The 51st Toronto International Film Festival in Canada opens on Thursday, 10 September, with nearly 300 films, including four Arab productions, amid significant growth in the distribution market and competition for audience attention and stronger prospects during awards season. The festival runs until 20 September.
Being Human to open the festival
Being Human, directed by Sian Heder, will open the festival. The film revisits the life of Judy Heumann, the late American disability rights activist, played by Ruth Madeley.
The film marks Heder’s return to cinema after CODA, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and previously benefited from its screening in Toronto.
Four films represent the Arab presence
The Arab presence at the festival is limited to four films divided between the Centerpiece and Discovery sections. Palestinian director Mouaid Alayan is participating with Dialogue with the Sea, which follows a Jerusalemite man ordered by an Israeli court to repay a debt attributed to his son, after its premiere in the Venice Lights section.
Lebanese director Rami Qadih is presenting the Lebanese-Brazilian production Rage, following its participation in the Venice Film Festival. Palestinian director Hossam Abu Dan is also showing his debut feature Thirteen in Gaza, which follows Noor’s passage from childhood into the turmoil of adolescence. It was filmed entirely in the Gaza Strip as the first feature-length film made there in 12 years.
The Arab presence is rounded out by Ibrahim’s Daughters, the debut film by French director of Moroccan descent Hana El-Yousfi. The film explores faith, gender and cultural tensions through the friendship between Maryam, a Muslim, and Eva, a Jew, and will have its world premiere in the Discovery section.
The People’s Choice Award: a gateway to awards season
Toronto’s People’s Choice Award has particular significance because of its repeated connection to awards season. Since 2012, all but one of its winners have made the shortlist of nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Hamnet won the award at the previous edition.
The program includes films arriving from the Cannes, Venice and Telluride festivals, as well as independent productions seeking distributors. Anticipated screenings include Misty Green, written and directed by Chris Rock; Love of Your Life, directed by Rachel Morrison; and I Play Rocky by Peter Farrelly, which follows Sylvester Stallone’s early years and the making of Rocky.
An expanding distribution market and musical screenings
The festival’s commercial side is expanding this year, with more than 6,000 delegates expected to work in the film market, compared with about 1,000 at the previous edition. Deals are not limited to completed films; they also include projects seeking financing, partners and distribution rights.
Among the most prominent films being offered to distributors are the prison drama The Lives and Deaths of Wilson Shade, directed by and starring Tim Blake Nelson, with Amanda Seyfried; Prima Facie, directed by Susanna White and starring Cynthia Erivo; the animated science-fiction film Rogue Soldier, directed by Duncan Jones; and The Last Picture by Zack Snyder.
Among the musical screenings, the documentary Lalisa Always leads the program, following Lalisa Manobal, known as Lisa, from her membership in Blackpink to her solo career. The lineup also includes films about the Pretenders, singer Darlene Love, the duo Shaparelle, and the late drummer Neil Peart.
