The Toronto Film Festival opens with great fanfare

(Toronto) The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is rolling out its red carpets for an edition that organizers say will be a return to normal after two years of events disrupted by the pandemic.

Posted at 9:51 a.m.

Nicole Thompson
The Canadian Press

With 200 features and 50 shorts on the programme, TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey has promised moviegoers will rediscover the festival they have known before.

Mr. Bailey will kick off the festivities Thursday evening on the Slaight Music stage on King Street West — known as the festival street — where singer Buffy Sainte-Marie will also perform.

The opening night movie is The Swimmers, from Netflix, based on the true story of two sisters who fled war-torn Syria. Welsh-Egyptian director Sally El Hosaini has been shortlisted for the TIFF Emerging Talent Award, one of the pre-announced prizes given out at the festival.

Other artists will be honored, including Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser, who stars in Darren Aronofsky’s film The Whaleand all the distribution of My Policeman, of which pop singer Harry Styles is a part. Both films will be screened at the festival.

Other stars heading to Toronto this year include Oprah Winfrey, who produced sydneya documentary about actor Sidney Poitier and Taylor Swift, who comes to present his short film All Too Well.

This presence of the big stars is part of the transition to normal, according to Mr. Bailey.

“We expect almost everyone involved in the films we’ve invited here to the festival to be here to launch their films,” he said.

Other big names set to hit the red carpet this year include Daniel Craig, Jennifer Lawrence and Steven Spielberg.

This edition rich in distinguished guests differs from that of last year, which had broadcast far fewer films with a hybrid model.

Crowds couldn’t gather on the red carpet, screenings were outdoors and in drive-ins, and several films could be viewed online.

This year, movie theaters are back to full capacity and only a few dozen films are available virtually.

TIFF expects attendance to return to pre-pandemic levels, with around 1,400 members of the media and 3,500 industry attendees registered for the event which runs until September 18.


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