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Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Cannes coverage. The Surfer opens in theaters on May 2.

In The Surfer, an exploitation film set to pressure-cook, a mild-mannered man is pitted against a group who even Andrew Tate might find a touch extreme. It’s set in South Australia on fictional Luna Bay, the kind of place where if the heat doesn’t get you, something else probably will. The water shines turquoise-blue but the beaches look like scorched earth. Into this furnace arrives an unnamed man (Nicolas Cage) hoping for nothing more than to view a cliffside property and catch a wave, but the locals have other ideas: “Don’t live here, don’t surf here,” one says, offering about as much hospitality as a switchblade.

The director of this entertaining potboiler is Lorcan Finnegan, an Irish filmmaker who seems acutely aware of the hand he’s...

There’s no point in hiring Nicolas Cage if you’re not going to let him rip with a wackadoodle, Ott performance, and he duly delivers in the sly psychological thriller The Surfer. Calibrating his character’s descent into mental and physical disarray so that it happens by evenly distributed degrees, Cage is in only moderately demented form overall here. That suits director Lorcan Finnegan (Without Name, Vivarium) and screenwriter Thomas Martin’s ambitions to call back to and yet also spoof vintage Australian New Wave films like Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout (1971), dreamtime stories about alienated outsiders.

Toxic masculinity, the Big Bad de nos jours, also seems to be on their mind although the performances and cinematic quirks (zooms, jump cuts, all that jazz) are so hammy and gestural there’s nothing subtle about the critique. But that’s what makes it fun.

Unfolding largely on a beach and its...

The mystical and the industrial cross paths in this haunting debut from India, screening at this year’s Locarno Film Festival in the event’s parallel competition for first and second movies. It begins in an almost documentary style, showing the harsh, eerie beauty of Jharia, a once-proud mining community that’s now an apocalyptic ruin of a city, where toxic waste is dumped 24/7 and noxious fires burn just as endlessly. Midway through, however, Lubdhak Chatterjee’s film begins to change direction, as its passive hero becomes attuned to the natural mysteries lurking in the adjacent woods.

The set-up is a clear-cut juxtaposition of ancient and modern, as sound artist Shiva (Sagnik Mukherjee) arrives in Jharia with a boom mic and recording apparatus to find material for use in an art installation back home in Kolkata. At first these are simply ambient sounds, like kids playing football or, more ominously,...

Skulking foxes, future-telling CCTV, a psychiatric hospital and a pair of suspiciously pale vintners all feature in this assortment of treats and duds

This pick and mix of short horror films by different directors is a decidedly mixed bag, with a couple of flavoursome, sugar-rush-inducing treats – but many more stale, unchewable duds. The framing device, directed by Carlos Goitia, has DJ Candy on the night shift, taking calls from listeners recounting their own scary stories. In between these mini chapters, resourceful Candy copes with a creepy caller named Jack who harbours a grudge against her for an earlier slight. The ending twist comes with a dull thud.

Among the short films, the best is far and away Foxes, an eerie modern fairytale about a lonely photographer (Marie Ruane) living on a seemingly entirely empty housing estate full of ticky tacky identical houses in Ireland. She becomes obsessed with a skulk...

Global Digital Releasing, the film distribution company that launched in 2017 with the hit Welsh language drama “The Passing,” is changing lanes to focus primarily on documentaries and live television events, TheWrap can report exclusively.

“To be a boutique distributor in today’s overwhelmingly competitive content game has made it even more vital that we consistently evaluate the performance trends of our films. Undoubtedly, we’ve seen a steady uptick in both engagement and revenue streams of our documentaries, well above and beyond our narrative films,” Global Digital Releasing president Joe Dain said in a statement.

“We believe this change in direction will not only benefit documentary filmmakers by giving them a dedicated home in the indie space, but this niche will also help differentiate our label from the competition and allow us to excel in the sector.”

In addition to 3-time BAFTA winner “Passing,” Global Digital Releasing’s roster of...

Rlje Films has acquired “Nocebo,” a thriller starring Eva Green and Mark Strong.

The film will open in theaters on Nov. 4 and on-demand and digitally on Nov. 22. Shudder will release the film in 2023. Both Rlje and Shudder are business units of AMC Networks Shudder focuses on streaming movies in the horror, thriller and supernatural genres.

“Nocebo” centers on a fashion designer (Green), who suffers from a mysterious illness that confounds her doctors and frustrates her husband (Strong). Help arrives in the form of a Filipino nanny (Chai Fonacier) who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.

The movie was directed by Lorcan Finnegan (“Vivarium”) and written by Garret Shanley (“Without Name”). It also stars Billie Gadsdon.

“We’re huge fans of Lorcan’s previous work and are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with him on ‘Nocebo,’” said Mark Ward, chief acquisitions pfficer of Rlje Films. “With...

The first wave of titles for this year's edition of The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival have been announced and is filled with horror movie premieres, special events, and a Lucio Fulci retrospective you won't want to miss!

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival announces today the first wave of titles for their explosive 2022 edition, presented by Shudder, running October 13th to the 20th with screenings held at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg and Williamsburg Cinemas. Following last year’s return to theaters, Bhff is thrilled to present its most robust slate to date.

The festival will open with the Eva Green starring Nocebo, the latest psychological thriller from celebrated Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan, best known for his 2019 Cannes selection Vivarium, starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg, but better known to Bhff audiences for his feature debut Without Name, which swept the festival awards in 2016 taking Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival announced today an impressive first wave of titles for their explosive 2022 edition running from October 13th to the 20th with screenings held at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg and Williamsburg Cinemas. Following last year’s return to theaters, BHFFs presents its most robust slate to date.

From the press release:

“The festival will open with the Eva Green starring Nocebo, the latest psychological thriller from celebrated Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan, best known for his 2019 Cannes selection Vivarium, starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg, but better known to Bhff audiences for his feature debut Without Name, which swept the festival awards in 2016 taking Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

“Wave one includes the world premieres of four exciting new films: the feature directorial debut from Laurence Vannicelli (co-writer of the hit 2021 Bhff horror comedy Porno), Mother, May I?, starring Dinner In America’s Kyle Gallner...

The seventh annual Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is coming soon, and it runs from October 13-20 with screenings held at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg and Williamsburg Cinemas. The festival has announced its first wave of titles for 2022, and we've got the complete lineup presented for the first time by your favorite home for horror, Shudder.

Opening the festival is Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan's film "Nocebo" starring Eva Green, his highly anticipated follow-up after the Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg film "Vivarium." Finnegan is a Bhff alumni after his debut feature "Without Name" swept the 2016 festival, nabbing the awards for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Bhff will be the home of the world premieres for four awesome new horror films including the Kyle Gallner starring "Mother, May I?," the directorial debut of Laurence Vannicelli known for co-writing the horror comedy "Porno." Christopher Denham took time out of...

Terror Films and Global Digital Releasing are continuing to move films to the Roku Digital platform. Recently, the fine folks at Roku picked twenty-one horror, thriller and mystery titles to show on this platform. The films range from the indie thriller Hank Boyd is Dead (2015) to the found footage feature Hell House LLC (2015). From Global Digital Releasing the titles include: the psychedelic Without Name (2016), the diabolical The Passing (2015) and the comedic Paperback (2015). A full overview of all films moving to Roku are available here President of Terror Films and Global Digital Releasing has spoken of the release. He says of the partnership with Roku: "“up until now we had only been placing films on various Roku sub-channels. However, being on the main Roku Channel itself will afford our films the opportunity to find a wider audience." Roku continues to bring a wider range of films to their unique Digital platform,...

There's no rules, no limits, to the kind of stories that can be told in the sci-fi genre. They can be big or small, space operas or intimate dramas or even noir thrillers, commenting on and critiquing society, politics, and culture through smart storytelling. Vivarium is another terrific indie sci-fi feature, a twisted thriller set in only one location. This premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Critics' Week sidebar, and was barely finished just a week before they brought it here. It's also yet another new sci-fi film borrowing from "Black Mirror" and "Twilight Zone" as a contained concept that doesn't provide all the answers, but it's clever and captivating enough to keep us wondering what's next. I dug this film. It's my kind of twisted, minimal sci-fi. Vivarium is directed by Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan, making his second feature film after Without Name, with a background in graphic design.

Exclusive: Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg are set to star in Vivarium, a sci-fi thriller from Without Name helmer Lorcan Finnegan. Xyz Films is exec producing and handling world sales which kick off in Cannes next week. Production starts in Ireland in July.

Poots will play a young woman who, along with her fiancé (Eisenberg), is in search of the perfect starter home. After following a mysterious real estate agent to a new housing development, the couple becomes trapped in a maze of identical houses and forced to raise an otherworldly child.

Poots recently starred in Jamie Dagg’s Sweet Virginia and Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room. She’ll next be seen in The Art of Self-Defense which also stars Eisenberg and Alessandro Nivola. She’s repped by CAA, Troika, and Morris Yorn.

Oscar nominee Eisenberg will next star in Resistance, which shoots later this year. He’s also got...

Altitude Film Sales has acquired international sales rights to “Calm With Horses.” The film is based on a Colin Barrett novella from the collection of short stories “Young Skins,” and will star Cosmo Jarvis (“Lady Macbeth”), Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”), and Niamh Algar (“Without Name”).

Nick Rowland will helm the picture, which is set to shoot in Ireland. It is his feature directorial debut following “Slap,” his BAFTA and Bifa-nominated short film. Writer Joe Murtagh has adapted the screenplay having collaborated with Rowland since they studied together at the Nfts.

The film is set in rural Ireland and follows an ex-boxer who has become an enforcer for a crime family. He is also trying to be a father to his autistic five-year-old son. His life reaches a turning point when he is asked to kill for the first time.

Michael Fassbender, Conor McCaughan, and Daniel Emmerson’s Dmc Film developed the...

Other recipients include Lenny Abrahamson, Tomm Moore and Jim Sheridan.

A forthcoming film from BAFTA winner Neasa Hardiman and upcoming projects from Oscar nominees Lenny Abrahamson, Tomm Moore and Jim Sheridan are among those being supported by the Irish Film Board in its latest round of funding decisions.

Levels of production funding have significantly increased this quarter, indicating that the Irish film industry is gearing up for a buoyant production period.

Hardiman, a co-bafta winner this year for her work on Happy Valley, has written and will direct Sea Fever, described as “a very smart monster movie” by production company Fantastic Films.

€700,000 in Ifb production funding was awarded to the film, which centres on a female protagonist, a gifted marine biology student who, along with her crew, encounter a large and dangerous mysterious sea creature. Epic is handling international sales.

Fantastic Films were also awarded €750,000 in production funding for Vivarium, a sci-fi...

Kirsten Howard Jul 13, 2017

Stephen Graham is set to star in The Virtues, a new 4-part drama from Shane Meadows....

It's been announced that celebrated director Shane Meadows will once again return to the small screen with a new drama series for Channel 4 called The Virtues.

See related Doctor Who: new Doctor is announced on Sunday Doctor Who: Moffat on budget issues, advice for Chibnall

Co-written with Jack Thorne, who Meadows has previously collaborated with on several This Is England projects, The Virtues is currently eyeing a 2019 air date, and Stephen Graham will be back in the Meadows fold as the star of this one.

Here's a synopsis from Channel 4:

"BAFTA-nominated Stephen Graham (This Is England, ’86, ’88, ’90, Boardwalk Empire, Taboo) stars as Joseph, a moral yet troubled man who’s lost everything he ever held dear and who finds himself compelled to travel to Ireland to confront...

More details are coming in for Lorcan Finnegan's Without Name. Releasing today, the film's official trailer and film poster are hosted here. Described as a "delirious time lost in the woods (Kurland, Bloody Disgusting)," the film's latest promotional material bends the mind. In the story, several surveyors are working in a local, Irish wood. But, something supernatural this way creeps. The trailer for Without Name is equally strange and distorted. A preview of the film's Video-on-demand launch is hosted here. In the trailer, Eric (Alan McKenna) narrates the clip. He talks of a place, that he cannot describe. He calls it a "door" and a "frequency," but these words do not describe this place accurately. Then, events take a trip into madness. This award winning film will show on most Video-on-demand platforms, today. Without Name has already won “Best Feature,” “Best Director (Lorcan Finnegan),” “Best Editor (Tony Cranstoun)” and...

Something is lurking in the woods of Ireland. In Lorcan Finnegan's Without Name, three surveyors encounter an indescribable entity. Two new clips have been released for the film, via Global Digital Releasing. The very strange "The Light in Here is Weird" clip is hosted here. And, Without Name centrally stars: Alan Mckenna (ABCs of Death 2), Niamh Algar and James Browne. Garret Shanley wrote the script. To be released through Video-on-demand this June 20th, a preview of the film's North American launch is hosted here. The clip "The Light in Here is Weird" is a bit surreal. The film's early trailer - even more so. The latest clip shows surveyor Olivia (Niamh Algar) looking for Eric (Alan McKenna). The music is haunting and the audio is distorted. The lighting dampens and brightens, creating an almost hallucinogenic quality. What is causing the distortion? Without Name has shown at a number of film festivals.

You never know what will be waiting for you in the woods... In today's Horror Highlights, we have two clips from the upcoming thriller Without Name, as well as details on the Nitehawk Shorts Festival Selects program, Frontières returning to the Fantasia International Film Festival, and the official trailer for The Passing.

Without Name Clips: Press Release: "Los Angeles, California (June 16, 2017) - Global Digital Releasing has set a distribution date for the award winning dramatic thriller Without Name. The North American release will be across multiple digital and VOD platforms, beginning Tuesday, June 20.

The story follows land surveyor Eric (Alan McKenna). He travels to a remote, unnamed Irish woodland to assess its suitability for a new development project. However, the assignment it is not as simple as it could be. Intrigued by the woods’ foreboding mysticism, Eric finds himself drawn into a dangerous game that could lead to him becoming...

We're big fans of Irish director Lorcan Finnegan in these parts and with his debut feature Without Name - an exercise in hypnotic, atmospheric dread - coming up on theatrical release in its native land the full trailer has arrived to whet the appetite. Without Name centers around land surveyor Eric (Alan McKenna) who travels to a remote and unnamed Irish woodland, to assess its suitability for a new development project. Here, he sets up temporary residence, in old unused house, right in the midst of the forest. Eric learns about the man who once occupied the house and begins to discover that all is not what it would appear to be in the woods. The idyllic backdrop almost seems to speak back to him...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Lorcan Finnegan’s debut suffers from some predictable plotting, but the eye-popping flair of its spectral sylvan visions is quite something to behold

So trippy it makes Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England look like an afternoon at the tax office, Dublin director Lorcan Finnegan’s debut sprig of sylvan-psych makes up for its occasional heavy tread with outstanding photography. Alan McKenna is a middle-aged surveyor with a curdling home life, sent out to chart ancient woodlands in preparation for development. But his surveyor’s pendulum is acting up, he witnesses strange figures in the morning mists, and, when his assistant-cum-lover (Niamh Algar) arrives, it’s clear his spiritual compass is erring, too.

A clear subscriber to the school of the atmospheric slow build over the jump-shock, it’s a shame Finnegan is too eager to will-o-the-wisp us down predictable paths – as he does with some unsubtle plotting, and...

The latest horror flick filled with immense badassery to be added to Shudder's library is the fifth sequel in the Phantasm franchise, Phantasm: Ravager. Also in today's Highlights: details on the Clive Barker Reel Fear Contest, Portland International Film Festival's After Dark program, release details for Slasher.com and The Eyes, a new poster for Atomica, and production news and photos for A Haunting at Silver Falls II.

Phantasm: Ravager Comes to Shudder: "Joining Shudder is Phantasm: Ravager- the final installment of the long-running Phantasm series.

In addition to Phantasm: Ravager, streaming exclusively on Shudder is the remaster of Don Coscarelli’s 1979 classic Phantasm, as well as its sequels Phantasm III and Phantasm IV.

Phantasm was recently restored by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Coscarelli, and given both a new 4K remaster and a 5.1 surround sound mix, which will be the version presented exclusively on Shudder."

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Clive Barker Reel...

Exclusive: Deals include for The Fool, The Major, Without Name and Body Electric [pictured].

Early in the market, German world sales outfit M-Appeal has announced a raft of sales on its current slate.

Russian auteur Yuri Bykov’s two features The Fool and The Major have gone to Turkey (Filmarti).

Israeli title Barash has gone to France’s Optimale Distribution, which is planning a theatrical release in the summer.

Another M-Appeal title, Lorcan Finnegan’s Without Name by Lorcan Finnegan has sold to Element Pictures for the UK & Ireland.

Body Electric by Marcelo Caetano, a world premiere at Iffr last month, has gone to Salzgeber (Germany)

4 Days In France by Jérôme Reybaud has been acquired by Matchbox Films for the UK & Ireland and to Es Film Buro Producciones for Spain.

M-Appeal has also confirmed that Blanka by Kokhi Hasei has sold to Mooov in Benelux.

Lorcan Finnegan’s ‘Without Name’ marks an incredibly strong, unconventional start for the ambitious horror filmmaker There’s something fundamentally scary about the woods. It’s a sub-genre of horror that filmmakers have been continuing to explore for decades because it’s something that’s forever relevant. It’s frightening to be lost in some unfamiliar territory, and even more so […]...

Tricia Lee's Blood Hunters kicks off today's Horror Highlights with news that the film will have three screenings this month in North America, just in time for the most glorious of holidays, Halloween! Also: a recap / photos for Trash Fire's Screamfest screening in Los Angeles, a trailer / poster for The Terrible Two, and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival's list of awards.

Blood Hunters North American October Premiere: Press Release: "The trees are changing color and the weather is starting to cool, but Halloween is right around the corner. And Blood Hunters is having its North American premiere in the month of October. With three screenings scheduled this month, the film is fresh off a successful and well-received world premiere at Horror Channel Frightfest in London.

Directed by Tricia Lee and starring Lara Gilchrist, Benjamin Arthur, Torri Higginson, Julian Richings, Mark Taylor, and Peter Blankenstein, the film debuted in...

Like a Halloween moon that glistens deviously once a year, the first-ever Brooklyn Horror Film Festival came, saw and conquered New York City this past weekend. It was a heartwarming start for a little festival that blew up bigger than founder Justin Timms could have ever imagined, after a whopping 18 out of 22 screenings/events played to sold-out crowds. Not only did Erlingur Thoroddsen’s closing-night World Premiere of Child Eater sell out its first screening at Bushwick’s Syndicated Bar + Theater + Kitchen, but a late-night screening had to be scheduled based solely on demand (that too sold out). Not a bad start for some horror lovers who had nothing but a dream and the determination to succeed.

Trends in horror have recently embraced more arthouse, indie genre films, and this year’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival was a perfect example of current standards. Timms’ opening night film, Mattie Do’s...

Back in 2012, I covered a low-key horror festival in New York City that programmed a short titled Foxes. I can’t tell you what feature it played before, mainly because the slate of shorts Foxes was part of outshined the feature presentation without contest. Why am I telling you this? Because Foxes was Lorcan Finnegan’s first cinematic effort, and as my first assumption of his talents surmised, Without Name captures all the psychological tension that Finnegan once showcased in a tighter format. It’s a bit of hallucinogenic woodland mayhem – somewhere along the lines of a diet The Hallow – representing a solid feature debut for Mr. Finnegan, even if a little more depth is desired.

Alan McKenna stars as Eric, a land surveyor hired for some secretive private contract. His employer won’t reveal exactly why he was chosen, but what’s the point in questioning a paycheck? Eric begins his duties alone,...

For someone afraid of loneliness, Eric (Alan McKenna) sure loves putting himself in positions that can’t help isolating him from the world. A land surveyor who specializes in remote areas and works by himself unless apprentice-of-sorts Olivia (Niamh Algar) can tear herself away from her thesis to help, his long hours and extramarital affair (also when Olivia can put down her studies) risk destroying a marriage already on the rocks. He must work to keep his family together and therefore alienate them in the process. He needs human interaction while doing so and therefore starts an affair that could very well leave him without wife and mistress. Eric is trapped in a never-ending existential crisis, saddened by nature’s destruction via cement and yet on the destroyers’ frontline fighting.

Director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Garret Shanley‘s feature debut Without Name opens as Eric finishes one job and begins another.

Remote forests contain some of the world’s dark secrets, at least according to filmmakers who routinely set movies in dense thickets to capitalize on their creepiness. Lorcan Finnegan’s debut feature “Without Name” follows Eric (Alan McKenna), a land surveyor in the throes of a midlife crisis, who is tasked by a mysterious client to go on a prolonged survey excursion in the Irish woodlands. Soon, Eric’s comfortably predictable city life is replaced by the chaos of nature. By the time his research assistant, Olivia (Niamh Algar), arrives at the remote cottage where he is staying, Eric has become disturbed by the woodlands, and wonders if unnameable fears will take permanent root in his head. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’

The film was developed...

Our exclusive teaser for Without Name is very much a tease, suggesting a rich, ethereal and mysterious environment without giving away plot details. For that, we have this: Synopsis: Land surveyor Eric, alienated from urban existence and those who love him, travels to a remote and unnamed Irish woodland to assess its suitability for a dubious development project. Intangible elements are at play in this ethereal environment. The place seems to be imbued by an intelligence of sorts. A silhouette flits between trees. The place fascinates the fragmenting Eric as much as it disturbs him. Following in the psychonautic footsteps of the mysterious Devoy, Eric attempts to communicate with his surroundings, but risks becoming a prisoner of a place Without Name. Alan McKenna, Niamh Algar...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

A selection of films from the 2016 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with films by Jim Jarmusch, Maren Ade, Tom Ford, Paul Verhoeven, Damien Chazelle, and many more.Opening NIGHTThe Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua)GALASDeepwater HorizonArrival (Denis Villeneuve)Deepwater Horizon (Peter Berg)The Headhunter's Calling (Mark Williams)The Journey Is the Destination (Bronwen Hughes)Jt + The Tennessee Kids (Jonathan Demme)Lbj (Rob Reiner)Lion (Garth Davis)Loving (Jeff Nichols)A Monster Calls (J.A. Bayona)Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski)Queen of Katwe (Mira Nair)The Rolling Stones of Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (Paul Dugdale)The Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan)Snowden (Oliver Stone)Strange Weather (Katherine Dieckmann)Their Finest (Lone Scherfig)A United Kingdom (Amma Astante)Special PRESENTATIONSLa La LandThe Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon)All I See Is You (Marc Forster)American Honey (Andrea Arnold)American Pastoral (Ewan McGregor)Asura: The City of...

One month out from festival season getting underway in North America, organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival have detailed the offerings to be featured in both the Midnight Madness and documentary programs.

Kicking things off on September 8 is Antoine Fuqua’s modern redo of The Magnificent Seven, flanked by such Oscar favorites as Nate Parker’s Sundance hit The Birth of a Nation and Manchester By the Sea.

From there, Deadline has confirmed that the Midnight Madness section will play host to Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, welcoming the filmmaker back to Tiff following successful turns with High-Rise and A Field in England. There’s also room for Colm McCarthy’s apocalyptic drama The Girl With All The Gifts, Paul Schrader’s mob thriller Dog Eat Dog (see today’s all-new trailer), the stealth release of Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch sequel, along with the world premiere of André Øvredal...

The Toronto International Film Festival has nearly completed its slate announcement this year — expect a few stragglers to be announced in the coming days, but this is about the size of it — rounding out its lineup with today’s announcement of its Docs, Midnight Madness, Vanguard and Tiff Cinematheque picks. And what a group this is, including plenty of returning favorites and some very exciting new names.

Tiff’s Docs section features a collection of works from award-winning directors including Steve James, Raoul Peck, Errol Morris and Werner Herzog. Leonardo DiCaprio even pops up for a “rousing call to action on climate change” in “The Turning Point,” made in collaboration with Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens and already picked up by National Geographic.

Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’

The beloved Midnight Madness section offers...

John O'Hagan.

Irish directors John O.Hagan and Lorcan Finnegan have joined Sydney production company Filmgraphics.

Both directors hail from Dublin and have made spots for clients such as Mercedes, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Budweiser, Heineken, Renault and Lucozade.

Finnegan has worked for production company Zeppotron as a motion designer, editor and later as a director. Zeppotron, a part of Endemol, was co-founded by Charlie Brooker, of Black Mirror fame.

Finnegan's latest short, Foxes, premiered at SXSW and won an Ifta for Best Short Film, as well as screening at Tribeca..

He has finished post on his first feature film Without Name (a title that's sure to create word-of-mouth problems) and is currently working on sci-fi feature Vivarium with Film4 and the Ifb.

O.Hagan attended Brown University and New York University, and began directing commercials through Hungry Man New York..

His debut spot, Arctic Ground Squirrel for Dial-a-Mattress, earned him a...