Amid the glitter, a nod to empathy
TIFF artistic director says many festival selections rise above political division
The Toronto International Film Festival will host a multitude of Hollywood and global stars next month — but it will also look beyond the glitter to offer empathy to a world under stress.
That’s the promise of Cameron Bailey, TIFF’s artistic director and co-head, who unveiled the final selections for the Sept. 5 to 15 fest on Tuesday.
He noted in an interview that many of the 245 features, 82 shorts and six series selected address the common feeling that “things seem a bit dire out in the world, with increasing conflict and increasing polarization.”
“And what I like about the films that we’re seeing is that they’re not really diving into that fractious political debate, they’re instead kind of rising above it or stepping aside a little bit. There are a lot of films that are really looking at how empathy can help conflict.”
He points to three of TIFF’s many world premieres as example:
á Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, an anti-war satire in which the New Zealand writer/ director also plays the role of Adolf Hitler, an “imaginary friend” to a young boy. “It’s about a boy who’s been raised in a culture of hate and how he learns to get past that. It starts out as this wild satire and becomes quite moving as it goes.”
á Destin Daniel Cretton’s Just Mercy, a drama starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, set in the Alabama of 1989, in which an idealistic lawyer seeks truth and justice for a man on death row. “It’s a terrific film, I think one of the strongest in the festival. It works by drawing you into the characters, closer to them, rather than setting one political view against another.”
á Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a biopic in which
Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers, the red-sweatered children’s TV host, who offers empathy to a journalist who seeks only a headline. “(Mr. Rogers) was the saint of empathy for kids growing up in North America, and the film really shows that as it works on this cynical magazine writer, a character in the movie.”
The stars of these films will be at TIFF, along with hundreds of other celebrity guests the festival plans to announce next week.
But TIFF is offering a taste of the bold-faced bounty to come with the announcement of its “In Conversation With …” program, in which Oscar-buzzed talent talk about their work and lives before an audience.
There will be four “In Conversations With …” sessions: Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx from Just Mercy; Antonio Banderas from Pain and Glory and The Laundromat; Allison Janney from Bad Education; and Kerry Washington from American Son.
There’s also a celebrity lineup within TIFF’s Special Events program: Javier Bardem and director Alvaro Longoria for Sanctuary, a doc about the need to preserve the Antarctic Ocean; triple-platinum folk rockers the Lumineers for III, a “visual companion” directed by Kevin Phillips about the band’s latest album; award-winning Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk for One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, his latest story (and history lesson) about life in the Far North; Varda by Agnès, the Canadian debut of the final doc by Agnès Varda, the acclaimed French filmmaker who died earlier this year, featuring a post-screening discussion with female filmmakers influenced by her; and Grammy titan David Foster, the superstar music producer featured in Barry Avrich’s new doc, David Foster: Off the Record.
TIFF also announced Tuesday that French filmmaker Mati Diop will be the first recipient of its Mary Pickford Award for outstanding female talent, which will be handed out Sept. 9 at TIFF’s inaugural Tribute Gala.
Diop is the director and cowriter of Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story, a supernatural romance that won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year. She was the first Black female director competing in the Palme d’Or competition in the fest’s 72 years.
See tiff.net for full details on these and other TIFF events.
TIFF announced the “In Conversation With …” program, which will have Oscar-buzzed talent talk about their work and lives before an audience