Oscars Bound: Must-See Films @TIFF 2024

By Pickle  August 29, 2024

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Anora

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
FilmNation Entertainment

This Palme d’Or winner follows a turbulent relationship between a New York–based exotic dancer and the son of a Russian oligarch.
Sean Baker’s latest casts Mikey Madison as a sex worker named Anora, or Ani as she prefers to be called. She may live in a shabby Brooklyn apartment above the rattle of the subway, but every night, Ani glams up and puts on a flirty smile for the men at a local club. Anora showcases a filmmaker in brilliant command of his craft, expertly upholding a tragicomical tone for a story that keeps us on the edge of our seat.

Director: Sean Baker
Country: United States of America| | 2024 | 138m |
Language: English, Russian
Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Yura Borisov, Vache Tovmasyan

Babygirl

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
A24

Nicole Kidman is captivating as a high-powered executive who risks everything when she starts a sexual relationship with an intern (Harris Dickinson) in this thrilling erotic drama from writer-director Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies). The film is an erotic thriller.

Director: Halina Reijn
Country: United States of America| 2024 | 120m
Language: English
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde

Cloud

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Centrepiece, Luminaries

International Sales Agent
Nikkatsu Corporation

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud is a suspenseful thriller in which a young internet reseller, Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) ignites a cyber-fueled storm of malice. Blurring digital and physical threats, it’s a chilling dive into the dark side of modern connectivity. Cloud captures the eerie tension that Kurosawa’s fans admire, showcasing his unique style — “Kiyoshiism” — with atmospheric settings and spine-chilling visuals.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Country: Japan | 2024 | 123m
Language: Japanese
Cast: Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Masataka Kubota

Conclave

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
FilmNation Entertainment

Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci lead a brilliant ensemble cast in All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger’s stunning adaption of Robert Harris’ high-stakes drama, in which Cardinals gather at the Vatican to elect a new Pope. Conclave unfolds over a tension-riddled 72 hours, depicting a gripping confrontation between tradition, politics, and faith. Featuring brilliant supporting performances — most notably from Isabella Rossellini as the silent yet formidable Sister Agnes — it focuses on the all-too-human aspects of a hallowed procedure, one that speculates on the role of religion in a rapidly changing world.

Director: Edward Berger
Country: United States of America, United Kingdom | 2024 | 120m
Language: English, Italian
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Carlos Diehz, Lucian Msamati, Brían F. O’Byrne, Merab Ninidze, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini

Daughter’s Daughter

WORLD PREMIERE
Platform

International Sales Agent
Andrews Film Ltd.

When daughter, Zuer, dies in an accident, Jin flies to New York, only to discover that she’s responsible for Zuer’s embryo. But with the embryo’s fate in her hands, she must confront first daughter, Emma, who Jin gave up after a teenage pregnancy. Past regrets and future responsibilities collide.

Director: Huang Xi
Country: Taiwan | 2024 | 126m
Language: Chinese, English
Cast: Sylvia Chang, Karena Lam, Alannah Ong, Winston Chao, Eugenie Liu, Tracy Chou

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

International Sales Agent
Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

In this adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s memoir, actor-director Embeth Davidtz examines the collapse of colonialism through the eyes of eight-year-old Bobo as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) approaches its pivotal 1980 election, marking the end of white rule.

From Schindler’s List to The Amazing Spider-Man, Matilda to The Morning Show, American actor Embeth Davidtz has earned a reputation as an engaging, relatable on-screen presence in some of Hollywood’s biggest films and series.

Director: Embeth Davidtz
Country: South Africa | 2024 | 98m
Language: English, Shona
Cast: Lexi Venter, Embeth Davidtz, Zikhona Bali, Fumani Shilubana, Rob Van Vuuren, Anina Reed

Eden

WORLD PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

International Sales Agent
AGC Studios

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard’s scintillating historical thriller stars Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby as high-minded Europeans who seek a new life on a previously uninhabited island in the Galápagos, only to discover that hell is other people.

Written by Noah Pink (Tetris), Eden offers intrigue, suspense, and keen insights into the pitfalls of idealistic hubris.

Director: Ron Howard
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 129m
Language: English
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Jude Law, Daniel Bruehl

Else

WORLD PREMIERE
Midnight Madness

International Sales Agent
WTFilms

Anx has just met Cass when a mysterious virus breaks out: everywhere, people’s bodies are merging with objects. Stuck in their apartment, the couple must face this dreadful threat.

Director: Thibault Emin
Country: France, Belgium | 2024 | 100m
Language: French, English
Cast: Matthieu Sampeur, Edith Proust

Emilia Pérez

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

Exhilarating and piercingly resonant, the latest from director Jacques Audiard, audaciously merges pop opera, narco thriller, and gender affirmation drama. Emilia Pérez is a rollercoaster in which crime, redemption, and karma collide, featuring fearless performances from Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and the amazing Karla Sofía Gascón, an ensemble that collectively received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Director: Jacques Audiard
Country: France | 2024 | 132m
Language: Spanish
Cast: Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramírez, Mark Ivanir

Hard Truths

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
Cornerstone Films

In his 23rd film, British director Mike Leigh reunites with Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) to create a challenging but ultimately compassionate look at modern family life.
Reuniting with Oscar-nominated Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste and returning to contemporary London for a story inverse to his 2008 Festival favourite Happy-Go-Lucky, the latest from seven-time Oscar-nominated auteur Mike Leigh is bracingly tough, darkly funny, and pierced with insight. Shifting between various members of an extended Black family in London, Hard Truths is a psychologically rich ensemble film as only Leigh can cultivate.

Director: Mike Leigh
Country: United Kingdom, Spain | 2024 | 97m
Language: English
Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone

Ick

WORLD PREMIERE
Midnight Madness

International Sales Agent
Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

In Joseph Kahn’s breakneck sci-fi/horror satire, a high school science teacher (Brandon Routh) does battle with a parasitic alien entity, as well as the apathy of the small town it has been gradually absorbing.
Joseph Kahn (Bodied, TIFF ’17) returns to Midnight Madness with a berserkly sardonic creature feature that riffs on classic science-fiction horror films from The Blob to The Faculty, but with a crucial subversion: what if an invading alien entity was met not with panic and fear, but cavalier indifference?

Director: Joseph Kahn
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 92m
Language: English
Cast: Brandon Routh, Malina Weissman, Harrison Cone, Taia Sophia, Zeke Donovan Jones, Debra Wilson, Mena Suvari, Jeff Fahey

Masala

TIFF Classics

A recovering heroin addict struggles to fit into the manic lives of his ambitious extended family in Srinivas Krishna’s bold, irreverent, debut film.

Director: Srinivas Krishna
Country: Canada | 1991 | 105m
Language: English
Cast: Saeed Jaffrey, Zohra Segal, Sakina Jaffrey, Srinivas Krishna, Herj Johal, Madhuri Bhatia, Ronica Sajnani, Les Porter

Megalopolis

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

International Sales Agent
Goodfellas
Lionsgate

Pivoting between political drama, philosophical science fiction, and star-crossed romance, legendary writer-director Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project stars Adam Driver as a visionary architect whose utopian ambitions clash with the more earth-bound demands of a modern city.
Pivoting between political drama, philosophical science fiction, and star-crossed romance, Megalopolis considers the limits of genius and the fragility of empires.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 138m
Language: English
Cast: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman

Nightbitch

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

An overworked stay-at-home mom (Amy Adams) tries to catch a break, any break, while caring for her rambunctious toddler. Also, she might be turning into a dog.
Based on the bestselling 2021 novel of the same name, director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me, TIFF ’21) has created a profoundly original exploration of motherhood and identity, destined to be one of the most talked-about films of the year.

Director: Marielle Heller
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 98m
Language: English
Cast: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Patrick Snowdon, Emmett James Snowdon, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan, Jessica Harper

Pepe

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Wavelengths

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’ Pepe is a heady, inventive travelogue inspired by the life and death of one of Pablo Escobar’s prized hippos. Pepe is cinema of the imagination, while at the same time evoking questions of forced movement — both historic and contemporary — the ramifications of colonialism, disrupted ecosystems, and the interconnectedness of human and animal worlds.

Director: Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Country: Dominican Republic, Germany, France, Namibia | 2024 | 123m
Language: Spanish, Afrikaans, German, Mbukushu
Cast: Jhon Narváez, Matjila Fareed, Harmony Ahalwa, Shifafure Faustinus, Jorge Puntillón García, Sor María Ríos

Piece by Piece

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Special Presentations

The life of singer and producer Pharrell Williams is told through LEGO pieces in this animated feature debut from Morgan Neville, featuring the voices of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay-Z. With Piece by Piece, Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville adds another feather to an already prolific directing career. Here, he represents Pharrell’s signature beats as little LEGO sculptures. They pop and come to life as his songs develop before exploding into hits familiar as Pharrell tracks as well as some not necessarily attributed to him. Brimming with charm and visual panache, Piece by Piece is a sensory delight.

Director: Morgan Neville
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 93m
Language: English
Cast: Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Gwen Stefani, Justin imberlake, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, N.O.R.E., Pusha T., Daft Punk, Kendrick Lamar

Presence

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Centrepiece

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh shakes the horror genre to life by adopting the point of view of a housebound spirit, granting us singular access to a family passing through troubled times — and casting an unforgettably eerie atmosphere.

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 85m
Language: English
Cast: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox

Queer

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

Brilliant, audacious author, meet brilliant, audacious director: it takes risk to translate the work of William S. Burroughs for the screen, but Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s (Call Me by Your Name, TIFF ’17) spin on the Beat legend’s autobiographical novel matches its source material in vulnerability and taboo-smashing adventurousness. Queer is a hallucinogenic odyssey bathed in desire.

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Country: Italy, United States of America | 2024 | 135m
Language: English
Cast: Daniel Craig, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Drew Starkey, Henrique Zaga, Omar Apollo, Andra Ursata, Andrés Duprat, Ariel Shulman, Drew Droege, Michael Borremans, David Lowery, Lisandro Alonso, Colin Bates

Relay

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
Black Bear International

This clever, high-concept thriller stars Oscar winner Riz Ahmed as a rigorously reclusive middleman for would-be whistleblowers seeking to settle with corporate malefactors. Deftly helmed by David Mackenzie (Outlaw King, TIFF ’18), Relay is a cat-and-mouse game for an age of hyper-surveillance when it’s never been harder to leave no trace.

Director: David Mackenzie
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 112m
Language: English
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald

Rez Ball

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

Set in the beautiful Navajo Nation, Rez Ball shares the inspiring story of the Chuska Warriors basketball team in their quest for championship glory after a devastating loss. Executive produced by LeBron James. The film is executive produced by NBA superstar LeBron James and co-written by Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo.

Director: Sydney Freeland
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 111m
Language: English
Cast: Jessica Matten, Kauchani Bratt, Amber Midthunder, Cody Lightning, Dallas Goldtooth, Ernest David Tsosie, Kusem Goodwind, Zoey Reyes, Julia Jones

Saturday Night

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

Director Jason Reitman captures the frenzied lead-up to the very first episode of Saturday Night Live as a motley bunch of then-unknown and untrained young comedians prepare to step into a revolutionary spotlight that will change history and make them all stars. Rietman orchestrates this tour de force as a glorious circus of talent, ambition, and appetite for risk, with the clock ticking down to showtime.

Director: Jason Reitman
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 109m
Language: English
Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons

Shook

WORLD PREMIERE
Discovery

Struggling writer Ashish is thrown for several loops when he falls for Barista Claire and learns his estranged father has just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, in Amar Wala’s first dramatic feature. Struggling to sell his first novel and slightly adrift after his parents’ divorce, writer Ashish (Saamer Usmani) is thrown for several loops when he falls for barista Claire (Amy Forsyth) and learns his estranged father Vijay (Bernard White) has just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Director: Amar Wala
Country: Canada | 2024 | 113m
Language: English, Hindi
Cast: Saamer Usmani, Amy Forsyth, Bernard White, Pamela Sinha, Shomari Downer, Faizan Khan, Sammy Azero, Nina Kiri

The Brutalist

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
Protagonist Pictures

Director Brady Corbet (Vox Lux, TIFF ’18) returns to the Festival with another bold vision — an American epic, starring Adrien Brody as a Jewish Hungarian architect who flees Europe at the end of the Second World War to rebuild his life in an unfamiliar land. The Brutalist takes us on a journey that asks some stark questions about how the march of time impacts us, how certain events give shape to our lives, and how much of ourselves we put in our work.

Director: Brady Corbet
Country: United Kingdom | 2024 | 215m
Language: English, Hungarian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Italian
Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola

The End

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
The Match Factory

Joshua Oppenheimer, known for his groundbreaking documentary The Act of Killing (TIFF ’12), makes his fiction debut with this sombre musical about a family in denial at the end of the world, starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, and Moses Ingram. Best known for his groundbreaking documentary, The Act of Killing (TIFF ’12), Joshua Oppenheimer makes his fiction feature debut with The End. It’s a story about what seems to be the last remaining human family on earth, as they hide in an ornate bunker built deep inside a salt mine after environmental collapse has destroyed society. Oh, and it’s also a sombre musical.

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Country: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden | 2024 | 148m
Language: English
Cast: Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Michael Shannon, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James

The Friend

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

International Sales Agent
Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, and a charismatic Great Dane named Bing propel this wise and insightful character drama based on the acclaimed novel by Sigrid Nunez and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.

Directors: David Siegel, Scott McGehee
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 123m
Language: English
Cast: Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Sarah Pidgeon, Carla Gugino, Constance Wu, Noma Dumezweni, Ann Dowd, Felix Solis, Owen Teague, Bing

The Last Showgirl

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
Goodfellas

Most films set in Las Vegas centre on the high-wattage neon glow of The Strip. But the latest from Gia Coppola (Palo Alto, TIFF ’13) turns that tradition around, showing us a story from behind the lights, with a captivating and affecting lead performance by Pamela Anderson.

Director: Gia Coppola
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 85m
Language: English
Cast: Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd

The Piano Lesson

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Special Presentations

Malcolm Washington makes his feature directorial debut with this adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning August Wilson play, featuring an incredible cast that includes Danielle Deadwyler, John David Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson in a story about a family haunted by the legacy of an heirloom.

Director: Malcolm Washington
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 125m
Language: English
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Potts, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Erykah Badu, Stephan James

The Room Next Door

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Special Presentations

The Room Next Door might be renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, but he has left none of his signature hallmarks behind. The complex narratives filled with heartbreaking choices, visuals saturated with colour, and the precise rendering of women’s inner lives are very much intact.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain | 2024 | 110m
Language: English
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Centrepiece

International Sales Agent
Films Boutique

From renowned filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig (winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival) is a social drama turned cat-and-mouse thriller that will have you at the edge of your seat.

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Country: Iran, France, Germany | 2024 | 167m
Language: Farsi
Cast: Misagh Zare, Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Niousha Akhshi, Reza Akhlaghi, Shiva Ordooei, Amineh Arani

The Shrouds

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

International Sales Agent
SBS International

Still grieving the loss of his wife, a technological entrepreneur (Vincent Cassel) finds what’s left of his world collapsing into a nightmare of sex, paranoia, and grief in David Cronenberg’s most personal film. The Shrouds is the saddest movie David Cronenberg has ever made. It’s steeped in grief; the loss of the filmmaker’s wife Carolyn in 2017 is the engine that drives every scene, and his decision to style and groom star Vincent Cassel as his own doppelgänger brings the point home all the more powerfully.

Director: David Cronenberg
Country: Canada, France | 2024 | 119m
Language: English
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt

The Substance

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Midnight Madness

International Sales Agent
The Match Factory

Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid). She is then drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: THE SUBSTANCE.

All it takes is one injection and she is reborn – temporarily – as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue (Margaret Qualley).

Deliriously entertaining and ruthlessly satirical, Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes sensation turns toxic beauty culture inside out with a be-careful-what-you-wish-for fable for the ages. Explosive, provocative and twisted, THE SUBSTANCE marks the arrival of a thrillingly visionary filmmaker.

Director: Coralie Fargeat
Country: United Kingdom, United States of America, France | 2024 | 140m
Language: English
Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

The Wild Robot

WORLD PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

This DreamWorks Animation sci-fi adventure follows a robot designed to assist humans who finds herself stranded on an island populated exclusively by beasts. Filled with spectacular imagery and hilarious encounters, The Wild Robot is perfect family entertainment. It is also a heartfelt story about the sort of love that only comes from believing in yourself — regardless of what materials you’re made of.

Director: Chris Sanders
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 101m
Language: English
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill

Unstoppable

WORLD PREMIERE
Gala Presentations

Moonlight’s Jharrel Jerome gives another outstanding performance amid a star-studded cast (including Don Cheadle and Jennifer Lopez) in this heartfelt sports drama about a college wrestler who dreams of going pro.

Director: William Goldenberg
Country: United States of America | 2024 | 116m
Language: English
Cast: Jharrel Jerome, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Anthony Robles, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Lopez

We Live in Time

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

International Sales Agent
STUDIOCANAL

Featuring gorgeously detailed performances from Oscar nominees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, this inventively structured romance explores the question of how to make the most of our time in this world. We Live in Time alternates between three distinct chronologies, allowing us to experience this couple’s story in a way that heightens our understanding of how memory collides with present experience and how meaning is made through accumulation.

Director: John Crowley
Country: United Kingdom, France | 2024 | 107m
Language: English
Cast: Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield

Without Blood

WORLD PREMIERE
Special Presentations

This parable-like tale of family, war, and revenge is directed by Angelina Jolie and was filmed at Rome’s famed Cinecittà Studios. Adapting Alessandro Baricco’s novel of the same name, Angelina Jolie maintains the book’s parable quality, but with crackling precision, especially in Hayek Pinault and Bichir’s exchanges — between a woman who witnessed her family suffer shocking violence and the man who inflicted it. Shot at Rome’s fabled Cinecittà studios, this is an intimate chamber piece about how war seeps inside each person it touches long after the weapons fall silent.

Director: Angelina Jolie
Country: United States of America, Italy | 2024 | 91m
Language: English
Cast: Salma Hayek Pinault, Demián Bichir, Juan Minujin