5 Takeaways From This Year’s Toronto International Film Festival
Courtesy of TIFF
After nearly two weeks of star-studded red carpet galas, industry conferences, and packed screenings, Sunday, September 15, saw the final day of the 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival. Bouncing back from a 2023 edition that lacked the event’s typical hype due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, this year’s TIFF felt like a return to normalcy, with members of the press and public buzzing about Toronto’s Entertainment District in a frenzy of excitement regarding some of the year’s most highly anticipated movies.
TIFF's last day brought the announcement of this year's People's Choice winner: The Life of Chuck, an adaptation of the Stephen King novella of the same name, directed by Mike Flanagan. A rather surprising winner, The Life of Chuck received favorable reviews from critics and a warm audience response but did not feel like a splash on the ground during the festival. With the People's Choice Award's history of being predictive in the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards (American Fiction, 12 Years a Slave, Nomadland), The Life of Chuck could go further than we think at this point in the season. As always, Foremost Film saw some fantastic movies at TIFF that we are excited to write about as the year progresses, but for now, check out some of our takeaways from the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival:
'Flow,' courtesy of TIFF
Animated Films Impressed at This Year's TIFF
Two animated films wowed TIFF audiences and critics alike: Flow and The Wild Robot. Flow, a poetic tale sans dialogue of a black cat and his new-found animal companions who come together and seek shelter on a decrepit sailboat when their world is flooded by water, premiered at this year's Cannes in the Un Certain Regard and then went on to sweep the awards at Annecy Festival. Picked up for U.S. distribution by Janus Films and Sideshow, Flow will represent Latvia in the Best International Feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards, where it will also predicatively be a player for Best Animated Feature. The Wild Robot features the voices of A-listers and is already being considered one of DreamWorks' best movies in years. Directed by Chris Saunders (Lilo & Stitch), Lupita Nyong'o voices a robot created to serve humans who becomes a castaway on an island inhabited by animals. Intriguing comparisons can be drawn between these two films: their fresh, visionary animation styles, emotional stories of survival, and crossover appeal to adult and child audiences alike.
Cannes-Winners Continue To Gain Audience Adoration
'Anora,' courtesy of TIFF
Some of this year's biggest Cannes Film Festival winners were met at their Canadian premieres with sold-out crowds and passionate admiration from TIFF audiences. On the festival's opening night, The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, had its North American premiere, opening the Midnight Madness section. The film's fearless vision and feminist spin on the body horror genre made for sold-out TIFF screenings and plenty of fans, solidifying it as one of the must-see movies of the festival and scoring the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award win. After post-Cannes pitstops at Telluride over Labor Day weekend, Anora and Emilia Pérez gained tons of love from the TIFF crowds, even earning the runner-up slots in the People's Choice Award race. While Emilia Pérez was more divisive among crowds than Anora, the former's star power brought huge crowds to King Street, where onlookers hoped to spot Selena Gomez on the red carpet outside the Princess of Wales theater. While both movies have uncompromising visions that Oscar voters could find grating in different ways, the clear impact they have in theaters will undoubtedly keep them in the conversation for many months to come.
'Russians at War,' courtesy of TIFF
Civil Protests Flock to TIFF
Plenty of Canadian citizens were found around TIFF’s participating theaters this year, exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest a variety of global issues. The introduction to an opening night screening of David Gordon Green’s Nutcrackers at the Princess of Wales was interrupted by protesters championing the Palestinian cause and condemning one of TIFF’s main sponsors, the Royal Bank of Canada, for financially subsidizing the Israeli military. A few days later, a screening of the Lego-fied Pharrell Williams documentary Piece by Piece was disrupted by PETA activists critical of Williams’ use of fur in the men’s collections for Louis Vuitton, where the musician serves as creative director. Most controversially, however, was the civil backlash against TIFF’s planned screenings of the documentary Russians at War. In the lead-up to the premiere, a growing number of protestors were on-site with the view that the documentary was promoting pro-Russian propaganda. In an unprecedented move, the festival decided to cancel all public screenings of Russians at War; you can read TIFF’s complete statement concerning their decision here. Historically, film festivals have always functioned as a crossroads for cultural and political conversations (1968 Cannes Film Festival), and their extensive media impacts can bring light to many global concerns that need the platform.
Jessica Chastain on Festival Street, courtesy of TIFF.
The Stars Return to King Street
After last year’s industry-wide strikes left creatives and talents unable to attend most promotional events in support of their movies, the stars swarmed back to TIFF tenfold in 2024. Amy Adams and Cate Blanchett made big splashes on the red carpet, supporting their projects (Nightbitch for Adams and Disclaimer and Rumours for Blanchett) while also sticking around the festival to receive the TIFF Tribute Award for performance and the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award, respectively. Another memorable red carpet from this year’s TIFF was the international premiere of Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, attended by cast members including Gabriel LaBelle, Lamorne Morris, Rachel Sennott, and a llama! The star power present at TIFF is one of the festival’s biggest draws, allowing public audiences to have these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to see celebrities in front of their eyes rather than in the glossy pages of magazines or Instagram ads.
'William Tell,' courtesy of TIFF
Quiet Market Activity at TIFF Raises Concern for Movies Seeking Distribution
Once again this year, the market for acquisitions proved sluggish at TIFF, with just a handful of films receiving distribution deals during the festival’s ten days. Virtually no independent films were picked up out of the fest; the only sales went to the opening night movie Nutcrackers (Hulu) and the Gala premiere William Tell (Samuel Goldwyn Films). A handful of films that played later in the festival technically arrived in Toronto with distributors out of Venice, including A24 acquisitions Queer and The Brutalist. Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio also premiered at TIFF with a newly sealed U.S. distribution with Janus and Sideshow Films. This lethargic sales activity raises concern for theatrical distribution, which continues to struggle to evolve post-pandemic.
UPDATE: September 16, the day after TIFF’s conclusion, Midnight Madness selection Friendship, directed by Andrew DeYoung, was purchased for U.S. distribution by A24.