'Edgy' New Vanguard Programme Announced

This year sees the debut of the Vanguard programme, and the selection, while not quite as 'edgy' as TIFF claims, is fairly diverse:

• Macbeth (Geoffrey Wright)
• Chacun Sa Nuit (Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr)
• Jade Warrior (Antti-Jussi Annila)
• Bunny Chow (John Barker)
• Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell)
  
• Renaissance (Christian Volckman)
• Election (Johnnie To)
• Election 2 (Johnnie To)
• Drama/Mex (Gerardo Naranjo)
• 2:37 (Murali K. Thalluri)
• Suburban Mayhem (Paul Goldman)
• Sleeping Dogs Lie (Bob Goldthwait)

Placed side-by-side, these appear to be the missing link between Midnight Madness and the more artsy programmes (e.g., Contemporary World Cinema). Arthouse flicks with a healthy sex and violence quotient for the college crowd. It may sound like I'm dismissing this outright, but the idea isn't automatically a bad one. Just drop the breathless descriptions already: 'raw', 'pulsating', 'fearless' and (especially) 'edgy' are tired marketing terms that no self-respecting person hears without rolling their eyes and sighing. Or worse.

Anyway, the films are an interesting bunch, featuring everything from animation to frank sexuality. Renaissance looks gorgeous, but could devolve into typical sci-fi junk if the ideas fail to match the images. I've read good things about Sleeping Dogs Lie, Shortbus, and the Election films. And a martial arts film that pairs Finnish and Chinese mythology might be interesting, if it can transcend the deja vu raised by the trailers.

Speaking of Election, the rumor is that the two films will be paired together, under one ticket (similar to the presentation of the three Pusher films in 2005). If true, it's a pretty sweet deal considering the average price per ticket.