This morning, TIFF announced The Cronenberg Project, an expansive “project,” for lack of a better term, to celebrate the work and influence of English Canada’s (arguably) most well known and (also arguably) best filmmaker.
The main event of the “project” is an exhibition, titled David Cronenberg: Evolution, of props and memorabilia from Cronenberg’s films that will be on display from November to December at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. At the press conference this morning, we got to look at the original Nova Clark typewriter-cum-beetle from Cronenberg’s adaptation of Naked Lunch, which actually looked cute in person, like it might not be the worst thing your typewriter could transform into while under the influence of various mind-altering substances.
But the “project” also includes Cronenberg-inspired commissions from six artists, entitled Transformations and currently being exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, another art exhibition to be displayed at MOCCA title Through the Eye and curated by Cronenberg himself, and a multi-media production created in conjunction with the CFC Media Lab called Body/Mind/Change in which Cronenberg, noted thespian of Jason X, tries his hand at acting again. Cronenberg was in a chipper mood at the conference today, bringing out a prop from the production, a colour-changing beetle-like body implant he named “Frisky.”
On top of this, the TIFF Bell Lightbox will be programming two Cronenberg-related programmes this fall. The first will be a retrospective on Cronenberg himself, from his early horror films, like Shivers (which TIFF restored and will be premiering today) and Rabid, to his later, classy films about sex and violence, like A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis. The second is called Psychoplasmic Panic! Cronenberg and the Rise of Body Horror, which is a 10 film programme of Cronenberg-influenced body horror films curated by Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes. All in all, it will be a very Cronenbergian around King and John this fall, especially if those curvy Frank Gehry towers get the greenlight.
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Alan Jones writes about film for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @alanjonesxxxv.
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