TIFF is only a few days away, and as we narrow down our schedule, we’re always asking which movies are worth going out of our way for. The most-anticipated lists are everywhere, and a lot of the big films are indeed very exciting. But here at Fangirlish, we wanted to focus on the projects that often don’t get as much attention.
We’ve already discussed which TV shows to watch, as well as female-directed films we’re looking forward to and LGBTQ+ ones we’ll be trying to see. But there are also a lot of exciting Black-directed projects, and before the festival, we thought it was worth showcasing the ones we’re most intrigued by and that you perhaps haven’t heard about as much.
Ben’Imana
Directed by: Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Summary: Drawing on the accounts of women she met within the country, Dusabejambo decided to bring the gacaca courts — popular tribunals based in Rwandan traditional practice that were tasked with finding justice and promoting reconciliation after the genocide — to the screen. Is it really possible to forgive when your entire family has been wiped out or your body has been tortured? What about those who must carry the child of their abuser and raise it amid the perpetual shame of the trauma they have suffered?
Why We’re Excited: An almost entirely female cast and a filmmaker whose stated goal is to give a voice to the silent victims of the genocide in Rwanda is an easy yes for us. Warning: this will likely be a hard watch, but often those are the most necessary ones, particularly when this much care goes into them.
Marie Madeleine
Directed by: Géssica Généus
Summary: In the follow-up to her 2021 narrative feature debut Freda, Gessica Généus boldly reimagines the Biblical tale of Mary Magdalene set in vibrant Jacmel, Haiti. Marie Madeleine (played by Généus), a fiercely independent sex worker, carries a razor in her mouth during dates with clients and lives a bohemian lifestyle alongside the other women in her brothel.
After Marie collapses in the street, she is rescued by Joseph (Béonard Monteau), the dutiful and sexually repressed son of an evangelical preacher. He attends to her while harried nurses casually call her “whore” in the hospital hallway.
Why We’re Excited: A reimagining of the biblical tale of Mary Magdalene was already interesting enough, but one following a free-spirited Haitian sex worker who gets involved with a repressed preacher’s son is just the twist we needed to want to experience this one ASAP.
On Behalf of My Son
Directed by: Gabriel Martins
Summary: The story begins with a shocking accident: a public transit bus plunges from a bridge, claiming multiple lives. In the wake of the disaster, Vicentina (Faria), the mother of the driver, is consumed by the fear that her son may have deliberately caused the crash. Determined to confront the consequences of what happened, she embarks on a difficult journey to meet the victims’ families, seeking forgiveness while searching for answers that may never come.
Why We’re Excited: Sometimes forgiveness isn’t possible, and that reality makes this movie both heartbreaking and a profoundly interesting exploration of grief and the limits of mercy. Can you truly make up for something as terrible as the loss of a loved one? And how does the experience differ from person to person? This movie explores just that.
Clarissa
Directed by: Arie Esiri, Chuko Esir
Summary: Set in contemporary Nigeria, the film chronicles a high-society couple portrayed by the magnetic Sophie Okonedo as the titular Clarissa Dalloway and Jude Akuwudike as her husband Richard. While preparing for a big reception, Clarissa recalls her teenage years (with the younger Clarissa played in these scenes by India Amarteifio). At that time, her heart was torn between Richard and Peter, a promising young writer (Toheeb Jimoh and touchingly played as an older man by David Oyelowo) who has suddenly reappeared in Clarissa’s life.
The harmful impacts of World War I are ingeniously transposed onto the fight against Boko Haram, which has been ravaging northern Nigeria since 2009. Septimus (Fortune Nwafor, impressive), a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, crosses paths with one of Clarissa’s guests who is distraught over what happened to him.
Why We’re Excited: An adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway set in contemporary Lagos? Say no more! And this cast! This cast! I’ve never really loved the novel, but this reinvention might just be exactly what I needed to care about Mrs. Dalloway for the first time.
Congo Boy
Directed by: Rafiki Fariala
Summary: Robert (Fiomona Dembeasset) is still a teenager, but he’s always hustling. Civil war forced his family to flee the Democratic Republic of Congo and try to make a new life in the Central African Republic, leaving Robert to look after his four siblings while going to high school and doing whatever work he can to make ends meet to pay for food and an exam to go to medical school, following in his father’s footsteps.
As a way of finding inner peace, Robert writes poetry and seeks opportunities to perform as a rapper in the city’s small but vibrant clubs. Robert is advised by those around him to keep his heritage hidden, but for Robert, owning his roots might be the key to artistic self-actualization.
Why We’re Excited: This draws upon Rafiki Fariala’s own experience as a displaced Congolese, which means we’re getting the first kind of first-hand narrative we have rarely gotten. And the story isn’t just about war or about pain, but about new beginnings, s just as it is about who you are and who you can become.
Are you excited for TIFF? Share with us in the comments below!
