Hong Kong film luminary Johnnie To’s “Two Gun Cohen,” based on an extraordinary true story, is among seven titles bowing in Frontières at TIFF: The Market, a standalone showcase aimed at co-producers, sales agents and buyers prospecting genre projects in Toronto this September.
Frontières, the international co-production market organized by Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival, announced its latest spin-off edition in May and received more than 100 submissions for five slots. “The quality was exceptional,” Fantasia deputy director Tania Morissette told Variety. “That made the selection process difficult and ultimately we had to increase the amount of projects.”
“Two Gun” producer Todd Brown, XYZ’s former head of international acquisitions, is perhaps the best known name in the tight, impressive roster of experienced independent genre players and notable emerging talent. He told Variety the team behind his new project aims to “create a ‘dim sum western’ that fuses the eastern and western elements of the story into something bold and unique.”
Indeed, high concept world-building and twists on genre archetypes are notable hallmarks of the Toronto showcase titles, which cut deep into edgy untold stories and contemporary angst around identity.
