A host of Hollywood stars, led by Steven Spielberg, will be heading to Toronto this week for North America’s biggest film festival, which organizers say will celebrate a landmark year for LGBTQ cinema.
Renowned for attracting crowds of moviegoers during its major premieres, the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF, has been hard hit by the pandemic and is counting on this edition to regain its full aura.
The world premiere presentation of The Fabelmansa very personal feature film by Steven Spielberg, constitutes a masterstroke for the Canadian festival, since the director of Schindler’s List tends to avoid festivals to present his new films.
“I think Steven Spielberg […] and Universal realize the power of Toronto audiences in how we react to films here,” festival general manager Cameron Bailey told AFP.
Based on Steven Spielberg’s childhood in Arizona, this coming-of-age drama explores the family secrets of a young movie-loving man, and stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Seth Rogen.
“It really is a special story for him. […] he often avoided being too personal in his films, unlike so many other filmmakers,” says Cameron Bailey.
“But he decided to do it for the first time with The Fabelmans. It’s poignant. If you know Spielberg’s movies as an adult, seeing how this artist formed as a young boy is fascinating,” he added.
Sam Mendes honored
TIFF, which kicks off Thursday and closes September 18, is expecting a slew of stars on its red carpet, including Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne for The Good NurseJennifer Lawrence with Causeway, Viola Davis in The Woman Kingand Nicolas Cage for Butcher’s Crossing.
Sam Mendes, British directorAmerican Beauty and of 1917will receive an award honoring his career at a gala on Sunday, before the Monday premiere of his latest film, Empire of Lightwhich tells a love story in an old cinema in 1980s England.
Glass Onion: a story at loggerheads, the sequel to Rian Johnson’s thriller released in 2019, will also be presented in Toronto. We find Daniel Craig in his role as a detective surrounded by a panel of stars including Edward Norton, Ethan Hawke, or Jada Pinkett Smith.
Director Peter Farrelly, whose last feature film Green Book received the Oscar for best film in 2019, will present The Greatest Beer Run Ever starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, and Bill Murray.
“Breakthrough” for LGBTQ cinema
But few of these celebs are likely to attract as many fans and photographers to the red carpet as Harry Styles, who stars in the highly anticipated arthouse film My Policemanpremiered on Sunday.
The former One Direction singer shares the bill with Emma Corrin and Rupert Everett for this film recounting a secret affair between two men in England in the 1950s, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal.
The LGBTQ romantic comedy Bros of Universal Studios, is also, according to TIFF director Cameron Bailey, “the first time, to my knowledge at least, that a major Hollywood studio has made a film that is openly and proudly homosexual”.
Another rainbow-tinted film: The Inspectionwhich tells the story of a young African-American man who joins the Marines after being fired by his mother for being gay.
“There is a breakthrough this year […] you’re seeing LGBTQ stories being told in places they’ve never been told before, and in a much more traditional way,” Cameron Bailey noted.
The director of TIFF also believes that the trend among studios is less cautious than before for this type of on-screen representation.