The 2015 Vanguard Mascot Battle Winner!

It's that time again. The time when the most coveted award in all of TIFF is up for the taking.

We are talking about, of course, Vanguard Mascot Battle, in which several people, insects, animals and even inanimate objects compete for the coveted title of Official Vanguard Blog Mascot.

We're coming at you all the way from England to announce the winner. Since the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum from Ben Wheatley's Sightseers (GNP for short) is from England, it only made sense for me to be here so I could pay tribute to GNP before passing the torch/crown/what was it again? to the new winner. Okay, fine, I moved here for realsies, which is why you didn't see me around on the Vanguard Blog much this year. I've been busy planning out my road trip to the Pencil Museum, and other British things. Sad news bears, most definitely, but not even an ocean could keep me away from the Vanguard Mascot Battle!

My steadfast blogging colleagues (blogeagues?) graciously allowed me to do the honours of announcing the final winner and I promise you it isn't a pencil or anything remotely British. Like Paddington Bear, because that would just be silly. I did seriously consider making it a marmalade sandwich, though.

So who's it going to be? That chicken is looking like he could easily take Joe Swanberg and Bruce McDonald's cowboy hat. Have you ever seen a chicken fight? Has anyone in this family ever seen a chicken? They fight mean, man.

Then again, we can't ignore the fact that Joe Swanberg is definitely more flexible than GNP and even had a burger named after him. Basically we all want to be Joe Swanberg, but is that enough to reclaim the title of Vanguard Mascot?

And Bruce McDonald's hat—we don't have to say anything else about that because it's Bruce McDonald's hat. Duh.

Unfortunately, as with most things in life, like Highlander, there can only be one. So without further ado, may we present to you this year's Vanguard Mascot Winner:


*drumroll please*

Mads Mikkelsen's Moustache! 

AKA the Madstache.

Maybe you're all like, "Huh?" But don't deny it: in this picture of the chicken, you found yourself strangely drawn to the Madstache. It's the allure of the Madstache. The essence of the Madstache. The power of the Madstache. That's just what it does.

That and beat out cowboy hats and chickens and Joe Swanberg for coveted titles! Wham, bam, thank-you ma'am. And the children rejoiced.

That's a wrap for this year! We're already eagerly anticipating who—or what—will de-throne this glorious Madstache next year. It's gonna be good. Joe Swanberg, you have a year to grow a mustache that rivals the Madstache. God speed.

MEN & CHICKEN: Anders Thomas Jensen Director Profile

Did you know that Anders Thomas Jensen is one of the filmmaking community's most prolific screenwriters? It's true!

Go check out his IMDB profile. We'll wait.

See what we mean? Since 1996 he's written 50 screenplays. That's like, a LOT of screenplays.

Some of these scripts have been for hugely successful and/or critically acclaimed films: Mifune's Last Song, In China They Eat Dogs, Open Hearts, Stealing Rembrandt, and Brothers. Several of these films have been directed by Danish dynamo Susanne Bier. More recently Jensen wrote A Second Chance (with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Kristian Levring's epic Western The Salvation (with Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Eva Green).

Although Jensen has only directed four of his own screenplays, that doesn't mean that those four movies are any less wonderful.

All right boys, we're gonna swim the HELL out of this lake!

Flickering Lights sets the stage for Jensen's ability to elicit empathy towards the most screwed up, unlikable characters you can imagine. It's also terrifically funny and touching, but not maudlin or cliché.

Mads Mikkelsen's very bald forehead just needs a few minutes to collect itself.

The Green Butchers was Jensen's next directorial effort and like Flickering Lights, itincludes Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ole Thestrup, and Nicolas Bro. And nothing on the menu is vegetarian.

Hannibal Lecter is amused by your cannibal references.

Did you eat the last cookie?

Adam's Apples, again starring Mikkelsen, Thestrup, Bro, and Kaas, is another movie about severely dysfunctional people led by a dysfunctional pastor whose dysfunction is literally the only thing keeping them all from complete mental breakdowns. It's a whole lot funnier than it probably sounds and again, is surprisingly poignant.

The cheese will never stand alone if these three have anything to say about it.

Men & Chicken takes the same Jensen trademarks and amps them up to become even crazier and more hilarious and perhaps most shocking of all, genuinely heartwarming.

Don't miss Men & Chicken's final screening. It's a movie you won't soon forget. Trust us. We know these things.

MEN & CHICKEN Final Screening!
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

MEN & CHICKEN: More Madstache Movies

I brought you some cheese. And a sparkler. And my moustache.

Fearless Vanguarder and Midnight Madness Maven Carol Borden has taken you on a trip through the cinematic context of what we now refer to as "The Madstache." Now, we will guide your journey down Madstache Memory Lane.

Flickering Lights, 2000: You talkin' to me? Or you talkin' to my moustache?

King Arthur, 2004: Bonus Beard & Falcon! Which is the falcon & which is Mads? Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

Adam's Apples, 2005: It's OK. My moustache will protect you. Failing that, you have a gun.

Flame & Citroen, 2008: It still counts as a moustache, Sam Elliott. IT STILL COUNTS.

Coco & Igor , 2009: Why yes, this is a dapper moustache. Did you know I composed The Rites of Spring?

Valhalla Rising, 2009: I may only have one functioning eye and no dialogue, but my moustache game is strong.

Clash of the TItans, 2010: Release the Kraken? My moustache, beard & bonus braid are aghast at the thought.

The Three Musketeers, 2011: I am a proud Spanish peacock. What is haggis?

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas, 2013: That's a mouthful. Just look at the moustache, OK?

The Salvation, 2014: Whatevs. At least I didn't lose an eye this time.

MEN & CHICKEN Final Screening!
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

MEN & CHICKEN's Madstache in Cinematic Context

My Madstache is not a Sadstache.

There's just something about Mads Mikkelsen's mustache in Men & Chicken that inspires me. It's a little bit of 1970s mustache history sitting there on Mads Mikkelsen's face. And that is enough inspiration for me to make a gallery of Mustaches in Film History!

Because I'm providing serious context, you know. Serious. Context. 

C'mon in, the context is fine...

Remember when Christopher Lee was a Dracula? I mean, remember when Christopher Lee was the Dracula? No, not that one. This one with the sweet, sweet 'stache.

That fox back there sure likes it. No, not a lady, a *fox*.

And did you know Klytus from Flash Gordon, was not only a noted singing sensation, but his whole Jason King tv series was his mustache's idea?

Peter Wyngarde's mustache was his manager throughout the 1970s.

And then there's... Well. Sean Connery in Zardoz (1974)

There is so much going on here, yet the 'stache comes through loud and clear.

 And in Neo-Retro Seventies 'Staches, Luke Evans in Vanguard Alumnus Ben Wheatley's High Rise.

(Don't make eye-contact with the mustache. I think it's angry)

And the wonder of Mad Men's Roger Sterling.

"I'm a Dracula, you know. Really."

See the Madstache and even more mustaches at the final screening of MEN & CHICKEN:
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

MEN & CHICKEN: The MEN of Men & Chicken

HURRY! We have to submit our applications to the Official Vanguard Blog Mascot Contest!

With all the chickens (goats, pigs, sheep, and other farm animals) running around in Men & Chicken, you might be wondering about the "Men" part of the title. Here's a look at a few of the actors in the film.

David Dencik (as Gabriel)
Dencik might look familiar to you. Besides being in the original Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Janne Dahlman, he was also in the David Fincher remake in 2011 as an entirely different character, the young version of Gustav Morell. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, he played Toby Esterhase. Then, in 2012, he was in A Royal Affair, starring none other than...

Mads Mikkelsen (as Elias)
Mikkelsen is now best known as the titular character of NBC's Hannibal (now on hiatus; Fannibals never give up), but he also portrayed the real-life character Johann Friedrich Struensee in A Royal Affair. Mikkelsen was Le Chiffre in Casino Royale  as well as starring as "One Eye" in Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising (in both movies his character only had one eye). One of his early acting roles was as Arne in Thomas Anders Jensen's Flickering Lights, which also features...

Nikolaj Lie Kaas (as Gregor)
In Flickering Lights, Kaas portrayed Stefan, one of the members of Torkild's crew, specifically the one who spends most of the movie eating. It's not the only time he appears in a film directed by Thomas Anders Jensen: to date, he's been in all four of the features that Jensen has written and directed. He was also the "Assassin" in Ron Howard's Angels & Demons. In 2012, he played Mathias Borch in The Killing, a TV series (which also included David Dencik as VVS Mand), alongside...

Søren Malling (as Franz)
In The Killing, Malling was Jan Meyer, but he was ALSO in A Royal Affair with both Mikkelsen and Dencik (as Hartmann). He's been in several Danish TV shows, including The Fat and Angry, Borgen, Europamestrene, and The Left Wing Gang, but those outside of Europe might recognize him most as Karlis Liepa from Wallander. In 2012, he also appeared in A Hijacking. Another TV series in which Malling acted in is 1864, which also includes...

Nicolas Bro (as Josef)
Bro portrayed Monrad in 1864, but if you haven't seen that, you will most likely remember him as F from Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac, Vol. 1. He was also Thomas Buch in The Killing (along with Kaas and Dencik) as well as TV series Deroute (with Malling). And, like Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, he has appeared in two films directed by Thomas Anders Jensen: Green Butchers and Adam's Apples.

MEN & CHICKEN Screening Times:
Wed. Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

MEN & CHICKEN Premieres Tonight!

Fans of Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen and Mads Mikkelsen and chickens rejoice! Men & Chicken premieres tonight!

You've seen Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter cooking and eating people on Hannibal, and you might have even seen a poultrygeist version of Jack Nicholson doing strange things in a theme park in The Chickening, but Men & Chicken is a wholly other animal. Possibly a chicken. We can't be sure.

Knowing the unique personas that Mikkelsen has created for Jensen on film, there will be dark, twisted comedy. There will also be at least one giant block of cheese, there will be moustaches, there will be tennis whites, and there will be chickens.

MEN & CHICKEN Screening Times:
Mon. Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 1
Wed. Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

Mads Mikkelsen in Danish Cinema

Although many audiences know Mikkelsen as the titular character on NBC's Hannibal, or the brooding Bond villain Le Chiffre in 2006's Casino Royale, his work in his home country of Denmark is extensive and impressive, with several movies as well as a television series under his belt. 

Coming to Vanguard in the next coming days--Mikkelsen will star as Elias in the Anders Thomas Jensen-directed dark comedy Men & Chicken, a story of two brothers who seek out their father (who is known among elders as "The Wiener of Death.")

Looking for a little more Mikkelsen in your life? (But really, aren't we all?) Then check out some of his other work in Danish cinema: 

Pusher - 1996 

One of the first big roles that Mikkelsen has on his resume is as Tonny the drug dealer in 1996's Pusher. There are three movies in the Pusher series, all depicting the dark under-belly of Copenhagen. Tonny is a low-level criminal, who is deeply affected by drugs and his relationship with his cynical father.

Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) - 2002

Open Hearts follows two couples who are tangled in a web of unfortunate circumstances, immediately following a car crash. Joachim is wounded by the other driver Marie in the crash, making him hospital-bound indefinitely. Marie's husband Niels (Mikkelsen) is a doctor treating Joachim, but in the process falls in love with Joachim's fiancee, and they have an affair. Open Hearts is also a TIFF alumni! 

The Hunt (Jagten) - 2012 

Mikkelsen stars as the lonely teacher Lucas, who is trying to get his life together during a lengthy custody battle for his son. When things are starting to look up finally, his life crumbles when a little girl tells a seriously damaging lie about Lucas, saying that he was sexually inappropriate to her. This film is definitely not for those who are adverse to sad cinema, but it is a captivating story with some of Mikkelsen's best work (especially during the Christmas church scene). 

MEN & CHICKEN screens: 

Mon, Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK

Wed, Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Sun, Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 

Single Tickets Are On Sale!

"I was going to take my chicken to see Evolution. She is a huge Lucile Hadžihalilović fan."

You don't have to be like Sad Mads here, a little gloomy that all the program ticket packages are off-sale now--because single tickets are now on sale! All your movie dreams can come true in single ticket form!

"Jazz hands, everyone! Our movie dreams are coming true!"

Just got to TIFF.net or call: 416.599.TIFF / 1.888.599.8433 (toll-free)
Before September 9, call between: 9am and 7pm
From September 10 till September 20 call to order tickets between 7am and 7pm

You can also buy tickets in person at a Festival Box Office:

Festival Box Office & TIFF Members Box Office
August 25 – September 9: 9am – 7pm
September 10–20: 7am – 7pm
225 King Street West
Metro Centre
(Entrance off of Duncan Street)

The TIFF Members Box Office is located on the lower level.

Festival Patrons Circle Box Office
August 27 – September 9: 9am – 7pm
September 10–20: 7am – 7pm

TIFF Bell Lightbox
Steve & Rashmi Gupta Box Office
Reitman Square, 350 King Street West

Or at a venue box office:
Venue box offices open 1 hour before the first screening of the day. Box offices close 30 minutes after the start of the final screening of the day.

For more info, click through to TIFF! 

MEN & CHICKEN First Look: Poster and Trailer

Writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen returns with his dark comedy Men & Chicken, which is coming to Vanguard this September. The film follows two brothers who discover unsettling secrets about their family by seeking out their father, who is known among elders as "The Wiener of Death."

Do we have your attention yet?

Check out the trailer, complete with chickens, laugh-out-loud quick dialogue and Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen.

MEN & CHICKEN screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Wed, Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun, Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK

EVOLUTION and MEN & CHICKEN Among Indiewire's "Hidden Gems"

Indiewire plumbs Vanguard's depths

Indiewire's Eric Kohn includes TWO Vanguard films in his "7 Hidden Gems from the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival."  He recommends Evolution, directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović, writer/director of Innocence (2004) and screenwriter of Enter the Void (2009):

Evolution...focuses on the experiences of a 10-year-old boy trapped in a remote village where a hospital subjects him and others to cryptic experiments. The mystery behind his situation sits at the center of the film, but Bailey suggested viewers won't get any easy answers. "It's a really odd, creepy, weird, Lynchian thing," he said, comparing aspects of the production to Under the Skin.

And Kohn, like the rest of us, is unable to resist the lure of Mads Mikkelsen's Madstache in Anders Thomas Jensen's Men & Chicken.

The delightfully-titled Men & Chicken finds him re-teaming with Mads Mikkelsen as one half of a sibling duo who come together for their father's funeral only to learn that he wasn't their father at all. The ensuing comedy follows the troubled men on a journey to an abandoned island in the hopes of meeting their true parent. It's there that their family problems get a whole lot weirder.

Who can resist the fascination of the Madstache? No one. No one can.

EVOLUTION Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 14, 9:30pm at RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 16, 4:30pm at BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun., Sept. 20,  8:30pm at TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

MEN & CHICKEN Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 14, 9:00pm at SCOTIABANK THEATRE
Wed., Sept. 16, 10:00pm at BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun., Sept. 20, 3:30pm at SCOTIABANK THEATRE