Toronto has been aglow this week with 50th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival.
TIFF rolled out last Thursday, and although the festival wraps up in just a few days, there is still so much to see. Here are some highlights from the red carpet, as seen and told by Skedline reporter Alexa Mendez
Highlights
On the first day of the festival, Joachim Trier’s (The Worst Person In The World) long-awaited Sentimental Value premiered at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Among the cast were Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve, and Elle Fanning. The cast joined the stage before the film for an introduction and returned after for a brief Q&A.
Reinsve praised film director Trier’s work.
“The way he writes characters. … They’re so flawed and complex, but they’re handled with so much care and love.”
Colin Hank’s John Candy: I Like Me also premiered on Thursday evening. The film is produced by Canadian talent Ryan Reynolds, who walked the red carpet wearing a shirt that read Canada.
As the festival progressed into the weekend, people flooded King St. W., either lining up at The Criterion Closet bus, at the TIFF shop, or waiting around the barricade to see which celebrity would next pull up in yet another blacked-out Ford SUV.
That ubiquitous SUV did pull up – many times. For the premiere of Sacrifice, director Romain Gavras emerged, alongside the cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Charli XCX. Chris Evans joined in a short while after – he made his way along the barricade of hundreds of chanting fans holding their homemade signs aloft.
Euphoria star Maude Apatow premiered her directorial debut, Poetic Licens,e last weekend, featuring her mom Leslie Mann, as well as Cooper Hoffman, Nico Parker, and Canadian talent Maisy Stella.
Scriptwriter Raffi Donatich said in a red carpet interview that Poetic License was also her first film, and collaborating with Apatow was a process of letting people in, without having a single project in mind.
“I think don’t force it if you’re feeling really frustrated. Take a walk, read something else, watch something else, get inspired,” Donatich said about writer’s block.
“Remember the thing you’re doing isn’t the thing to ever be created, come back to it, and don’t stop once you’re actually flowing.”
To Come
Today, Ballad Of A Small Praye,r directed by Edward Gerber, and The Ugly, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Over at Roy Thomson Hall, Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life will be premiering.
Tomorrow – the last day of the festival–there are still a handful of world premieres happening, including The Fence (Claire Denis), and Project Y (Lee Hwan).
The People’s Choice Awards will be announced this Sunday, Sept. 14. Did you catch a show at this year’s TIFF lineup? You can vote for your favourite film at https://tiff.net/vote
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