With Varda by Agnes, the “Queen of French Cinema” returns to TIFF with a new documentary following her Academy Award nominated sensation Faces Places.

Agnes Varda’s larger than life presence will grace TIFF no more, but her final film is a fitting closure for her loyal audiences, and a portal for newcomers to her prodigious career.

An unpredictable documentary from a fascinating storyteller, Varda by Agnès sheds light on her experience as a director, bringing a personal insight to what she calls “cine-writing”.

Opens Toronto & Vancouver on Friday, September 6, 2019 - Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema & Vancity

Becoming Nobody is the quintessential portal to Ram Dass’ life and teachings:  whether as Dr. Richard Alpert, the eminent Harvard psychologist, or as Ram Dass who serves as a bridge between Eastern and Western philosophies, he has defined a generation of inner explorers and seekers of truth and wisdom. Through his turns as scion of an eminent Jewish family from Boston, rock-star Harvard psychologist, counter-culture rascally adventurer, Eastern holy man, stroke survivor and compassionate caregiver, Ram Dass has worn many hats on his journey, the narrative of which is revealed in this film.

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Carmine Street Guitars, the surprise-hit documentary by award-winning Toronto-based filmmaker Ron Mann premieres June 25th on iTunes (Canada). Exclusive to iTunes are 30 minutes of additional bonus performances by musicians Steve Gunn, Bill Kirchen, Mary Halvorson, Julie Byrne, Popa Chubby, Willie Nile, The Sadies and Vieux Farka Touré.

Iconic and influential, Paris Is Burning returns to theatres just in time for Pride with a new restoration supervised by director Jennie Livingston, beginning Monday, June 17 at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox and cinemas across Canada!

ECHO IN THE CANYON
The Birth of the California Sound
A film by Andrew Slater

Featuring:  Jakob Dylan, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, David Crosbly, Roger McGuinn, Fiona Apple, Beck, Regina Spektor, Graham Nash, Cat Power, Lou Adler, John Sebastian, Jackson Browne, Michelle Phillips, Nora Jones, Jade Castrinos

Opens Friday, June 7, 2019 in Toronto at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Films We Like is happy to announce the Canadian premiere and theatrical release of SIR.

Written and Directed by Rohena Gera of WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT and selected by Critics week at Cannes, the Indian drama SIR stars: Tillotama Shome (A DEATH IN THE GUNJ) & Vivek Gomber (COURT).

Films We Like presents THE INVISIBLESA film by Claus Räflewith MAX MAUFF, ALICE DWYER, RUBY O. FEE, AARON ALTARAS

Opens FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019 - TORONTO, (Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema), HAMILTON (Playhouse Cinema), OTTAWA (Mayfair Cinema)

OPENS IN THEATRES ON FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

RON MANN’S latest feature documentary CARMINE STREET GUITARS is an intimate portrait of the fabled Greenwich Village guitar shop. There, custom guitar maker RICK KELLY and his young apprentice CINDY HULEJ build handcrafted guitars out of salvaged wood from historic New York buildings. Nothing looks or sounds quite like a Rick Kelly guitar, which is the reason they are embraced by the likes of BOB DYLAN, LOU REED, PATTI SMITH, just to name a few.

THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING
A film by Nathaniel Kahn
An art world odyssey

Opens Friday, November 23, 2018 in Toronto at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema

“…in spite of what the market may say, there actually is very little intrinsic connection between value and price” – Nathaniel Kahn, Director

After sold out screenings and a distinct buzz at TIFF, director Christian Petzold’s follow-up to ‘Phoenix’ opens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, October 12. Boldly based on Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel of the same name Transit blurs time to create a puzzle piece of mistaken identities, a meditation on the spectre of facism and of refugees unstuck from history.

Opens Friday, October 12, Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema, Toronto & Cineplex Odeon Forum Cinemas, Montreal

“Studio 54’s most celebrated characteristics-celebrities, sex, drugs, disco-are smoke screens obscuring the story of its origins, its overwhelming success, and ultimate collapse. STUDIO 54 seeks to set the record straight, focusing on the human story, often distinct from mythic tales that have grown up around a once sacred nightspot occupying an abandoned theater on West 54th Street”

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Qiao is in love with Bin, a local mobster. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. Qiao gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off.

3 Faces is the fourth film made under the filmmaking ban imposed on Panahi by the Iranian government, after This Is Not a Film, Closed Curtain, and Taxi.

Christian Petzold returns to TIFF with this follow-up to ‘Phoenix’ boldly based on Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel of the same name.  Transit blurs time to create a puzzle piece of mistaken identities, a meditation on the specter of facism and of refugees unstuck from history.

RON MANN’S latest feature documentary CARMINE STREET GUITARS is an intimate portrait of the fabled Greenwich Village guitar shop. There, custom guitar maker RICK KELLY and his young apprentice CINDY HULEJ build handcrafted guitars out of salvaged wood from historic New York buildings. Nothing looks or sounds quite like a Rick Kelly guitar, which is the reason they are embraced by the likes of BOB DYLAN, LOU REED, PATTI SMITH, just to name a few.

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest male—and female—stars. In the 1940s and ‘50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities—straight and gay–for decades.

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Belle de Jour tells the story of Séverine, a newlywed who is fearful towards intimacy with her husband. Séverine discovers that she has a friend who works at an upper class brothel. This leaves Séverine intrigued, and goes to see for herself what the brothel is like. There, she meets the owner Madame Anais, who hires Séverine immediately although she can only work in the afternoon, giving her the alter ego of Belle de Jour.

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Director Vivian Qu draws from a previous encounter she had with a young girl whose parents were migrant workers. The girl had no friends and was clingy to Qu and her team, not wanting to see them go.This left Qu wondering if the young girl was okay. When creating the film, Qu often questioned the role of the women in society, notably “what kind of woman will I become?” inspiring answers within other female characters within the movie.

Sara Driver explores the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how New York City, its people, and tectonically shifting arts culture of the late 1970s and '80s shaped his vision. Conveying Basquiat's personal magnetism, eccentricity and non-stop creativity without romanticizing him, the doc serves as another chapter in the ongoing effort to rescue Basquiat from his own hype.

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In Ingrid Veninger’s Porcupine Lake, volatile desires and chaotic, messy emotional lives takes us into a world of anxious parenthood, deep secrets, and first love. Opens in Toronto - February 23 - Carlton Cinema.  

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