Still: Whitetail - Nanouk Leopold

Feature film Whitetail by writer and director Nanouk Leopold, is selected for the upcoming edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film will celebrate its world premiere in TIFF’s Centrepiece programme.

Whitetail is produced by Circe Films (NL), Kaap Holland Film (NL), Keeper Pictures (IE) and Savage Film (BE) and is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Production Incentive. 

Nanouk Leopold graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam and from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. Whitetail is her seventh feature. Her debut Îles Flottantes (2001) premiered in IFFR Tiger Competition. Guernsey (2005) was selected for Cannes Quinzaine. Wolfsbergen (2007) and Brownian Movement (2010) both screened at Berlinale’s Forum and at Toronto. It’s All So Quiet (2013) was the opening film of the Berlinale Panorama Special and Cobain (2018) had its world premiere at the Berlinale in the Generation section.

Starring Natasha O'Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, The Wheel of Time) and Aaron McCusker (Bohemian Rapsody, Marcella), Whitetail is a drama about Jen, who has carried the guilt of a tragic accident since her teens. Now, the past catches up, forcing her to find a way forward.

Also part of TIFF’s Centrepiece section is The Blue Trail* by Gabriel Mascaro and minority co-produced by Viking Film. The film premiered in Competition at the Berlinale earlier this year and received the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and Ecumenical Jury Prize.

In TIFF’S Discovery section, two Dutch minority co-productions are celebrating their world premiere: Siyou Tan’s Amoeba*, co-produced by Volya Films, and Belgian/Dutch film Julian** by Cato Kusters and co-produced by Topkapi Films. 

Three Dutch co-productions that premiered in Cannes will be presented in Toronto in September. Alongside Whitetail and The Blue Trail, Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors* is selected for the Centrepiece programme. The film is minority co-produced by Atoms & Void. The Special Presentations section includes FIPRESCI Award-winner The Secret Agent** directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and minority co-produced by Lemming Film. Animated short Water Girl* by Sandra Desmazières and co-produced by Valk Productions is presented in the Short Cuts section.

And finally, the TIFF Doc section features Argentine director Lucrecia Martel’s Landmarks* (original title: Nuestra Tierra), also co-produced by Lemming Film, which is set to world premiere in Venice end of this month.

The 50th Toronto International Film Festival takes place 4-14 September.

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*film supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Production Incentive