Tegan and Sara catfish doc, Steven Soderbergh thriller among TIFF Centrepiece lineup

Calgary pop duo Tegan and Sara are the subject of 'Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara,' one of the titles joining the lineup at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-TIFF

A documentary about the catfishing scam that lured in fans of Calgary pop pair Tegan and Sara is heading to the Toronto International Film Festival.

"Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara" is among 43 feature films spanning more than 40 countries in TIFF's Centrepiece program, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema.

Other big titles include Steven Soderbergh's "Presence," a supernatural chiller seen from the perspective of a ghost, which stars Lucy Liu and Julia Fox.

"Pimpinero: Blood and Oil" is a thriller about gasoline smugglers on the Colombia and Venezuela border that stars Juanes, the Colombian singer and sometimes Nelly Furtado collaborator.

Winnipeg's Matthew Rankin returns to TIFF with his latest "Universal Language," an offbeat tribute to Iranian Cinema set in his hometown. It's Rankin's return to the festival after his 2019 film "The Twentieth Century" won the Canadian first feature award.

Other Canadian titles include Johnny Ma's "The Mother and the Bear," Melanie Oates' "Sweet Angel Baby" and Kazik Radwanski's rom-com "Matt and Mara" which stars "BlackBerry" creator Matt Johnson.

TIFF runs from Sept. 5 to 15.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 6, 2024.