MURU
*Screening in the Contemporary World Cinema Section at TIFF
Director & Writer: Tearepa Kahi (Poi E: The Story of our Song, Mt. Zion)
Cast: Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jay Ryan (IT Chapter Two), Manu Bennett (The Hobbit trilogy) and Simone Kessell (San Andreas)
New Zealand filmmaker Tearepa Kahi writes and directs Muru (the Māori concept for reconciliation and forgiveness), the provocative and moving film inspired by the 2007 New Zealand police raids. Kahi’s film is a beautiful and powerful story of a local Police Sergeant ‘Taffy’ Tāwharau (Cliff Curtis), who must choose between duty to his badge or his people, when the Government invokes anti-terrorism powers to launch an armed raid on Taffy’s remote Urewera community.
BONES OF CROWS
*Contemporary, World Premiere*
Director: Marie Clements
Writer: Marie Clements
Cast: Grace Dove (The Revenant), Michelle Thrush (Pathfinder), Cara Gee (The Expanse)
Unfolding over 100 years, BONES OF CROWS is a feature film told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch Aline Spears as she survives a childhood in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse.
PRISONER’S DAUGHTER
*Gala World Premiere screening at TIFF
Director: Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight)
Writer: Mark Bacci
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Brian Cox, Christopher Convery, Jon Huertas with Ernie Hudson and Tyson Ritter
Granted a compassionate release, a dying convict (Brian Cox) tries to reconnect with his daughter (Kate Beckinsale) and the grandson he’s never known — but his violent past comes back to haunt them all.
