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Toronto, ON – September 22, 2025– Grimthorpe Film is proud to share that TIFF Cinematheque will present Nothing But Time: The Films of Peter Mettler, a landmark retrospective honouring the visionary and internationally acclaimed Canadian-Swiss filmmaker Peter Mettler, whose boundary-pushing work has redefined the possibilities of cinema. Running from October 4-26 at TIFF Lightbox, the retrospective, guest-curated by writer José Teodoro, offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience Mettler’s groundbreaking films on the big screen. Tickets for Nothing But Time: The Films of Peter Mettler are available at tiff.net.
Spanning more than four decades, Mettler’s renegade cinema defies categorization and invites viewers on expansive journeys of perception. The retrospective features a large portion of Mettler’s body of work, including: his magnum opus While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts (2025) which recently had its world premiere at TIFF and will soon hit the international festival circuit. Peter Mettler is expected to be in attendance to introduce his films and participate in Q&As following the screenings, alongside special guests, such as Mettler's collaborator and fellow Toronto New Waver Atom Egoyan.
The screening schedule at TIFF Lightbox is as follows:
Saturday October 4, 6:15 PM
Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002)
Sunday, October 5, 7:15 PM
Scissere (1982)
Thursday, October 9, 7:30 PM
The Top of His Head (1989)
Saturday, October 11, 4:00 PM
Eastern Avenue (1985)
Sunday, October 12, 11:30 AM
While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts (2025)
Friday, October 17, 6:30 PM
Picture of Light (1994)
Sunday October 19 6:30 PM
Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002)
Friday, October 24, 6:30 PM
Tectonic Plates (1992)
Saturday, October 25, 3:00 PM
Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands (2009) preceded by Balifilm (1997)
Sunday, October 26, 6:30 PM
The End of Time ((2012)
"In the cosmology of Canadian cinema, Peter Mettler is our seeker," writes guest curator José Teodoro in his essay introducing the series. "His peripatetic lens is ever gravitating toward outsiders in search of ecstatic states, spectacles that defy straightforward documentation, and sacred places that promise some metaphysical deliverance. […] Mettler’s gifts as an open and unobtrusive interviewer and his capacity to discover shared sensibilities between people of vastly diverse cultures and creeds feels singular."
In addition to curating the retrospective, José Teodoro penned Nothing But Time: Conversations with Peter Mettler on Life and Cinema, published by Anvil Press, which is currently available for pre-order, and will be publicly available as of October 3. The product of eleven years of conversations between Teodoro and Mettler, undertaken in various locations in Mettler’s two home countries of Canada and Switzerland, Nothing But Time explores this extraordinary artist’s life and practice, which brims with tales of uncanny coincidence, a passion for music, dynamic collaborations with fellow artists such as Atom Egoyan, Jennifer Baichwal, Fred Frith, Jeremy Narby, and countless curious encounters with everyday people as well as visionaries from the worlds of science and spirituality. In Mettler’s story, the yearning for knowledge is balanced with the surrender to boundless mystery, until the tenets that guide his art and life dissolve and cohere in an uncommon commitment to cultivating our collective sense of wonder.
Lovers of Mettler’s artistry are also invited to attend Toronto’s newest experiential art festival, MULTIfest at Stackt Market where he will be giving an image-mixing performance. Mettler’s feature appearance, with electronic master musician Tom Kuo, will take place on October 18 at 9pm and is free of charge. The duo ventures to create a techno dance experience with cinematic ambience, that blends and juxtaposes image and sound fluidly through live improvisation. Image as Music. Music as Journey.
About Peter Mettler
Peter Mettler is a visionary filmmaker whose incomparable spirit has produced some of contemporary cinema’s most daring hybrids of documentary, drama, essay, and experiment. His acclaimed works—including the transcendental adventure epic Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002), the Arctic image meditation Picture of Light (1994), and the time-bending The End of Time (2012)— combine instinct and craft to explore transformation, technology, and humanity’s grasping towards other realities. His most recent and most personal project, While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts (2025), extends this inquiry through an intimate seven-hour cinematic diary. Beyond his own films, Mettler is renowned for his collaborations with artists such as Atom Egoyan, Jennifer Baichwal, and Robert Lepage, plus a multitude of musicians, also pioneering live image-mixing performances that bring cinema into the realm of improvisation. Retrospectives of Mettler’s work have been presented worldwide, and his films have received numerous international awards. For more information on Peter Mettler and his output in film, photography and performance please visit www.petermettler.com.
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