Reimagined film fest going ahead with tweaks for pandemic
TORONTO — Drive-in screenings, virtual red carpets, a scaled-down slate: The curtain will still rise on this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, but it will be a much different affair than the usual annual movie marathon, as the COVID-19 pandemic presents logistical and financial challenges.
On Wednesday, organizers revealed plans for a physical and digital hybrid version of the prestigious festival, one day after announcing the TIFF organization has taken a financial hit from the pandemic and had to lay off 31 full-time staff and cut salaries.
The reimagined 45th edition is now slated to run Sept. 10-19, ending one day earlier than originally planned, with a lineup of 50 new feature films, five programs of shorts and an online industry conference.
It will also have physical and digital screenings, outdoor experiences, press conferences and Qand-A’s with cast and filmmakers.
TIFF did not make executives available for an interview Wednesday and didn’t provide specific details on how such events will unfold.
But given pandemic restrictions on venues, gatherings and travel, it’s clear this will be not be the usual extravaganza of hundreds of films and a city crawling with stars, cinephiles and celebrity watchers.
Films on the docket include Francis Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised, and Concrete Cowboy by Ricky Staub, starring Idris Elba, Jharrel Jerome, and Lorraine Toussaint.
Over the first five days, the full slate of films will première as physical, socially distanced screenings that adhere to safety protocols set by authorities to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Movie theatres in Toronto that where shut down due to the novel coronavirus, including TIFF Bell Lightbox, haven’t opened yet but are expected to when provincial and municipal health authorities give the go-ahead.
TIFF hopes the event will serve “as a beacon of hope for Toronto, for filmmakers, and for the international film industry.”
“Our teams have had to rethink everything, and open our minds to new ideas,” Cameron Bailey, TIFF co-head and artistic director, said in a statement.
TIFF has also “listened to this year’s urgent calls for greater representation of underrepresented voices,” Bailey added.
“You’ll see that this year at the festival. And we have watched as audiences have embraced cinema’s ability to transport them through screens of all sizes.”
TIFF executive director and co-head Joana Vicente said they “tapped into the original spirit of the Festival from when it began in 1976” as their “guiding light.”
The organization is working with New Zealand-based Shift72 to launch a digital platform to host screenings and other events for the festival, allowing it to reach audiences beyond Toronto. It’s not clear if the digital screenings for the public will be geoblocked to a certain region, like they were in the recent online version of Toronto’s Hot Docs festival.