Festivals: Toronto Film Festival Features
Friday One Sheet: THE ZONE OF INTEREST
The second significant piece of key art for Jonathan Glazer's The Zone Of Interest leans into a minimalism and iconography, almost as oblique as the film itself. It reminds me of the opening shot of his previous film, Under The...
Friday One Sheet: THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE
Evoking the keenest student's homework that has had notes scribbled in the margin, the recent key art for Ilker Çatak's provocative social thriller, The Teachers’ Lounge, sure has a lot of text on display. It has been a darling on...
Friday One Sheet: WHEN EVIL LURKS
No point beating around the bush on this one, California's Mocean design house goes full on distressed red sky and deep black shadows for slow burn Argentinian possession horror, When Evil Lurks. The tagline, "There is no point in praying" is...
Friday One Sheet: LIMBO
The pull quotes filling the open sky here say as much about the film as they do about Australian Carnival Studio's design ethos for the film's key art. Ivan Sen's striking, monochrome new cold case, outback noir Limbo is a...
Friday One Sheet: RIDDLE OF FIRE
The "Coolest debut from Cannes," according to AnOther Magazine, the poster for American indie cult-film-to-be, Riddle Of Fire, exudes rural middleschool cool. The key art is awash in warm peachy tones and early 70s pre-Amblin 'latch-key kids' vibes. Note the mushrooms and...
Friday One Sheet: HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
Let there be no criticism of clarity on the key art for Daniel Goldhaber's eco-thriller, How To Blow Up A Pipeline. Large fire-engine red stencil letters, overlaid onto black smoke, foreground the title of the film that tells any prospective...
Friday One Sheet: MANTICORE
The manticore is a creature from Persian mythology with the head of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. It is capable of shooting poisonous spines at its enemies and prey. I like this minimalist and old school poster...
Friday One Sheet: CORSAGE
Due to the hubbub of TIFF last week, this one slipped under the radar, so I am circling back around to it now. Marie Kreutzer's fictional account of the 40th birthday of Empress Elisabeth of Austria grapples with notions of...
Friday One Sheet: SUNDOWN
We posted the superb trailer earlier this week, and now this excellent poster for Michel Franco's Sundown. I have said, time and time again, that I am a sucker for orange and pink posters, and this is no exception. I...
Friday One Sheet: SALOUM
Forget the old Godardian nugget that all you need is a Girl and a Gun. How about just a big ass gun? The poster for Senegalese supernatural revenge thriller, Saloum, goes for that Sergio Leone western vibe, with a modern,...
Friday One Sheet: ENCOUNTER
Design house B O N D's key art for Encounter (currently getting buzz on the festival circuit, before heading to cinemas and Amazon Prime in December), continues a trend I highlighted here, about this relatively recent poster trope: The Vortex....
Friday One Sheet: THE MIDDLE MAN
I remain committed to showcasing key art that makes good use of textured wallpaper. In this case, the poster is for a Canadian/Norwegian production from deadpan director Bent Hamer. Hamer's films are difficult to describe, oddball dramas, subtle comedies, ultra-niche...
Friday One Sheet: EMA
After a wee bit of a dry spell, it has been a good week for poster designs released online. There was the "Lone Wolf & Pug" key art from the Fantasia Film Festival, as well as Zhang Yimou's 1930s set...
Friday One Sheet: SHIVA BABY
A good poster finds an iconic image or idea, and removes all the clutter to focus on that. Design company High Council has settled on a mountain of food as a bridal dress, for Emma Seligman's bisexual funeral drama Shiva...
Friday One Sheet: SING ME A SONG
I have written, several times in this space, that many of the best posters are simply a well-designed photo. This is something South Korea designers are known for. A well produced still without the usual clutter, merging of too many...
Friday One Sheet: UNDER THE OPEN SKY
Three things stand out about this key art for Nishikawa Miwa's Post-Yakuza drama, Under The Open Sky: One, the small hints of pink go a long way. The small "cosmos flowers" figure into the actual film, physically and metaphorically (they...
Friday One Sheet: NOMADLAND
Today we have this minimalist poster for Chloé Zhao's hybrid documentary slash adaptation of Jessica Bruder's wonderful book (of investigative journalism) of the same name. Big on white space (and I mean that quite literally), Frances McDormand's name floats well...
Friday One Sheet: ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS
Sweet, sweet pink and negative space. Two things I do have a soft spot for in poster design. This key art for Drake Doremus's elliptical love-triangle drama, Endings, Beginnings, debuted prior to its commercial release, missing this column, last week,...
Friday One Sheet: DISAPPEARANCE AT CLIFTON HILL
Like many things when capturing attention, it is all about the eyes. The key art for this Canadian neo-noir re-imagines the tacky urban theme park slash tourist trap, the eponymous Clifton Hill, that is barnacled to Niagara Falls, as a...
Friday One Sheet: BLOW THE MAN DOWN
I did not manage to catch Blow The Man Down, Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy's salty Maine-set mystery-drama at TIFF this year. Had I seen this key art in advance, I might have tried a wee bit harder. Acting...
