Amrit Kaur catapulted to fame thanks to her role in Mindy Kaling’s hit HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls. Now, the Toronto actor is starring in Canadian filmmaker Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen of My Dreams, which had its world premiere at TIFF last week. In a striking dual performance, Kaur plays Azra, a queer Muslim student who returns to her ancestral home in Pakistan after the sudden death of her father, as well as a younger version of Azra’s mother, Mariam, with whom she has a fraught relationship. Here, Kaur—who was named a 2023 TIFF Rising Star—talks about sharing South Asian stories on screen, choosing Canadian projects after finding success in the US and her go-to spots when she’s back in her hometown.

You became a household name after the international success of The Sex Lives of College Girls. Why did you choose a Canadian indie as your next project?
A lot of the actors I look up to, like Cate Blanchett, work in theatre, film and TV in their home countries; then go to the US; and eventually return home to elevate the film and television industry where they’re from. Canadians do that too—and I’m excited to be part of the club.

Related: The actors, directors, showrunners, producers and other Toronto talent making waves in film and television right now

What drew you to Fawzia Mirza’s script?
I knew that I wanted the first film I did after Sex Lives to be dramatic and meaningful. I decided to do this one because it scared me. My process as an actor involves looking at myself—all the parts of myself, including the ones I love and the ones I dislike—and putting them into my work. I have both the characters I played—Azra and Mariam—in me. On a personal level, I hadn’t explored all the subjects covered in this script in depth before: sexuality, a strained relationship with a mother, a tainted relationship with a homeland, judging it, loving it. Before we shot the film, I was in full panic-attack mode for months. I’m grateful to my acting teacher for pushing me to go to those places. I’m grateful that the film forced me to look at things I’ve never looked at before and, as a result, develop a better relationship with myself.

Your parents immigrated to Canada from India before you were born. You’ve said that, with your work, you want to keep telling the truth of what it is to be brown. What truths were you tapping into with this film?
South Asians can be gay. South Asians can be sexual. South Asians can be abusive, loving and judgmental. South Asians can have a God complex. Telling brown stories means telling the truth about what it is to be alive, telling the human experience. Because, in many ways, brown stories are the same as every other story, except the circumstances are different. Hollywood, and every other film industry, has to be braver in humanizing us. 

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year

Has your rise to fame changed your relationship to acting?
It’s hard because fame is so antithetical to what the job is—acting has nothing to do with fame. Acting is about being one with everyone, about admitting that we all have the same experiences of love, hate, self-love, self-loathing. For me, acting is spiritual, and fame distorts that. I guess fame has a purpose because it gives me a platform to say important things to bigger audiences. But it can be scary when the world views celebrity as something hierarchical. That depresses me. It makes me feel like I’m moving further away from my true spirit, which is just to be a devotional actor. I do this work because I love acting, not to be celebrated. But it’s also a battle with my ego, because I am also someone who’s desperate to be validated. I would say that’s something I’m working on: doing things for the love of it instead of for the inner child who always wants to be validated. 

You’ve worked with a bunch of South Asian trailblazers in the industry—first Mindy Kaling, now Fawzia Mirza. What has that been like?
It takes a lot of bravery to be a leader in an industry where there aren’t many people who look like you or share your experiences. Mindy was one of the first to break barriers in Hollywood. And Fawzia, who is queer and Muslim, is breaking barriers too. But I want the industry to get to a place where there are so many South Asian artists, film directors and producers who are just being themselves that we don’t even have to ask these kinds of questions. We don’t have to ask white people what it’s like to work with so and so or so and so.

You grew up in Markham. What do you love most about Toronto?
I love that it’s home. Toronto is where I started acting many years ago. I was living in a little apartment where I paid $375 a month for a small room with a curtain. I spent all my money on acting classes, and I was like, I don’t care. I just need a bed. Remembering what I’ve sacrificed to do what I love is really grounding. So I love Toronto because of the nostalgia, and I love to go home to see my parents in Markham and speak Punjabi with them. 

What’s your favourite place in the city?
A restaurant called Federick. I’ve tried so many other Hakka Chinese places in an attempt to find somewhere better, but it’s the best. I need to go again while I’m here. I also love the coffee at Saving Mondays, walking in High Park, and shopping for vintage furniture and clothes. Mostly, though, I love sitting on my best friend’s couch—he used to be my drama teacher—and watching 90 Day Fiancé.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “Fame can be depressing”: Amrit Kaur on her sudden stardom and sharing South Asian stories on screen appeared first on Toronto Life.

Karen Kain has been a prima ballerina and, more recently, the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada. But, in advance of her retirement in 2021, the industry legend took on one final challenge: directing her first ever ballet, a production of Swan Lake. Throw in a pandemic, some artistic angst and the daily dramas of life en pointe and you have Swan Song, a documentary covering the blood, sweat and occasional icy stares that went into Kain’s, well, swan song with the NBC. After premiering at TIFF, Swan Song will open in theatres on September 29 and air as a four-part series on CBC in November. “Ballet is a closed-off world,” says Chelsea McMullan, the Canadian documentarian who spent two years embedded in this rarefied space. Here, McMullan and producer Sean O’Neill talk about Kain’s legacy, collaborating with executive producer Neve Campbell and making sacrifices for art.

I’m sure you’re experts now, but did you know much about ballet going into this project?

O’Neill: Not really. We have both made docs about artists working in different disciplines, including dance, so we knew what it was like to try to translate artistic media into the language of film. And of course we’d seen Black Swan, we’d seen Centre Stage, so we understood something about the representation of ballet in fiction, but we wanted to know what it was really like. 

McMullan: It was a steep learning curve. When you immerse yourself in a new environment, you realize how much you don’t know. Part of it was understanding the choreography in order to understand what they were trying to express. I knew what a pirouette was, but what’s a sauté? What’s an arabesque? And then you’re trying to understand this culture that is extremely closed off. Achieving this thing that looks so beautiful and effortless requires so much discipline and not showing pain or emotion. So we’re trying to develop an intimacy with people whose whole life is about keeping things bottled up. 

O’Neill: We assumed that there was a hierarchy, and dancers who wanted to climb that hierarchy, and also dancers who were having a hard time reaching the ideals the ballet world projects in terms of race and gender and body type. But it was about developing the trust to be able to get at those stories. Our goal, even before we had settled on a subject, was to do something in the cinéma vérité style, where you are following a story in real time as it’s unfolding. That requires time, which requires funding. So we knew we needed a strong hook, a sense of stakes. And then we heard that Karen Kain was directing for the first time before her retirement and that the ballet was Swan Lake, which was a role she had played so famously, and that this marked fifty years with the NBC. And it was like, Stakes! Stakes! Stakes!

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year

So you approached her then?

O’Neill: Karen would never want to make a documentary about herself. I think what interested her is that she has always wanted the National Ballet of Canada to be recognized as the great international company that it is. As she says in the doc, the company has been her life, and she feels great passion and fervour and, if not a debt, then a sense that she wants to steward the company’s security. And I think the other thing she liked about our pitch is that it wasn’t a Karen Kain bio doc. It was an ensemble-driven piece about the entire process, and that really appealed to her.

McMullan: As soon as we started shooting, she was so chill. Karen gives no fucks—when it comes to cameras, I mean. She gives plenty of fucks about other things. I think that’s maybe because she’s so used to being in the spotlight. She’s also incredibly savvy; she knows that ballet needs to grow its audience. 

Related: The naked ambition of National Ballet artistic director Karen Kain

She seems preposterously poised at all times. Please tell me you saw her throw a fit at least once.

O’Neill: Never. There was a piece in the Globe that talked about how Karen never snaps, but her silences are terrifying. She has this way of receding when she’s anxious, and I think you saw that. I think she was quite honest about the anxiety and the doubt she felt doing this for the first time at her age.

There is that one moment, I think during dress rehearsal, where the camera really lingers on her stare.

McMullan: Right. It’s all in the micro-expressions, which is the culture of ballet. She’s not going to go all Real Housewives on these dancers. That’s not who she is. But you see that look reverberating through 45 bodies in the room. It was definitely a challenge for us to make these subtle dynamics visible. During shooting, we would be seeing all of this dramatic action unfolding, and then you’d watch the footage, and at first it just wasn’t coming through. We had a lot of story meetings to figure out how to create these narratives.  

O’Neill: We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything, so Chelsea’s in the studio, two cameras going, watching both on their phone monitor, and then has six microphones going into their ear so they can tell the camera people what to shoot. You have these dancers who don’t want to be mic’d, and we have two seconds to mic them because they don’t want to be late for rehearsal. And we’re using these NBC mics that are the size of a credit card so they don’t inhibit their bodies, and we’re getting yelled at by the rehearsal directors because they don’t want us to be there. Our cinematographers had to learn the choreography so that they could follow along on the dance floor and not get hit. Ten hours a day, five days a week. It was very intense. Our directors of photography each lost 20 pounds over three months.

Sounds like the only thing more difficult than performing in Swan Lake is making a doc about it.

McMullan: We started being like, Wait, who’s our Rothbart? Are we captured? 

Kain’s production of Swan Lake was the first classic ballet ever to feature dancers with bare legs rather than tights. This provided more drama than I would have anticipated.

McMullan: Right. And that’s a good example when you were asking about things we didn’t really understand at the outset. When I first heard about the tights conversation, it was like, Okay, tights or no tights, what’s the big deal?

But then you have corps dancer Tene Ward explaining how this is actually about outdated traditions and ingrained racism.

O’Neill: Right. I think this was one of many examples of how an issue or a tension really comes to life through the characters. Once we found Tene’s point of view on the tights, it was like, oh, this has so much significance, both as a specific issue and as an example of how difficult it is to make even these small changes in these large organizations when it comes to systemic issues. It’s not like changing the swan to a cow, but it shows what you face when you try to make a change that is unequivocally right: artistically, ethically, socio-politically.

Another great character is Shae Estrada, a chain-smoking, biker-jacket-wearing badass of a ballerina. Was it important to depict someone who is so outside of the stereotype?

O’Neill: Chelsea interviewed all 70 dancers in the company before we started shooting the project, just to get a sense of the backstories, and Shae was off at that time. And then Chelsea met her shortly before we started shooting, and they were like, Stop the presses—we need to add a character. She’s incredible. She’s an outsider, and she’s honest in a way that is very rare in this world. 

McMullan: I think we felt like she would be the person the audience would relate to. She speaks her mind, and as we see in the doc, she is dealing with some real demons. But she’s also funny. She’s that bridge between the two worlds. 

Neve Campbell is an executive producer. How did that happen?

McMullan: I was watching everything I could around ballet for my research, and one of the films I watched was The Company, which was such a beautiful film and probably our biggest inspiration. So then I went down a Google spiral of Neve Campbell and found out that she trained at the National Ballet School, so we reached out. 

O’Neill: She was incredible. She gave amazing notes: she brought the perspective of the dancers and she also has the eye of a filmmaker. She was also just really nice and sweet and a real cheerleader during the editing process. She came to TIFF during the actors strike and walked the red carpet, which is not an easy thing to do. 

Were you guys Party of Five fans?

O’Neill: Yes. But, even more than that, The Craft. “Light as a feather, stiff as a board” for life.

McMullan: I was more Party of Five. And then Wild Things, obviously. 

O’Neill: Obviously. 

At one point, Robert Binet, the choreographic associate, talks about the tension between striving for the best possible art and the sacrifice it requires, which is a theme that runs through the whole movie.

McMullan: Yes, and I think it became so prevalent because we were having those conversations ourselves about what we were putting our own team through and whether it was worth it. 

O’Neill: You have this deranged hunger to want to make something that will stir something in somebody else and has meaning and value. And in my experience the only way to do that is to devote yourself and surrender. Was it worth it? I think everybody’s answer is their own, and it probably changes from day to day and based on the reception a project gets. 

You’re Canadian documentary makers—I assumed you were in it for the money.

O’Neill: I am hanging up on you right now. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “Karen Kain is not a Real Housewife”: How the filmmakers of <em>Swan Song</em> captured the subtle drama of the National Ballet of Canada appeared first on Toronto Life.

A-listers, Hollywood trailblazers and Toronto socialites hit the red carpet on Sunday night for the fifth annual TIFF Tribute Awards gala at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The star-studded evening honoured the work of film legends Spike Lee, Patricia Arquette, Pedro Almodóvar, Shawn Levy and more. Here, a look at the famous faces who showed up for the glitzy evening.

The post All the celebrities who showed up to the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards gala appeared first on Toronto Life.

In many ways, Atom Egoyan’s latest film is a blast from the past. In 1996, the then-newbie director was approached by the Canadian Opera Company to direct Salome—Strauss’s sexually charged, disturbingly violent 1905 masterpiece about the death of John the Baptist. Egoyan’s version was controversial (some critics objected to the explicit rape scene) and one he would rework with multiple stagings over the next three decades. Fast forward to February of this year, when Egoyan directed yet another rendition of Salome at the Four Seasons Centre—only this time, he was also filming a movie. In Seven Veils, which premiered at TIFF last night, Amanda Seyfried plays Jeanine, a director who steps in to helm a staging of Salome under traumatic circumstances. In her desire to excel, she bumps up against ghosts from the past and creative guardrails of the present. 

It’s not the first collab for Egoyan and Seyfried, who also worked together on 2009’s Chloe. Here, Egoyan talks about the creative reunion and why he understands Seyfried’s decision to skip the festival this year amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at the Toronto International Film Festival this year

You’re best known as a movie director. Have you always been an opera buff on the side?
I was never an opera geek, but I was obsessed with Jesus Christ Superstar growing up, so the idea of a biblical story set to music was ingrained in me. When I was approached to direct Salome back in the mid-’90s, I started listening to it and felt a connection—particularly with the libretto, which is based on the play by Oscar Wilde and deals with themes of desire and frustration. Obviously, the opera has been around for hundreds of years, but my version was the first one that imagines the final “Dance of the Seven Veils”—the scene in which Salome is raped by her father’s friends—as a flashback, performed behind a curtain as a shadow dance. It was considered radical and provocative at the time, and there was a lot of criticism. I toned down some of the violence for the remount we did in 2002, and I’ve done so even more over the years. Two years ago, when the COC asked if I would do it again, I started thinking about this character who was wrestling with some of the same things that I’ve dealt with.

Just to clarify: you directed Seven Veils the movie while also directing the opera within the movie for a live audience?
Yes. The opera ran for two weeks in February at the Four Seasons Centre, so the production that you see in the movie—including performances by world-famous opera singers—is all real. It meant that we had to do most of the shooting in a two-week period, which was a challenge.

You mentioned this character—the artistic director, Jeanine, played by Amanda Seyfried—who also struggles to live up to previous stagings of Salome. To what extent is her experience based on yours?
Like Jeanine, I understand what it’s like when you try to get performers to do things a certain way and come up against resistance. I’m a director who likes to explain things a lot. I tend to get very excited about a line or a gesture, and I want to transmit that enthusiasm to actors, which can happen physically. Amanda and I have worked together before, so I think some of her character’s physicality might have been based on me, but you’d have to ask her about that. Her character is tortured by this idea of living up to the previous production: Will she be able to summon the erotic energy?

You’re Atom Egoyan—if there’s one thing you can do, it’s summon erotic energy.
In regards to a lot of my older work, I think I was always playing by the rules and I was always respectful, but we didn’t have intimacy coaches on set—there was nothing drawn up. It raises the question: Would the work have been the same with these other people involved? I think it’s great that the industry has introduced intimacy coaches as a form of self-regulation, because we know that there are people who take advantage. The woman who plays the intimacy coach in the movie was also our intimacy coach on set.

But, in the movie, Jeanine seems to bristle against what she perceives as a creative restriction.
Right. There’s a question raised about whether she witnessed and experienced abuse when she was on the set of the same show years earlier. So, is this an example of a traumatized person transmitting that onto other people? There is that moment with the understudy, when Jeanine is running her fingers through his hand. She’s trying to create a breakthrough moment, but he’s clearly uncomfortable—and imagine if she were a male director and he was a woman.

You mentioned that you and Seyfried have worked together before. Would it be too much to call her your muse? Is muse even a term we should be using in 2023?
I think it’s an outdated term. My wife, Arsinée, would always cringe when people called her my muse, even though my wife did inspire many of the things that I wrote. After working with Amanda on Chloe and then seeing her in The Dropout, I thought, She’s one of the best actors around. So, when the script was finished, I was hopeful that she would like it. We had promised we would work together again, and this was the right project.

Before The Dropout, a lot of people knew Seyfried best as the ditz in Mean Girls. Were you happy to see her talent so widely recognized?
Oh yeah, totally. She was so amazing—and that voice. She would do the Elizabeth Holmes voice on set for us.

Seyfried is not at TIFF to promote the movie. Despite being granted a waiver, she has said that it “didn’t feel right.” Was that disappointing, particularly with some other stars doing the festival circuit?
I think that people are missing a nuance. There is a waiver, but there’s also an interim agreement between the production and SAG-AFTRA, which is the gold standard and what actors like Adam Driver are operating under. We are a Canadian film operating under a Canadian union, so we would never sign an interim agreement with an American union. I know Amanda was torn. We just screened the film for her in New York, and she’s super excited about it, but in the end, I think she didn’t want to come here and just answer questions about the strike.

On the plus side, without all the movie stars, the spotlight is finally on Canadian directors!
Well, hopefully it’s on Canadian talent. Rebecca Liddiard, who plays Clea, is an amazing talent. Vanessa Antione, Lanette Ware, Mark O’Brien, Douglas Smith—they’re all Canadian union members, and they’re going to be on the red carpet. 

Do you agree that the strike could present opportunities for CanCon?
Fingers crossed. The reality is that I wouldn’t have my career if it weren’t for TIFF, and I wonder if young Canadian directors have been getting the same attention as I got in the ’80s, when there was so much excitement around Canadian cinema. It’s hard to break through when you have so much energy around the American star system.

Your movies tend to be quite heavy, and Seven Veils is no exception. Do you ever finish a project and think, You know what, next time I’m going to do a rom-com?
I mean, if the right story came along… I’m a big fan of comedy. I love movies like Bridesmaids—Kristen Wiig is just the best. But, as a director, you have to feel like you are the absolute best person to do the project. There are a lot of films that I’ve loved watching, but I don’t know if I’m the one for the job.

I like the idea of a semi-erotic Canadian Bridesmaids. Maybe bring in Sarah Polley, Arsinée and Amanda Seyfried.
Maybe they’re remounting a production of Jesus Christ Superstar and they’re all auditioning for Mary Magdalene.

Coming to TIFF 2026…
Ha, right.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “I wouldn’t have my career if it weren’t for TIFF”: Atom Egoyan on his new opera-inspired film, <em>Seven Veils</em> appeared first on Toronto Life.

Artists for Peace and Justice Gala

Nelly Furtado was spotted at the Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) gala, a fundraiser that supports youth in Haiti. Here, she raises the roof before being honoured with the Artists for Justice and Peace Award.

Related: Everything inside this year’s ultra-luxe TIFF swag bag

Furtado’s award was presented by 2017 Polaris Prize winner Lido Pimienta.

APJ co-chair Suzanne Boyd and tech CEO Dax Dasilva flank filmmaker Director X, who received the Canadian Changemaker Award.

Handmaid’s Tale actor Amanda Brugel with Furtado.

Prolific Toronto restaurateur Charles Khabouth.

Long-time APJ supporter George Stroumboulopoulos emceed the event.

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year

Writer-photographer Eric Hendrikx and APJ co-chair Natasha Koifman hosted the event in their backyard.

Backspot premiere party

After the world premiere of Backspot, the team behind the new cheerleading flick attended an after-party at Marbl. Elliot Page executive-produced the film, D. W. Waterson directed and Devery Jacobs, of Reservation Dogs, starred.

Related: Devery Jacobs and D.W. Waterson on Backspot, their new cheerleading film

Waterson also deejayed.

RBC House Opening

The RBC house at Petros82 hosted a music-themed party, which was deejayed by former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, a.k.a. DJ Diesel.

O’Neal also met Priyanka, the winner of Canada’s Drag Race season one.

Black Academy Legacy Awards Kick-Off Party

The RBC House and Petros82 hosted a celebration of Black Canadian talent. Here, Director X is seen hanging out with actor Stephan James, founder of the awards.

Zaib Shaikh, consul general of Canada in Los Angeles, with Kirstine Stewart, head of Shaping the Future of Media at the World Economic Forum.

Siphesihle November, a principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada and the subject of the documentary Beyond Moving, made an appearance.

Women in Film Luncheon

The Kit and the Four Seasons Hotel co-hosted a celebration of women in film. The Kit‘s co-editor Laura deCarufel (far left) is pictured here with panellists (from left) Anubha Momin, Meredith Hama-Brown, Noura Kevorkian, Zoe Hopkins and Vanessa Magic.

DeCarufel with Halla Rafati, the founder and CEO of Halo and Co. Public Relations. 

Broadcasting icon Lisa LaFlamme was among the attendees. 

Writer Kathleen Newman-Bremang, TSN anchor Kayla Grey and Etalk correspondent Lainey Lui attended.

The post The best parties that went down on the first weekend of TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

There may not be as many A-listers headed to TIFF this year, but the VIPs who do show up will leave with a swanky grab bag of free stuff to eat, drink, wear and enjoy. While it’s not quite on the scale of the Oscars’ $126,000 bags, the designer duffle of goodies is still brimming with covetable products. Below, everything inside the Browns Shoes–sponsored swag bag.

A chic carry-all
Think the TIFF marketing execs would plop their loot into a paper bag? Zero chance. Instead, Australian accessories brand Bellroy’s $149 Lite Duffel—in a stylish black-on-black checker print and with a $50 matching pouch to boot—has ample room to haul everything you’ll need as you party-hop.

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year

Shades from Posh Spice
Celebrity hunters are especially hawk-eyed this time of year. No A-lister is safe without the quintessential selfie-dodging technology: a pair of sunglasses. The most expensive item in the bag is a $522 pair (either chunky squares or aviators) from Victoria Beckham Eyewear.

An AI-powered toothbrush
It may seem less glam, but what’s sexier than minty-fresh breath? This Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige brush makes it clear that regular toothbrushes are as D-list as it gets. Available in black, white or Barbie-pink, the $500 high-tech teeth cleaner uses AI to monitor your brushings and send you “scrubbing feedback” via an app on your phone.

A Spanish sipper
If the celebs are planning to cheers to the opening night of all 200-plus feature films at the festival, they’re going to need a lot of wine. Luckily, Rueda is making sure they’re stocked up on Spanish vino. It’s best paired with the big bag of fresh bacon-and-cheddar kernels included in the swag bag, care of the Toronto Popcorn Company.

Unlimited bubbly water
It’s smart to follow up the wine with some hydration—and TIFF would never subject its VIPs to flat water or, god forbid, tap. Luckily, sparking water will flow free, because SodaStream is putting its newest model inside each TIFF swag bag, complete with an adorable vintage handle. Perfect for sipping out of a DavidsTea double-walled glass mug, which is also included.

A tropical tan
For celebs who didn’t catch enough rays this summer, the swag bag has a pouch of potions from St. Tropez. The tanning brand has a “Luxe” line that includes an eight-hour mousse and bronze water mist for that sun-kissed, fresh-off-the-beach look without the stained sheets or chemical smells from the self-tanners of yore. They also include the softest tanning application glove that ever was.

Astrologically accurate nail colours
Each of the VIP gift bags comes with an early look at OPI’s Big Zodiac Energy collection, which launches this fall. The twelve sparkling and metallic shades correspond with the twelve houses of the zodiac. Assuming celebs choose according to their sign, Dakota Johnson will don deep-pink #Virgoals, Maya Hawke will get the pale-pearl Gemini and I, and Jessica Chastain will take home the blood-red Kiss My Aries.

Red-carpet-ready hair products
Trying to keep multiple hours’ worth of hair styling together in this heatwave is no joke. Thankfully, Canada’s own Marc Anthony Hair is giving VIPs a sneak preview of its upcoming Define and Hold Flex Gel. Also included is the brand’s new Repair Bond and Rescuplex line, to counteract the damage that inevitably comes from all the straightening and curling Hollywood stars are subjected to.

A full face of makeup
Last but not least, the swag bag includes a pile of beauty products from Stila. The paparazzi-ready picks include a jet-black mascara, three Stay All Day liners (lip, liquid and pink for the waterline, if you dare), burgundy Plumping Lip Glaze, a daring gold eyeshadow and the Sculpt and Glow Contour and Highlighter palette.

The post Everything inside this year’s ultra-luxe TIFF swag bag appeared first on Toronto Life.

Move over But I’m a Cheerleader—there’s a new queer cheerleading film in town. Helmed by power couple D. W. Waterson and Devery Jacobs, Backspot follows Jacobs’s character, Riley, as she struggles with the pressure of being tapped to join an elite cheerleading squad just weeks before a massive competition. Jacobs and Waterson, who directs, are no strangers to high-intensity situations—they had just 17 days to shoot the film in Toronto this spring before making a quick turnaround for festival season. It didn’t hurt that they had some extra star power in their corner: the film is executive-produced by Elliot Page through his new company, Page Boy Productions, and features Evan Rachel Wood as Riley’s prickly cheer coach. Ahead of the film’s world premiere at TIFF tonight, Waterson and Jacobs spoke with us about their own brushes with cheer, depicting cheerleaders as both hard-core athletes and regular teen girls, and why queer sports movies so often become cult classics.

This movie has been a long time in the making—it began as a short that came out in 2017, which you then developed into a feature film. Where did the idea come from?

Waterson: Devery and I were actually together, in a taxi on our way to a TIFF event. I’d been wanting to make a movie that explored sport and its effect on people’s relationships and their bodies. At TIFF that year, it felt like every movie I saw had a cheerleading sequence or somebody wearing a cheer uniform. The universe was telling me something. So I said, “I think the film I’m trying to make is a cheer film.”

Jacobs: At that moment, I was like, “Oh, I actually used to be a competitive gymnast.” I knew I’d be able to do all my own stunts if I had some notice to get back to the gym.

Waterson: Of course I was like, “You have to be in it.”

Jacobs: That conversation was the seed that became Backspot.

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year

So you’re not veteran cheerleaders yourselves?

Jacobs: I was actually asked to be on a cheer team once, the kind that travels to Florida for competitions. I almost said yes, but life was taking me in another direction. So, in a way, I’m finally living out my cheer fantasy. But I’m not a teenager anymore, even though I’m playing one, and it’s a very youthful sport. Mostly I had to be very careful that I didn’t get injured.

D. W., you’re also a DJ. I hear you’ve been known to throw on a cheerleading outfit during your sets.

Waterson: Ha—it started when I dressed as Gwen Stefani one Halloween. Something happens to the human brain when someone’s wearing a cheerleading uniform. People get extra hyped. Plus, I liked the juxtaposition of being in a cheerleading uniform while banging on these big drum sets.

Backspot’s depiction of competitive cheerleading isn’t as glossy as Bring It On fans may expect. There are a lot of gnarly bruises and blisters. Why was that something you wanted to zoom in on?

Waterson: It’s a side of cheerleading we don’t often see. Most of the references to cheer in film and TV are comedic and low stakes. I was like, Where’s the respect? I wanted to approach it in the same way a male director would approach a gritty football movie. For five years, our writer, Joanne Sarazen, and I would go to practices and cheer camps. That helped us get that sense of reality. I also loved the contrast of the girls throwing one another in the air and being hard-core athletes and then just acting dumb and dancing to Cardi B, so we tried to incorporate that as well.

You’re both producers on Backspot. Does having multiple roles change the way you approach a project?

Waterson: Totally, and with an indie film, it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck scenario. We didn’t have a huge crew, and we shot the whole thing in 17 days. So, yes, lots of putting on different caps. Everybody’s just trying to make the best movie they can.

Jacobs: Working in different positions also gives you more perspective. My time working in writers’ rooms helped me understand the story better, which shaped my outlook on development as a producer on Backspot. That, in turn, helped shape the arc I knew I would be playing as an actor. They all bleed into one another. But, yes, like D. W. said, in indie films, all bets are off—you’re doing every position you can possibly can.

Shooting a feature film in 17 days is quite a feat.

Waterson: It felt like we became the cheerleaders: we were going through this gruelling experience. It was great—it was worth it. We performed, we hit our marks, we won the competition.

Related: Filmmaker M. H. Murray on bringing the realities of HIV treatment to TIFF

What was it like working with Elliot Page?

Jacobs: It was incredible. So often, you have an executive producer on a project and you just never hear from them. They’re not involved at all. But Pageboy Productions was so hands on. They had producers with us every day and were so instrumental in making this film happen. Elliot has been such a champion of ours, which is mind blowing because we both grew up as fans of his.

Evan Rachel Wood was also on board, playing Eileen, Riley’s tough-to-impress cheerleading coach. Hopefully she’s not as intimidating off-camera as she is in the movie?

Waterson: No, she’s awesome. There was one point, after we wrapped, where she let all the girls lift her up in the air like one of the fliers. I’m sure that photo will come out at some point. She was lovely and such a pro.

Jacobs: Her character is so tough, but as soon as someone yelled “cut,” she would just laugh it off. She’s got this big, booming laugh. I think queer viewers are going to be into her character in very specific ways.

Big “mean is hot” vibes.

Jacobs: Exactly.

Devery, you said recently that you were “excited to take on a character who just happens to have a girlfriend and for whom queerness is not the problem.” Was that something that was important to both of you?

Waterson: Definitely. We don’t see positive queer relationships often—usually the main conflict in the story is queerness itself. I really wanted to move past that, so I was very protective over Riley’s relationship with her girlfriend during the writing process.

Jacobs: And that doesn’t have to mean that there’s not conflict. Conflict happens in relationships—walking through life as a queer person doesn’t mean I suddenly have no issues. But, often, I have issues that have nothing to do with being queer. Instead, we wanted to show queer characters of different ages coming together and exploring ways to bridge the generational gaps between them. For instance, Riley and her assistant cheer coach, Devon. He takes on that role of queer elder, where he’s guiding her but also telling her to get her shit together. It helps that we had so many queer collaborators. Everybody understood what we were trying to do.

Movies and TV shows with queer characters and sports teams often develop cult followings—I’m thinking A League of Their Own or Yellowjackets. Why do you think people are so drawn to that crossover?

Waterson: Queer people are competitive, and sports are fun. Sports can also be campy. Even just the change room can, for queer people, be a whole different experience in and of itself, and we don’t see that explored very often. Plus, right now, there are so many people with opinions on queer and trans people in sports—who gets to do what and in what category. It’s insane, and it makes it really challenging to just exist in the sporting world. So maybe access to that is part of the appeal.

Jacobs: There are also such crushable characters—I mean, Geena Davis in A League of Their Own? Come on. And femme queer folks especially have been so starved for representation in film and TV. Among the many reasons why these series are successful is the fact that we’ve been so hungry for them for so long.

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you both about But I’m a Cheerleader, which is the queer cheerleading movie. Was it a source of inspiration?

Waterson: Obviously, it’s a cult classic and a pivotal film in the queer canon. But, to be fair, there’s not a lot of actual cheerleading that happens in that movie. We definitely took a few steps in a different direction.

Jacobs: We love that movie, though. I was recently on a Hollywood Reporter panel with Natasha Lyonne, who starred in it. Afterward, we were in an elevator together, and I was like, “I just have to say that I’m such a big fan of But I’m a Cheerleader.” She just said, “Yeah, that movie really has legs.” I told her that I’d just produced and acted in a different queer cheerleading feature. She was psyched about it.

Related: Meet the filmmakers documenting Nickelback, Canada’s most polarizing band

You two co-run a production company together called Night Is Y, which is based in Toronto. What made you want to set up here?

Jacobs: For me, being Mohawk, there’s something about being in Haudenosaunee territory that just feels right. It’s where I draw inspiration from in terms of storytelling. There’s a magic in Toronto that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere, especially during these heatwaves and this part of the summer.

Waterson: I love Toronto. There’s such an incredible art scene. Unfortunately, we lose a lot of talent to other countries, so I really want to bring it back home. And it’s like, why aren’t we setting up shop here? We have a great tax system, a great grant system. Let’s tell our stories and be aggressive in making room for new, younger voices.

Both of you have been to TIFF before. What’s it like being back this year?

Waterson: TIFF always has a special energy. With the Hollywood strikes, I feel like there’s this new spotlight on indie films. We’ll see what happens, but I think we’re seeing stories that maybe wouldn’t have gotten as much emphasis in past years.

Jacobs: I’ve been to TIFF a couple of times now, with many different projects, but this is my first time being here as a producer, which feels special. It’s the same for D. W., who’s been part of the TIFF Filmmaker’s Lab but hasn’t had a project in the festival until now. So it’s very cool to be able to celebrate this together.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “There are so many opinions about queer people in sports”: Devery Jacobs and D. W. Waterson on their new cheerleading film appeared first on Toronto Life.

Toronto filmmaker M. H. Murray’s latest project, I Don’t Know Who You Are, follows Benjamin, a young artist scraping by in Toronto, as he struggles to afford the exorbitant cost of HIV-prevention drugs after being sexually assaulted by a stranger. Caught your interest? You’re not alone—both TIFF screenings have already sold out. For those who didn’t score tickets in advance, we caught up with Murray to talk about the line between fiction and reality, Toronto’s unspoken class divides and the ways our health care system has—and hasn’t—made HIV care properly accessible.

Congratulations on selling out both screenings of your film—and on the first day of ticket sales. How does it feel?
Exciting! But also bittersweet, because there are a lot of people I was hoping would be there who weren’t able to get tickets. I’m like, Who bought them all? It’s been a frantic dash to try to find tickets for the cast and crew, and there just aren’t enough to go around. 

Related: TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey on organizing the city’s glitziest festival in an era of Hollywood strikes

Followers of your work will recognize a few things in this film, namely the main character, Benjamin (Mark Clennon), and some of the set pieces, which also appeared in your 2020 short film, Ghost. What’s the relationship between the two films?
Ghost features the same character, Benjamin, but it’s a different story, about him being ghosted by his lover. Mark is one of my best friends in real life, and that was a kind of a practice round for us. We shot the apartment scenes of both films in his actual apartment, so it was very intimate. I also wanted to push myself as a filmmaker by doing it as a one-day shoot and as a film entirely without dialogue—though I did cheat a little by using text bubbles.

How did Ghost evolve into this film?
After we finished Ghost, the pandemic hit, and the queer horror movie I was supposed to be working on got sidelined. Like a lot of people, I spent the lockdowns having an existential crisis. With the lack of resources in the film industry at that time, I began to realize that, if I was going to make another feature, it needed to be something where I could rely on myself and the people I’d already worked with. I had been sexually assaulted prior to the pandemic, and working with Mark, I submitted an application to the Canada Arts Council to develop a screenplay telling my story.

The main drama of the film revolves around Benjamin being sexually assaulted by a stranger and struggling to access health care that would ward off an HIV infection. How much of it is a true story?
The character of Benjamin is obviously not me—he came out of a collaboration between myself, Mark and Victoria Long, a producer who also plays the character of Lola in the film, a friend of Benjamin’s and a musician in his band. But, while it’s fiction, there’s a lot of myself in there. The logistics of his assault and the struggle that follows are very true to life. What happened to me is in the film. From there, Mark and Victoria helped me filter my story through the character of Benjamin, this cool person who, like a lot of us freelance artists, is always one financial mishap away from having nothing. And yet, he looks great from the outside. No one walking the down the street would be like, “Oh, that person is suffering.” That’s the whole thesis of the film. 

What are some of the ways you bring that theme out in the film?
The sound design features a lot of streetcars and GO trains going by because, when you live in a city, it’s never fully silent. Even if your life is falling apart, everyone else is just going about their own lives. It’s an interesting conundrum where you can still carve out a beautiful reality for yourself amid the chaos, but you’re also faced with this brutal bureaucratic system. Benjamin has to beg a pharmacist to waive the fees for his HIV medication, but he’s the tenth person that pharmacist has seen today. I’ll note that all the health care workers in the film are real health care workers.

No way.
Yeah. The pharmacist is real, and we shot his scenes in his real pharmacy in Victoria Park. I was like, “Um, you know Benjamin has to jump over the counter and knock things over for this scene?” And he gave us free rein of the place. Cheryl Wagner, who played an ER doctor, has been working with HIV and AIDS patients since the ’80s. Randy Davis, who plays Carlos the HIV testing worker in the film, runs a clinic in Barrie and is campaigning to make post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) more accessible. Hopefully we can spread awareness about how PEP works, since a lot of queer people don’t even know about it. 

Many of the conversations between characters are skipped over or just alluded to—but the medical processes are laid out in explicit detail. How come?
I didn’t want the film to feel like a PSA or anything. We set out to make a fictional character study. But I hope it’s also a film that people can learn from. It’s a fine line. We shot so much stuff in the HIV clinic and ER scenes. But, thinking back to my experience, when you’re in that moment, there’s so much information being thrown at you, you don’t remember half of it. You’re in turmoil. I drew on my experience working with Mark in Ghost to ask, What is the really important thing in this scene? And that led to more quiet moments, like Mark just sitting with a friend in silence or looking into a lover’s eyes, not needing to say, “I love you.” 

In his blurb describing the film, TIFF programmer Norm Wilner calls it a “tour through the city’s unspoken class system.” Would you agree?
It’s interesting, because a lot of people have told me this film makes Toronto seem like a cold, dark place. And that was not my intention! I think it’s just a by-product of how the city feels right now. We shot it in early 2021, when the sense of pandemic dread was still there. But I love Toronto. I’m from Mississauga, and I’ve lived in Parkdale and the Beaches. I put Benjamin’s friend Agnes and her well-off husband in a fancy condo—actually the Shangri-La Hotel—because it was the perfect juxtaposition to Benjamin’s apartment, which is filled with his art, plants and personality. It’s alive, whereas the Shangri-La is just dead in the sky. 

In that scene, Benjamin goes to his friends asking for money since he can’t afford the cost of PEP drugs, which are almost $1,000. What does the film say about the state of health care for HIV?
There are so many different resources in the city, but they aren’t integrated well, and that causes problems for people who don’t have money. Instead of there being a social safety net, each individual has to sort out their own care with what resources they have. If this had happened to Agnes, who is wealthier, she would know somebody who knows somebody, and they’d get help. But, when that isn’t possible, it’s easy to get stuck. If the various parts of the health care system—the ER, the pharmacy, the HIV testing clinic—were better connected, and people had more information, then in theory, the situation Benjamin was in, struggling to get health care, wouldn’t exist. 

What do you want people to take away from the film?
For anyone who watches it to think, “Okay, maybe I will go get tested” or “Maybe I don’t need to be so scared to talk about this with this person.” Communication is so difficult, but in the film, if Benjamin had just communicated with a certain character, he would have been able to avoid so much of the bullshit he dealt with. In life, we push people away because we aren’t sure who they are.

Hey, that’s the title of the film! What does it mean?
It’s taken from a song that Mark wrote, which is on some level about a person figuring out who he is and who people around him are. But, on a more concrete level, it’s about being a victim of sexual assault by a stranger and not knowing anything about them. From my situation, it added a lot of stress, because you don’t know their HIV status or if they do this all the time or anything. Yet they’ve so dramatically changed your life. I remember sitting and struggling with what to call the movie, and I started writing a monologue, which didn’t make the final cut, where Benjamin says, “I could walk into this person at the doctor’s office one day, and they might not even recognize me. But I’d recognize them.” It’s that spooky feeling. 

For the unlucky masses who didn’t snipe a TIFF ticket, where can they see the film?
It’s going to be competing in Calgary for the Best Emerging Narrative awards, and then we’re going to VIFF in Vancouver. We have a distribution deal with Vortex Media, so we’ll be having a cinematic release sometime in the near future. It’s coming to a cinema near you—eventually.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

The post “It can be a struggle to get health care”: Filmmaker M. H. Murray on bringing the realities of HIV treatment to TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

Nickelback formed in the ’90s as four high school buds who wanted to make music together. They paid their dues touring tiny venues for even tinier paycheques and then exploded onto the world stage in 2001 with their iconic earworm “How You Remind Me.” Massive hits like “Photograph,” “Someday” and “Rockstar” followed. Then, sometime in the mid-aughts, the band became as well-known for their haters as for their fan base.

“It was something they didn’t want to talk about at first,” says Leigh Brooks, the British documentarian who flew to Vancouver to film a quick album promo for the group in 2017 and, six years later, ended up with something very different. In Hate to Love: Nickelback, Brooks and producer Ben Jones go behind the scenes to tell the real story of Canada’s most reviled rockers. As it turns out (spoiler alert!), you may not actually hate them as much as you think. Catch the film at TIFF—or see the band’s free performance this Friday to kick off the festival—to decide for yourself.

Related: Thirteen must-see movies at the Toronto International Film Festival this year

How did two British filmmakers wind up making a doc about Canada’s most polarizing rock band?

Ben: I had a relationship with the band that went back to my days as a radio presenter in the late ’90s. I was the first one to play them on the radio in the UK, and then when the hate started, in 2006 or 2007, I could have jumped on that bandwagon, but I didn’t. I have always enjoyed Nickelback and their music in the same way I enjoy Bon Jovi or ZZ Top—when you want to hear some good old fashioned rock and roll. 

What about you, Leigh? Lover or hater?

Leigh: I was into harder music growing up, so it was more that I didn’t really know their stuff. I remember, when “How You Remind Me” came out in 2001, thinking that it was a great song to sing along to. I did know about the hate that came later, but I never got on board. And then, flash forward to 2017, Ben hired me to shoot an electronic press kit for Feed the Machine, which was their ninth album. I flew out to Vancouver, and we did a series of interviews that ended up being a lot more extensive than we had planned. At some point, we realized what we had was more than just a quick promo video. 

Ben: That was six years ago, and the doc really did grow into something totally different from what we started working on and even what we had a couple of years ago. 

When did you decide to focus on Nickelback’s haters? And did the band have any objections?

Leigh: When we first started working with them, the guys brushed that whole part of their story off and didn’t really want to delve into it. It took years to establish trust to the point where they would talk about it. 

Ben: I think that, as they saw more and more footage, they realized we were attempting a level of filmmaking that they hadn’t participated in before. And then, as time passed, they reached the point where they started embracing their own narrative, leaning in to the haters and the role they have played. For a group to achieve longevity, people need to have an opinion, and it doesn’t always matter if it’s good or bad. A lot of their more recent success has come from having a sense of humour on social media, particularly TikTok, where they show a lot of honesty and self awareness. 

Leigh: This idea of being “hated” on the internet has become almost a right of passage for people in the public eye, and Nickelback was among the first to experience that level of backlash. I wanted to get a peek behind the curtain: What does that feel like? What are the lessons they take away from that experience? 

What are the lessons?

Leigh: I think you learn not to be intoxicated by the love and not to be consumed by the hate. It’s about finding balance and understanding that it’s all part of the journey.

Ben: There are plenty of late-’90s post rock bands that we don’t remember anymore. To achieve backlash, you have to first achieve a certain level of success. I remember when Maroon 5 played the Superbowl and they were “the most hated band in the world.”

Leigh: And then Chad Kroeger was like, “Hold my coat…”

Any theories on why people find this band so objectionable?

Leigh: We did some interviews where we would ask people that question, and a lot of their answers were third person—people talking about how other people hate Nickelback—so it’s all a bit nebulous. 

Ben: People say all their songs sound the same, but that’s true of a lot of bands. Look at AC/DC! 

Leigh: Or that they’re all about making money and not the art, which is an opinion people have about all bands at some point, except maybe Radiohead. 

Ben: The other thing to remember is that they hit their peak—the All the Right Reasons era—just as we all got iPhones. It wasn’t just hearing them on the radio or TV. Nickelback became ubiquitous at the same time as we could all be anonymous. 

The mid-aughts were a pretty salty time for the internet overall.

Ben: Right. Even though, when you compare it to today, you realize it was not so bad. As Ryan says at one point in the doc, those were the good old days. 

There is plenty of rock in your movie, but not a lot of sex or drugs. Is that because the guys in Nickelback aren’t into that stuff?

Leigh: If they were doing shitloads of drugs, that would have been in there, but that’s not the scene. Chad does a lot of drinking, as you see in the film, and that was something I enjoyed doing with him. The other guys are all very low-key, married to their childhood sweethearts. It’s a pretty rare thing. 

As frontman, Chad has always gotten the most hate. I think maybe the hair has something to do with it. What was he like?

Leigh: I think he has become very guarded with what he’s been put through over the years. There is a scene where he talks about how he can’t just go out and be anonymous like the other guys can—with his looks and, yes, the hair. I can tell you that I have never met a more generous, welcoming host. Especially not a rock star. If you ever have a chance to go for a beer with Chad, you must. 

Your six years of filming included a global pandemic. How did Covid influence the movie you ended up with?

Ben: Well, like I said, the story we ended up telling was quite different from how we started out, partly because of what these guys—as a band and as individuals—went through in that time. There were health issues, existential crises. I think that, if you are middle-aged, you will relate to a lot of what happens. Even before the pandemic, there was this lull and they weren’t sure about how to move forward or whether they were going to record a new album, and then the world changed, and the back end of the film became a celebration of going out on the road again for the band and for the fans. It’s a celebration of live music. 

Are the haters still active?

Ben: What we’ve seen that’s so interesting is the role of nostalgia. For my age, it’s ’80s nights, but for people who grew up in the late ’90s or early aughts, Nickelback is their nostalgia music. So maybe they hated it back then, but suddenly it’s all right, and then you have this whole new generation that has discovered them on social media, and they hear, Oh, they were really hated twenty years ago, and it’s like, Who cares? 

Leigh: My wife came to the show at the O2 Arena, in London. She was like, “Do I have to come? I don’t know any of their songs.” And then of course it turned out that she did know all of their songs and had an amazing time. 

Okay, fair, but you must have someone in your life who really does hate Nickelback.

Leigh: I nearly lost a friend over a couple of beers one night. We were sort of joking, but it got pretty animated, and I showed him some footage from the film, and he changed his opinion about 20 minutes in. It will be interesting to see if that happens to other people. 

Full disclosure: I thought I hated Nickelback, but I watched the movie and they are actually pretty great.

Ben: I have tears in my eyes hearing you say that. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “Nickelback has embraced their haters”: Meet the filmmakers documenting Canada’s most polarizing band appeared first on Toronto Life.

It’s finally the first week of September, which means the Toronto International Film Festival is back and poised to take over the city. While this year’s festivities may look slightly different from those of previous years as the ongoing SAG-ACTRA strike finds many Hollywood actors opting out of red carpet appearances to protest low pay, labour conditions and the use of AI, TIFF is still a must-attend event thanks to the impressive slate of films premiering. From star-studded, based-on-real-life films like Dumb Money, about the GameStop versus Wall Street saga, to movies from Canadian icons, like Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, there’s no shortage of features to add to your watch list. Here, 13 must-see movies at this year’s TIFF.

Related: TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey on organizing the city’s glitziest festival in an era of Hollywood strikes

Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan)

Directed by Canadian film icon Atom Egoyan and co-presented with the Canadian Opera Company, psychodrama Seven Veils is one of this year’s most-hyped titles. Amanda Seyfried stars as Jeanine, a troubled young theatre director who is remounting a Canadian Opera Company production of Salome after the death of her mentor. As she works on the production, Jeanine is forced to reckon with her history with the opera, her relationship with her deceased mentor and her own family.

The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki)

Opening the festival this year, animated film The Boy and the Heron is the latest from famed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The movie takes place during the Second World War and follows a young boy who moves to the countryside after a family tragedy, where his father gets a job making planes for Japan’s military. The film has already been heralded as a masterpiece. It’s also the first Japanese and the first animated film to open the festival. 

Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)

Starring Michael Fassbender and Elisabeth Moss, this comedy from actor-director Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) is based on the real-life story of the American Samoan soccer team’s attempt to qualify for the World Cup in 2014—12 years after its infamous 31–0 loss in a 2002 World Cup qualifying match.

Related: Where to eat, drink and party like a celebrity during TIFF

Close to You (Dominic Savage)

This intimate Canadian feature starring Elliot Page follows Sam (Page) on his trip back home to Cobourg from Toronto for the first time since transitioning. On his way, a chance encounter with a high school friend forces the pair to confront feelings from their unresolved past.

Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)

Remember when, at the height of the pandemic, everyone was suddenly investing in GameStop? Dumb Money, directed by I, Tonya’s Craig Gillespie, tells the real-life story of the group of Redditors who weaponized meme stocks like GameStop against Wall Street hedge funds, who were betting on them to fail. Starring Seth Rogen as hedge fund manager Gabe Plotkin and Paul Dano as amateur investor Keith Gill, Dumb Money is a look at the creativity of the internet, online communities and how a small gamble became a national battle.

Fitting In (Molly McGlynn)

Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) is a teenage girl who is excited to lose her virginity to her boyfriend—until she finds out that she has a rare reproductive abnormality called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, which means that she doesn’t have a uterus or cervix and has a shortened vaginal canal. While other kids are dating, having sex and going to parties, Lindy struggles with her diagnosis in this darkly funny film from Canadian director Molly McGlynn.

Concrete Utopia (Um Tae-hwa)

Concrete Utopia is a post-apocalyptic epic that takes place in Seoul after a massive earthquake hits the city. Among the rubble, survivors try to pick up the pieces—but they soon realize that the real disaster has only just begun. The film is also South Korea’s entry for this year’s Best International Film race at the 2024 Oscars.

Backspot (D. W. Waterson)

In this film directed by Toronto DJ and filmmaker D. W. Waterson, a driven cheerleader (played by Reservation Dogs’ Devery Jacobs) fights to handle the pressure she feels when she and her girlfriend are both selected for an elite cheer squad.

Pain Hustlers (David Yates)

Harry Potter director David Yates takes on the world of pharmaceutical greed in this must-watch drama. Emily Blunt stars as Liza, a single mom working as a dancer when she meets a drug rep (Chris Evans) who recruits her to push a new type of painkiller designed to give relief to cancer patients. She begins to scheme in order to hit her sales quota—but at what cost?

Hell of a Summer (Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk)

This campy horror-comedy starring and directed by now-grown-up former child actors Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk sits in familiar territory for the pair, in line with genre throwbacks like Stranger Things and the Ghostbusters reboot. Hell of a Summer is inspired by ’80s slashers and follows a group of camp counsellors as a masked killer terrorizes their camp.

Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)

Has there ever been a band both as loved and as reviled as Nickelback? This Canadian documentary is all about the iconic band’s rise, highs and lows. If you can’t grab tickets to the movie, no worries: Nickelback is playing a free concert on Festival Street on Friday, September 8.

Quiz Lady (Jessica Yu)

Starring Sandra Oh and Awkwafina as polar-opposite sisters, this heartwarming comedy follows the pair as they come together to pay off their mother’s gambling debts by concocting a plan to win a Jeopardy–style quiz show.

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)

Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this French film follows a German writer, Sandra, who is arrested for murder following her husband’s mysterious death. With their visually impaired son as the only witness, Sandra has to prove her innocence in a suspenseful drama.

The post Thirteen must-see movies at TIFF this year appeared first on Toronto Life.

After steering the Toronto International Film Festival through two years of Covid-19, CEO Cameron Bailey was excited to get back to the regularly scheduled program of glitz and glamour. Then came the SAG-AFTRA strike to rain all over his red carpet—or so it seemed. Ever the optimist, Bailey says that between celebrity directors and interim agreements that allow SAG-AFTRA members in indie films to promote their work, TIFF 2023 will have plenty of star power. Here, he talks about the famous faces that are still coming to Toronto, the loss of lead sponsor Bell Media and why this year may be a chance for a great festival reset.

I want to talk about all the reasons why we should still be excited about TIFF 2023. But you saw the festival through a global pandemic, and now you’re navigating the SAG-AFTRA and writers strikes, followed by the recent news that your lead sponsor is wrapping up. Has it started to feel like Cameron Bailey’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?
I wouldn’t say that. Every year, we present massive events with hundreds of thousands of attendees, and stuff happens: a pandemic, SARS—the festival was running when 9/11 happened. It’s true that the strikes have had an impact, but we are used to adapting in real time at this point, and we were actually able to put into place some of our Covid-era protocols to manage the fallout from the strikes.

What did that look like?
When we were shut down in March 2020, we started having daily meetings to ensure that everyone had the latest information and to figure out whom we needed to communicate with. We did the same thing for about two weeks after the SAG-AFTRA strike started. Early on, there was so much misinformation and partial information. I think the most important thing that I have learned in the past few years is that, when a crisis happens, it’s so important to have information that is accurate, clear and timely.

Were you ever hopeful that the strike might be resolved in time for the TIFF red carpet?
Hell yes. But, by a week and a half or two weeks in, we realized this was likely to go for quite a while. These are very complicated issues that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are grappling with. I’m not surprised it’s going to take some time.

Related: The president of the Writers Guild of Canada on the Hollywood writers strike

Where does that leave the TIFF red carpet?
I think it is not as bad as a lot of people think. The strike affects the films that are from the major studios and streamers represented by the AMPTP, but the vast majority of our lineup is not affected—all the international films and documentaries, independent films.

That’s good news for cinephiles. What about those who show up for the celeb sightings?
A lot of the films that are made independently ultimately get sold on to bigger companies. SAG-AFTRA members in those movies are allowed to be here based on interim agreements. We’re getting more information every day about who’s coming.

So who’s coming?
Viggo Mortensen will be here as the writer and director of The Dead Don’t Hurt. Anna Kendrick has an independent film, Woman of the Hour. Ethan Hawke directed a film, Wildcat, starring his daughter Maya, and they will both be here. Salma Hayek has produced a Mexican film called El Sabor del Navidad. There’s Michael Keaton and Patricia Arquette. And then all the international stars: Andy Lau is one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong, and he’s coming back to TIFF for the first time in two decades. Anil Kapoor from Slumdog Millionaire has a new film called Thank You for Coming.

Related: Eighteen stunning celebrity photos taken by George Pimentel, Toronto’s resident Hollywood photographer

I remember the year when the biggest story out of TIFF was thousands of fans mobbing Brangelina’s limo. Is it possible that having some—but fewer—Hollywood types could be an opportunity for a reset?
I think so. Stars from around the world and the incredibly strong Canadian talent contingents have always been here. But it’s true that, when there are plane-loads of Hollywood stars, that can attract a lot of immediate attention. The festival is a time to discover new talent and to bring greater focus to people who have been around for a while but are having a career moment. Colman Domingo falls into that category. He’s an actor you will recognize if you watch movies and TV, but you may not have put a name to the face. He’s here in two films. One is Rustin, where he plays civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground. And the other one is called Sing Sing, which is an incredible performance. Elliot Page stars in and is the producer on a film called Close to You, which is the story of a trans man who leaves Toronto and goes home to Cobourg, Ontario, to spend time with his family. This is a beautiful story, something that was very close to Elliot’s heart, and he’s fantastic in it. 

Overall, could this be the year for CanCon to shine?
Definitely. There’s another film called Solo by Sophie Dupuis from Quebec. It’s this beautiful love story, one of the most emotional that I’ve seen all year, set in the world of Montreal drag clubs. 

Obviously there’s a lot to look forward to, but surely the strike will affect the festival’s bottom line?
There is absolutely a real impact on revenue and on the corporate revenue side in particular. Some of our corporate partners are with us primarily based on the excitement generated by star presence and red carpets, so partnership revenue did decline. We’ll have a better idea of exactly how much by the end of the festival, but it’s not insignificant. We’re also aware that the strike will have an impact on our hospitality partners and all of the restaurants that see TIFF as their holiday season, so we’ll do our best to make sure that the thousands of people who are coming into the city are aware of the local establishments. 

Related: Where to eat, drink and party like a celebrity during TIFF

There’s also the end of your partnership with Bell Media, TIFF’s lead sponsor for almost 30 years. That’s got to suck.
I would say this is the natural end to a partnership that was a great run for 28 years. We achieved a lot: we opened the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and more recently, during the pandemic, we launched a digital platform. It was a great partnership for us and I think beneficial on both sides, but things come to an end, and now it’s time to look for new opportunities.

Is it just the TIFF Lightbox now?
Until the end of this year, it will remain the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and then we’ll see.

Speaking of partnerships, earlier this week TIFF paused a partnership deal with Therme, the company behind the plans for a spa at Ontario Place. What happened there?
When we first started with Therme, the plans for the Ontario Place project hadn’t been announced. Now that they have, there has been a lot of debate, and we don’t think it’s our place to be in the fray. We’re pausing, we’re focusing on the festival and we’re going to revisit next year.

So the TIFF Therme Lightbox is not entirely out of the question?
I’ll leave that kind of speculation to you.

Let’s talk about the opening-night film, The Boy and the Heron.
I am beyond thrilled that we’re opening the new film by Hayao Miyazaki. He is one of cinema’s greatest artists. We’ve seen him prove that time and time again with films like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. These films are up there with the classic Disney movies, and they’re analog, they’re artisanal, they’re hand drawn. This level of artistry and craftsmanship is dying, and this may be Miyazaki’s final film. He came out of retirement to make The Boy and the Heron, and he may never make another. You’re not going to see another film like it this year—or maybe in your life.

What about the closing-night movie, Sly, a doc about Sylvester Stallone?
Of course he’s been an icon of action movies for years, but a lot of people don’t know that he sees himself primarily as a writer. He wrote his iconic position into existence: he wasn’t getting the roles he wanted, so he went out and wrote Rocky. And then Rambo—these characters that are now pillars of cinema. And yes, for all of the action-star machismo, he’s a writer, he’s a thinker, he is really interested in human nature.

And if you knock him down, he gets back up. Seems like a fitting message for TIFF 2023.
Ha, yes. He’s our icon.

You mentioned earlier that Rustin is produced by the Obamas’ company. Any chance of some Michelle-and-Barack action on the red carpet?
I can’t say anything at all about that. I do know that they are very supportive of the film.

That doesn’t sound like a no-bama.
Ha—I’m not saying anything.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post “It’s a time to discover new talent”: TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey on organizing the city’s glitziest festival in an era of Hollywood strikes appeared first on Toronto Life.

Kissa

King West is where every weekend pulses with spring-break energy—despite some of the strip’s more, shall we say, mature revellers. Kissa, a maximalist Japanese listening bar, aims to woo those who have aged out of clubbing but are still seduced by nightlife. It’s Studio 54 meets Tokyo after-hours—think wood-panelled walls and mirrored ceilings that dangle disco ball chandeliers. The custom-­built vintage sound system spins everything from motown and soul to Sade and Post Malone (who’s already hosted a party here). Nikkei- and izakaya-inspired plates are served alongside album-inspired cocktails, like the Catch a Fire (1973), a smoky mix of mezcal, Aperol and apricot liqueur served with a cheeky garnish: a cinnamon stick stuffed with sage that’s smudged tableside. 619 King St. W., kissatoronto.com

Related: The Little Jerry, Toronto’s first listening bar for serious audiophiles

Evangeline

The Ace Hotel’s buzzy and boisterous rooftop bar is nothing like the movie it’s named after (Canada’s earliest recorded feature film). Evangeline is a larger-than-life living room straight out of the ’70s, bookended by behemoth fireplaces and anchored with a patchwork of vibrant rugs. As the sun sets, golden light spills into the west-­facing room—a cue for guests to snap the perfect selfie while sipping on elegant cocktails, like a martini augmented with yellow chartreuse and sage. Although drinks are the focus here, the food (overseen by Alo’s Michelin-starred chef Patrick Kriss) is excellent. The portions are petite—like a sweet little scallop crudo served on the halfshell—but deceptive, with big-for-their-size flavours. 51 Camden St., evangelinetoronto.com

Related: Inside Canada’s first Ace Hotel

Miss Likklemore’s

This Parkdale pop-up had a Hollywood-calibre makeover last summer, when Hanif Harji financed the Caribbean restaurant’s evolution, moving it into a heritage building on King West. It feels like an elegant beach house that just happens to have an extra­ordinary bar stocked with 100-plus rums from around the world to host guests like Jully Black and Winnie Harlow. The menu skews Guyanese and Jamaican, with inspiration from neighbouring islands. The flavours are bold and the presentations impressive. Consider the whole smoked jerk chicken, made using a recipe passed down from chef Lonie Murdock’s grandmother and served with a smouldering bundle of thyme. On Fridays and Saturdays after 9 p.m., DJs spin reggae and R&B, and anyone wanting to dance off their dinner (or red carpet blunders) is welcome to do so. 433 King St. W., misslikklemores.com

Related: These are Toronto’s best new restaurants in 2023

Lee Restaurant

Susur Lee, the Iron Chef turned TikTok phenom (six million followers tune in to watch him and his son Jet turn junk food into gourmet meals), is back behind the pass after a year-long hiatus. Lee reopened his eponymous restaurant two blocks north, in the brand new Waterworks Food Hall. The formula remains much the same: the food is still elevated Asian and French fusion, with many of Lee’s classics (char sui duck breast, cheeseburger spring rolls, Singapore slaw) on offer alongside exciting new dishes like lobster-and-shrimp orzo pad thai. There’s now just a bit more pomp to everything. Even the famed slaw got an extra two ingredients (shrimp crisp, lotus chips), bringing the total to 24. 497 Richmond St. W., leerestaurant.com

Adrak Yorkville

There’s no lead star in this kitchen. Instead, it’s helmed by a team of supporting actors, each of whom specializes in a regional cooking style. Most have Michelin-star training—and it shows. Standouts include tandoor-cooked lamb chops served in a smoke-filled cloche as well as the Rani Kachori, an oversized puri filled with mixed sprouts and covered in an eye-poppingly pink yogurt chutney, dotted with microgreens, pomegranate seeds and edible petals. For a side dish, it’s a real scene stealer. 138 Avenue Rd., adrakyorkville.ca

Black and Blue

Fans of The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short will likely give dinner at this swish new steakhouse—located in the former Toronto Stock Exchange—two thumbs up. Taking up two storeys and 9,000 square feet, the opulent space, complete with a ceiling gilded in 24-karat gold, was a roughly $10-million buildout. The pièce de résistance: a backlit, Himalayan salt–lined aging room displaying top cuts of Kobe, Japanese A5 Wagyu and Canadian Prime beef. (The salt is said to accelerate the aging process, yielding ultra-flavourful steaks.) For a Jordan Belfort–calibre splurge, opt for the $450 deluxe seafood tower: a three-tier display of molluscs (raw oysters, marinated mussels and clams), colossal shrimp, Dungeness and king crab, Atlantic lobster, and top-of-the-line sushi. 130 King St. W., blackandbluesteakhouse.ca

Lao Lao Bar

Michelle Yeoh and Simu Liu are big fans of Seng Luong and Jason Jiang, whose Sabai Sabai sister bar dives deep into their own Lao roots. The kitchen here uses chilies and herbs in abundance, creating made-for-sharing plates like nam khao, a salad made with fried and crumbled rice croquettes tossed with preserved pork and lime. Marigolds, the flower used in devotional offerings at Lao temples, festoon the bar. Every night at Lao Lao feels like a celebration, and it’s all thanks to Jiang, who loves throwing epic shindigs and can read the pulse of the room like a professional party host. 5 St. Joseph St., laolaobar.com

Miznon

Both Eli Roth and Priyanka have given this Toronto outpost of the Israeli chain their Instagram stamp of approval. And falafel is just what film buffs trying to make back-to-back screenings need to survive this frenetic festival. It’s unlike any other in town: instead of fritters, they’re burger-sized patties turned green with cilantro and served in freshly baked, oh-so-pillowy pitas. This satisfying sandwich, topped with tahini, pickles and tomatoes, is pure perfection that can be scarfed on the run—and it’s ready in the time it takes to suck back one of their excellent arak mojitos. 1235 Bay St., miznon.ca

Ultra Supper Club

Charles Khabouth is to Toronto what Midas was to ancient Greece. He can take any space and turn it into something spectacular, be it a bar, a restaurant or this gilded supper club. Everything at Ultra is gold, from the flatware to the drapery. At his new Deer Park destination, Toronto’s patriarch of bottle service channels the dramatic designs of Alexander McQueen. Even the food (a bluefin tuna tarte, a Wagyu roll) is finished with flakes of the 24-karat stuff. It may be a hike from the Lightbox, but since it’s a revival of the original Queen West location that shuttered a decade ago, we think some nostalgic partygoers will make the trek. 12 St. Clair Ave. E., ultra-toronto.com

Ristorante Sociale

Set Boogie Nights in Miami and you’re getting close to the Ristorante Sociale aesthetic: think disco meets a very stylish, slightly outlandish Italian aunt who loves hosting epic dinner parties. Although this is the sister restaurant to Little Portugal’s Enoteca Sociale, the siblings feel worlds—not just neighbourhoods—apart: where Enoteca is comforting and quaint, Ristorante leans hard into the King West bacchanalia. It’s an Italian steakhouse that gets wild on weekends with dining-room dancers, a DJ and bottle service. Enoteca fans will be happy to see that the cacio e pepe made the menu, but the food here veers more extravagant and theatrical. The 42-ounce porterhouse, for instance, arrives in an applewood smoke–filled cloche, which is removed to oohs and ahhs. 545 King St. W., sociale.ca/ristorante-sociale

The post Where to eat, drink and party like a celebrity during TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

Around the same time, his older sister Maria was becoming a movie buff. Her permission to go to the theatres, however, hinged on her youngest brother tagging along. “I grew up with Scorsese; I was tormented by Hitchcock,” says Pimentel. “I loved movies. But my favourite was The Godfather. Robert De Niro was my idol.”

Related: Twelve striking photos that capture life in 1970s and 80s Toronto

So, in 1993, when his sister offered him a ticket to see De Niro’s A Bronx Tale at the Elgin Theatre, he immediately agreed—even though he’d never heard of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was playing. He brought along his Hasselblad film camera, and when the bouncer spotted it, he directed Pimentel to the media section. “There were no cellphones back then,” Pimentel says. “If you had a camera, you were pretty much a professional.”

When De Niro stepped out of his silver limousine, Pimentel was star-struck. Minutes later, the actor and the rest of the photographers entered the theatre, but Pimentel was denied entry—he didn’t have any credentials. He got lucky, though: De Niro came back out after all the accredited photographers had cleared away, and Pimentel snapped his photo. “By the time I was printing it out in the dark room later, I knew I wanted to keep doing this,” he says.

Over the next 30 years, Pimentel worked his way up from streetside photographer to receiving official invitations to photograph Hollywood’s glitziest events, including the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, the Met Gala and, of course, TIFF. He’s captured almost every imaginable A-lister, including Beyoncé, Tom Cruise, Madonna and Taylor Swift, and his work has appeared in People, Vanity Fair and Vogue. (He’s also a contributing artist to Toronto Life.)

Now, the photographer-to-the-stars—who still works out of a studio on Dundas West—is showcasing a collection of his images in “30 Years of Red Carpet Style with George Pimentel,” a retrospective presented by Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The exhibition is open to the public from September 5 to 30. Here, Pimentel shares the stories behind 18 unforgettable photos from the show.

Tom Cruise, TIFF press conference at Sutton Place Hotel (1998)
“This is the nicest guy in Hollywood. Tom is someone who loves fame, and he works hard at it—he shows up an hour before premieres to sign autographs; he embraces it. He makes you feel like a million bucks and looks at you when you shake his hand, treats you like a normal human being. That’s all I need to know. He’s a true star.”

Jennifer Aniston, Management premiere at TIFF (2002)
“My Jen. She’s my favourite. I grew up watching Friends, and it helps that she’s so sweet and completely down to earth. She’s a real actor. I really thought Brad Pitt was completely in love with her. In some of the photos I have, you can see it in his eyes. But, in the end, of course, it didn’t work out.”

Adam Sandler, Punch-Drunk Love premiere at TIFF (2002)
“Adam may not look like a Leonardo DiCaprio or a Brad Pitt, but he’s got those comedy chops from when he started on SNL. He makes you feel like he’s your best friend, and he’s just completely himself. I was such a huge fan. I remember I just yelled, ‘Hey, can I get a quick photo?’ And then he pointed right at me.”

Madonna, TIFF after-party at Nector (2005)
“In the ’90s and early 2000s, Madonna was our Taylor Swift. I made a deal with her security team for this one: if they brought her out the front door of the restaurant, I’d tell all the autograph collectors that she wasn’t signing anything. All she’d have to do was wave. They agreed, and when she did, I yelled out, ‘Madonna, can I get one over the shoulder?’ She gave that to me.”

Angelina Jolie, TIFF (2007)
“There were a few years where Angelina showed up at every single festival. One time, in Toronto, the fans actually pushed one of the fences down to see her, so police had to stand there holding it up. Now, she doesn’t do much press. I wouldn’t even ask her to do anything. I would never make someone pose if they didn’t want to.”

Sandra Bullock, Vanity Fair Oscar party (2010)
“People always think this was taken when she was coming into the party, but it was actually when she was leaving. That’s when I get my most artistic photos. There’s arrivals, where everyone is all proper and all business, but then there’s departures. Everyone has to leave and get into a car at some point, right?”

Bradley Cooper, The Place Beyond the Pines premiere at TIFF (2012)
“Bradley arrived early for this one, and everyone just mobbed him. I love a good fan photo, and this one was lucky because he’s right in the centre and there’s nothing blocking him. I looked at this photo a lot during the early days of the pandemic. I worried that we’d never get to have this again.”

Amy Adams, Academy Awards (2013)
“This was the first time I covered the Oscars, and I made a no-no. I was there with Variety, and I was just supposed to shoot the executives. But the celebrities kept walking past me. I couldn’t help myself. Whenever they went up the stairs, I’d run out and get their photo. Apparently, no one had ever been photographed on the stairs before. I got in a bit of trouble for that.”

Beyoncé, “China: Through the Looking Glass” Met Gala (2015)
“Beyoncé always shows up fashionably late. Everyone asks me, How is there no one else on the carpet? That’s unheard of at the Met Gala. Well, Beyoncé arrived 90 minutes late, and all the photographers are suckers because we have to stay and she knows it.”

Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born premiere at TIFF (2018)
“This was my most memorable red carpet. Lady Gaga came right up to me and whispered in my ear, ‘When should I take off the veil?’ She really wanted to make a moment. I told her to wait, and she listened. It was surreal—it felt like it was just me and her. Then, when I told her to do it, she looked right at me and slowly lifted it up. Everyone went nuts.”

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screening at the Cannes Films Festival (2019)
“I’m always looking for a James Dean–style photo, and in this one I got two James Deans. Don’t ask me how it is that they’re looking at me—I was 200 feet away. I won’t be able to get one like this ever again, not with them together. They’re getting older, and Leo doesn’t like having his photo taken.”

Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers premiere at TIFF (2019)
“J.Lo knows what she’s doing when she walks the red carpet. Don’t tell her what to do, okay? Don’t even talk to her. After I took this, I told her team that it would be online within minutes. As soon as she was done on the carpet, I heard her say, ‘Where’s my phone?’ She put the photo on her Instagram right away.”

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2022)
“I love them. That’s not fake love between them, either—they’re the real deal. And Nicole is a star. The world has changed—reality TV and Instagram came on the scene. We love our Kardashians, but Nicole represents old Hollywood to me. I showed them this photo. I actually ended up sending it to them. Keith really liked the dramatic lighting.”

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Academy Awards (2022)
“This night was the craziest moment of my career. After the red carpet, I was watching the ceremony from the press room. I was eating some shrimp cocktail and looking at the screen, and suddenly I saw Will Smith go over and slap Chris Rock. You know, in celebrity culture these days, your fans are your employers. Will Smith broke all the rules. He jeopardized his fan base.”

Zendaya, Academy Awards (2022)
“Zendaya is the perfect example of young Hollywood class. Every time I take a photo of her, it sells. She’s so kind, and she follows instructions. She could be in any situation, and if you ask her nicely, she’ll turn it on and give you what you’re looking for.”

Jennifer Lawrence, Causeway premiere at TIFF (2022)
“It’s hard for people to understand what it takes to get a photo like this, to have everyone cleared out. It’s nearly impossible. I constructed this completely; I had to tell everyone to get out of the way. But I like the security guard standing there. It gives it context.”

Taylor Swift, TIFF (2022)
“This was the ‘In Conversation With’ event where Taylor was discussing the ‘All Too Well’ music video. She was being mobbed, but I was able to get close to her because I was working for TIFF and I had a relationship with her publicist. I shot some of her last Canadian tour: the stops in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Taylor Swift is the nicest person, hands down.”

Jennifer Coolidge, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2023)
“This is a good example of someone who’s been in the business for so long and then finally gets her big break. People finally recognized her, and I’m such a big White Lotus fan. This was right after she’d presented an award. She had literally just walked off the stage.”

The post Eighteen stunning celebrity photos by George Pimentel, Toronto’s resident Hollywood photographer appeared first on Toronto Life.

It’s hard to think what to add to Michael Enright’s assessment of Peter Herrndorf: “Probably the most important figure in Canadian culture.” Or to the National Arts Centre’s take: “One of Canada’s greatest cultural leaders.” These pronouncements may sound like hyperbole, but in Peter’s case, they’re almost an understatement. True, he did disappoint his dad in 1965, when he finished law school at Dalhousie—and joined the CBC the next day. And the CBC disappointed him in 1983, when, as vice-president of English television services, he clashed with president Pierre Juneau—it was clear there was no longer a place for him. One long-time staff member called his abrupt departure “a supreme disaster.” As Enright said, Herrndorf was the “best president the CBC didn’t have.”

Instead, several weeks after leaving the Crown corporation behind, he switched mediums and became publisher of Toronto Life. The guy who had had three TV sets in his executive office moved into a tatty third-floor walk-up space at Front and Church with zero TVs and many mice. If you stood in the wrong place, you might be dripped on—water or tar, depending on the day. The whole office smelled of cigarette smoke, and one of the smokers was Peter. The place was just the same when I joined the magazine as executive editor five years later. The wall that faced the reception area was glass, so we could see what Peter was doing any time we looked. And what he was usually doing was consulting one of his four massive Rolodexes, the analogue equivalent of a smartphone contact list, or talking on the phone to one of the who’s who listed there. He would say, “I learned to network before it was a verb.”

Peter’s 11 years at Toronto Life were during a golden age for magazines generally and, under Peter’s watch, Toronto Life specifically. During his tenure, it won magazine of the year at the National Magazine Awards twice and received many, many writing awards. Due in good part to Peter’s charm, persuasiveness and titanic work ethic, it sold the most ad pages ever—issues were routinely 200-plus pages; today the average is closer to 90. Its circulation rose 50 per cent. The revenue he brought in allowed us to run novella-length articles that writers were given a year and $50,000 to produce.

It was a golden age for staff too. There was a baseball team. We were comped tickets to Canadian Stage performances. The company had Blue Jays season tickets that were up for grabs. There was a strict church-and-state separation between the editorial and advertising sides. And there was Peter’s management-by-walking-around style, giving us the feeling that we were truly valued and listened to.

Meanwhile, in addition to his prodigious work as publisher, there were his many extracurriculars: the Stratford Festival, the City and Regional Magazine Association, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the Festival of Festivals (now TIFF), the Ontario Film Development Corporation, the Toronto Arts Awards—the list goes on. Iconic CBC producer Mark Starowicz once said, “Peter is definitely not a believer in the Lord’s Day Act.” Almost any time I was in the office on a weekend, Peter was there, working the phones, reading magazines and newspapers by the dozens, buffing connections, coming up with new ways to promote Toronto Life.

If it was December, he might be writing notes in the hundreds of Christmas cards he sent out every year. At any time, he could be clipping newspaper articles to mail to people he thought might find them interesting. In 1990, we ran a cover story called “Blue Boxes of the Rich and Famous” that involved surreptitiously scooping people’s recycling bins and reporting the contents. The blue bin of then Toronto Star editor-in-chief John Honderich included a sheaf of clips from Peter.

Many of us cried when Peter announced, in 1992, that he had been lured away by TVO to serve as chairman and CEO. Peter cried too. When he revealed that he was resigning from the public broadcaster, in 1998, there were tears as well. He had been instrumental, the Globe and Mail said, in transforming Canada’s second-largest public broadcaster into “a leading force in documentary, children’s and current-affairs programming.” Seven months later, a Globe editorial cheered Peter’s appointment as director general and CEO of the National Arts Centre, in Ottawa, congratulating the federal government for its choice—“an excellent match of candidate [and] job.” In his new gig, Peter set about, as he would say, “putting the National back in the National Arts Centre.” The 2,500-word bio on the NAC website suggests how successful he was at that.

Since his death, it’s been hard to miss accounts detailing Peter’s immense contributions to journalism, broadcasting and the arts—tributes citing the breadth and depth of his professional accomplishments, his many honours, and his extraordinary record of volunteerism in the cultural sphere. The NAC site lists close to two dozen committees and boards he served on while there.

So, yes, professionally, he was incredibly accomplished, passionate and driven—and there have been countless beneficiaries of that drive—but when I think about my old boss, I mostly think about what a flat-out thoughtful, generous, unpretentious man he was. I recall his deep sympathy when he found out that my husband had lung cancer: we had both left Toronto Life by then, but Peter made a point of calling me to say how much he was thinking of us. Or the time he wrote a reference letter for me that virtually shone on the page. Or those Christmas cards I received, always with a thoughtful personal note—maybe a mention of an article I had edited that he particularly liked.

I went looking for other examples and heard about the time he spent counselling a friend, whom he’d just met, on how to get her book published. Filmmaker Peter Raymont told me how Peter would call him every year and sing “Happy Birthday.” And, in my family, there’s my sister’s story of attending a Blue Jays game, occupying one of Toronto Life’s seats. When a man sat down next to her, she asked brightly, “Oh, my sister works at Toronto Life. Are you there too?”

He politely introduced himself: “I’m Peter Herrndorf.”

Lynn Cunningham is a writer, editor and associate professor emerita at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The post Peter Herrndorf was a dream publisher, my boss and my friend appeared first on Toronto Life.

Oprah at the Sidney premiere

To mark her first public appearance since before the pandemic, Oprah tapped this season’s disco-inspired trend. In a silver Brandon Maxwell dress with a sparkling clutch and earrings, she made a triumphant red carpet return—a true Oprah moment.

Taylor Swift at her In Conversation With… event

For many TIFF fans, Swift’s in-person appearance and exclusive screening of All Too Well: The Short Film was this year’s main event—and her ensemble emitted the requisite main-character energy. In a custom Louis Vuitton halter dress adorned with reflective gold coins, the singer was glowing on the red carpet.

Lamar Johnson at the Brother premiere

With dapper tailoring and an unconventional colour palette, Lamar Johnson brought Old Hollywood to the TIFF red carpet. Wearing a grey suit with white detailing, the actor channelled the static nostalgia of black-and-white films. Adorned with chunky gold buttons, his look stood out as a callback to vintage glam.

Viola Davis at the premiere of The Woman King

Viola Davis has described The Woman King as her “magnum opus”—and she came dressed accordingly. The actor’s two-toned gown by Canadian designer Greta Constantine was festive and vibrant, with a sleek hot-pink skirt and a top made of orange floral fabric arrangements.

Janelle Monáe at the Glass Onion premiere

Janelle Monáe brought the future to the TIFF red carpet. The star emerged in a couture frock by Iris van Herpen, a Dutch designer known for her sculptural creations. With an otherworldly allure, the sweeping avant-garde gown merged imagination and elegance.

Kate Hudson at the Glass Onion premiere

At the same event, Kate Hudson brought co-star costuming chemistry with another innovative silhouette. Her Carolina Herrera dress stood out—stopped traffic, even—thanks to its striking red hue and towering asymmetrical floral structure. Pairing it with a bold red lipstick, the actor made a strong case for the magic of monochrome.

Jeremy Pope at the premiere of The Inspection

Thanks to the pandemic, protective dressing is nothing new. But Jeremy Pope put a fresh spin on the trend in a plunging suit layered atop a chainmail-like undershirt. His all-blue outfit, featuring a cropped top and cinched waist, stood out all the more with the glistening metallic garment peeking through.

Harry Styles at the My Policeman premiere

Subtlety is not in Harry Styles’s vocabulary (nor should it be). Offering his own take on red carpet colour coordination, the singer went all out in retro Gucci green. From a brooch-emblazoned jacket and tailored dress pants to a handbag and metallic manicure, this assemblage of leafy tones was both chaotic and cohesive.

Emma Corrin at the My Policeman premiere

Also channelling the glamour of decades gone by, Emma Corrin proved that black is still the ultimate statement-making hue in this leggy look. Donning a custom Miu Miu bodysuit with billowing sleeves and mesh tights, the actor’s ensemble was reminiscent of a 1960s Rockette uniform and worthy of a standing ovation.

Joe Jonas at the Devotion premiere

No undershirt, no problem. The eldest Jonas brother stepped out in a chest-baring velvet suit by Louis Vuitton, putting a playful twist on power dressing. The star’s shimmering nail polish matched his jacket’s diamond brooch, bringing some bling to the otherwise all-black number.

The post A roundup of the glitziest, best-dressed stars of TIFF 2022 appeared first on Toronto Life.

The documentary Black Ice traces the history of racism within Canadian hockey. The film, which recently won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at TIFF and is co-produced by LeBron James, Drake, and Future, presents a harrowing look at what it’s like to be a Black hockey player. Its director, Academy Award–nominated filmmaker and Torontonian Hubert Davis, discusses the film’s genesis and how he hopes it will educate viewers about racial inequalities—both in hockey and beyond.

What sports did you play as a child?
I grew up in Vancouver, and I didn’t play sports until I was around age 11. My dad introduced me to basketball, and that became the sport I played. It was a way for us to connect. But I never played hockey. So, when the Black Ice project came up, I was hesitant about whether I was the right person for it.

So how did you come to be attached to the project?
The producer, Vinay Virmani, approached me about directing it. I wasn’t sure at first because I know how difficult it is to make feature documentaries. I thought a lot about what the project would allow me to do and say. That’s always the most important thing as a filmmaker—you’re just trying to figure out: What’s your point of view on the material? What do you bring through it that is personal to you, that you want to explore and ultimately communicate to people?

Black Ice required you to go back through history and all across Canada. How long did it take you to find subjects and gain access to past footage and photographs?
I didn’t realize quite how closed hockey is as a sport. You’re either on the inside or you’re on the outside. This idea that you’re not really supposed to speak up or stand out in any way became the first hurdle in trying to find people who would share their stories. But it also made it very exciting when we met the people who did want to speak up. Once we found those characters, it became cathartic for them to talk about the things they hadn’t been able to address in a mainstream way. The scope of the film became much, much bigger as we went along. I realized that it was not just about the personal stories but about putting them into historical context. We also realized early on that this story was bigger than just the NHL. Obviously, some of the participants have played in the NHL or are currently playing. But there’s footage from people playing in Europe, people playing at different levels, people playing all over the country and in the States. You can’t actually localize the issues in one place. Very often, in order to understand something, we tend to try to do that. But, the more we looked, the problems within the sport were everywhere.

The documentary involves the subjects talking about a lot of sensitive personal issues and experiences. How did you ensure that those stories were handled with care?
The biggest thing about documentary filmmaking is that you’re there to listen. Doing the pre-interviews, to me, was the most important step because I was able to have that initial conversation with the subjects, to talk about the project and some of their experiences, to see if they were a fit. We were not able to use all the experiences, but I did appreciate all the insights that everyone brought to the table.

It can also be difficult to constantly listen to these traumatic stories while making the film. How did you take care of yourself and your crew?
It was heavy. This whole process has been hard, and I think ultimately that’s why we don’t like to talk about these things. We don’t want to think about the darker parts of humanity, such as racism, and why systemic racism continues to exist. The crew and I had a lot of conversations. We had meals together and talked, and sometimes it would get quite heated. The subject matter is so emotional, and people feel certain ways because we’re all trying to reckon with our own experiences.

Were you frustrated by how the NHL—and a lot of other institutions—have been so slow to address systemic racism?
In the beginning, I was more surprised at people’s stories. You have to look at the root of where these ideas come from; it’s not like they just appeared today. I think that’s what people get confused about. They go, “Well, I’m not like that. I’m not teaching my kids to be that way. Therefore, the world isn’t that way.” It’s a really hard thing to wrap our minds around, that racism exists. The notion of bad apples is often used, meaning that it’s just a blip and that, if we get rid of those bad apples, the problem will be solved. But the problem with that metaphor is that it implies the system works when clearly—as the film shows—the system within hockey is not working for all. You have to look at the system and say, “We need to fix this problem by holding everyone accountable.” But some institutions have a fear of addressing this topic, and there are many reasons behind that.

Is there anything in particular you’d like audiences to take away from the film?
I hope that it can be a mirror for us. There are people who say that these problems don’t exist, that these stories didn’t happen or have been exaggerated. My hope is that the film opens some people’s eyes—people who maybe didn’t know how bad it was. And I hope that they then try to figure out a way to help make ice hockey better for the next generation, a safer place to be.

The post How <em>Black Ice</em> director Hubert Davis exposes Canadian hockey’s anti-Black racism appeared first on Toronto Life.

More TIFF 2022

Culture

Director Luis De Filippis on the trans stories she really wants to tell

City

The star-filled red carpet moments of TIFF 2022 so far

Food & Drink

Where to get a drink or dance until 4 a.m. during TIFF

Concrete Valley—which premiered at TIFF yesterday—introduces viewers to Rashid, a recent immigrant to Canada who struggles to build a new life while holding on to the remnants of his old one. Its director, UBC department of theatre and film professor Antoine Bourges, shares how the film came to be set in Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park and how its plot illustrates the parallel lives that immigrants often feel they could—or should—have lived.

How would you describe Concrete Valley to somebody who hasn’t seen it?
It’s a domestic drama set against the backdrop of Thorncliffe Park, a newcomer neighbourhood. It follows Rashid, who was a doctor back home in Syria and who is now struggling to adjust to his new life. He tries—not totally successfully—to offer unsolicited, free, unlicensed medical services to people in the neighbourhood. It also centres his wife, Farah, who’s also trying in her own way to find meaning in her new life.

What inspired the film’s title?
Well, there’s the Don Valley that’s around Thorncliffe Park. When I was visiting the neighbourhood, I found it to be so rich, so beautiful, and I really enjoyed talking to the people. But there was also this feeling that it was quite secluded from the rest of the city. So I had this idea of making a film about a relationship that’s in turmoil. A place where you can’t quite get out—that idea spoke to me.

You co-wrote the film with Teyama Alkamli. What was the writing process like?
I was interested in this neighbourhood already. I had been spending a lot of time there, going to English classes in the neighbourhood, meeting people there. I met Teyama after she had made the documentary Hockey Mom. We had lots of conversations about Syria, about her experience being a Syrian immigrant, and I just really wanted to work with her. The writing process started when we began casting. I usually focus on casting, rehearsal, and writing all at the same time—it’s a bit different than traditional filmmaking. Teyama would come to the rehearsals and the castings, where we’d meet different people—often from the neighbourhood—and would start exchanging ideas about the characters and writing. We had this grander narrative in mind about what each character could do, how scenes would play out, the order of scenes. But we were still writing even during filming.

You moved to Canada as a teenager from France. Are any of your own immigrant experiences included in the film?
My experiences are very different from the experiences of the people in the film. But almost the entire crew was made up of immigrants, and we all related in some way. In the back of your mind, there’s this other place where you could have been. It’s this imaginary parallel life that you kind of go back to in your mind. To some people, it’s a joyful thing; to others, it’s frustrating. It keeps some people from being in the moment—it really impedes their lives. That was the feeling that I was interested in capturing.

There isn’t a lot of background music in the film. Can you tell me about your choice to incorporate a more natural soundtrack? It’s something that you do often.
I just love the sound of ambient noise, the sound of a place. Cinema is such a great place to hear that because, in our daily lives, all of our senses are so stimulated that we often don’t hear it. Even when we’re not wearing headphones, we’re still not necessarily aware of or listening to our environments. I think there’s an interesting contrast between being a spectator and being a filmmaker. As a viewer, you can just sit for 90 minutes and experience life in a way that real life doesn’t allow you to—visually but also aurally.

You split your time between here and Vancouver. What are some of your favourite places in Toronto?
I love the west end, and there are a few places that I don’t know if I would have survived without. The Common coffee shop on College is one of them. Jerk King is incredible too. You see people from all walks of life: construction workers, businessmen. It’s such a no-frills kind of place, and I can see that they try to keep prices at a level that allows everyone to come and enjoy. I really respect that. The food in Thorncliffe is also quite unreal! There’s this grocery store called Iqbal, which is amazing. The food is so great, but it’s also about the experience of being there. I really recommend a visit to Iqbal. That’s my plug.

The post <em>Concrete Valley</em>’s Antoine Bourges on the idea of immigration as a parallel life appeared first on Toronto Life.

More TIFF 2022

Food & Drink

Where to eat, drink and stargaze during TIFF

City

Where to get luxuriously pampered during TIFF

City

Fifteen must-see movies screening at TIFF 2022

In 2017, trans filmmaker Luis De Filippis made her TIFF debut with the short film For Nonna Anna. In it, she showcased the touching relationship between a young trans woman and her grandmother. The film went on to win several prizes, including the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival. This year, De Filippis returns to TIFF with her first full-length film, Something You Said Last Night. A film that follows Ren, a 20-something Italian trans writer on vacation with her devoted parents and younger sister. While together, the family tests one another’s boundaries and Ren navigates the desire for individuation and independence. In this Q&A, De Filippis reflects on her work and her journey as an artist.

What’s it like being an emerging writer and director in the trans filmmaking space?

On one hand, I feel lucky. The filmmakers who have come before me put in a lot of work so that I could tell stories about trans people that aren’t focused on their transness. But, at the same time, I feel like my contemporaries and I are still at the vanguard of trans storytelling. Some potential film financiers have asked me, “Well, why doesn’t the film explore Ren’s transness more?” And, “How will audiences know she’s trans? You don’t talk about it at all in the film.” Those kinds of question reveal what the industry still expects from trans stories. I find it challenging and frustrating that I’m still having to explain, “Well, Ren is just a girl who happens to be trans…”

You’ve explained that For Nonna Anna mirrors your relationship with your grandmother. With Something You Said Last Night, did you draw from your own experiences?

I definitely tapped into my Canadian Italian identity, specifically growing up in Vaughan. It’s a very specific experience. My film is not autobiographical, but the characters are heightened versions of people I know. For example, Mona, Ren’s mother, is based on women like my aunts and cousins. I would say For Nonna Anna was a love letter to my grandmother, and Something You Said Last Night is a love letter to my family.

Sound, like that of laughter, plays a significant role in this feature. What is the importance of audio in your storytelling and in Ren’s relationship to her environment?

We didn’t have a score at any point in the film. I wanted to make the audience feel like they were on vacation with this family, that they were in Ren’s shoes. Because of that, we heightened the natural sound elements that are in the film. The way sound is used plays with this idea of being a marginalized person and always being a little bit wary of your surroundings. For example, things that would feel completely innocuous to a cis person—like boys laughing on a beach—are experienced differently by a trans person. They may wonder, “Are they laughing at me?” There’s an awareness of the surroundings at all times.

Stylistically, whose work do you admire?

I really love Andrea Arnold. I love the rawness of her work. I love the tenderness of Céline Sciamma’s work and the whimsicality of Sofia Coppola’s work. And I think Something You Said Last Night showcases all of those filmmakers’ influences in this mosaic that also is my own voice.

A key part of your film’s story centres on the role that familial love and relationships play in a trans person’s life. How does it feel to be able to bring that portrayal to the big screen?

We don’t see enough stories about trans women being valued by members of their families. Many times, stories involve their families coming to terms with who they are. But, in this film, Ren has a relationship with each of her family members. Her mom relies on her to do her hair and tie her bathing suit. She also has a very special relationship with her sister—they fight, then hate each other, then love each other again. It’s a normal sisterly bond. And she has a lot of special moments with her father too. I think it’s important for trans people and their families to see those moments and recognize that we can be a normal family. I hope this film can change at least one person’s life. If that happens, then I think my work here is done.

The post Director Luis De Filippis on the trans stories she really wants to tell appeared first on Toronto Life.

It turns out that the low-register earthquake King West condo-dwellers felt on Friday night was actually the sound of Taylor Swift’s fan base crowding outside the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre to catch a glimpse of their idol. Star spotting during TIFF is a time-honoured festival tradition, and 2022 is giving us plenty to gawk at. Here is a roundup of red-carpet moments, including a big-time director flipping the bird.

Viola Davis

The Woman King is being called the Black female Braveheart, a nod to both its brutal battle scenes and its loads of early Oscar buzz. Star Viola Davis’s dress—a custom power clash column by Toronto design duo Greta Constantine—is being called awesome (by us).

Nathalie and Manal Issa

This year’s opening selection, The Swimmers, is a straight-from-the-headlines heartbreaker about two Syrian refugee sisters who swam from their home in Damascus all the way to Greece to then compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro—and it stars real-life sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa.

Daniel Radcliffe and Weird Al Yankovic

The festival’s annual Midnight Madness kicked off with Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe as the world’s first and best (and only?) satirical pop giant. And those who came to see Harry Potter play the accordion…

Weird Al Dance Troupe

…stayed for the Weird Al lookalike dance troupe that took over King Street.

Nic Cage

It was a super quick TIFF stop-in for Nicolas Cage, who attended the world premiere of his new movie, The Butcher’s Crossing, shortly after the world premiere of his new daughter, August Francesca, born the previous week. “I literally just left the hospital and got on a plane and came here,” Cage told an audience at Studio TIFF.

Taylor Swift and Sadie Sink

Taylor Swift was at TIFF to present All Too Well: The Short Film, a 15-minute version of the 2012 song that may or may not be about her former relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. Stranger Things star Sadie Sink plays the film’s main character. In a sold-out sit down with TIFF honcho Cameron Bailey, Swift discussed her directorial ambitions and that red scarf.

Taylor Swift fans

This year’s TIFF fandemonium award goes to the thousands of Swifties who showed up at TIFF Bell Lightbox at 5 a.m. to get a good spot. The red carpet was closed to the public (presumably based on a legitimate fear of trampling), but Swift still stopped by to take selfies with her fans.

Fred VanVleet

Raptors represent! Everyone’s favourite point guard looks on point attending the world premiere of Black Ice, a documentary about Black hockey players and racism within the sport.

Rian Johnson

Glass Onion is the much anticipated, even more star-studded sequel to Knives Out—not that director Rian Johnson seems particularly chuffed about it.

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King

The ultimate celebrity flex: rolling with your BFF. Here, Oprah and her longtime bestie Gayle King arrive at the premiere of Sidney, a documentary about the life of film legend Sidney Poitier. Oprah (who produced and appears in the doc) has called Poitier (who died in January) a mentor, friend, brother and confidant.

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence is that rare celebrity who can still give off everywoman vibes while walking a red carpet and wearing a designer gown. Here she is posing for her millionth selfie.

Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick arrived late to the premiere of her movie Alice, Darling after getting trapped in a Toronto elevator. Firefighters from Queen West’s Station 331 showed up to extract the star, who chronicled her ordeal on Instagram.

Brendan Fraser

Bring on the Brendan-aissance: this year’s comeback kid is Brendan Fraser, the Canadian actor who stars as a depressed recluse in The Whale. Critics are calling it a “career-defining” role, and Fraser told the crowd at the Royal Alex Theatre that he was happy to find meaningful work on screen.

The post The star-filled red carpet moments of TIFF 2022 so far appeared first on Toronto Life.

Hollywood has descended upon our city for Toronto’s long-awaited IRL return to the international film scene. And, whether you’re here for the movies, looking to collect selfies with celebs or just ready to soak in the high-energy scene, Toronto’s bars are ready to welcome guests to glitzy parties and late-night last calls. Grab a drink after an evening screening or just keep the energy going into the early morning at these spots that secured a special licence to stay open until 4 a.m.

Mademoiselle Raw Bar and Grill

This address always been home to late-night activities (it was a strip club in its previous life), so it’s seen its share of early morning last calls. But, since the space was taken over by Peter Girges and crew, it’s transformed into a restaurant that serves things like caviar and seafood spreads under a glitzy canopy of chandeliers and twinkling lights. Now, it’s a spot for seminars and TIFF panels during the day, but at night, the debaucherous energy remains.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Early Mercy (@earlymercy)

Early Mercy

Early Mercy is the king of the late last call. Whatever the excuse—a big football game, a civic holiday, a Saturday—they have a 4 a.m. last call for that. And TIFF is no different, so expect the club-set staple to be open late until the festival leaves town.

Soluna

This Queen West lounge boasts Tulum tidings in an airy space complete with a patio and vacation-inspired drinks. Deadline’s TIFF studio lives here during the day (click here to watch Jessica Chastain sip a latte with her face on it), but when evening hits, Soluna’s newly signature soirées take over with light and fire dancers, smoke machines, and party-on-the-playa energy.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mister C. (@misterctoronto)

Mister C

The Bisha Hotel’s lobby bar is a revolving door of hubbub during the festival, from pre-parties to after-parties to attendees stopping in for a quick drink and a bite. Who’s surprised? The space is suave, decked out in marble and jewel tones, and home to a stellar list of cocktails perfect for post-screening sips.

Marbl

There’s been quite the collective of celebs spotted at Marbl over the past few days—Anna Kendrick, Natalie Portman and Joe Jonas among them. During the day, it hosts panels of directors, filmmakers and actors. At night, the restaurant turns up the volume a little, turns out the drinks quicker and acts as an overall well-heeled place to see and be seen.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Century Toronto (@wearecentury)

Century

What was once the Everleigh is now a similarly high energy, low-lit club for dancing, drinking and general nighttime revelry. Expect loud beats, black lights and bottle girls.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ultraviolet (@ultraviolet_to)

Ultraviolet

This Queen West dance party boasts a rotating cast of DJs as well as the obligatory black lighting and bottle service. Think less celebrity spotting, more a great place to get down until dawn while you still have the chance.

The post Where to get a drink or dance until 4 a.m. during TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

As the world’s greatest film festival kicked off, Toronto Life and its sister publication HELLO! Canada welcomed actors, musicians, comedians, models and many more to the revitalized Park Hyatt in Yorkville. Attendees enjoyed a surprise drag show; Jully Black and Catherine Hernandez dominated the dance floor; Kardinal Offishall and k-os made fashion statements; and cover stars Mae Martin and Alex Mallari Jr. turned heads. Here’s everything that went down at the Hollywood North party.

A special thanks to the evening’s generous partners: Casillero del Diablo, Louis Roederer Champagne, Tanqueray No. 10 Gin, Steam Whistle, Perrier, World Class Canada, MAC, Bad Boy Le Parfum, Paco Rabanne FAME, Karine Joncas and Caudalie Paris.

The post What went down at the <em>Toronto Life</em> x <em>HELLO! Canada</em> TIFF party appeared first on Toronto Life.

It’s September in Toronto, and that means one thing: TIFF is here. This year’s Toronto International Film Festival features around 200 highly anticipated, star-studded movies, including Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel, Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Women Talking, Steven Spielberg’s TIFF debut (yes, really) and so much more. Here are our picks for the most notable screenings at this year’s fest.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)

When Rian Johnson’s clever star-studded whodunnit Knives Out debuted at TIFF in 2019, it immediately won over the crowd, so it makes sense that the film’s much-anticipated sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, is screening here before hitting Netflix later this year. Daniel Craig is back as unconventional detective Benoit Blanc, who is taking on a new (and very under-wraps) case on a Greek island. This cast is just as stacked as the first film’s and includes Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn and Janelle Monáe, just to name a few.

The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)

To kick off this year’s festivities, TIFF opted for filmmaker Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers. Inspired by a true story, the sweeping drama follows sisters and competitive swimmers Yusra and Sara Mardini (played by siblings Nathalie and Manal Issa), who flee their home in war-torn Syria for Europe. Not only are they hoping to find safety during the risky journey, they are also chasing their lifelong dream of competing in the Olympics—something that comes within reach when a swim coach (Matthias Schweighöfer) agrees to work with them.

Women Talking (Sarah Polley)

It’s been about a decade since Canadian actor-writer-filmmaker Sarah Polley has made a movie. That changes this year with Women Talking. Adapted from Miriam Toews’s novel of the same name, the powerful drama centres a group of Mennonite women (including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Frances McDormand) who secretly gather one night to discuss the rampant abuse they and the rest of their community have faced at the hands of the men in their colony. As they see it, there are three options: do nothing, leave, or stay and fight.

Hunt (Lee Jung-jae)

On this side of the globe, most people will recognize South Korea’s Lee Jung-jae as the star of the ubiquitous Netflix hit Squid Game. This year, he’s also made his directorial debut with Hunt (which is already a box-office hit in his home country). Lee stars in the 1980s-set espionage thriller as an intelligence chief trying to uncover a mole in his agency—leading him to an assassination plot against the South Korean president.

Bros (Nicholas Stoller)

Rom-com lovers, rejoice: there’s a buzzy new addition to the genre hitting the big screen this fall, and it’s coming to TIFF first. A part-satire co-written by star Billy Eichner and director Nicholas Stoller, Bros follows witty New York podcaster Bobby (Eichner), a self-appointed queer-culture authority who is candid about wanting only uncomplicated hookups. But, when he meets a very handsome lawyer (Canadian Luke Macfarlane), their connection goes way beyond lust. This is also the first major studio rom-com that features an almost entirely LGBTQ principal cast.

The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)

Here’s a surprising fact: Steven Spielberg has never screened at TIFF—that is, until now. Starring Michelle Williams, Paul Dano and Seth Rogen, The Fabelmans is being touted as the Oscar winner’s most personal film yet, inspired by his childhood growing up in Arizona. The drama follows Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle), a teen boy obsessed with movie-making, as he navigates home, school, life and the way his relationships influence his creative work.

The Woman King (Gina Prince-Bythewood)

For centuries, a fierce, all-women military regiment known as the Agojie were the formidable protectors of the African kingdom of Dahomey, going up against neighbours, European colonizers and the slave trade. Their story comes to the big screen in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s latest, The Woman King. The action epic follows Nanisca (Viola Davis), the laser-focused leader responsible for making sure the group is prepared for whatever comes their way, and newcomer Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), a young woman seeking to join the Agojie.

Brother (Clement Virgo)

Scarborough comes to TIFF again—this time in filmmaker Clement Virgo’s Brother. Adapted from David Chariandy’s novel of the same name, the coming-of-age drama jumps back and forth between 1991 and 2001, tracking two Black Canadian brothers (Scarborough’s own Lamar Johnson and Aaron Pierre) and their mother (Marsha Stephanie Blake) as they try to reconcile their ambitions with the violence that they encounter in the city.

My Policeman (Michael Grandage)

Have you heard that Harry Styles is making his TIFF debut? But he’s far from the only draw in the forbidden-romance drama My Policeman. Styles plays Tom, a young police officer in 1950s Britain who meets schoolteacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and quickly begins a relationship with her. But, not too long afterward, they meet museum curator Patrick (David Dawson), who unlocks a passion within Tom and provides him with an opportunity to explore his sexuality. Decades later (each character is also played by an older actor), we see how the trio’s lives have been changed by their relationships. The film has already been announced as the winner of the 2022 TIFF Tribute Award for Performance.

Empire of Light (Sam Mendes)

Award-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes is back, this time with a moving drama starring Olivia Colman, Michael Ward and Colin Firth. To be totally honest, plot details about the film, called Empire of Light, are pretty vague at this point: it’s set in the early ’80s in a movie house in an English seaside town and is described as being about “human connection and the magic of cinema.” Not a lot to go on, but is there a better place to screen a movie about the love of movies than TIFF?

Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)

An adaptation of Karen Cushman’s bestselling book, Catherine Called Birdy seems to be the perfect next step for Lena Dunham. It gives the prolific writer-director-actor another opportunity to explore feminist themes and the lives of women. The medieval comedy centres a rambunctious 14-year-old girl known as Birdy (Bella Ramsey), who has a very relatable wish: to avoid being married off by her father (Andrew Scott) to a rich man. Her solution: to cause minor chaos around their village and thwart his plans—which is a lot more fun anyway.

This Place (V. T. Nayani)

Reservation Dogs’ Devery Jacobs and writer-actor Priya Guns star in Canadian filmmaker V. T. Nayani’s captivating feature-length debut, This Place. Co-written and co–executive produced by Jacobs, the movie tells the love story of two young women in Toronto—one Iranian and Kanien’kehá:ka, the other Tamil—as they both attempt to unravel their complicated family legacies and identities. The film also features dialogue in English, Mohawk, Persian, Tamil and French.

Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda follows up his 2018 Palme d’Or–winning movie, Shoplifters, with another drama—this one in Korean—that has already impressed crowds at this year’s Cannes Festival. Broker follows two men (Parasite star Song Kang-ho and Gang Dong-won) who secretly run an illegal business: when people abandon a baby on the steps of a nearby church, the duo snatch the infant and sell them to a wealthy bidder. Things take an unexpected turn when one young mother returns for her baby the next day and decides to join the men as they interview potential parents.

Ever Deadly (Tanya Tagaq and Chelsea McMullan)

You may already know Tanya Tagaq as an award-winning throat singer, songwriter, performance artist and novelist from Nunavut. Now, in Ever Deadly, Tagaq is giving viewers a much more intimate look into her life. The documentary intersperses dynamic concert footage with scenes of the artist sharing her painful family story (including her mother detailing the forced relocation of their family) while highlighting issues that she is passionate and outspoken about. This includes missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the importance of hunting to the North.

The Wonder (Sebastián Lelio)

Florence Pugh has become an actor known for consistently interesting work on the screen. And her next project, taking on material by Irish Canadian writer Emma Donoghue, is no different. The Wonder is based on Donoghue’s 2016 novel of the same name and stars Pugh as a 19th-century nurse who arrives in the Irish Midlands to investigate an odd phenomenon: an 11-year-old girl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) who has reportedly not eaten in four months, has miraculously survived and is turning into a tourist sensation.

The post Fifteen must-see movies screening at TIFF 2022 appeared first on Toronto Life.

A panel on the emergence of Hollywood North
TIFF is just around the corner and all eyes are on Hollywood North. In partnership with Greybrook, TL Insider and Canadian Business will be hosting a thought leadership panel at Luma on September 6. The panelists will discuss what is fuelling Canada’s growing TV and film industry, how the industry is positioning itself for continued growth and hot topics including intellectual property, talent and studio infrastructure.

Tickets to Hello! Canada and Toronto Life‘s Hollywood North Party
Three lucky winners of this member-exclusive contest will join Toronto Life x HELLO! Canada for a red-carpet party at Park Hyatt Toronto to kick off TIFF on September 8. Along with their plus-ones, the winners will enjoy an exciting evening of entertainment, live music, food and drinks as we gather to celebrate our city’s exceptional film and TV talent. 

A wellness retreat at Vettä Nordic Spa
Powered by Chatelaine, this full-day wellness retreat on September 30 will feature total access to the Nordic spa, optional in-house treatments and a harvest dinner presented by UHN Foundation’s Serving Knowledge Supper Club. Plus, a restorative yoga practice sponsored by Aveeno will offer an enriching exercise, and curated breakout sessions will serve a wealth of knowledge as you connect with fellow members who are looking to relax and recharge.

Celebrating the island of Saint Kitts at Clio
On September 28, join TL Insider at Clio, a members-only restaurant and lounge on King West, for an event in celebration of the island of Saint Kitts. Members will enjoy food, drinks and live entertainment, and will be entered for a chance to win a trip for two to the island, plus a luggage package courtesy of Samsonite.

Learn more about TL Insider and become a member today! 

The post What TL Insider members can look forward to in September appeared first on Toronto Life.

While celebrity red carpet looks often garner the most attention, we opted to catch up with local creatives who ask for both fashionability and functionality from their footwear. From photographers and creative directors to stylists and writers, here’s a close-up look at 13 fall street-style looks that serve both comfort and style.

Scroll below for our full fashion roundup and for some styling inspiration for the new fall sneakers from SOREL.

Kirsten Klontz

Kirsten Klontz is a session and celebrity hairstylist who has spent the last two decades immersing herself in the arts and fashion industry. From Dubai, to London, to Toronto, Kirsten brings her extensive experience and unique skill set to each new creative challenge.

“I’m always on the move so I try to put together adaptable outfits that can get me from high-pressure photoshoots all the way through to after-work drinks with friends. My style often changes depending on what city I happen to be working in that week, so having versatility in each element is important. I love collecting unique accessories and footwear that I can rely on to dress my style up or down depending on where I’m heading to next.”

Kirsten’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Day Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $145

Nadia Ebrahim

Editor for Refinery29 and freelance photographer

“My style is always evolving. I’m still figuring out what I like because there’s definitely a lot, but what I know for sure is I gravitate towards sporty functional pieces. Sometimes vintage, sometimes new.”

Nadia’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Tech Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $155

Haley Dach

Fashion Director at S/ and Sharp Magazine

“As someone who never seems to relax, it’s important that I don’t sacrifice comfort for style and find the balance in the two instead. Especially when it comes to footwear!”

Haley’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Day Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $145

Ingrie Williams

Freelance beauty/style writer and co-founder of @t.zonebeauty

“I’m energized by bright colours and bold prints, and usually gravitate towards voluminous shapes like A-line skirts and wide leg pants. Whatever I’m wearing I want to be able to move freely (think: run to catch the subway), so sneakers and flat boots are always in heavy rotation.”

Ingrie’s Footwear: ONA 503 Mid Sneaker, Sorel, $165

Erin Leydon + Mitch Syer

Photographers

“Functionality and comfort (but never compromising on style!) always take priority, especially if we’re working. We tend to lean towards timeless pieces, interesting cuts, and fun colours (when we aren’t shooting!).”

Erin and Mitch’s Footwear: Erin, Kinetic Breakthru Tech Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $155. Mitch, Kinetic Breakthru Tech Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $155.

Kathleen Newman-Bremang

Deputy Director, Global – Refinery29 Unbothered

“I basically live in my Pyer Moss sweatshirt and since it’s always freezing in TIFF screenings, throwing it on over a dress is my day-to-day uniform. My street style is comfort + versatility (especially when it comes to my shoes) + a side of trying (and failing) to look like Tessa Thompson, always.”

Kathleen’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Day Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $145

Ashley Galang

Fashion Stylist

“My Street Style aesthetic involves layering that feels effortless and polished. I like to experiment with colour and textures, as long as it’s easy, cozy, and natural.”

Ashley’s Footwear: ONA 503 Mid Sneaker, Sorel, $165

Nadia Pizzimenti

Freelance Fashion Stylist and Contributing Fashion Editor at The Globe and Mail

“I’m a sucker for the classics, a great pair of denim, a beautifully tailored shirt, and white sneakers. These are often the anchors to my look, and I style vintage or second-hand pieces around them.”

Nadia’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Day Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $145

Kayla Grey

Sports Anchor + Reporter

“My street style is where I like to be most playful; mixing patterns, textures, graphics and still staying comfy”

Kayla’s Footwear: ONA 503 Mid Sneaker, Sorel, $165

Natasha Koifman

President and Founder, NKPR

“My street style is effortless all-black uniform with a mix of edgy, classic, and chic pieces.”

Natasha’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Day Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $145

Jillian Vieira

Writer + Stylist

“Breezy silhouettes, comfort-first layering, and my newfound love of colour make up my current street style musts.”

Jillian’s Footwear: Kinetic Breakthru Tech Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $155

Cat Williams

Digital Producer

“I like my street style to be classic and effortlessly chic. Every once in a while, I’ll add in a pop of colour for fun.”

Cat’s Footwear: Kinetic Impact Lace Sneaker, Sorel, $155

Natalie Michie

Freelance Writer + Content Creator

“My street style is all about comfort. I tend to gravitate towards versatile pieces, and I love anything with a ’90s twist.”

Natalie’s Footwear: ONA 503 Mid Sneaker, Sorel, $165

Click here to browse through the new fall sneaker collection by SOREL

The post TIFF 2022 street style: 13 chic fall looks appeared first on Toronto Life.

After running almost entirely virtual last fall, this year’s Toronto International Film Festival will look more like TIFFs past: Think major movie premieres, star studded red carpets and IRL theatre audiences* (*at a government mandated 50-per-cent capacity). TIFF co-head and artistic director Cameron Bailey describes the 2021 version as a hybrid, and all attendees will have to provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid test and mask up in theatres (sorry—no popcorn). We spoke to Bailey about selecting the perfect Covid-era opening night movie, which celebs you might see downtown and the plan for managing anti-vaxx protesters (turns out they’re not unlike Brangelina fans). 

Last year the film festival was almost entirely virtual. Before that it was a celebrity- studded, super-crowded extravaganza. What can we expect from TIFF 2021?
I think you can expect an exciting festival. We’re back in Roy Thomson Hall and the Princess of Wales Theatre. We have filmmakers and actors flying in as we speak, and so in many ways it’s going to look like the TIFF you remember. Now, of course, it’s not going to be as big. We’re screening roughly half the films we usually do, and lots of people are still facing travel restrictions. But it does help that as of now anyone who has one of the Canadian-approved vaccines can fly to Toronto.

Care to do a little name-dropping? What celebs are you expecting?
Our anticipated guest list includes names like Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley. Denis Villeneuve is coming home to launch Dune for the first time in Canada and first time anywhere in IMAX, so that’s going to be great.

What about the star of Dune and professional dreamboat, Timothée Chalamet?
I can’t confirm or deny Timothée. But there will definitely be some red carpets. The other element that we started last year is our digital platform across Canada, for people who either can’t make it or aren’t ready to go out to public events. We also have some drive-ins and a seated outdoor screening area, both at Ontario Place. Our goal is to deliver the festival to audiences wherever they might be.

How did you arrive at the decision to move forward with this hybrid? Was there ever a chance TIFF would be online again? 
Certainly last winter it looked like things would be mostly online again. That was the height of the third wave, and it was not pretty. But then, heading into the spring, we were starting to get cues from different levels of government about opening up society. That’s when we began thinking about the large venues: TIFF Bell Lightbox, Roy Thomson Hall, Princess of Wales and the Scotiabank Theatre for both public and industry screenings. By mid-summer all of those pieces were in place and it was just a matter of paying attention to any developments to ensure a safe experience.

What kind of Covid protocols are in place?
We are operating in our indoor venues at reduced capacity—roughly 50 per cent—because we know that is one way to help create a safer environment. We are doing additional cleanings between screenings, we are asking people to keep their masks on in the theatre—so no concessions.. And we will be asking people to present proof of full vaccination or a recent negative Covid test.

What about the throngs of fans who crowd around the red carpets to catch a glimpse of their favourite celebs? That’s just asking for a super-spreader event.
This year they’re not meant to be fan-gathering zones.We have designed the carpets as spaces where parties from the different films can meet the media. We’re not shutting down King Street like we normally do.

TIFF announced its vaccine and testing policy two weeks ago. Was that your call and was it a tough one?
The senior team made that decision together. TIFF’s co-head, Joana Vicente, and and I were paying close attention to what was going on in Toronto at restaurants, live music events and other festivals around the world to get a sense of best practice. It wasn’t an easy decision, both in terms of legal ramifications and logistical ramifications. But we knew it was the right decision.

Any plans to manage anti-vax protesters?
Protests are not new to TIFF. We are a large public event and we’re used to dealing with demonstrations of one sort or another. Keeping our audiences and staff safe is the top priority.

I was at TIFF the year that hundreds of fans mobbed Brangelina’s limo. How do those people compare to anti-vaxxers?
That’s hard for me to say. But every time we have a security situation, we learn from it.

This year’s opening night film is Dear Evan Hansen. How was that selected?
Dear Evan Hansen is a movie about how people respond to crises by connecting with one another, which felt like a good note to hit this year. It’s the film version of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, and it has great songs. Ben Platt is back in the title role, co-starring with celebs like Julianne Moore and Amy Adams. It’s not fluff but it’s feel-good. It’s been a tough 18 months, with the pandemic and shutdowns and all kinds of other important social movements. And that’s reflected in our selections. We’re really happy to be presenting Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders, which takes an incredibly painful issue—the stealing of Indigenous children from their families—and turns it into an exciting work of speculative fiction. It’s a genre piece with real energy and action, and it gives people a way of grappling with what’s going on in the world while still entertaining them.

Any pandemic movies?
We have a lot of movies that were made during the pandemic. Sometimes you can tell because they’re only set in one or two locations. But other times you can’t. It’s amazing how filmmakers have risen to the the challenge of shooting during Covid. Encounter, for example, about a man on a mission to rescue his sons from an alien threat, is about that feeling of being terrified and not really knowing what’s real and what isn’t. It’s not about Covid, but you feel that tension.

End-of-days movies have been popular viewing since Covid hit. Do you have a favourite?
Like a lot of people I re-watched Contagion, and that is probably my favourite. I’m a big Steven Soderbergh fan and he will be in Toronto this year. We have a little surprise for TIFF-goers that we haven’t announced yet. It’s the project he’s been working on, and we’ll be the first to show it.

Was it challenging to convince A-listers to attend during a pandemic? Did you fly to some remote sterilized pod to woo Jessica Chastain?
Thankfully Jessica Chastain knows Toronto really well and has lots of friends here so that wasn’t hard to do. And I haven’t been on a plane in almost a year and a half. I would say that like all of us, actors have a real range of reactions. Some are good to go—they’ve gotten their two vaxxes and they’re ready to travel and work to promote their films. Others are a little more cautious, so we had to take each person and film case by case. When somebody isn’t comfortable travelling, we’ve figured out ways of doing Q&As digitally. At the same time, we do have a lot of people who were eager to come and to meet the Toronto audiences, which is what we’re known for.

Does the same vaccine policy apply to stars as to movie goers? Like if Jessica Chastain were unvaccinated, would she still be able to come to TIFF?
Why are you riding Jessica Chastain? Come on!

I’m a fan! I’m just curious about the policy.
Well, it’s not our policy so much as the Canadian government’s policy, so if Jessica Chastain is coming, that’s where she has to declare.

What about the industry hobnobbing aspect of TIFF? In the old days movies were bought and sold over champagne cocktails on the Park Hyatt rooftop.
It used to all be in person. That buzz in the room, in the theatre, would make or break a film in terms of its future fortunes. I think we’re in a new era. Now it’s the online reaction on Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok. You’ll see that as soon as a film launches, people are online expressing their reactions, and the distributors and the press and award-watchers are tracking that.

You were recently invited to join the Academy. What took them so long?
Ha! That’s hilarious. I’m excited to be a member. Of course I have watched a lot of the films that are submitted to the Oscars already, but I’m excited to watch even more and vote. The Academy is kind of like TIFF in the sense that they’re known, for the Oscars, just like we’re known for the festival every September, but there is so much more that goes on throughout the year in terms of engaging young creatives, preserving history.

Okay, but have you started planning your Oscar outfit?
I’m taking advice and suggestions.

TIFF has often been a key stop on the road to Oscar. Any predictions based on what you’ve seen?
I can tell you that Jessica Chastain is amazing in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, so I would encourage everyone to see that performance. There’s a great documentary called The Rescue by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who are past Oscar winners. There’s Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. There is a lot this year. I think people will see the awards race come into focus at the festival.

And what will you be doing on September 19, when the festival ends?
After the festival, I usually go for a long walk in a part of the city that I haven’t been to. In past years I have gone to the Toronto Islands.

Cameron, after Covid, haven’t we all had enough long walks?
Ha. I guess, but I’m still into it.

The post “There will definitely be some red carpets”: TIFF director Cameron Bailey on the festival’s celeb-studded—and Covid-safe—comeback appeared first on Toronto Life.

The Third Day

This three-part horror-mystery series from HBO stars Jude Law and Naomie Harris, who find themselves trapped on a bizarre island off the British coast. The islanders’ strange rituals and traditions approach Midsommar-levels of creepy, and the whole thing culminates in a big reveal about what happens on the third day. September 11, Visa Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

Shadow in the Cloud

This action and horror film written and directed by Roseanne Liang stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a fighter pilot in World War II, who, during a particularly harrowing mission, tries to warn her male colleagues about evil and mysterious happenings aboard the aircraft. September 12, Visa Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

Summer of 85

From French screenwriter and director Francois Ozon, this beautifully shot ’80s period piece begins as a sunny Call Me By Your Name love affair between two teenage boys, set on the shores of Normandy, but things take a turn for the sinister when one of the boys reveals a dark side. September 13, RBC Lakeside Drive-in at Ontario Place.

The Father

Novelist and playwright Florian Zeller’s feature directorial debut, adapted from his 2012 play of the same name, documents a proud Londoner’s slide into dementia. Starring Anthony Hopkins, with Olivia Coleman as his daughter, the film purposefully disorients its audience as Hopkins’ character becomes more and more unable to care for himself. September 14, RBC Lakeside Drive-in at Ontario Place.

Good Joe Bell

The Oscar-winning writers of Brokeback Mountain tell the heartbreaking true story of a traditional Midwestern father, played by Mark Wahlberg, who embarks on a walk across America to educate schools and communities about the dangers of bullying after his gay son commits suicide. September 14, Visa Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

Pieces of a Woman

Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf star in this drama about a couple recovering from the devastating loss of their newborn during a home birth and the ensuing legal battle with their midwife, played by Molly Parker. It’s the English-language debut for Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó. September 16, Visa Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

Under the Open Sky

This redemption drama, from Japanese director and screenwriter Miwa Nishikawa, follows a middle-aged former member of a Japanese organized crime syndicate (a.k.a. a yakuza) as he attempts to adjust to life on the outside after serving a 13-year sentence for murder. September 17, RBC Lakeside Drive-in at Ontario Place.

Enemies of the State

This deeply reported documentary from Sonia Kennebeck follows up on a 2015 Buzzfeed story about a decade-long series of events involving Matt DeHart, a hacktivist with connections to Anonymous and WikiLeaks. In 2010, He was indicted by the FBI on charges of child pornography and spent 21 months in prison—where DeHart alleges he was tortured. In 2013, released on a bond, he and his family sought political asylum in Canada, where the fascinatingly bizarre tale continues. September 17, VISA Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

Lift Like a Girl

This documentary from Egyptian filmmaker Mayye Zayed follows the story of longtime world-class weightlifting coach Captain Ramadan, as he takes on his latest protégé, a 14-year-old aspiring athlete named Zebiba. The film was shot over four years, and highlights not only the intense training practices and athleticism of the sport, but also the supportive bond between coach and athlete. September 17, West Island Open Air Cinema at Ontario Place.

Underplayed

This Stacey Lee documentary focuses on gender inequality in electronic music. It was filmed over six months during music festival season around the world, and profiles talented female DJs, including the Canadian Rezz, while amplifying underground artists and paying tribute to trailblazers. September 19, OLG Play Stage at Ontario Place.

A Suitable Boy

Based on the 1993 novel by Vikram Seth of the same name, this series by Mira Nair for the BBC is set in the post-partition India of the 1950s. It focuses on two of the novel’s central characters, Maan and Lata, as they struggle to balance their parents’ expectations with their desire for independence. September 19, RBC Lakeside Drive-in at Ontario Place.

The Water Man

Executive produced by Oprah, The Water Man is a family-friendly story that evokes childhood adventure films of the 1980s. It’s the feature directorial debut of actor David Oyelowo, who also plays a lead role as Amos, whose wife, played by Rosario Dawson, is dying and whose son (Lonnie Chavis) runs off to a mysterious forest in search of the title character he believes can save his mother. September 19, VISA Skyline Drive-in at CityView.

The post All of the drive-in screenings you can catch at this year’s slightly different TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

A socially distanced TIFF
1It’s safe to say that the 45th iteration of TIFF, as a result of the pandemic, will be like no other: no red carpet or celeb-spotting to speak of, an eerily quiet King Street. There will, however, be more outdoor public showings than ever before, with options at drive-ins from Ontario Place to the Port Lands. If you’d rather stay home, most of the 50 feature films and TV shows making their debut will have digital screenings, too. September 10 to 19, various.

An indie pop revival
2Walk off the Earth is the Burlington-based band known for its stellar covers of pop songs performed with unconventional instruments —Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” played with river stones and a coffee mug, for instance. On stage at the OLG Play Stage at Ontario Place drive-in, they’ll perform a mix of covers and original music. September 11 to 12, OLG Play Stage.

A musical journey
3The Royal Conservatory is kicking off the fall season with the city’s first large-scale indoor concert since March. Anwar Khurshid, a classical sitarist featured on the soundtracks of films like Life of Pi and Kama Sutra, will play his tranquil tunes at the Mazzoleni Concert Hall this Sunday. Safety precautions include the purchase of seats by section, rather than individually, and, of course, a reduced capacity. September 13, the Royal Conservatory.

The chintz road
4 The woodblock-printed floral pattern, which traces back to 16th-century artisans in the Indian peninsula, is seeing a renaissance courtesy of TikTok fashion trends like cottagecore, an aesthetic reinterpretation of an agrarian lifestyle. In this new exhibit, The Cloth that Changed the World, learn how textiles, like the wall-hanging with gold leaf appliqué above (circa 1720 to 1740), were made and traded across the globe—and how they’re reinterpreted in the subcontinent today. September 12 to fall 2021, the ROM.

A family of crows
5Guillaume Simoneau was four years old when his father chopped down a tree that, unbeknownst to them, was home to a few baby crows—and so, his family took them in. Thirty-five years later, in his new show Murder, Simoneau is revisiting his mother’s photographs of the time and has included his own adulthood exploration of the sinister-looking birds. Stephen Bulger is open by appointment only to groups of less than five. September 12 to October 17, Stephen Bulger Gallery.

The post A drive-in concert, a world-travelling exhibit and three other live, in-person things to do this week appeared first on Toronto Life.

You were appointed the new co-head of TIFF last November, but you’ve been coming to the festival for ages as a producer with your husband, Jason Kliot.
Yes, we’ve premiered 12 films here, starting with Welcome to the Dollhouse and most recently Capernaum, which was nominated for an Oscar for best ­foreign language film.

In addition to producing, you were also running the Independent Filmmaker Project and the Made in NY Media Center. In other words, you’ve been busy! What appealed to you about the TIFF job?
I’ve always loved this festival. There’s something special here—amazing audiences who are really knowledgeable. I also love that it’s year-round—all the work is not just about putting on a single festival but building audiences, educating people about filmmaking, developing artists. It brings together a lot of the things I care about.

You’re the first woman to head up TIFF in its current incarnation. Do you bring anything different to the festival as a woman?
Definitely. We have a more diverse programming team now—half the team are women. I think that will affect how we choose films. As a producer, it wasn’t my agenda to make our crews all-female, it was just normal to me that when we were interviewing directors of photography, we would interview female directors of photography. I think women tend to come in with fewer preconceived notions.

How will you and Cameron Bailey, your co-head, divide up your duties?
Cameron is the artistic director, so he oversees all the programming and ­creative direction. I’m more on the business side. But we really work together to make sure both sides are aligned.

In this age of streaming—where there’s just an overwhelming amount of stuff to watch on every imaginable platform—how do you get people into theatres?
I think there’s something incredibly powerful about being immersed in the experience of watching with other people. You get so much more out of it than when you watch passively at home while you’re probably doing other things. Also, we can all go to Netflix and see what’s prescribed for us, but it’s just other versions of things we’ve seen already. At some point, you need to be stretched and challenged.

And you do that how?
TIFF shows very specific kinds of films and always tries to enhance the experience and create a conversation around those films. As we speak, there are people lining up outside for rush tickets for tonight’s 30th-anniversary screening of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. Cameron’s going to interview Spike. The film’s not screening for another four hours.

Movies weren’t your first profession. You worked as a press attaché in Portugal and as a radio producer at the UN. Why the career change?
I lived in Portugal just after the revolution—it was a complicated period with a lot of instability, families breaking apart. Movies were my escape. Then, when I was in university, I worked as an assistant to Paulo Branco, who produced films by Wim Wenders and Raúl Ruiz. That’s when I got the filmmaking bug. My passions were politics and film, and eventually I came back to film.

Do you remember the first movies that deeply affected you?
My father loved Italian cinema—Antonioni, Visconti, Fellini, Pasolini. So I grew up with that. Then I saw The Deer Hunter when I was a teenager and that totally blew my mind.

After living in Macau, Mozambique, Madeira and Lisbon, then spending almost 30 years in New York, how are you adjusting to Toronto?
I think it’s an exciting time to be here. There’s a lot going on, there’s a lot of energy. And it’s nice to have a change of pace. I’m not afraid of change.

I saw a list of your favourite movies recently, and it included films like Rear Window, La Dolce Vita, The Piano, and… Love Actually. Really, Love Actually?
It’s a guilty pleasure. I have to see it every year during the holiday season.

I’m sure you’ve met tons of celebrities over the years, so you’re probably not easily star-struck, but is there anyone coming to the film festival this year you’re nervous about meeting?
J-Lo—I’ve never met her. It’s always nice to see Meryl Streep—she’s a giant. Oh, Joaquin Phoenix! I’m very excited about Joaquin Phoenix. I’ve met him in the past, but he gives such an incredible performance in Joker. It’s unbelievable.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post Q&A: Joana Vicente, the new co-head of TIFF, on dragging people away from Netflix appeared first on Toronto Life.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Christian Bale (@christianbale_) on Aug 26, 2019 at 3:32pm PDT

Method actor Christian Bale plays auto-shop owner and driver extraordinaire Ken Miles in Ford v Ferrari, the action-packed drama about the head-to-head battle between the Ford Motor Company and Italian racing car pioneer Enzo Ferrari (as the title would imply) to build the superior vehicle of the ’60s.

Matt Damon also stars in Ford v Ferrari as Carroll Shelby, an American driver who won France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1959. After a weak heart valve ends his career, he joins forces with Miles to build a serious Ferrari competitor.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Let your inner and outer beauty give you Elegance

A post shared by Meryl Streep (@merylstreep) on Sep 2, 2019 at 11:10am PDT

It’s only fitting that the queen of the Oscars, Meryl Streep, might be roaming around Queen Street. She’s starring in Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat—a dramatization of the Panama Papers exposé—as a middle-class retiree, who, after being denied compensation for losing her husband in a ferry accident, launches a personal investigation into the chain of insurance companies dodging her claim.

Penelope Cruz is starring in Wasp Network, a political thriller from Olivier Assayas that follows the lives of Cuban dissidents during the country’s post–Soviet Union economic collapse in the 1990s.

Bruce Springsteen graces the big screen this year in his intimate concert film called Western Stars, where he performs his latest album (also called Western Stars) and muses on philosophical topics like life, love and the good old American dream.

Daniel Craig plays the main character in the star-studded cast of Knives Out, a flick about a famous southern detective who joins forces with local police following the murder of a wealthy crime novelist.

Adam Driver is pulling a double feature with Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s bi-coastal divorce tale (also featuring Scarlett Johansson), and The Report, a political thriller about an investigator enlisted to probe the CIA’s use of torture tactics after 9/11.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

LA! I can’t wait to see you guys this Saturday at #BeautyconLA | #BeautyconAmbassador I’ll be sitting down with @moj for my fireside chat at 1:20pm, talking all things global beauty standards, and the responsibility that comes with having a platform. I’m also super excited to let you know that @beautycon is giving 20 of you the chance to meet me at the event! To enter: 1) Make sure you’re following me and @beautycon 2) Use my 10% off promo code when you purchase your Beautycon tickets: PCHOPRA10 **If you’ve already bought your tickets, head over to la.beautycon.com/priyanka/ and send your receipt number. The giveaway will be live through 8/7 at 11:59pm PDT! See you guys soon

A post shared by Priyanka Chopra Jonas (@priyankachopra) on Aug 6, 2019 at 2:04pm PDT

Priyanka Chopra will be around to promote her film The Sky is Pink. It’s both a romance and family tragedy, where the story of a 25-year husband-and-wife relationship is told by their recently deceased daughter. No word on whether Nick Jonas will be tagging along, but he was just in town for a concert, so there’s a chance he’ll want to circle back for TO round two.

Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm will also be floating around for their film Lucy in the Sky. In it, Portman plays an astronaut who’s struggling to re-adapt to life on earth and Hamm, her hunky crew mate, tempts her into an extra-marital affair.

Tom Hanks is likely to hit the red carpet for his turn as Fred Rogers, the sweater-loving childhood icon in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood.

Dev Patel stars alongside Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie in The Personal History of David Copperfield, a a witty adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name.

Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan star in Just Mercy, a true story about a Harvard-educated lawyer who travels to Alabama to defend wrongly convicted criminals. They’ll also sit down with TIFF head honcho Cameron Bailey for the “In Conversation With” series, where they’ll discuss inclusive story telling and all things cinema.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Sooo proud to announce @HustlersMovie is an official selection of #TIFF19. Can’t wait to see you all in Toronto! #HustlersMovie

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Jul 23, 2019 at 2:49pm PDT

Jennifer Lopez is having a big year: she just turned 50 (!?) and stopped in Toronto a few months ago as part of her massive celebratory concert tour. She’s back this month for the premiere of Hustlers, where she stars alongside Constance Wu, Cardi B and Julia Stiles as a retired stripper. Things get spicy when the girl gang decides to out-con their former Wall Street clients after the 2008 stock market crash.

A TIFF veteran, Shia LaBeouf also returns to the red carpet, this time to for his screenwriting debut with Honey Boy. The drama is based on his own life: LaBoeuf plays an abusive father who pushes his kid to become a child-actor.

In case you haven’t seen the incredibly creepy trailers, Joker, Todd Phillips’ origin story of the iconic villain, is bound to be a coveted ticket this TIFF. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Arthur Fleck, a disenfranchised clown and wannabe comedian in 1981 Gotham City, who eventually descends into madness and murder.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The latest issue of @BritishGQ following the #GQAwards

A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman) on Sep 4, 2019 at 12:54pm PDT

The Goldfinch is one of the most anticipated screenings this year, so co-stars Ansel Elgort and Nicole Kidman are sure to make an appearance. The adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning novel follows the winding life of a 13-year-old boy, whose mother died in a museum bombing. He escaped with a tiny painting of a bird, which becomes his single source of hope as he navigates a world of crime and destruction.

Susan Sarandon has two films at TIFF this year: Blackbird, a remake of the award-winning 2014 Danish film Silent Heart, and 1989’s A Dry White Season, a throwback that’s screening as part of TIFF’s Cinematheque programme.

After disappearing from the spotlight, Renée Zellweger is back at this year’s festival to celebrate her new film, Judy. It’s an adaptation of the play End of the Rainbow, and Zellweger plays superstar Judy Garland during the final year of her life.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

That look says it all #JoJo Rabbit

A post shared by sam rockwell (@officialsamrockwell) on Sep 2, 2019 at 10:45am PDT

Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell is expected to be here, too. He stars in Jojo Rabbit, a bold satire about a young German boy who discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his home and consults with his imaginary friend, Hitler.

Kerry Washington stars in American Son, a film based on the Broadway play (which Washington also starred in) by Christopher Demos-Brown. In it, an interracial couple must cope with the death of their 19-year-old son, who is suspected to have been killed by police. Washington will also be chatting with Cameron Bailey as part of TIFF’s “In Conversation With” series.

Antonio Banderas is another double feature: he co-stars in The Laundromat with Meryl Streep and also plays an aging filmmaker plagued with illness and creative stagnancy in Pain and Glory.

Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney will be here for their film Bad Education, inspired by the true story of a school larceny scandal in Long Island in the early aughts.

Kristen Stewart returns to TIFF this year for Seberg, a biopic about the American actor Jean Seberg. After living in France, she returns to Hollywood and finds herself entwined in the Black Power movement—and the subject of Federal attention.

The post Tom Hanks, Adam Driver, Priyanka Chopra and 27 other celebrities to watch out for at TIFF appeared first on Toronto Life.

Here, she shares some of her favourite shots from TIFF:

William Hurt, 1983

“This was taken at the at the post-screening party for The Big Chill in the Sheraton Centre’s ballroom. Hurt was the fan magnet of the group; party-goers circled around him for photo-ops and he obliged, posing in between bites of food.”

Michael Caine and Julie Walters, 1983

“Educating Rita screened at the University Theatre on Bloor Street West, which hosted an impressive number of screenings before it was torn town in 1986.”

Vanessa Redgrave, 1994

“British thespian Vanessa Redgrave walks the red carpet at the Elgin Theatre in 1994 for Little Odessa. She stepped aside and patiently waited for me to focus my camera.”

Marisa Tomei, 1994

“Actress Marisa Tomei steps into a Sutton Place Hotel elevator following a TIFF press conference for the Only You in 1994. Photographers scrambled to get shots of her as she left the conference space. I took this one just as the elevator doors were closing.”

Robert Downey Jr., 1994

“Future Marvel superhero Robert Downey Jr. waits on the Elgin stage prior to the 1994 screening of Only You. The 29-year-old actor had been noticeably absent at the earlier press conference with director, Norman Jewison, but resurfaced for the screening.”

John Cusack, 1994

“John Cusack poses at the 1994 opening party on the Harbourfront. He attended TIFF that year as the leading man for Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway.”

Martin Sheen, 1996

“An obliging Martin Sheen posed in the Manulife Centre stairwell following the 1996 screening of The War at Home. When I bumped into him and asked to take his photo, he said, “No one’s ever asked me before.” Sheen co-starred in the Vietnam war drama alongside his son, Emilio Estevez, who was also the director and co-producer.”

Demi Moore and Cher, 1996

“In this shot, Demi Moore and Cher were leaving the Uptown Theatre following the 1996 screening of If These Walls Could Talk. The two produced the made-for-cable drama about three women’s experiences with abortion, which was broadcast on HBO after its TIFF debut.  Just before the door swung open to reveal the actresses and their bodyguards, a nearby police office helped lift me onto a concrete wall so I could get a better shot as the cast made their way to a limousine.”

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, 1996

“This was taken after the premiere of Hanks’s directorial debut, That Thing You Do! (He also wrote the screenplay.) Hoards of photographers waited outside the venue for hours to get a good shot of him leaving the theatre.”

Jeff Bridges, 2005

Actor and singer Jeff Bridges stops outside the Elgin Theatre before the 2005 premiere of Tideland to sign autographs alongside co-stars Jennifer Tilly, 10-year-old Jodelle Ferland and director Terry Gilliam.

Bono, 2011

“A beaming Bono surprises fans on Yorkville Avenue during TIFF 2011. U2 was in town for From the Sky Down—the Davis Guggenheim documentary about the making of the band’s 1991 album, ‘Achtung Baby.’  The band emerged from their hotel and made a beeline for a nearby car, but the frontman took a few minutes to shake hands and pose for photos. ”

Keith Richards, 2015

Rolling Stone Keith Richards being interviewed on the Princess of Wales stage at TIFF 2015 after the screening of Morgan Neville’s documentary, Keith Richards: Under the Influence. Over the past decade, more music films have ended up on the TIFF roster.

Bryan Cranston, 2016

Film and TV star Bryan Cranston answered questions TIFF Q&A for the 2016 Robin Swicord movie Wakefield, where he played a New York lawyer who removes himself from normal life to observe his family from an attic adjacent to their suburban home.

Simon Baker, 2017

Simon Baker—the Australian actor, best known for his roles in The Devil Wears Prada and The Mentalist—patiently waits for his introduction at the Scotiabank Theatre during TIFF 2017, where he made his directorial debut with Breath. 

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, 2017

Renowned Hollywood couple Warren Beatty and Annette Bening lock lips for a celebratory kiss after the Roy Thomson Hall unveiling of Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. The two watched the Peter Turner memoir-based movie from the balcony.

The post Here’s what TIFF looked like in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s appeared first on Toronto Life.

At the Artists for Peace and Justice gala on Saturday evening, Susan Sarandon took on a new role as a server:

View this post on Instagram

About Last Night: Susan Sarandon enjoys a little role reversal for a good cause, and worked the room serving guests dinner at the @artistsforpeace gala fundraiser. A whopping 1.4 million was raised, which will go towards supporting access to education in Haiti, an ongoing project, that first launched at @tiff_net 10 years ago. Congrats to co-chairs @natashankpr & @suzanneboyd_! Oh to dine with this powerhouse . The impression Susan left on us when we first saw Thelma & Louise back in 1991, well, it was one of the top 10 films that impacted our youth, and opened our eyes to a whole lot. We are lifetime loyal fans, and can't wait to check out The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, which is directed by Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan, and also stars Natalie Portman, Thandie Newton, Kathy Bates, Jacob Tremblay, Kit Harrington. Wow – what a cast. #TIFF18 #TIFF ?: @ryanemberley

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 9, 2018 at 4:36pm PDT

Jude Law and Natalie Portman partied at Soho House to celebrate the premier of their new film, Vox Lux:

View this post on Instagram

Look who was goofing around this aft at @sohohousetoronto. Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and director Brady Corbet whooped it up under the moose to celebrate North American premiere of Vox Lux. @greygoosecanada passed around some fancy cinema-inspired cocktails paired with everyone's favorite: grilled cheese sammies. (Have you ever eaten a grilled cheese in a floor-length Dior gown? Get on it, woman.) Cannot wait to see this film…anyone going? Looks AMAZING. Portman never disappoints! We fell in love with her back in 1994, when she wowed the world as little Mathilda in Leon: The Professional. LOVED her in Black Swan, and can't wait to see her rock out as a pop star dealing with a shit ton of heavy life stuff. ?: @stefaniekeenan / Getty Images for @greygoosecanada ???? #TIFF18 #VoxLux #GreyGoose #SohoHouse #Toronto #NataliePortman #Dior

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 7, 2018 at 5:13pm PDT

Maggie Gyllenhaal stopped by Mongrel House:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Maggie at #MongrelHouse. We fell for her hard many years ago when Secretary premiered at TIFF, and have been closely following her career since. She’s here for film #TheKindergartenTeacher, which is on our top picks list, and here’s what our reviewer Sarah Sahagian has to say about it, “Brought to life by an arresting performance from Gyllenhaal, Lisa’s behaviour is consistent with that of countless university-educated, middle-class white people, so-called intellectuals who mistake their taste for good taste. Ultimately, The Kindergarten Teacher is a bold film that refutes classist notions of high and low culture by creating a villain whose bad behaviour is directly inspired by “good taste.” Maggie, thank you for your work, and also for using your powerful platform to speak up, most recently about the separation of migrant children at US border. #TIFF18 #maggiegyllenhaal #TIFF @mongrelmedia ?: @daniloursini

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 9, 2018 at 7:23am PDT

So did Kyle MacLachlan:

View this post on Instagram

Special! Agent! Dale! Cooper! And all the amazings. ??? @kyle_maclachlan #tiff18 #mongrelhouse (thx @shotbyphil for ?)

A post shared by Caitlin Agnew (@caitlinagnew) on Sep 9, 2018 at 7:52pm PDT

Alexander Skarsgard wandered around Brassai:

View this post on Instagram

Saffron is #thenewblack on #alexanderskarsgard at #tiff2018 #thehummingbirdproject thank you @cosstores and @garrettleight #toronto #mensfashion #mensstyle #gqstyle #gqmen

A post shared by Jeanne Yang (@jeanneyangstyle) on Sep 8, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

He also showed his support for the Brain Project, a public art installation that raises awareness about brain health and diseases like Alzheimer’s:

View this post on Instagram

New Pic!!?? @Regrann from @loutotheiza – Alexander Skarsgard of “The Hummingbird Project” supported The Brain Project, and I can confidently say that this was an impactful moment in my life. . . . . . @QLoungeByCelo #QLounge #QLoungeByCelo @LATimesEvents #LATHQ #LATPhotoStudio @Barotoronto #BaroTO @thebrainproject_ #NoBlankBrains #TIFF #TIFF2018 #alexanderskarsgard #thehummingbirdproject #trublood

A post shared by Alexander Skarsgard (@alexskarsgardworld) on Sep 10, 2018 at 6:12am PDT

Kit Harrington was spotted leaving Bisha Hotel:

View this post on Instagram

? (SWIPE) Kit Harington yesterday in Toronto (9 September 2018) . . #kitharington #kitharrington #kit #jonsnow #johnsnow #jon #got #gameofthrones #juegodetronos #stark #targaryen #daenerys #jonerys #kimilia #emiliaclarke #sophieturner #roseleslie #lenaheadey #maisiewilliams #kitharingtonarchive #gunpowder #thedeathandlifeofjohnfdonovan #xavierdolan #gotnews #truewest #johnnyflynn

A post shared by Kit Harington Archive (@kitharingtonarchive) on Sep 9, 2018 at 11:26pm PDT

Ashley Benson and Cara Delevingne were snapped on the way to the premier for Her Smell:

View this post on Instagram

Cuties ?? Toronto, September 9, 2018 #caradelevingne #ashleybenson #hersmell #tiff #tiff2018 #torontofilmfestival

A post shared by Cashley (@cashleycjdavb) on Sep 10, 2018 at 2:37am PDT

Later, they mingled at a party:

View this post on Instagram

??? Cara and Ashley at the Toronto International Film Festival. (September 9,2018) . . . #caradelevingne#ashleybenson#caraandashley#cashley#carisfan#delevingners#fanpage#friends#couple#couplegoals#friendshipgoals#friendship#love#lovers#together#toronto#tiff#tiff2018#september#movie#hersmell

A post shared by CARIS|CASHLEY?‍? (@_carisfan_) on Sep 10, 2018 at 3:03am PDT

And hung out with the rest of the cast at RBC House:

View this post on Instagram

Stunners!? The ladies of the film #HerSmell stepped out in style together to celebrate at the cocktail party hosted by RBC!?#TIFF #TIFF18 #TIFF2018 Photo: @soniacapturz

A post shared by HELLO! Canada Magazine (@hellocanadamag) on Sep 10, 2018 at 6:10am PDT

Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet shared a hug at the Four Seasons:

View this post on Instagram

Matthew McConaughey and Timothee Chalamet hugging is our #SundayMorning mood! #TIFF #TIFF18 #TIFF2018 Photo: @gettyimages

A post shared by HELLO! Canada Magazine (@hellocanadamag) on Sep 9, 2018 at 7:14am PDT

Lily Rose Depp showed up for InStyle and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual bash:

View this post on Instagram

@lilyrose_depp at the 2018 HFPA and InStyle's Toronto International Film Festival Celebration on September 8th night ??? Lily is truely stunning omg ???? || Photos taken by @georgepimentel1 ? ?? : @lilyrose_depp à la célébration de HFPA et InStyle du Festival International du Film de Toronto de 2018 dans la soirée du 8 septembre ??? Lily est vraiment magnifique!! ???? || Photos prises par @georgepimentel1 ? ?? : @lilyrose_depp a la celebración de HFPA e InStyle del Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto de 2018 el 8 de septiembre por la noche ??? Lily es realmente espléndida!! ???? || Fotos tomadas por @georgepimentel1 ? ?? : @lilyrose_depp alla celebrazione di HFPA e InStyle del Festival Internazionale del Film di Toronto di 2018 il 8 settembre durante la serata ??? Lily è davvero splendida!! ???? || Foto fatte da @georgepimentel1 ?

A post shared by Lily-Rose Depp (@lilyrose.updates) on Sep 9, 2018 at 2:03pm PDT

Chloe Grace Moretz and Maika Monroe were there, too:

View this post on Instagram

The imPRint client looks from last night’s @instylemagazine x #HFPA party at the Toronto International Film Festival // #TIFF18

A post shared by imPRint (@pr_imprint) on Sep 9, 2018 at 8:41pm PDT

Elle Fanning hung out with Dylan O’Brien, Ari Graynor and Max Minghella:

View this post on Instagram

#New Dylan O’Brien with Elle Fanning, Max Minghella and Ari Graynor at the Four Seasons Hotel, yesterday, in Toronto? — #dylanobrien

A post shared by Dylan O’Brien (@cute.dob) on Sep 9, 2018 at 4:29am PDT

Dev Patel and Jason Isaacs shared a laugh outside of the People/EW TIFF Studio:

View this post on Instagram

‪┆ ? Dev Patel and Jason Isaacs leaving the Peple/EW TIFF Studio during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018. buongiorno!? oggi in giornata vi arriveranno tante foto nuove! Dev, come già ho scritto, è stato al #TIFF18 per presentare #HotelMumbai ed è stato molto apprezzato dal pubblico, tant’è che molti parlano già di una possibile candidatura agli Oscar!! Inoltre uno dei produttori ci ha avvisati che presto uscirà un trailer… pronti?? ‬ ‬ ‬ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀✧ ✧ ✧ [ tags: #devpatel #jasonisaacs @therealjasonisaacs #hotelmumbaimovie #tiff #tiff2018 #torontointernationalfilmfestival ]

A post shared by Dev Patel Italia ?? (@devpatelit) on Sep 8, 2018 at 12:27am PDT

Armie Hammer was tracked down at Cube:

View this post on Instagram

With actor Armie Hammer at TIFF 2018 at Screen Australia party #armiehammer #tiff18 #tiff2018

A post shared by Sari Colt (@saricolt) on Sep 8, 2018 at 3:57pm PDT

He was also spotted outside the Windsor Arms hotel:

View this post on Instagram

Armie Hammer and Elizabeth Chambers give the best hugs Always inspiring to see support and love at @tiff_net, a big theme of the #hotelmumbaimovie with Dev Patel, party at Windsor Arms Hotel. . . . . . . . . . . #ArmieHammer #TimotheeChalamet #beautifulboymovie #tiff18 #tiff2018 #Chalamet #Armie #AmberHeard
#MaikaMonroe #?#SpiritAwards #bestmalelead #timotheechalamet #BestSupportingActor #armiearmy #Callmebyyourname #awardnominated #awardwinning #filmoftheyear #lucaguadagnino #actors #movies #AwardsSeason #sexy #mcm #mcm?

A post shared by sisitravels (@sisitravels) on Sep 9, 2018 at 3:26pm PDT

And Hugh Jackman scoped out the sky for rain:

View this post on Instagram

Hugh Jackman no Toronto International Film Festival (setembro, 2018) #TheFrontRunner #tiff18 #hughjackman #hjwbrasil

A post shared by Hugh Jackman World Brasil (@hughjackman_world_brasil) on Sep 8, 2018 at 6:56pm PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF 2018: Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet hug it out and Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson hit the party circuit appeared first on Toronto Life.

The post Inside the Maverick Social Club’s exclusive afterparty, hosted by Empire Communities and <em>Toronto Life</em> appeared first on Toronto Life.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga 
Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born, has its North American premiere at TIFF this year. He co-stars as a country musician who falls in love with a struggling artist played by Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga.

Jason Sudeikis and Judy Greer 
American comedian Jason Sudeikis and Arrested Development actress Judy Greer star in Driven, a drama based on a true story about the rise and fall of engineer, inventor and auto king John DeLorean. Sudeikis was big on the party circuit for last year’s premier of Kodachrome. Here’s to hoping his wife, fellow Hollywood star Olivia Wilde, tags along this year.

Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem
The married couple co-star in Everybody Knows, a Spanish psychological drama about a wedding gone awry, which will have its North American premiere at TIFF. Both actors are festival regulars, and last year, Bardem was spotted drinking wine at Byblos.

Julia Roberts
Long time fan favourite Julia Roberts stars in Amazon Studios’ upcoming TV series Homecoming, which will screen four episodes as part of TIFF’s Primetime Program. She’s been known to indulge in some local shopping while she’s in town.

Ryan Gosling
The Canadian favourite will likely return to his home province for the premiere of First Man, in which he plays astronaut Neil Armstrong on his journey to the moon. He was last here for La La Land in 2016; in between screenings, he partied at Lavelle.

Elle Fanning
TIFF darling Elle Fanning will likely show up for Galveston, a thriller by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto where she plays a young prostitute. Fanning attended the festival in 2012 and again in 2017, when she walked the red carpet in an Alexander McQueen dress.

Julianne Moore
A festival favourite, Julianne Moore will likely return to Toronto for the world premiere of Gloria Bell, an English remake of the 2013 film Gloria about a free-spirited divorcée. Expect to see her frolicking around the city with her bodyguards in tow.

Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen 
In Green Book, scheduled to have its world premiere at TIFF, Danish-American actor Viggo Mortensen plays a working-class bouncer who is forced to chauffeur a classical pianist (Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali) through the deep South, combatting racism and danger along the way. Oscar winner Ali was one of TIFF’s breakout stars of 2016.

Robert Pattinson
Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson stars in French filmmaker Claire Denis’ High Life, playing a criminal sent into outer space. It’s the film’s world premiere, which means the chances of everyone’s favourite vampire making an appearance are high. Pattinson was last here in 2014 with then-girlfriend FKA Twigs. (And who knows, maybe this time around he’ll bring Suki Waterhouse.)

Dev Patel and Armie Hammer
Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel and Call Me by Your Name lead Armie Hammer star in Hotel Mumbai, a true story about the victims and survivors of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Both actors are regular TIFF-goers: in 2015, Patel participated in the absurd “pointing at people in photos” trend and last year, Hammer spent his time partying and grocery shopping. Patel is also starring in The Wedding Guest, a drama from U.K. writer-director Michael Winterbottom.

Jonah Hill
Regarded as one of the funniest people in film and television, Jonah Hill will make his directorial debut at TIFF with Mid90s, a coming-of-age comedy about a teenage boy who gets in with a neighbourhood skateboard crew. Hill was last at the festival in 2011 and is known to crowd-source restaurant recommendations.

Matthew McConaughey
Over the years, Matthew McConaughey has had some legendary TIFF moments—most notably in 2001, when he leapt from his seat during a premiere to tend to a woman in the audience who had collapsed. He might be back in town this year for White Boy Rick, a mystery drama about a blue-collar dad (played by McConaughey) and his teenage son, who happens to be a hustler, FBI informant and drug kingpin. The film is set in Detroit in the 1980s and based on a true story.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan
In the upcoming emotional drama Wildlife, Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a couple whose marriage crumbles after they move to Montana. Both actors were at TIFF last year, though Mulligan was a bit more low-key than puppy-lover and Terroni devotee Gyllenhaal (who also stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Riz Ahmed in the dark comedy The Sisters Brothers, set to have its North American premiere at the festival).

Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet
Chalamet was at TIFF last year for the Call Me By Your Name premiere, but that was before he became a heartthrob. This year, he stars alongside Steve Carell in Beautiful Boy, a new drama about a family coping with their son’s addiction to methamphetamine, and he’ll probably be swarmed by throngs of teenage girls wherever he goes.

Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Jacki Weaver, Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez
Steve McQueen’s Widows (co-written by Gone Girl‘s Gillian Flynn) has gotten some good press since it was announced, so we expect a decent turnout from the cast. In this female-led heist thriller, four women find themselves in debt after their criminal husbands are killed.

The post Here are the A-list celebrities we can expect to see at TIFF next month appeared first on Toronto Life.

A sweet waterfront fest
1This weekend, Sugar Beach transforms into Sugar Shack TO, a wintry marketplace featuring a pop-up cabane à sucre. Visitors can try maple taffy and traditional sugar shack treats, sip mulled cider, listen to live music and watch an ice-carving showdown between two chainsaw-wielding sculptors. Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11. Free. Sugar Beach.

An unflinching novel about campus rape
2Few authors are more qualified to write about university life than Sarah Henstra, a Ryerson English prof by day and novelist by night. In The Red Word, she provocatively tackles rape on campus through the story of Karen, a hard-partying, frat boy–dating sophomore who inadvertently falls in with a group of radical feminists. When they hatch a scheme to expose her boyfriend’s fraternity as a den of corrosive misogyny, Karen gets caught in the drama. Henstra cleverly navigates thorny issues like sexual assault, militant ideology, and the polarization between belligerent college kids and ultra-progressive campus activists. Tuesday, March 6. ECW Press.

A beloved ballet classic
3In 1972, The Sleeping Beauty helped put the National Ballet of Canada on the international ballet map. It’s been a fan favourite ever since, a treasured work that’s both graceful and technically demanding. This month, the National Ballet revisits artistic director Karen Kain’s 2006 staging, which brings the classic story and Tchaikovsky’s score to life with stunning costume and set design. Thursday, March 8 to Sunday, March 18. $39–$265. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

A little something for bite-size cinephiles
4TIFF’s little-cousin festival introduces kids to the power of cinema for a 20th year, with a lineup of premieres including The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear, a charming animated adventure about a Danish town’s missing mayor; and Double Trouble, which follows two kids on a mysterious treasure hunt in Poland. Tykes can also look forward to filmmaking workshops and the return of DigiPlaySpace, a high-tech playground featuring robots and coding games. Friday, March 9 to Sunday, March 18. TIFF Bell Lightbox.

An arresting serial killer saga
5Toronto writer Naben Ruthnum riffed on food and race in his 2017 book, Curry. He switches gears (and pen names) in Find You in the Dark, a comic thriller about a vigilante who gets his hands on confidential police files and uses them to unearth the missing victims of serial killers in Seattle. When he sends photos of the bodies to the cops, he’s met with suspicion rather than gratitude. A hotshot young detective is on his trail—and so is a serial killer who’s vexed by his efforts. Tuesday, March 6. Simon and Schuster.

A sadly timely satire
6George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, his famous 1940s barnyard fable, to satirize the Soviet Union and its descent from a socialist utopia into a totalitarian dictatorship. After 70 years—and the collapse of the Soviet regime—it still has its insight and sting, largely because the story could have just as easily been ripped from today’s headlines. Soulpepper revisits it in a new production helmed by Ravi Jain, who gave the company a hilarious hit in 2015 with another vintage satire, Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Friday, March 9 to Saturday, April 7. From $35. Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

A concert in the splash zone
7The Chinese composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) reinvents Bach’s liturgical masterpiece St. Matthew Passion in this imaginative Soundstreams performance. The show employs a chamber ensemble, a choir, a pair of soloists and, intriguingly, 17 theatrically lit water bowls, used as percussion throughout the piece. Friday, March 9. $25–$67.50. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.

A comical cat-and-mouse thriller
8Andrew Battershill caught our attention with Pillow, his uproarious Giller- nominated debut novel about a boxer turned criminal. He returns with Marry, Bang, Kill, another witty crime thriller in the vein of Elmore Leonard and Patrick deWitt. It follows Tommy, an affable thief who unwittingly swipes a laptop from a high-ranking member of a brutal motorcycle gang. Trouble is, the computer contains evidence of the gang’s murderous misdeeds—and clues leading to a hidden stash of money. With a price on his head, Tommy decides to find the loot before the gang finds him. Tuesday, March 6. Goose Lane Editions.

Never Miss Another Great Event

Real Estate

House of the Week: $1.3 million for an Orangeville century home steps from a conservation area

The 2,000-square-foot property comes with arches all over, an original staircase, shiplap ceilings and a backyard big enough for a wedding

The post A waterfront sugar shack, <em>The Sleeping Beauty</em> and six other things to see, do, hear and read this week appeared first on Toronto Life.

The best in Canadian film
2With Oscar season in full swing, TIFF offers up 2017’s best homegrown movies. The annual Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival features 10 days of features, shorts, panels and talks that show the imagination and diversity of Canadian filmmaking. The festival begins Friday with Kyle Rideout’s romantic comedy Adventures in Public School and also includes Rumble, a documentary about First Nations rock stars, and Ava, the story of a young woman in Tehran. Friday, January 12 to Sunday, January 21. $14. TIFF Bell Lightbox.

CBC’s gritty new true-crime series
3CBC taps in to the true crime TV craze with The Detectives, a binge-worthy eight-part docudrama that fuses the high-stakes intrigue of Making a Murderer with the enthralling insider intel of Law and Order. In each episode, a real Canadian cop recounts the gripping details behind the most onerous investigation of their career. The stories—brought to life through scripted reenactments—span the entire country, but at least one episode is set in Toronto, where a detective hunts down a serial arsonist. Wednesday, January 10. CBC.

A tragically topical refugee saga
4Before displaced Syrians began seeking refuge in Canada, residents of another conflict-riddled nation came to our shores. Sharon Bala’s debut novel, The Boat People, tells the story of Mahindan and his young son, two refugees fleeing Sri Lanka’s civil war on a ship destined for Vancouver. When authorities discover some of the “boat people” are members of a militant faction, Mahindan ends up in a detention centre, fighting for his son’s future. Bala’s timely manuscript is a sharp examination of the global refugee crisis from both the human and bureaucratic perspectives. Tuesday, January 9. Doubleday.

A new year’s new Lear
5In various productions throughout 2018, Canada’s finest actresses will lay claim to Shakespeare’s great male characters: Prospero, Cassius, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. First, the formidable Seana McKenna takes on the title role in Groundling Theatre Company’s stacked production of King Lear. In a smart stroke of casting, beloved Whose Line comedian Colin Mochrie plays her wise Fool. The superb cast also includes veterans of both the stage (from Shaw and Stratford) and the screen (from Orphan Black, The Calling and Letterkenny). Tuesday, January 9 to Sunday, January 28. $35. Harbourfront Centre Theatre.

A woke Mockingbird redux
6Julie, a wealthy Jamaican-Canadian screenwriter, wants to retell the Southern classic To Kill a Mockingbird from the viewpoint of the Finch family’s maternal black maid, Calpurnia. When she seeks the help of Precy, her own family’s Filipina caregiver, she triggers an explosive stand-off that gives her more of the servant’s perspective than she’d bargained for. Dora Award–winning playwright Audrey Dwyer’s gutsy new comedy, Calpurnia, will leave you cringing in your seat as it fearlessly confronts the racism and inequality festering under the surface of liberal Toronto. Sunday, January 14 to Sunday, February 4. $25–$35. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

An uproarious marital mess
7Crow’s Theatre brings back one of the most popular productions of its first season at Streetcar Crowsnest: Kristen Thomson’s Dora-nominated comedy The Wedding Party. A normal wedding becomes the setting for an over-the-top farce involving family tension, mistaken identities and a bit too much drink. Anyone with a family should be able to relate. Until Saturday, January 20. $35–$50. Crow’s Theatre.

A living, breathing art exhibition
8Thirteen artists and designers explore their relationship to nature in The Sunshine Eaters, an immersive exhibition at OCAD. Using plants, flowers and trees as their canvas, artists including Shary Boyle, Alanis Obomsawin, Nick Cave and Jessica Karuhanga create a message of hope in a time of environmental uncertainty. Wednesday, January 10 to Sunday, April 15. Free. OCAD Onsite Gallery.

A rising painter’s dreamlike art exhibition
9Toronto-based Czech artist Veronika Pausova paints hands, insects, household objects and other everyday items with a delicate wit and lively mastery of colour. Her geometrically precise and deceptively simple works provide a whimsical glimpse of the world—and they recently earned an honourable mention in the prestigious RBC Canadian Painting Competition. This month, Pausova’s paintings hang alongside her husband Carl Marin’s playfully experimental installations. Thursday, January 11 to Saturday, February 3. Franz Kaka Gallery.

An explosive demolition derby
10These are troubled times, and sometimes you just want to sit back and watch cars get crushed. Monster Jam hits Toronto this weekend with 10,000 pounds of 2,000-horsepower entertainment, soaring like fly balls across the Rogers Centre field. Saturday, January 13 and Sunday, January 14. $15–$129. Rogers Centre.

Never miss another great event

City

What went down at the 2024 Biblio Bash party

Authors Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Carley Fortune and Joshua Knelman were in attendance

The post Chris Hadfield’s Generator, a binge-worthy new crime show and eight other things to see, do, hear and read this week appeared first on Toronto Life.

Jessica Chastain

“She’s one of my favourite actors. I just adored Interstellar; her performance in that film is heartbreakingly beautiful. Every time I watch her, it is an instant connection. I’ve been wanting to shoot her forever, and I never thought I would get the chance to. We shot her early in the festival, and I got my dream portrait. To be honest, I felt like I was pretty much done after that. The accomplishment of shooting her made me feel like I could go home, even though there were eight days left.”

Idris Elba

“He was amazing. He came in so comfortable, asked some questions and then just rolled with everything. He’s a photographer, you see, so he was fascinated by the Huawei phone we were using for some of the shots. I couldn’t help but think, This is Stringer Bell (his character from The Wire). We had some epic villains in the studio: Christoph Waltz, Benedict Cumberbatch. Idris talked about playing a Star Trek villain, too, and how it helped push his career.”

George Clooney and Matt Damon

“I shot these guys back to back. They are two of the biggest stars in the world, yet they didn’t act like it at all. They treated me like a friend. They didn’t rush out. Even though they had to get to a press conference, their attention was on the task, and it was like they just wanted to hang out. I just closed my eyes for a second and thought to myself, Do you even know what’s happening right now? You know, it’s me, my assistant, Matt Damon and George Clooney, just chilling. I was thinking about Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting the whole time, but I wasn’t going to ask him about a 20-year-old movie. Inner fanboy is freaking out, but the professional photographer doesn’t crack.”

Kate Winslet

“I was singing the Celine Dion song from Titanic in my head while I was shooting Kate. I wanted to sing it out loud, but I refrained. You have to respect what they’ve done, but be respectful and professional and not geek out. I channel it into the lens.”

Gary Oldman

“Gary is just a totally classic, legendary guy. I didn’t need to direct him, and really, you shouldn’t with someone of his stature. He’s a man of many faces. He’s played Lee Harvey Oswald, Sid Vicious and Dracula—what a range.”

Alanis Obomsawin

“Alanis walked in, said nothing to me and sat down. We got an epic portrait, but it had nothing to do with me. It was as if she was lending us an image, and we were just the technicians. She was so graceful, so iconic.”

Doug Jones

“Doug has been in several of Guillermo del Toro’s films, such as Pan’s Labyrinth. He played the monster in The Shape of Water, and in real life, he’s a contortionist. I didn’t need to do any directing. He was just so incredible, posing in all these wild ways, and all I had to do was click the button. When I asked him to sit, he was already balancing on the boxes. His body was artwork!”

Théodore Pellerin

“Théodore is one of the rising stars of TIFF 2017. He’s not famous right now, but we suspect he will be soon. When he walked in and sat down, it was electric. He had probably the best outfit and the most incredible presence. Such a great portrait taker—he just instinctively knew what to do.”

The post The stories behind nine stunning celebrity portraits from TIFF’s official photo studio appeared first on Toronto Life.

Courtney Skeat

52, stay-at-home mom

Favourite celeb: “Here at this festival? Eminem.”

Best celeb run-in story: “When I used to work for a film company, I was at an after party and sat with Armand Assante—I was loving that! Today, I was in the fish bowl down in Roy Thomson and I saw Nicole Kidman with Keith Urban and Bryan Cranston .

Joshua Chiles

37, teacher

Favourite celeb: “Michael Kane.”

Best celeb run-in story: “Three years ago, I ran into Robert Redford. I mean, I literally ran into him, and he apologized, so I thought that was pretty cool.”

Anne-Marie Reynolds

52, payroll clerk

Favourite celeb: “I like Halle Berry.”

Best celeb run-in story: “I used to work at the Varsity Theatre. One year, during TIFF, I was standing at the back of the theatre waiting for the movie to start, and a little guy standing next to me asked me for gum. I didn’t have any, but a minute later, the announcer said, ‘Here is Spike Lee to introduce this film.’ And he left my side and walked down the aisle. He was Spike Lee.”

Christine Kovich

Late 40s, non-profit executive

Favourite celeb: “David Bowie.”

Best celeb run-in story: “I was at an art gallery in New York City, seeing a show by the British artist Tracey Emin. I walked around a sculpture and bumped right into David Bowie. At first, I didn’t even recognize him, but he was so striking that I eventually realized it was him, and he was such a gentleman. That was a really nice moment.”

Holly Pittman

65, president of an Australian film society

Favourite celeb: “Bruce Springsteen.”

Best celeb run-in story: “Today, I met Warwick Thornton, the director of a film that just premiered here, Sweet Country. He was great. He talked to me, and we had a few words about his film; it just won an award in Venice. It’s a strong, dark movie, and he tried to apologize for that.”

Sam Wilson

23, retail worker

Favourite celeb: “Dexter.”

Best celeb run-in story: “One time, I was given tickets to see Taylor Swift live. Lucky enough, I got to go backstage. I was getting some food, holding onto a sandwich and talking to one of my friends, and she immediately stopped talking and looked past me. I turned around and Taylor Swift was walking by. She looked at me, and I handed her my sandwich as joke. She ended up taking it, took a bite and threw it away.”

Frozan Safi

25, researcher

Favourite celeb: “Tom Hardy.”

Best celeb run-in story: “Last year at TIFF, I was at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and I noticed Casey Affleck walking by across the street. I told my friends at work, but they didn’t really know him yet, because Manchester by the Sea hadn’t been released yet. Then he won the Oscar.”

Arielle Azmon

21, business consultant

Favourite celeb: “I think I’ll say James McAvoy for now.”

Best celeb run-in story: “I was walking near Soho House around midnight, and I saw Dominic Cooper come out, wearing a beanie. I had my camera and asked him for a picture and he said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ He put his arm around me, and I took the picture. But he looked drunk in all the pictures. It seemed like he was faking drunk to make people laugh because he’s an actor, and then he asked if I knew any drug dealers in the area. The next day, I went to the red carpet at the Bell Lightbox and I was the first person he saw when he came out. I said, ‘Dominic, can I have a picture?’ He looked at me, shocked, and said, ‘You again!'”

The post TIFF superfans share their favourite celebrity run-ins appeared first on Toronto Life.

Helena Bonham Carter touched down:

#NEWS! Helena Bonham Carter at the world premiere of the film "55 steps" at Toronto film festival, Canada. | 16th September. #HelenaBonhamCarter #tiff #55steps #torontofilmfestival

A post shared by Helena Bonham Carter (@bonham.carter) on Sep 17, 2017 at 9:54am PDT

She rocked the runway like a true queen in Dolce and Gabbana (the other side of her purse reads “All I need is love and WiFi”):

HELENA BONHAM CARTER IS QUEEN AND SHE KNOWS IT #helenabonhamcarter #tiff

A post shared by harry potter (@misshermionelestrange) on Sep 16, 2017 at 11:22pm PDT

And refused to look even remotely happy in selfies:

Hel with fans. #HelenaBonhamCarter

A post shared by Helena Bonham Carter (@bonham.carter) on Sep 16, 2017 at 12:33am PDT

Michiel Huisman (aka Daario Naharis on Game of Thrones) hung out with fans after his premiere:

Ummm NIGHT MADE. We met one of the actors after the film premiere, Michiel Huisman, which was so exciting! He played a more minor role in the film but was incredible. A lot of the actors were newbies but so good. Can't say enough good things about Stephen Campanelli's "Indian Horse" – go see it! Every Canadian should. It may be about our dark past with indigenous people and residential schools, but that past should not be ignored. #canada #history #indigenouspeople #tiff #tiff17 #film #premiere #festival #fantastic #indianhorse

A post shared by Kate Carson (@katecarson93) on Sep 15, 2017 at 10:00pm PDT

The Queen West fan also went to Bar Fancy:

Nice to be back on West Queen West. Toronto, last night.

A post shared by Michiel Huisman (@michielhuisman) on Sep 16, 2017 at 1:12pm PDT

And the Drake Hotel:

Hallway @thedrakehotel #tiff17 Toronto #leicam9p #50mmsummicron

A post shared by Michiel Huisman (@michielhuisman) on Sep 16, 2017 at 1:55pm PDT

Michele Romanow snapped a pick with Yannick Bisson:

@cbc family at #tiff #tiff2017

A post shared by Michele Romanow (@micheleromanow) on Sep 16, 2017 at 4:55pm PDT

Sarah Gadon went to see The Shape of Water:

…And the credits roll on another @tiff_net ? #shapeofwater

A post shared by Sarah Gadon (@sarahgadon) on Sep 17, 2017 at 5:40pm PDT

Sam Rockwell stuck around:

#tiff #tiff17 #toronto #redcarpet #torontointernationalfilmfestival #Canada #movies #film #premiere #samrockwell

A post shared by 27mason (@27mason) on Sep 15, 2017 at 7:37pm PDT

He posed with co-star Frances McDormand:

'Tres anuncios en las afueras de Ebbing, Misuri' consigue el Premio del Público en el Festival de Toronto. #threebillboardsoutsideebbingmissouri #martinmcdonagh #francesmcdormand #samrockwell #tiff17

A post shared by Premios Oscar (@premios_oscar) on Sep 17, 2017 at 11:38am PDT

Cameron Bailey took a well-deserved break at Ontario Place:

Tres cool! @cameronpbailey! #tiff #tiff17 #tiff2017 #the6ix #toronto #yyz No, that's not me being way too excited…that's the sun in my eyes! ????

A post shared by kwetoday (@kwetoday) on Sep 17, 2017 at 1:21pm PDT

Kate Mara and Amy Seimetz held an in-car dance party:

These hotties are on the way to the #mydaysofmercy premiere. Feeling that spotlight. @katemara @amyztemies

A post shared by @ellenpage on Sep 15, 2017 at 5:54pm PDT

Mara hung out with director Patricia Rozema:

2 of my faves @katemara @patriciarozema

A post shared by @ellenpage on Sep 15, 2017 at 9:05pm PDT

Besties Ellen Page and Mara wore coordinated tuxedos:

Made a movie with my bestie ? Thank you #tiff #mydaysofmercy

A post shared by Kate Mara (@katemara) on Sep 16, 2017 at 6:04am PDT

Nicolas Cage braced himself for attention:

Nicolas Cage ??? #nicolascage #tiff #tiff2017 #tiff17 #movies #celebrity

A post shared by Mucho_Cheese (@mucho_cheese) on Sep 16, 2017 at 11:51pm PDT

And Mary J. Blige was late:

#Repost @maryjbligefanss: What a Queen … MJβlessed ?????. Part 2/2 @therealmaryjblige at #Mudbound Premiere – Toronto International Film Festival 2017 (Sep 12th) — #MaryJBlige #RedCarpet #Premiere #MudboundMovie #TIFF #TIFF2017 #Toronto

A post shared by Zuri (@ms.scorpio.91) on Sep 17, 2017 at 12:04pm PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Michiel Huisman goes to Bar Fancy, Helena Bonham Carter arrives appeared first on Toronto Life.

Sarah Gadon and Edward Holcroft were at Bisha:

Actor #edholcroft & co star @sarahgadon @bishatoronto for press day of #AliasGrace #netflix Ed wears navy polo knit by @paulsmith @paulsmithdesign #blueeyes

A post shared by Gareth Scourfield (@stylegazer1) on Sep 14, 2017 at 11:55pm PDT

Glenn Close and her daughter Annie Starke got ready at the Ritz:

the overwhelming beauty of these two. #glennclose #anniesstarke @anniemstarke #tiff #torontointernationalfilmfestival #moviepremiere #makeupartist #redcarpetmakeup #thewife #makeupbyalexandraurvois Hair by @rickcaroto

A post shared by ALEXANDRA URVOIS (@alexandraurvoismakeup) on Sep 15, 2017 at 4:35am PDT

They also bowed down to each other:

Respect…. #glennclose #anniestarke #thewife #TIFF17 #redcarpet #respect #actors #film #filmfestival #photooftheday #myview #roythompsonhall #closeup #celebritystyle #actorslife #choosetoronto #exploreyourcity #urbanandstreet downtown #celebrities #powerhouse #lightscameraaction #photography #canon #carpediem

A post shared by Mariangela (@rusmed55) on Sep 15, 2017 at 6:47am PDT

Close signed autographs outside the CBC:

Glen Close signs autographs outside CBC – #tiff #tiff2017 #glenclose

A post shared by Silvershadowshannon (@silvershadowshannon) on Sep 15, 2017 at 7:54am PDT

Margaret Atwood accidentally colour-coordinated with a fan:

Great minds dress alike. #margaretatwood #nofilterneeded

A post shared by Wayne Miller (@wayone75) on Sep 14, 2017 at 10:54am PDT

René Russo was out and about:

My selfie with Rene Russo at #TIFF17 #Tiff #Tiff2017 #Toronto #RedCarpet #Rene Russo #Instasefie #Selfie #celebrityselfie #leoscelebrityselfies

A post shared by Leo's celebrity selfies (@leoscelebrityselfies) on Sep 14, 2017 at 8:37pm PDT

Harmony Korine was spotted refuelling at What-a-Bagel:

Chillin' at TIFF with my good pal Harmony Korine. Yolo! #tiff #tiff2017 #shortcuts #filmmaker #harmony #korine

A post shared by Aaron Zeghers (@atozeghers) on Sep 15, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

Richard Gere held a cut-out of Peter Dinklage:

A highlight from Day 8 at TIFF. Richard Gere holding a cutout of Peter Dinklage. #tiff #peterdinklage #richardgere #gameofthrones #filmfestival #movies #actors

A post shared by World Wide Motion Pictures (@wwmpc) on Sep 14, 2017 at 10:06pm PDT

And partied with Jason Isaacs:

?#JasonIsaacs #RichardGere

A post shared by marianne (@mariannec_23) on Sep 15, 2017 at 11:19am PDT

Garrett Hedlund posed with his barber:

One more of the #garretthedlund San and I right before his #premiere for #mudbound #netflix at the #tiff2017 #haicuthairandgrooming by me

A post shared by Mira Chai Hyde (@mirachai) on Sep 15, 2017 at 11:01am PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Richard Gere holds Peter Dinklage’s face, Glenn Close bows down to her daughter appeared first on Toronto Life.

Rosamund Pike looked like some sort of ethereal butterfly queen in this intricately embroidered Alexander McQueen gown:

Halle Berry may have been the star, but we preferred Kings director Deniz Gamze Ergüven glittery Chanel gown to Berry’s embroidered romper:

Glenn Close defended her style icon status in Zac Posen:

We loved Kate Mara‘s cute, cocktail-appropriate frock by London designer David Koma (her husband, Jamie Bell, didn’t look too bad, either):

Allison Janney rocked a bunch of awesome looks this festival, but this orange off-the-shoulder dress from Iraqi label Zena Zaki is our favourite:

Sebastian Stan classed it up in a perfectly tailored blue tuxedo:

Idris Elba, on the other hand, pulled off a laid-back, too-cool-for-school look:

Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre attend the premiere of his new film Molly’s Game|Photo Credit:Gettys Image Source:thesun.co.uk #idriselba

A post shared by Lisa (@mzle_le) on Sep 10, 2017 at 5:47pm PDT

Pint-sized star McKenna Grace sported a look by children’s line Monnalisa:

1st Toronto International Film Festival…hopefully not the last! Thank you to the entire #ITonya cast& crew for letting me be a part of this special time Styled by~Mckenna (with lots of txting, pics& advice from the best @mrenriquemelendez ) Hair/Makeup~ @amystrozzi #TIFF2017

A post shared by Mckenna Grace (@mckennagraceful) on Sep 9, 2017 at 12:16pm PDT

Actor Daniela Vega, in a gown from Chilean designer, managed to pull off the full-body florals way better than Kim K:

Vuelvo a Chile feliz y eternamente agradecida de mi director, el hombre fantástico, @lelioseb por su cariño y su genialidad. Especial agradecimiento a Carolina Pizarro por viajar desde Santiago, exclusivamente a maquillarme y peinarme. Caro, mil gracias. A mi productora fantástica Rocío Jadue, que siempre está con la respuesta necesaria. A Fábula, A la Virgi, amiga mía, compañera de tantas aventuras. A todo el equipo de nuestra peli. Gracias, muchas gracias por acompañarme, por acompañarnos todos. A todas las personas que llenaron la sala en nuestra premiere canadiense, al Festival internacional de cine de Toronto, a su gente. A mi familia. A las mujeres del mundo, al amor. Al arte, A la resistencia. ??? Vestido: @lupegajardo Maquillaje y pelo: @cph_ Skin care: @dermacross #UnaMujerFantastica #CineChileno

A post shared by Daniela Vega (@dani.vega.h) on Sep 14, 2017 at 5:00pm PDT

And we’re glad Sarah Gadon chose not to accessorize her J. Mendel dress with Cruella de Vil—inspired furs:

#SarahGadon wearing #JMendel #prefall17 at #TIFF #TorontoInternationalFilmFestival #celebstyle #instagood #lookbook #beauty #fashion #stylegram #instastyle #motd #makeup #instafashion #ootd #fashionblog #media #fashionlook #fashionmedia #instablog #fashionstyle #celeblook

A post shared by STYLEmeFASHIONme (@stylemefashionme) on Sep 14, 2017 at 9:19pm PDT

The post The best red-carpet looks from TIFF, including Glenn Close, Rosamund Pike and Idris Elba appeared first on Toronto Life.

The King West restaurant hosted a sit-down dinner for the film, which stars Richard Gere and Peter Dinklage (Gere was there, but Dinklage had more pressing, dragon-related obligations). Guests sipped Johnnie Walker and filled up on rye-berry risotto, baby chicken and sticky date pudding.

The setting was simple and chic:

Gere reportedly sat between his father, Homer George Gere and director Jon Avnet. He also posed with Jason Isaacs, who isn’t in the film but seems to be everywhere this festival:

Whiskey was passed:

Alias Grace party at Drake One Fifty

The Drake’s financial district outpost hosted an after-party for the screening of the latest adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s work. In the film, Sarah Gadon plays a household servant who was convicted of murdering her employer.

Atwood endured some drunken conversations:

Had the most embarrassing #drunkenconvo with #queen @margaretatwoodofficial last night #tiff2017 #cbc #workperks

A post shared by Nyla (@nyla_flower) on Sep 15, 2017 at 7:17am PDT

And showed her silly side with writer and producer Sarah Polley:

Photos: #Canada #Toronto #TIFF #Redoubtable #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #TorontoInternationalFilmFestival https://www.socialnews.xyz/2017/09/15/canada-toronto-tiff-redoubtable/

A post shared by Social News XYZ (@socialnewsxyz) on Sep 15, 2017 at 2:53am PDT

There was a psychic:

Someonectook@a pic of me at work at the Drake One Fifty TIFF party. Woah what a fun night. All mostly young women going through their first Saturn returns. Palm reading tonight. #torontoevents #drakeonefifty #tiff #torontopsychic #party

A post shared by taragreenetarot (@taragreenetarot) on Sep 15, 2017 at 12:11am PDT

Lissa Monet curated the tunes:

Finally meeting the wonderful @heylissamonet in person. Also only one on dance floor…not for long. -Jen #AliasGrace #tiff2017 #CBCAliasGrace

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 14, 2017 at 7:08pm PDT

Gadon posed with pals in the photo booth:

Tiffing. #aliasgrace #tiff2017

A post shared by @jackiglick on Sep 14, 2017 at 9:55pm PDT

Two cast members from Workin’ Moms, Dani Kind and Juno Ruddell, joined the party:

I have found the hard workin' moms of @workinmoms and now we're in a corner discussing the challenges of the BTS season, and when exactly kids can wipe their own bums. NEW FRIENDS ??!

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 14, 2017 at 7:37pm PDT

The post Inside the best parties from night eight of TIFF, with Richard Gere, Margaret Atwood and Jason Isaacs appeared first on Toronto Life.

Related

Q&A: Margaret Atwood on Trump, (not) moving to Hollywood and The Handmaid’s Tale

How did you get involved with the project?
My agent sent me the script. When I saw it was a Sarah Polley project, I flipped out. Growing up in Toronto, I had always looked up to her as an actress, and I’ve watched her evolve into a director, producer and writer. I’ve always carried around a secret dream that maybe one day I might get to work with her. When I read the script, I instantly knew this was going to be really special and smart because Sarah is those two things.

Did you have to audition?
Yes. I met Sarah and Mary [Harron, the director,] the next day for lunch. Sarah told me how she had read the book when she was 17 and how it was the most important piece of literature in her life. She said, “I feel like this book has informed everything I have done since I read it.” And I thought, Oh God.

No pressure, right?
Yeah. The next day, I met with them to workshop a bunch of scenes. Sarah actually read with me, which wasn’t intimidating at all, hah. I left for L.A. the next day and got a call from Mary saying, “You did a really great job yesterday, but there’s just one more scene we need you to do, and we need you to play it in this way.” I thought, Really? We worked the crap out of these scenes and you need this extra thing? I did it, I sent my tape back and then they offered me the role. That experience was a real window into how this project would be—relentless, never-ending and hard.

You mentioned being a fan of Sarah’s. Did you watch Road to Avonlea as a kid?
Absolutely. And that’s kind of a wonderful thing: Sarah grew up on the CBC, on a TV show that portrayed this very idyllic idea of what it was like to be a Victorian woman in Canada. And now she’s come full circle as an adult. She’s taking the opportunity to show a much more real, violent, heavy and complicated story about what it was like to be a woman during that period.

It’s the E! True Hollywood Story version.
Ha—yeah!

Were you an Atwood fan before this project?
I was, but I hadn’t read Alias Grace, which has since become my favourite Atwood novel. As soon as I read it, I understood why it struck a chord with Sarah. Margaret has this way of giving a voice to our deep unconscious. It’s a book that gets into your bones in a way you can’t shake.

What was it like meeting such a major icon for the first time? Were you nervous?
I was super intimidated, but she’s very disarming. The first time we met, I asked her a question about the book—”Do you think there was something ‘going on’ between Grace and Kinnear [her employer]?” I was kind of dancing around it. And she looked at me and said, “If you’re asking if I think Grace had sex with Mr. Kinnear…” She’s very direct.

Is it true you went to Black Creek Pioneer Village for research?
Yes. I learned all about the different tasks associated with being a housemaid during the Victorian era.

Did anything strike you as particularly surprising?
The undergarments that women wore when they had their periods. I guess it’s kind of like a female jock strap–type situation. I did not expect that.

In Atwood’s novel—and in real life—there is a lot of ambiguity around whether Grace Marks was guilty. What do you think?
I think ambiguity is really important to the book and to the show, but of course as an actor, you can’t just suspend yourself in a state of ambiguity. I had to make choices about whether I thought she was innocent. I think it’s everybody’s journey in the show to watch and make their own decisions.

Meaning you’re not going to give us your take?
Margaret gave us all our marching orders before we started press. She said, “You cannot tell, you cannot ruin it.”

Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace is surprisingly relevant today in its themes around female identity. Discuss.
What’s so powerful about Margaret’s writing about women at that time is the sense of being trapped in a social, economic and political structure that is not of our own design. Grace is trapped as a working-class person, she’s trapped as a new immigrant in Canada. Victorian women were never allowed to say what they felt, which is part of the tension of the show. Today, women are still trapped. We’re always having to censor ourselves and think about how we will be perceived.

You’ve been to TIFF many times in the last few years. How has it changed?
Every year, it just gets bigger and bigger, and it changes with the industry. Who would have thought I’d be premiering a TV show at TIFF? My career has really been made by this festival, so I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Where do you stand on fan selfies?
I like it. I’m from a very image-conscious generation. I appreciate it and I’m humbled that someone wants to take a photo with me. It’s really meaningful to me that someone is taking time out of their day to come down and support my work. Yesterday, there was a girl [who came to the Alias Grace press conference] and she showed me a selfie of me and her from when I was here for Cosmopolis [in 2012]. That was so awesome.

Alias Grace premieres September 28 on CBC.

The post Q&A: Sarah Gadon, the star of CBC’s new Atwood adaptation, <em>Alias Grace</em> appeared first on Toronto Life.

Halle Berry arrived in Toronto, and took in the view:

Soaring over Toronto for TIFF #KingsMovie #TIFF17

A post shared by Halle Berry (@halleberry) on Sep 13, 2017 at 2:57pm PDT

She indulged in some fancy-looking sweets:

And, in less than 24 hours, hit the road (well, air) again:

Patrick J. Adams was out and about near Nathan Philips Square:

?Just walking in Toronto and it was a such big surprise ? / En mi vida me iba a imaginar que este pata sala' se iba a encontrar caminando a @patrickjadams de una de mis series favoritas. @suits_usa #suits #MichaelRoss #Laleydelosaudaces #torontolife #tiff2017 #tiff I already said that I got so excited?

A post shared by Antonio Velásquez (@antzv) on Sep 13, 2017 at 7:33pm PDT

Elisabeth Moss got ready for her live reading:

Honored to read a passage from The Handmaids Tale alongside the one and only Margaret Atwood herself today for the launch of @audible_ca. No pressure obviously ??#YouGottaHearThis #sponsored

A post shared by Elisabeth Moss (@elisabethmossofficial) on Sep 13, 2017 at 6:37am PDT

She also posed with Margaret Atwood:

For all the fans of A Handmaid's Tale… the OG author and TV star united this morning for the launch of Audible in Canada. They seem to really be supporting a lot more Canadian authors, plus so many actors, and generally just more great quality content for our ears. ?????? #Audible #AHandMaidsTale #yougottahearthis #margaretatwood #elisabethmoss

A post shared by Carlene Higgins (@carlenehiggins) on Sep 13, 2017 at 12:13pm PDT

Atwood later dined at La Palma:

#wcw #pcw #peoplecrushwednesday #fransears #danielwilson #margaretatwood @margaretatwoodofficial #handmaidstale #allthreeoftheseincrediblepeopleareresponsibleformebeingacostumedesigner #creativeroyalty #workforyourheroes #frananddanielfortheoriginal #handmaidstalemovie #margaretfortheoriginal #handmaidstalebook #threegloriousminds #threeamazinghumans #colourmeoverthemoon #handmaidstale #seasontwo

A post shared by ane crabtree (@anecrabtree) on Sep 12, 2017 at 11:28pm PDT

Vince Vaughn was allegedly spotted flying low:

Had a fab little afternoon cocktail here with the fabulous @dirtyblondediaries Saw @vince.vaughn #hisflywasdown #tiff2017

A post shared by Sabrina Senko (@sabie_28) on Sep 13, 2017 at 5:18pm PDT

Alan Cumming tried on some Sorrel boots:

Eric Clapton was here:

#ericclapton #tiff #tiff17 #tiff2017 #tiff42 #tiff_net #toronto #the6ix #torontolife #cityliving #celebrity #film #movies #actor #torontointernationalfilmfestival #gala #redcarpet #moviestars  #movie #cinema #photography  #actor #hollywoodnorth #stargazing  #fan

A post shared by Mike K. (@foto_gnut) on Sep 14, 2017 at 6:04am PDT

Glenn Close brought her dog on set:

Can you spot the surprise guest #GlennClose brought today? ?

A post shared by BUILD Series (@buildseriesnyc) on Sep 11, 2017 at 5:02pm PDT

She also hung out with her daughter-slash-co-star Annie Starke:

A wonderfull morning with #GlennClose and her daughter/actress/co-star #AnnieStarke #TheWife #TIFF2017 #Toronto #onehandshakeaway

A post shared by ReneMioch (@renemioch) on Sep 14, 2017 at 9:23am PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Halle Berry comes and goes, Margaret Atwood dines at La Palma appeared first on Toronto Life.

The pre-screening party for the film was held on the hotel’s 44th-floor rooftop, where guests snacked on mini lobster BLTs and sipped Ciroc berry cocktails. The film, which stars Daniel Craig and Halle Berry, follows a foster family in L.A. a few weeks before the infamous riots.

Berry, in a tousled high braid, was at the centre of the crowd (her co-star isn’t in town):

She chatted in a group with the film’s writer and director Deniz Gamze Ergüven (spotted: Cameron Bailey in the background):

Berry sipped on bubbly:

And doled out some hugs:

It's official. Halle Berry Gives the Best Co-Star HUGS at #TIFF17 ??? I'd endure Julliard just to get some of this juice. WAIT for IT – they call me into Hug!!! The Oscar winner greeted her young #KINGSMovie co-stars with such sweetness and strength. It was life and art affirming to watch. Thank you makers of KINGS, @Audi and #InkEntertainment ? All hail the Queen of KINGS . . . . . . #halleberry #wcw #tiff2017 #mcm #clairefoy #andrewgarfield #thecrown #netlix #emmys #ElleFanning #MaisieWilliams, #DouglasBooth #jamiedornan #rbchouse #50shadesofgrey #dakotajohnson #TIFF2017 #gameofthrones #sexy #cocktails #redcarpet #bestdressed

A post shared by sisitravels (@sisitravels) on Sep 13, 2017 at 4:27pm PDT

Fellow cast members Rachel Wilson and Peter Mackenzie posed together:

Co-star Lamar Johnson celebrated, too:

Here’s the fictional family together:

In honour of #wcw, we're so happy to have hosted the incredible @halleberry & the gorgeous cast of #Kings for their world premiere party #tiff17atbisha #TIFF17 #tiff2017 ? George Pimentel Photography/Wireimage. . . . . . . . #hotellife #welltravelled #passportexpress #travel #instatravel #travelinfluencer #igtravel #celebsighting #celebstyle #travelblogger #wanderlust #passionpassport #citygram #boutiquehotel #luxurytravel #designhotel #designhotels #luxuryhotel #newhotel #torontohotel #beautifulhotels #creativehappylife #torontolofe #seetorontonow #the6ix

A post shared by Bisha Hotel Toronto (@bishatoronto) on Sep 13, 2017 at 6:22pm PDT

Long Time Running party at King Taps

The Tragically Hip documentary celebrated its premiere last night at the new First Canadian Place craft beer mecca (which has over 50 brews on tap). In addition to the Hip band members (except Gord Downie), notable names like Ron McLean and Jeffrey Remedios also showed up, and guests sipped on custom Crown Royal cocktails.

Co-directors Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier posed together:

Liz Trinnear and her husband Nathaniel Motte made a (rather gangster) appearance:

Band members Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay and Gord Sinclair hung out together:

Ron McLean gave an enthusiastic thumbs up in a fitting T-shirt:

The post Inside the best parties from night seven of TIFF, with Halle Berry and The Tragically Hip appeared first on Toronto Life.

Annette Bening got a kiss from Warren Beatty after the screening of her flick Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool at Roy Thompson Hall:

?It was amazing film #AnnetteBening played #GloriaGrahame at #filmstarsdontdieinliverpool She definitely nailed it. ????No questions that if she get #oscar from this flim. #tiff2017 #tiff again Annette Bening is greatest actress of all time. #oscar2018

A post shared by ????Toronto ???? (@dj1677) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:14pm PDT

Vince Vaughn was spotted outside Brassaii:

Oh yeah, also saw Vince Vaughn ?? fucker is incredibly tall. #vincevaughn #tiff

A post shared by Ky (@friispiriit) on Sep 12, 2017 at 7:36pm PDT

Javier Bardem discussed how he’s been offered a lot of Escobar roles:

@javierbardemoficial discussing about his role in Loving Pablo Premiere at #TIFF2017 . Fantastic performance of @penelopecruzoficial ! A must see #filmfestival #penelopecruz #javierbardem #avilerner #pabloescobar. Film directed by #fernandoleondearanoa #Toronto #filmfestival

A post shared by Pia Patatian (@piapatatian) on Sep 13, 2017 at 1:25am PDT

Later, he was spotted at Byblos, drinking wine with an entourage:

James and Dave Franco joined the slew of celebs who have cuddled rescue puppies for People:

James with some puppies… AGAIN! Too cute ? #TIFF2017

A post shared by francostans (@francostans) on Sep 12, 2017 at 11:57pm PDT

Evan Rachel Wood celebrated her birthday at Momofuku’s Noodle Bar:

Birthday surprises at #TIFF after the premiere of #AWorthyCompanion

A post shared by Evan Rachel Wood (@evanrachelwood) on Sep 12, 2017 at 3:57pm PDT

According to Shinan Govani, Chloe Sevigny and Gael Garcia Bernal also dove into some ramen (separately):

Javier Bardem walking though, as Chloe Sevigny and Gael Garcia Bernal sat at different tables getting their ramen on: scene this afternoon at Momofuku, where AT&T and DirectTV have been sponsoring the Variety Lounge this year. #tiff17 #tiff2017

A post shared by Shinan Govani (@shinangovani) on Sep 12, 2017 at 12:47pm PDT

Andy Serkis was stopped outside Byblos:

Surprise Gollum sighting in the wild. #andyserkis #tiff17 #latergram

A post shared by Kristin McKinnon (@kristin.mckinnon) on Sep 12, 2017 at 1:18pm PDT

Cuba Gooding Jr. is still around, wearing a very floppy bucket hat:

I love that the celebs are out and about the city during #tiff2017 @cubagoodingjr f'n rocks! Thanks for the chat!!! #chasingthekwan #rodtidwell #oscarwinner @force1six #andonthe6thday

A post shared by Greg Bell (@geedidds) on Sep 13, 2017 at 8:08am PDT

The cast of Mudbound got in on this shot:

Aww I love you @therealmaryjblige ???????…It's moments like these that make it all worthwhile lol ??— #Mudbound #maryjblige #garretthedlund #jasonmitchell #jasonclarke #careymulligan #robmorgan #deerees #TIFF2017 #THRatTIFF #Interview

A post shared by MΔRΨ J. βLIGΣ ҒΔΠPΔGΣ® (@maryjbligefanss) on Sep 13, 2017 at 6:24am PDT

Ben Mendelsohn nearly ashed on his own signature:

#BenMendelsohn at #TIFF17 #TIFF for #DarkestHour

A post shared by alesia (@alesiaaaa) on Sep 13, 2017 at 10:38am PDT

Kristin Scott Thomas waved to fans:

#KristinScottThomas at #TIFF17 #TIFF for #DarkestHour

A post shared by alesia (@alesiaaaa) on Sep 13, 2017 at 9:42am PDT

Benedict Cumberbatch and Christian Bale bade us farewell:

Hate to see them go! Benedict Cumberbatch & Christian Bale take flight from #Toronto after their #TIFF17 premieres earlier this week #etalk #etalkTIFF #benedictcumberbatch #christianbale

A post shared by etalk (@etalkctv) on Sep 13, 2017 at 8:31am PDT

While Gael Garcia Bernal just touched down, and was oh-so-close with Toronto’s pronunciation (it’s Toronna, Gael):

Torrrontah

A post shared by Gael Garcia Bernal (@gaelgarciab) on Sep 12, 2017 at 5:12am PDT

He spoke Spanish to fans:

#gaelgarciabernal ?#tiff ?#ifyousawhisheart #stargazing #frenchmovie ?#torontointernationalfilmfestival #torontolife

A post shared by ViktoriaL (@lepevika) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:17pm PDT

John Landis dined at Bisha Hotel’s rooftop restaurant Kōst:

Alexander Payne was stopped outside Calii Love:

Met two time #AcademyAward winner #AlexanderPayne known for his films #Nebraska #TheDescendants #Election and #AboutSchmidt his film #Downsizing is showcased at #Tiff17

A post shared by Timothy Achacoso (@timandthecity) on Sep 13, 2017 at 6:47am PDT

And Michael Shannon wore some nice Canadian plaid:

#tiff2017 #tiff17 #toronto #torontointernationalfilmfestival2017 #movies #canada #film #michaelshannon

A post shared by 27mason (@27mason) on Sep 13, 2017 at 6:01am PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Evan Rachel Wood celebrates her birthday, Javier Bardem sips wine at Byblos appeared first on Toronto Life.

The Storys Building hosted a party for the film, a drama based on a memoir by Peter Turner (played by Jamie Bell) about his relationship with 1950s film star Gloria Grahame (Annett Bening).

Here’s a look inside the lounge:

Bell, wife Kate Mara, Bening and hubby Warren Beatty posed for pictures and mingled together inside the RBC House (apparently Bening and Beatty held hands all night):

Elvis Costello arrived solo to the party:

He spent most of the night chatting with pals. He’s pictured here with Matt Greenhalgh, director Paul McGuigan and Natasha Noramly:

Jason Isaacs showed up to support the film:

So did Sony Pictures Classics CEO Tom Bernard:

Beatty shook hands with Mara:

And Bening laughed with guests:

Birks Tribute to the Year’s Women in Film bash at The Spoke Club

The jewellery brand held its annual celebration of women in film last night, honouring directors Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Ashley McKenzie, Catherine Bainbridge, Chloé Leriche and Mina Shum; actors Amanda Brugel, Ellen Wong, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, Mylène Mackay and Shailyn Pierre-Dixon; and screenwriters Joanne Arseneau and Sherry White.

There was a “women” cheer:

#womeninfilm #tiff17 #birkstribute recipients celebrate the moment ??? ????

A post shared by What She Said (@whatshesaidtalk) on Sep 12, 2017 at 6:37pm PDT

Honouree Brugel (she plays servant Rita in The Handmaid’s Tale) posed in front of some greenery:

Most Driven, Talented, Hilarious Human Being I know #loveher #sisters #amandabrugel #womeninfilm #proundofher #strongwomen #brugelwomen @amandabrugel

A post shared by erica_333 (@erica_333) on Sep 12, 2017 at 3:48pm PDT

Guests ran into 90210 actor Dustin Milligan:

Ran into Dustin Milligan at Birk's tribute tiff party for women in film @maisonbirks @evahartling @deucestain #tiff2017#dustinmilligan#birkstribute#womeninfilm#schitscreek#spokeclub#torontolife#torontofashion#torontoparties#torontostreetstyle#realtoronthego#realtorinstyle#filmfestival#instapic#instamood#instagood#maisonbirks#sepideh

A post shared by @sepidehmoazzani on Sep 12, 2017 at 5:59pm PDT

Honourees got to take home some hardware:

What a group! Let's hear it for this year's women in film. #birkstribute #tiff17

A post shared by shedoesthecity (@shedoesthecity) on Sep 12, 2017 at 3:11pm PDT

Sarah Gadon also showed up:

About last night ! An incredible TIFF celebration of women in cinema ! Congratulations Birks Diamond Tribute @evahartling @gregominot @francisguindon #maisonbirks @telefilm_canada #spokeclubtoronto #toronto #the6ix #tiff2017 #womenempowerment #girlpower #inspiration #gratitude

A post shared by afiliatrault (@afiliatrault) on Sep 13, 2017 at 5:37am PDT

Brawl in Cell Block 99 party at Cactus Club Cafe

The restaurant hosted a celebration for the film, in which Vince Vaughn plays an imprisoned former boxer forced into acts of violence. Vaughn and co-star Don Johnson ditched their VIP booths and mingled with the crowd. Victoria’s Secret model Devon Windsor and actor Ron Perlman also partied with the cast.

Here’s Vaughn and Johnson:

Producer Jack Heller, actor Udo Kier, Windsor, producer Dallas Sonnier and Johnson all hung out together:

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women premiere parties at Soho House

Soho House and Grey Goose held a cast party yesterday for the biographical drama, about how a Harvard inventor (Luke Evans), his wife (Rebecca Hall) and lover (Bella Heathcote) created the comic book superhero Wonder Woman. Evans reportedly worked the room, stopping for photos with guests. He was spotted sipping espresso-based Grey Goose cocktails.

Stars Heathcote and Evans posed together:

Writer and director Angela Robinson was in attendance:

So was producer Terry Leonard:

Heathcote and Robinson hung out together and chatted with fans:

Oh this? This is just me at the @marstonmovie premiere after-party at #tiff17 hanging out with some badass, real-life Wonder Women (and one talented and ridiculously hot Wonder Dude). Such an awesome team, and an amazing #film. I'm so thrilled I could help them celebrate. Can't wait to see you on screens in the States, #marstonmovie! @annapurnapics #womeninfilm #wonderwoman #comics #polyamorous #bdsm #kink #lgbt #bipride #toronto

A post shared by teresajusino (@teresajusino) on Sep 12, 2017 at 7:39pm PDT

The post Inside the best parties from night six of TIFF, with Luke Evans, Annette Bening and Vince Vaughn appeared first on Toronto Life.

In 2010, journalist and magazine editor Tina Brown hosted the first Women in the World Summit, a forum for business leaders, activists, politicians and pop culture luminaries to share their experiences and discuss how they could improve the lives of women and girls. Since that first event, Brown has hosted yearly summits across the U.S. and abroad, but last night was the first time it came to Canada. In her opening address, Brown spoke about women’s power to change the future. “When Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman crushed Iron Man at the box office, that was a harbinger,” Brown told the largely female crowd at the AGO. “We all knew what was coming.”

The marathon event featured more than 20 speakers, including Angelina Jolie, Justin Trudeau, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland, Felicia Sanders (a survivor of the Charleston church shooting), Women’s March co-chair Tamika D. Mallory, and Loung Ung, the author of First They Killed My Father (a memoir turned TIFF film, directed by Jolie). Here, five highlights from the summit.

Loung Ung gets tingles watching First They Killed My Father

In her memoir, Ung recounts her experiences as a young girl during the mass genocide of 1.7 million Cambodians by the communist Khmer Rouge regime in the mid-1970s. She mentally prepared to watch some of the most harrowing moments of her book’s film adaptation at TIFF, but when she saw the scene of landmines indiscriminately killing children, she said, “it still gives me tingles in my toes.” She said she was lucky to escape the genocide with all of her limbs. In 1980, Ung escaped to the U.S., and she is now a spokesperson for Landmine Free World. “As women, we have more strength that we give ourselves credit for,” Ung said. “Peace is an action, we need to strategize and fight for it.”

Jolie read First They Killed My Father 16 years ago while filming Tomb Raider in Cambodia. Since then, Loung and Jolie have been close friends. Jolie told the audience that, when she was considering adopting her now-15-year-old son Maddox (who is an executive producer of the film), she first asked Ung if she thought people would be offended that an outsider like herself was adopting a Cambodian orphan. “If she had said [yes], my life would have been very different,” Jolie said.

Justin Trudeau wants to transform trolls, not the internet

Before Brown’s conversation with Justin Trudeau, a montage of clips showed the prime minister calling himself a feminist a dozen times in various interviews and press conferences. When Brown asked him how trolling—or as she called it, “the wild west of misogyny”—could be stopped, Trudeau said it comes down to “changing attitudes, not changing the internet.” He explained that it’s challenging to retain women in powerful positions because of the “nastiness” they face online, and pointed to the hatred towards Mississauga-Erin Mills MP Iqra Khalid’s anti-Islamophobia motion. “She questioned if she still wanted to be an MP,” said Trudeau.

When Brown asked him about the impact of his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, on his own beliefs as a feminist, Trudeau said Pierre was a supportive father, but not necessarily a feminist. “What he taught me was all about rights…standing up for everyone’s rights,” said Trudeau. “I don’t know that we could call him a feminist. He was very old school. He was a product of his time.”

Chrystia Freeland believes you can be polite and strong

When asked how the NAFTA negotiations were progressing, Freeland stayed positive. “We’ve done our homework, and our trade negotiators are the best in the world,” Freeland said. “We’re being polite, but being polite doesn’t mean you can’t be strong. We’re standing up for our national interest.”

That politeness extends into cabinet meetings, too. Freeland recalled that the prime minister asked veteran members of the gender-equal cabinet to describe the current dynamic of the meetings. “They said, ‘Everyone really listens and tries to understand each other. Before we used to fight all the time, there were tribal fractions,’” said Freeland. “[A veteran male minister turned to me] and said, ‘I wonder why it’s so different?’”

Grieving mothers from Israel and Palestine are working together

Israeli Robi Damelin’s son, David, was killed by a sniper while serving in the Israeli army. Palestinian Bushra Awad’s son, Mahmod, was shot by an Israeli solider in Beit Omar. At the Women in the World Summit, they spoke about bonding together after losing their sons to put an end to the conflict. They’re both a part of the the Parents Circle, a reconciliation organization for bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families. Awad said that, prior to meeting Damelin, she thought “Israelis were killers,” but when she spoke with her for the first time, that changed. “When we talked about our sons and she cried, I forgot she was an Israeli and [instead I saw her] as a bereaved mother.” Damelin said their unexpected friendship shows what’s possible. “We recognize the humanity in each other.”

Men wanted the Women’s March to be called the People’s March

Not every member of the night’s final panel, Women Busting up the Bro Culture, cared for its name: panelist Lisa Bloom, the civil rights lawyer who brought down Bill O’Reilly, said the term “bro culture” sounds too fun and should instead be called what it is: the “patriarchy” or “systemic misogyny.” Another panelist, Women’s March co-chair Tamika D. Mallory, recalled the men that doubted that they could pull off the march. “Men told us that we were not capable of organizing a march of that magnitude,” she said. “They didn’t think we had the skill set to pull it off. Men wanted us to change the name to the People’s March.” When many of these men realized how vast, well-run and necessary the march was, Mallory said, they came out after all.

The post Five things you missed at the Women in the World Summit, with Angelina Jolie and Justin Trudeau appeared first on Toronto Life.

James Franco went to Strombo’s house:

#jamesfranco #thedisasterartist #TIFF17 #jamesfrancolove

A post shared by All things James Franco (@francofeen) on Sep 12, 2017 at 2:51am PDT

Tony Goldwyn and Diane Lane drank self-portraits:

Diane and I had our portraits done in cappuccino this morning. Whadya think? #tiff2017 #MarkFelt

A post shared by Tony Goldwyn (@tonygoldwyn) on Sep 11, 2017 at 2:48pm PDT

Gary Oldman, Tony Clifton and Jim Carrey showed off their best sad faces:

Gary Oldman, Tony Clifton, and Jim Carrey earlier today. . . . . . . . #tiff #tiff2017 #tonyclifton #manonthemoon #jimcarrey #celeb #nikon #nikond5 #eventphotography #eventphotographer #toronto #garyoldman #blackandwhite #tiff17 #tonyclifton

A post shared by Ryan Emberley (@ryanemberley) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:29pm PDT

Kate Winslet bid us farewell at Pearson:

NEW ~ Kate signs autographs at Toronto Airport ? So radiant! ? ・・・??More on Facebook: Kate Winslet Italia (please credits to my page if you use these pics) #katewinslet #candids #tiff2017 #tiff #tiff17 #torontofilmfestival #themountainbetweenus

A post shared by Michelle & Kate Italia?? (@michelle_kateit) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:41am PDT

So did Emma Stone (who looks like she’s flying Air Canada):

Emma Stone at the airport of Toronto. Filter : @ghostlyfilters • • • • #emmastone #emmastonedaily #emilyjeanstone #emmastonecandid #lalaland #TIFF2017

A post shared by multifandom (@queenxmarsh) on Sep 12, 2017 at 7:03am PDT

Rachel Weisz was at Lavelle:

Amazing second panel of Grey Goose Cocktails and Conversations at #2017TIFF with one of my all time favourite actresses Rachel Weisz to discuss her and (other) Rachel McAdams' brilliant new film Disobedience – à Love story for the modern world . . . . . . . . . #GreyGoose #WorldsBestTastingVodka #BacardiLife #Martinis #Vodka #Toronto #TIFF #TIFF2017 #cocktails #summercocktails

A post shared by Joe McCanta (@joemccanta) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:13am PDT

Andy Serkis (a.k.a. Gollum) signed an old DVD:

Andy Serkis, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield!! #tiff2017

A post shared by Matthew Wales (@matt_wales15) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:08am PDT

Jacqueline Poirier (a.k.a. The Crazy Plate Lady) painted Jake Gyllenhaal‘s portrait:

#TIFF day 5, and everyone is loving their plates! Including this guy right here…comment below if you know his name!!! #tiff2017 #plart

A post shared by Jacqueline Poirier (@thecrazyplatelady) on Sep 11, 2017 at 4:12pm PDT

Mary J. Blige got in on all that Pablo Cheese Tart hype:

Mary J Blige leaving Pablo's restaurant in Toronto. – Download the Snicha App for real time celebrity sightings. Link in Bio! . . . #tiff2017 #fashion #love #maryjblige #style #beauty #beautiful #model #hollywood #luxury #music #cute #famous #actor #artist #fashionista #instagood #makeup #actor #followme #picoftheday #follow #celebrities #photoshoot #star #art #gorgeous

A post shared by Snicha (@snichaapp) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:59am PDT

Charlie Hunnam (quite fairly) refuses to sign any more autographs to people he’s “seen a lot”:

Vídeo LEGENDADO | Como dizer não, sem parecer rude. Charlie disse que não daria mais autógrafos para estas pessoas, pois isso toma tempo e consequentemente outros fãs ficam sem. Justo e é por isso eu o admiro tanto! Para ver o vídeo completo acesse nossa página no facebook. #charliehunnam #fan #fa #papillon #toronto #tiff2017 #autografos

A post shared by Charlie Hunnam Brasil (@charliehunnam.br) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:29am PDT

Claire Foy hung out at the Storys Building:

A delight to catch up with Claire Foy, more magical and magnificent at midnight than most people are at 9 am. @RBC House for the WIN ? #RBCTIFF . . . . #clairefoy #andrewgarfield #breathemovie #thecrown #netlix #emmys #ElleFanning, #MaisieWilliams, #DouglasBooth #tomsturridge #jamiedornan #rbchouse #50shadesofgrey #dakotajohnson #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #bafta #london #ukfilm #gameofthrones #aryastark #got7 #got #babesofinstagram #sexy #cocktails #redcarpet #bestdressed

A post shared by sisitravels (@sisitravels) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:16am PDT

Foy and Andrew Garfield made silly faces with Joshua Horowitz:

Happy/Sad/Confused. With Claire Foy & Andrew Garfield. Andrew might have my new favorite "happy". #clairefoy #andrewgarfield #breathe #happysadconfused #tiff17 Photo: @sammyheller

A post shared by Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:49am PDT

Garfield also stopped by Brassai:

#andrewgarfield was super nice to work with. Very low key and casual, Andrew was hanging out with the staff before taking off for his next interview! #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #actress #actor #redcarpet  #THR #THRatTIFF #behindthescenes #BrassaiidoesTIFF

A post shared by Brassaii Restaurant & Lounge (@brassaii) on Sep 12, 2017 at 10:03am PDT

So did Angelina Jolie:

The stunning #angelinajolie was in with the cast of 'First they killed my father'. She was so sweet and she and the cast took silly selfies in the back! #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #actress #actor #redcarpet  #THR #THRatTIFF #behindthescenes #BrassaiidoesTIFF

A post shared by Brassaii Restaurant & Lounge (@brassaii) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:44am PDT

And Garrett Hedlund:

@thegarretthedlund is such a character and so much fun to have visit us today! Charming and funny, the perfect combo! #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #actress #actor #redcarpet  #THR #THRatTIFF #behindthescenes #BrassaiidoesTIFF

A post shared by Brassaii Restaurant & Lounge (@brassaii) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:18am PDT

This fan was pumped to see Stepbrothers star Richard Jenkins:

Its the fucking Catalina Wine Mixer!! At #tiff17

A post shared by Lake Skwaryk (@lakeskwaryk) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:11am PDT

Simon Baker was hunted down outside Rodney’s Oyster House:

@Regrann from @fan_simonbaker – ?? New ?? Simon Baker (The Mentalist) this morning , Sep. 11 Shared by Lake Skwaryk (fb) ••• #SimonBaker #snappytoes #Tiff #TIFF17 – #regrann

A post shared by sɪᴍᴏɴ ʙᴀᴋᴇʀ|ʀᴏʙɪɴ ᴛᴜɴɴᴇʏ|ᴛᴍ (@simonbaker.thementalistfan) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:02am PDT

Dominic Cooper was also spotted after lunch:

Wish I could look as good as Dominic Cooper coming out of lunch #howardstark #preacher #selfie #tiff #tiff2017 #dominiccooper

A post shared by Jayjay Colley (@the.jay.jay) on Sep 12, 2017 at 10:33am PDT

Nicolas Cage (like nearly every other actor) stopped by The Fix:

Nicolas Cage, James Franco, Ellen Page, Allan Cummings, Sarah Rafferty, Emma Roberts, Dave Franco and more stopped by and were gracious enough to sign our ?? charity board. Everyone was so cool and we loved having you ??????‍ #thefixtiff #tiff17 @sorelfootwear ? @nickwons

A post shared by the[fix] (@thefixtoronto) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:46am PDT

And signed some autographs outside of MEC (he caused a bit of a stir):

Was so cool to meet one of my favourite actors #nicolascage ??

A post shared by jaydenseyfarth (@jaydenseyfarth) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:27am PDT

Diane Lane signed a nine-lite bottle of Moët and Chandon, which will be auctioned off to support TIFF’s talent development programs for women in the film industry:

Diane Lane yesterday. . . . . . . . #tiff #tiff2017 #champagne #celeb #nikon #nikond5 #eventphotography #eventphotographer #toronto #moet #moetchandon #tiff17 #dianelane #moetmoment

A post shared by Ryan Emberley (@ryanemberley) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:13am PDT

Nicole Kidman was at the Thompson:

#Lion should have won the Oscar. Low key #NicoleKidman agrees ? #TIFF17

A post shared by badgalrere? (@reemisradd) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:09am PDT

Julianne Moore walked with her bodyguards:

Julianne Moore at #tiff17

A post shared by Lake Skwaryk (@lakeskwaryk) on Sep 12, 2017 at 7:43am PDT

Sebastien Roberts partied at Liberty Commons:

Fab to meet #canadian #actor #SebastienRoberts @mary_kills_people #film #TIFF17 @whisfilmfest @tiff_net @libertycommons #toronto #TV #Canada #FrenchCanadian #montreal #TV #quote "You can't control how you feel, you can only control how you deal with what you feel." @sebasroberts #thankful #mondaymotivation #merci #whistlerfilmfestival #torontofilmfestival

A post shared by Georgina Bencsik (@georginabencsik) on Sep 12, 2017 at 5:44am PDT

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Akon hung out at the Four Seasons:

@cubagoodingjr and @akon @fstoronto #cubagoodingjr #akon #funtimes

A post shared by Tanya Humphrey-Anthony (@bl8dergirl) on Sep 12, 2017 at 7:42am PDT

Drake was there, too:

Drake ! My best shot to date ! @torontolife @raptors @drizzy_dr6ke.fan @karina.santos_ @karinagpaiva @fourseasons

A post shared by Michelle Kenny (@michelle_kennyy) on Sep 11, 2017 at 7:33pm PDT

Jason Biggs stole some sweets from Momofuku:

@biggsjason has always had a thing for sweets ? #TIFFYouWantIt #YouCanHaveIt

A post shared by directv (@directv) on Sep 9, 2017 at 6:29pm PDT

Alicia Vikander snapped pics with a fan at RBC House:

– NEW | Alicia at the Variety Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2017! ? #aliciavikander

A post shared by Alicia Vikander Updates (@aliciaviknders) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:10am PDT

Shia LaBoeuf got caught in the rain:

Shia LaBeouf gets caught in a flash rainstorm after leaving the press conference for Borg/McEnroe. The fans who had waited for hours for a possible selfie or autograph unfortunately left empty handed (and drenched). #ShiaLaBeouf #BorgMcEnroe #AutographHounds #Rain #TIFFBellLightbox #Toronto #TIFF2017 Photograph by @j3ffharris

A post shared by Maclean's Magazine (@macleansmag) on Sep 12, 2017 at 11:09am PDT

Benedict Cumberbatch promised some loyal fans he’d return:

He Promised to come back and told all of to tell the others ??he kept his promise and lucky fan was given his Tiff Mug ? #benedictcumberbatch benedictcumberbatch #tiff #tiff2017 #thecurrentwar #sherlockholmes #sherlock #doctorstrange #cumbercollective #bbc #sherlock #infinitywar #marvel #benny #iamsherlocked

A post shared by ¤°☆Mona 압도☆°¤ (@1mona_abdo) on Sep 12, 2017 at 10:06am PDT

And Javier Barden was stopped for a selfie outside of Momofuku:

Very cool meeting #JarvierBardem !! #skyfall #nocountryforoldman #brideoffrankenstein

A post shared by becca. (@kenzis) on Sep 12, 2017 at 10:34am PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Mary J. Blige goes to Pablo, Charlie Hunnam tells off stalkers appeared first on Toronto Life.

The King West restaurant hosted a pre-screening cocktail party for the British war drama—directed by Joe Wright and starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill. Guests munched on crab cakes, mushroom arancini, pea crostini and macarons.

Co-star Ben Mendelsohn was signing autographs outside the party:

The scene was buzzy yet intimate:

Inside @weslodge at the #Strellson @tiff_net pre-screening for the wonderful @darkesthour starring the brilliant Gary Oldman (@garyoldmanofficial) as Winston Churchill. #TIFF #Toronto #mensstyle #DarkestHour #fashion #style #film

A post shared by Strellson Canada (@strellsoncan) on Sep 11, 2017 at 4:52pm PDT

Fashion Santa obviously rocked the photo booth:

Christmas came early for me ? #sohandsome #andnice … thanks @cl8n ?#tiffparty #darkesthour

A post shared by Tisha Hamid (@sunshinetothemax) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:01pm PDT

Mendelsohn and co-star Kristin Scott Thomas snapped pics with Oldman and Wright:

Ben Mendelsohn, @kristinscottthomas, Gary Oldman and director Joe Wright at the Toronto International Film Festival screening of DARKEST HOUR – see our Instagram Stories for more #darkesthour #garyoldman #winstonchurchill #TIFF #WT

A post shared by Working Title (@workingtitlefilms) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:55pm PDT

Unicorn Store premiere party at Sailor

Nespresso hosted the gathering for Unicorn Store, the Brie Larson–directed film about a unicorn-obsessed art student (also Brie Larson), at Church Street bar Sailor. Guests sipped on a Nespresso-infused cocktail called Piña Café, posed in front of a wall of donuts, took pics in a 180-degree photo booth and drank latte art from Barista Brian.

The place was decked out like a retro cinema:

Actor Mamoudou Athie, writer Samantha McIntyre, Lynette Howell, Brie Larson and Martha MacIsaac set off confetti pops:

Nespresso execs Benjamin Combe and Caroline Duguay posed with Larson:

Downsizing and My Days of Mercy premiere parties at Soho House

Yesterday, Grey Goose and Soho house fêted two films: Downsizing, a flick about shrinking humans to deal with overpopulation starring Matt Damon, Kristin Wiig and Christoph Waltz (only Waltz was in attendance); and My Days of Mercy, a drama-slash-romance starring Kate Mara and Ellen Page as lovers.

The evening started off on Soho House’s third floor bar for the My Days of Mercy pre-screening party. Co-stars Page and Mara chatted:

Page gave girlfriend Samantha Thomas a smooch:

Mara also hung out with boyfriend Jamie Bell:

Later that evening on the main floor, Waltz posed by the bar:

He also gave co-star Hong Chau a kiss (director Alexander Payne seems to feel left out):

First They Killed My Father party at The Chase

Netflix hosted a private party for Angelina Jolie’s film about human rights abuses in Cambodia, based on the memoir by Loung Ung.

After toting her kids to the premiere, Jolie unwound at the party, sipping red wine and chatting with guests:

#aboutlastnight hanging out with #AngelinaJolie ?discussing Africa and my adoption ??#TIFF2017 #torontofilmfestival #netflix #exclusive private #party #VIP #TIFF #firsttheykilledmyfather ???#film ?#afterparty #beautiful #woman inside and out #icon ?? #Bosslady #superwoman ?? #rolemodel ?? #inspiration ?? #idol #nofilter ?? ? @marcjacobs #marcjacobs #MJSS17 ?

A post shared by Simane von bretten (@simane_bvb) on Sep 12, 2017 at 6:50am PDT

And more guests:

S O I R E E | Beautiful night perched above the city with fabulous company and babies tucked in and none the wiser #tiff2017 #netflix #aboutlastnight

A post shared by Claire McIntyre (@mcintyre_claire) on Sep 12, 2017 at 3:36am PDT

Mudbound premiere party at Lee Restaurant

Last night Variety Studio hosted a party for Mudbound, a historical drama about post-war life on a Mississippi farm, at Lee. The flick’s stars Garrett Hedlund, Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell and Mary J. Blige showed up in full force for a dance party.

Here’s the cast (from left: Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige and Garrett Hedlund) before dinner:

#ABOUTLASTNIGHT. ?? #EGPR was onsite for the star-studded #MUDBOUND cast dinner hosted by @parajumpers_official x @variety. No hateration, in this dancerie! #ClientLove #PJSFriends #PJSTIFF

A post shared by EGPR (@egpr_insta) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:24am PDT

Dinner settings were fancy:

Here we go again! @variety Cast dinner for #mudbound ! #movies #premiere #tiff2017 @tiff_net

A post shared by c3events (@c3events) on Sep 11, 2017 at 3:50pm PDT

There was an impromptu dance party to Blige’s “Family Affair”:

@therealmaryjblige dances to her song 'Family Affair' alongside @jasonmitchellactor at the Toronto party of their film, #Mudbound. (via @variety)

A post shared by Lit Ish (@thelitishofficial) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:16pm PDT

And Blige and Hedlund danced to Santana:

Our #Mudbound dinner wins #tiff2017. That's Mary J. Blige (!) dancing with Garrett Hedlund.

A post shared by Ramin Setoodeh (@raminsetoodeh) on Sep 11, 2017 at 8:05pm PDT

The post Inside the best parties from night five of TIFF, with Ellen Page, Angelina Jolie and Christoph Waltz appeared first on Toronto Life.

Matt Damon arrived to throngs of phone-wielding crowds:

#mattdamon #tiff2017

A post shared by Geraldine Carr ????????? (@geraldinescarr) on Sep 10, 2017 at 9:16pm PDT

Kate Winslet joined the impressive number of stars to sign the board at The Fix’s retreat:

?. – #katewinslet #tiff2017

A post shared by Noemie Pelletier ? (@pelletiernoemie) on Sep 10, 2017 at 9:28pm PDT

Benedict Cumberbatch gave fans a drive-by glimpse of his face:

#benedictcumberbatch #tiff17 #tiff #tiff2017 #toronto #celebritystyle #celebrity #september102017 #cinema #film #سينما #celebrities #tiff_net #internationalfilmfestival

A post shared by Nina Kebriaee (@shicpicphotography) on Sep 10, 2017 at 11:06pm PDT

Jennifer Lawrence needed a bit of help with her Dolce and Gabbana dress:

Ups -the dress#tiff2017 #jenniferlawrence #mother #premiere

A post shared by Mathilde Bernard (@mathildebernard44) on Sep 10, 2017 at 10:35pm PDT

She also stopped by Calii Love (but looks like she passed on the latte art):

Thanks #jenniferlawrence for coming by. #smoothie #love #goodvibesonly #caliilove

A post shared by Dan Gunam (@dangunam) on Sep 11, 2017 at 7:01am PDT

Margot Robbie and Cineplex host Tanner Zipchen showed off their jazz hands:

#Repost @tannerzee "Introducing your next Olympic pairs team! (We have yet to determine which country we will represent) #ITonya " @margotrobbie #MargotRobbie #TIFF2017 #HarleyQuinn #SuicideSquad #GothamCitySirens

A post shared by Margot Robbie (@margotrobbie_page) on Sep 11, 2017 at 1:58am PDT

Michael Shannon was spotted at Lavelle:

what a day attended a small rooftop panel with michael shannon, benedict cumberbatch, nicholas hoult, michael greyeyes, jessica chastain—and they even served us cocktails. michael is my fave, so here I've clearly chosen to fan out. thank you for the op, @greygoosecanada! #tiff17 #michaelshannon

A post shared by Katie Nanton (@katienanton) on Sep 10, 2017 at 10:08pm PDT

The cast of Disobedience (Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz and Alessandro Nivola) worked on their oh-so-natural group posing:

An awkward photo pose but a great photo nonetheless! Rachel M, Rachel Weisz, and Alessandro Nivola at TIFF {#rachelmcadams #rachelweisz #alessandronivola #tiff #tiff2017 #disobedience #torontointernationalfilmfestival}

A post shared by Rachel McAdams (@rachelmcadams.daily) on Sep 11, 2017 at 3:12am PDT

McAdams was also snapped on the way into the Storys building:

A bald James McAvoy walked around semi-incognito:

#JamesMcAvoy #tiff #tiff2017 #tiff17 #sunglasses #smile #mcavoyers #submergence

A post shared by ~Hanya Zoukai~|Moonwalker (@mcdowbatch) on Sep 11, 2017 at 2:24am PDT

Angelina Jolie brought quite a few of her kids to Toronto with her:

Are you excited to see "The Breadwinner?" _ Angelina Jolie, who produced the film, brought her kids to the world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival tonight. | September 10, 2017 | ?: @georgepimentel1/WireImage |#GettyEntertainment

A post shared by Getty Images Entertainment (@gettyentertainment) on Sep 10, 2017 at 6:44pm PDT

Emma Stone was apparently a fan of this magazine’s cover:

Emma Stone with my copy of our magazine Cine Premiere – because she liked the cover. Here at TIFF starring as tennis legend Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes. #emmastone #battleofthesexesmovie #TIFF2017 #cinepremieremagazine #photocopyrightveraanderson

A post shared by Vera Anderson (@veradogmom) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:21am PDT

Liam Neeson is in town, and was spotted by Brassai (he’s a bit tougher-looking in this shot):

#liamneeson is a classic bada$$ on screen and off. He was so lovely visiting our venue today! #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #actress #actor #redcarpet #THR #THRatTIFF #behindthescenes #BrassaiidoesTIFF

A post shared by Brassaii Restaurant & Lounge (@brassaii) on Sep 11, 2017 at 9:53am PDT

Josh Lucas went to Brassaii for an interview, and stayed for a drink:

Who else was in for lunch? None other than #joshlucas ! Looking dashing in his plaid navy blazer, he around the bar for a drink and chit chatted with the crew! #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #actress #actor #redcarpet #THR #THRatTIFF #behindthescenes #BrassaiidoesTIFF

A post shared by Brassaii Restaurant & Lounge (@brassaii) on Sep 11, 2017 at 9:59am PDT

Cuba Gooding Jr. took a photo with a fan on Adelaide Street:

Casually walking from one office to another…and I bump into this legend!!! @cubagoodingjr thank you ? #cubagoodingjr #legend #tiff #tiff2017 #toronto #eh #love #actor #boyzinthehood #trey

A post shared by # (@hopeiswakingdreams) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:47am PDT

After a wonderfully weird interview at NYFW, Jim Carrey travelled north of the border to serenade The Shape of Water crew:

Jim Carrey popped in to serenade the crew with a little @bandofhorses. #ceasetobegin #tiff2017

A post shared by Preston Northrop (@dinglebrero) on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:45am PDT

He also shouted at some fans:

Walking around #Toronto and then this guy shouts at you, what do you? ?#jimcarrey #TIFF #TIFF2017

A post shared by Peter Dimov (@peterdimov) on Sep 11, 2017 at 10:27am PDT

And posed suggestively for People:

?Things are getting interesting in the @people and @entertainmentweekly portrait studio!!! #jimcarrey #tiff2017

A post shared by People Mag Photo Department (@peoplemagphoto) on Sep 11, 2017 at 9:45am PDT

Ellen Page and Kate Mara argued about who was taller:

Hanging with @katemara and talking about our film, My Days of Mercy. I'm taller!

A post shared by @ellenpage on Sep 11, 2017 at 11:35am PDT

Seven-year-old actor Brooklynn Prince got to meet her idol:

I ugly cried after I met @ellefanning ??? Dreams come true at @tiff_net, I'm over the moon! ??? #tifffestival #tiff2017 #tiff17 #ellefanning #brooklynnprince Hair: The Amazing @themartyharper MakeUp: Fabulous @millyjmakeup Dress and Shoes: @childrensalon

A post shared by Brooklynn Prince (@thebrooklynnkimberly) on Sep 10, 2017 at 7:44am PDT

Carey Mulligan landed in the city and snapped a pic with a fan:

#careymulligan #tiff #tiff2017 #gatsbythemagnificent #actor #toronto

A post shared by julie pare (@gulie669) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:58am PDT

Evan Rachel Wood and Joshua Horowitz did some expression work for MTV:

#TIFF traditions! Happy, Sad, and Confused with the lovely @joshuahorowitz for #mtv

A post shared by Evan Rachel Wood (@evanrachelwood) on Sep 11, 2017 at 9:51am PDT

The post Spotted at TIFF: Jim Carrey breaks into song, Jennifer Lawrence gets help with her dress appeared first on Toronto Life.

Actor and musician Amelia Warner, who composed the music for Mary Shelley, wore a hypnotic Alberta Ferretti suit that would easily transition to post-party loungewear:

Also at the Mary Shelley premiere, the film’s star Elle Fanning gave off seriously angelic vibes in an ethereal Alexander McQueen gown and Tiffany and Co. jewellery:

We love the subtle floral scarf peeking out from under actor Douglas Booth‘s sleek black suit:

Helen Mirren looked impossibly chic in a Dolce and Gabbana frock at the premiere of The Leisure Seeker:

Steve Carell continued to flaunt his newly hot status (and joked about getting naked) in a plaid suit and trendy specs:

Grace Jones wore a pair of reflective sunnies, headscarf and signature sassy pose at the premiere of her documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami:

Emma Roberts sported one of Brandon Maxwell’s prim fall designs to the screening of her flick Who We Are Now:

We approve of Nicole Kidman‘s kaleidoscopic Valentino creation:

#nicolekidman in #valentino ??or??? #tiff

A post shared by The Catwalk Italia – TCI (@thecatwalkitalia) on Sep 10, 2017 at 4:36am PDT

Lady Gaga stunned crowds (and practically stopped time) in a ripped Lanotta Studio jacket that she likened to wearing angel wings:

@lanotta_studio this jacket felt like wearing angel wings, i felt ready for lift off for the premiere.?

A post shared by xoxo, Gaga (@ladygaga) on Sep 9, 2017 at 3:33pm PDT

Jason Sudeikis, in his signature baseball cap, gets points for accessorizing with a vintage camera at the premiere for Kodachrome:

Jennifer Lawrence pulled off the glam milkmaid look in this Dolce and Gabbana number:

We love Priyanka Chopra’s preppy hot-pink Fendi skirt-and-blazer combo paired with studded ankle boots at the premiere for Pahuna:

Priyanka at the premiere of Pahuna ??? Styled by: @cristinaehrlich . . #priyankachopra #bollywood #bollywoodturkey #exoticdiva #hollywood #shines #missworld #queen #quantico #alexparrish #baywatch #isntitromantic #liamhemsworth #photoshot #instagram #TIFFSoriee #TIFF17 #pahuna

A post shared by I have four queens (@myqueens4) on Sep 8, 2017 at 8:09am PDT

The post The best TIFF red-carpet looks so far, including Elle Fanning, Steve Carell and Lady Gaga appeared first on Toronto Life.

A high-tech VR play
2Virtual reality has already changed film and gaming. Now it’s coming for theatre. City of Ghosts is an ambitious attempt to marry VR and live performance, allowing audience members with smartphones, tablets or AR glasses to interact with the play—a motion-capture project shot with actors. The $1.5-million production is part of the Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories. Friday, September 15 to Sunday, September 17. $45. House of VR.

A glimpse of Canada through American eyes
3Last year, the Ryerson Image Centre got its hands on a gallerist’s dream: 25,000 images of Canada from the New York Times’ archives, donated by GTA real estate exec Chris Bratty. After a year of sifting and scrutinizing, the gallery is featuring 230 photos from the collection in a new exhibition, The Faraway Nearby. For a look at some of the shots, read our photo essay about the show. Wednesday, September 13 to Sunday, December 10. Ryerson Image Centre.

The Aliens, a play for millennial misfits
4The Coal Mine Theatre launches its 2017–2018 season with the Canadian premiere of Pulitzer Prize–winner Annie Baker’s celebrated drama The Aliens, which earned comparisons to Chekhov during its off-Broadway run. Set in a coffee shop in Vermont, where two 30-ish misfits find refuge, Baker’s play is a melancholy tribute to the “lost generation” who have come of age in modern America. Sunday, September 17 to Sunday, October 8. $25–$42.50. Coal Mine Theatre.

The sombre side of Emily Haines
5We should have seen Emily Haines’s new album coming: 2017 has shaped up to be the year of Broken Social Scene’s reawakening, between the band’s triumphant comeback album, Hug of Thunder, and new music and plays from Feist, Kevin Drew and Torquil Campbell. Haines’s contribution to the deluge is Choir of the Mind, her first solo record in a decade. She wrote it during the quiet moments at the piano that punctuated tours with Metric, a band that has increasingly favoured poppy synths over crunchy guitars. Choir of the Mind heads in another direction, offering heavenly choral arrangements and tender piano ballads. Friday, September 15. Last Gang Records.

The Seat Next to the King, a Fringe Fest hit revisited
6In a public bathroom in Washington D.C., a white man seeks a sexual encounter with a black stranger. When they discover they both have links to some of the country’s most powerful figures—one is an aide to Lyndon B. Johnson, while the other is an advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr—their clandestine hook-up becomes the stage for conversations about race, sexuality, power and masculinity. Steven Elliott Jackson’s erotically charged play was one of the major successes at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. Sunday, September 17 to Sunday, October 1. $29. The Theatre Centre.

Golden #gracejones

A post shared by Grace Jones (@missgracejones) on Aug 14, 2013 at 10:18am PDT

A Grace Jones dance party
7Singer, supermodel, actress, icon—there’s a lot to celebrate about the formidable Grace Jones. Pay tribute to legend at the Boat’s Toronto Loves Grace Jones event, a dance, art and costume party held in conjunction with the TIFF premiere of the new documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami. The event features music from DJ Holy Dodson and live art by Frizz Kid and Ashante Blackwood. Grace Jones cosplay is highly encouraged. Thursday, September 14. $10. The Boat.

A tale of two Jimmys
8Jimmy is a rugged, PTSD-wracked ex-soldier living on the streets of Montreal. When he tries to recall his adolescence, he instead gets lost in the history of another Jimmy: General James Wolfe, the British officer who defeated the French in the Battles of the Plains of Abraham. When modern-day Jimmy learns that war robbed Wolfe of his dream vacation—an artsy excursion in Paris—Jimmy decides to take it, or at least a humbler version of the trip, for him. In Lost in September, the follow-up to her bestselling Annabel, Kathleen Winter offers a fresh account of a familiar figure, and a wrenching portrait of a new one. Tuesday, September 12. Knopf Canada.

An angsty trip back to the aughts
9Do you ever feel like breaking down? Do you lock yourself in your room with the radio on turned up so loud that no one hears you’re screaming? Well, get out of your room, because Simple Plan—the Canadian band that prodded right at your teen-angst—is back with their 15th anniversary tour, where they’ll play a new batch of emo-rock tunes like “Perfectly Perfect” (not to be confused with their throwback hit, which was merely “Perfect”). Saturday, September 16. $49.50–$60. Danforth Music Hall.

A garlicky feast
10Whether you’re trying to find new flavours, lower your cholesterol or fend off vampires, garlic is for you. The Toronto Garlic Festival will open your eyes to just about every possible way to consume the ingredient—in meats, beers and even ice cream—with plenty of food, film screenings, live music, garlic art and “free raw garlic shots.” Sunday, September 17. $5. Artscape Wychwood Barns.

The post A star-studded <em>Handmaid’s Tale</em> reading, a gorgeous archival photo exhibit and eight other things to see, do, hear and read this week appeared first on Toronto Life.

Founded by Paul Haggis in 2009, this annual fundraising gala for Haiti always attracts A-list names. This year, Ben Stiller and Cuba Gooding Jr. both showed up—and served guests their meals alongside hosts Haggis, George Stroumboulopoulos, Natasha Koifman, Suzanne Boyd and guests of honour Gary Slaight and Jackson Brown.

Here’s Stiller grabbing his dishes in the kitchen:

We surprised @artistsforpeace gala guests with dinner service from @benstiller, @cubagoodingjr, @paulhaggis,@yannick_bisson, @officialjacksonbrowne, @strombo, @morganspurlocknyc, @suzanneboyd_ and moi! ?? (It's harder than it looks, but we're here to serve!!) Good job!! ????#APJheretoserve #artistsforpeace #nkprit17

A post shared by Natasha Koifman (@natashankpr) on Sep 10, 2017 at 5:02pm PDT

He served an unenthused guest:

I rarely have my phone out at a dinner…with pink cheeks, last night, I was busted by @benstiller #APJGala. Thank you @artistsforpeace for all that you do with your important mission in Haiti. Thank you for hosting @maisonbirks & thank you for capturing @evahartling @jeffreyremedios #TFF2017 #ATouchEmbarrassing #TorontoNights

A post shared by Karen Kelar (@karenkelar) on Sep 11, 2017 at 5:35am PDT

Gooding Jr. mingled with guests before dinner:

Cuba Gooding Jr in support of APJ @natashankpr at #TIFF17 #TIFF2017 #apjheretoserve #nkprit17

A post shared by sisitravels (@sisitravels) on Sep 10, 2017 at 3:54pm PDT

And got some help from Haggis to attach his Bovet watch:

@paulhaggis helps @cubagoodingjr attach his @bovet1822 Jumping Hour to his tuxedo at tonight's @artistsforpeace #apjfest17 sponsored by #bovet ?#watchonista #tiff #apjheretoserve #pocketwatch #cubagoodingjr #bovetfleurier

A post shared by watchonista (@watchonista) on Sep 10, 2017 at 6:12pm PDT

He did a decent job serving this sea bass:

?It's not every day an Oscar Winner serves you sea bass. Cuba Gooding Jr digs deep in support of Artists for Peace and Justice. @natashankpr #nkprit17 #TIFF2017 #TIFF17 . . . . . . #oscar #apjgala #cubagoodingjr #tomcruise #philanthropy

A post shared by sisitravels (@sisitravels) on Sep 10, 2017 at 7:42pm PDT

At the start of the silent auction, Gooding Jr. actually stood on his chair and shouted, “Show me the delicious money”:

Covering the Artists for Peace and Justice Gala for @watchonista. It's @cubagoodingjr at @Artistsforpeace #APJfest17 #APJheretoserve. Thanks @Bovet1822

A post shared by Rhonda Riche (@rhonda.riche) on Sep 10, 2017 at 6:00pm PDT

Then, he spontaneously broke out into the Canadian anthem:

A great night giving back @bovet1822 with @artistsforpeace and @cubagoodingjr #tiff #luxury #timepieces #inspiring #watches

A post shared by AnaMartinsPR (@anamartinspr) on Sep 11, 2017 at 8:11am PDT

Strombo posed with some art:

Ready for another beautiful night at the Artists for Peace and Justice Festival Gala. Tonight, we take over the AGO raising money for work in Haiti ? by @thekittyholland

A post shared by George Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo) on Sep 10, 2017 at 4:02pm PDT

Victoria and Abdul premiere party at Soho House

Judi Dench stars in this Stephen Frears–directed biographical dramedy about Queen Victoria and her attendant Abdul Karim. The cast and guests snacked on mini cheddar-truffle grilled cheeses and mango tarts, which were made in reference to the film.

Dench hung out with co-star Eddie Izzard:

And stroked the moose:

Seriously, can I just say how amazing Dame Judi Dench is. What a lovely woman.

A post shared by Arthur Mola ? (@arthurmola) on Sep 10, 2017 at 7:59pm PDT

The pair also chuckled with co-star Ali Fazal (possibly about their all-blue colour coordination):

The scene at Soho was cozy and intimate:

Chappaquiddick and Disobedience cocktail parties at RBC House

Two premiere parties took place at RBC House yesterday: one for Chappaquiddick, a historical drama about the infamous 1969 incident when Senator Ted Kennedy (played by Jason Clarke) accidentally drove off a bridge and killed his campaign worker (played by Kate Mara); and the other for Disobedience, a adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s romantic novel about a woman who returns to an orthodox Jewish community (starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams).

At the Chappaquiddick shindig, Mara chatted with co-stars Helms and Jason Clarke:

Director John Curran braved a particularly pointed finger:

Later, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola, and Rachel Weisz shared a laugh:

McAdams posed with some guests:

Choice film ? • cool ?'s • and surprise magic show to boot [with mentalist Coby] … #disobedience #tiff2017 go #?? talent #torontofilm

A post shared by Aristotle•Andrulakis• (@aristotlle) on Sep 10, 2017 at 9:59pm PDT

The Breadwinner premiere party at the Cactus Club Café

Angelina Jolie produced this animated film based on Deborah Ellis’s award-winning children’s novel. The party was put on in partnership with Indigo and featured a kids’ menu with chicken fingers, french fries and a candy bar.

Jolie socialized with party-goers:

@angelinajolieofficial #gorge #thebreadwinner

A post shared by Andrew Bridge (@ajbridge) on Sep 10, 2017 at 3:13pm PDT

The place was packed (and most of the Jolie-Pitt kids were in attendance):

TIFF day 4: open bars, whether they be candy or booze, are always welcome

A post shared by Omar (@omeboy) on Sep 10, 2017 at 4:36pm PDT

There was a “wishing wall” where guests could send notes to Kandahar Treasure, an organization that empowers female Aghan artisans:

The candy bar was epic:

The post Inside the best parties from night four of TIFF, with Judi Dench, Ben Stiller and Angelina Jolie appeared first on Toronto Life.