unbelievable $100,000 budget, Henry captures the joy, intimacy and drama of a coupled-up friend group who schedules regular dinners to make sure they stay a part of each others’ lives. The nuances of the eight characters are revealed over eight dinners spread out over a period of years as they grow together and apart in Toronto, capturing the challenge and necessity of maintaining adult friendships when life is life-ing. As most romantic movies center on sexual partnership, it’s lovely to see a film focus on the work of romance in long-term friendship: the grand gestures, the apologies, the consistencies and the love.
Stay tuned for info on when you can watch Henry’s Dinner with Friends (2025).
My Father’s Shadow
This stunning, heartbreaking feature film debut of director Akinola Davies, Jr. takes place in Lagos during the day that the 1993 presidential election results were annulled and the military violently shut down civilian protests as a result. Two young brothers, played with such heart by real brothers Godwin Chiemerie Egbo and Chibuike Marvellous Egbo, tag along with their estranged father, a devastating Sope Dirisu (Mr. Malcolm’s List), on that day as he tries to collect his withheld paycheck from his boss and explain to his boys why he must live and work so far away from them. With stunning cinematography and a compelling, semi-autobiographical script, Davies Jr. and his older brother and co-writer Wale Davies set the grief over an absent parent against the backdrop of crumbling hope in a country whose unelected leaders choose power over love. But for the young sons—and perhaps the Davies brothers as well—imagination and reimagination are the keys to processing loss and healing grief.
Mubi bought the rights to My Father’s Shadow—the first Nigerian film selected for the racist-ass Cannes Film Festival—and will distribute this must-watch film in North America soon. Stay tuned to BGW!
Laundry
Another heart-breaker, from another brilliant Black woman director, Laundry is a South African film set in 1968 at the height of the apartheid regime. In her feature film directorial debut, Zamo Mkhwanazi tells the story of a Black family who runs a laundry service in the white area of the neighborhood, and how quickly privilege turns to target practice. Though the family patriarch Enoch (Siyabonga Shibe) wants his son Khuthala (Ntobeko Sishi) to takeover the laundry business, Khuthala strikes up a friendship with his father’s long-time mistress, with hopes of joining her band as a musician and leaving South Africa with her for a gig in America. Though Enoch warns his son of the consequences of pursuing music that’s been banned under apartheid—alcoholism, suicide, assassination—Khuthala can’t help but be drawn to the hope of escape through music, both emotionally and physically. Through a devastating turn of events, Laundry spotlights the every day South Africans, once brimming with talent and life, lost to the brutality of the white supremacist machine and gives voice to the stories that rarely reach an international audience. Laundry is a triumphant debut for Mkhwanazi and for Sishi who is a star in the making. Hopefully Laundry will receive international distribution soon.
The Man in My Basement
This thriller film co-written and directed by Nadia Latif in her feature film debut is an adaptation of Walter Mosely’s book of the same name. Corey Hawkins stars as a down-on-his-luck orphan trying to preserve his family home in Sag Harbor and Willem Dafoe is the titular man in his basement. The film tackles how the system of white supremacy ensnares us all, and even white liberal guilt can become just another weapon, just another burden for Black people to bear. Hawkins and Dafoe are formidable; Latif’s direction is stylish and the cinematography of the historic Black neighborhood is stunning, but the message of the film seems to be that getting revenge against your oppressors makes you just as bad and deserving of punishment. How tragic. Without reading Mosely’s book, I can’t say how that message compares, though Mosely shares co-writing credit of the film with Latif. But with yet another film underutilizing a Black woman (Anna Diop) as a flatly written love interest for an intolerable mess of a man, I’m not inspired to read the book or rewatch it to be sure.
For those boycotting Disney, The Man in My Basement is streaming now on Hulu, which is a Disney company.
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions:
This was probably my least favorite movie from TIFF, only because it’s not really a movie. Part archive, part Afro-future, part anthology, part narrative, and part bombastic reckoning, the experimental BLK NWS: Terms & Conditions is a journey through W.E.B. DuBois’ history and culture book, Encyclopedia Africana. Some parts are true re-enactments of Black historical events; others are fictional imaginings inspired by the history in DuBois’ encyclopedia. What we see on screen is as if we the audience are flipping through the book as awestruck children would, like writer-director Khalil Joseph did, and allowing the pages and ideas to come to life around us. Its African, nonlinear layering of time can make for a bit of a challenging watch to the average viewer, but would make a stunning museum exhibit.
Bonus: The Christophers
Calling The Christophers a Black movie might be a stretch—the only Black cast member in Steven Soderbergh’s new comedy film is Michaela Coel. But she is the second lead to Sir Ian McKellan, who owns this movie and is its driving force. Coel plays a talented painter and forger hired by McKellan’s greedy children ( a hilariously obnoxious Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and James Corden) to forge the final paintings in their legendary father’s unfinished series so they can cash them out as originals when he dies. Coel’s Lori is the straight man to McKellan’s surly and canceled painter Julian, so she basically just serves face the whole movie while McKellan is turnt up to a thousand, having the time of his life playing a kooky, bitter man whose best years are behind him. When Julian discovers his children’s betrayal, he is both exasperated and intrigued by the prospect that Lori could finish paintings that he couldn’t bear to. What follows is a heart-warming story of a man in the twilight of his life who finds hope and renewed energy for one last hurrah in a pupil and teacher he never saw coming.
Major recession indicator: The Christophers is also still seeking distribution and does not yet have a premiere date. Stay tuned for more.
I’ll be back next with the incredible Palestinian films that I saw at TIFF and how that history connects to America’s fascist past and present.
Stay watchin,’
Brooke
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