TIFF: Ralph Fiennes carries the engaging and tense "Conclave

by Matt St Clair

Ralph Fiennes in "Conclave" © Focus Features

After taking audiences through the treacherous WWI battlefields in the Oscar-winning epic All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger crafts a different exercise in tension in the form of a Pope election with Conclave, a high-stakes thriller based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris that is full of high-stakes political intrigue and stellar performances...

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"The Life of Chuck" wins Toronto

Oops. I apologize people. I wrote this in a timely fashion but something didn't click when I hit publish. You surely know this already but here goes!

image from Vanity Fair obviously!

TIFF doesn't have a headlining jury that give out several prizes like the other 'big five' festivals (Sundance, Berlinale, Cannes, and Venice). But they do have a smattering of prizes, the marquee one being the People's Choice Award. Oscar voters are not unlike TIFF festivalgoers... or so go the stats with this prize regularly helping films along on their journey to Oscar glory. But this year, the prize was a real surprise. It did not go to one of the perceived and much-discussed Oscar hopefuls. The People's Choice for 2024 instead went to The Life of Chuck, starring Tom Hiddleston, which is a Stephen King adaptation by Mike Flanagan...

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Norwegian Finalists & Updated International Oscar Charts

by Nathaniel R

Norway has narrowed down its Oscar submission choice to three finalists. As expected one of them is the Cannes Camera D'Or winner Armand a contemporary drama that stars Reinata Rensve who is understandably a hot international casting commodity after her breakthrough with The Worst Person in the World. The film is the directorial debut of the grandson of Scandinavian screen legend Liv Ullmann. The Norwegian selection committee is also looking at the World War II era drama Quisling The Final Days (reviewed here at TIFF) by Erik Poppe. Poppe has been submitted twice before with Hawaii Oslo in 2004 and The King's Choice in 2016, the latter of which made the finals. The final submission option is the contemporary drama Sex by Dag Johan Haugerud about two ostensibly straight men who become confused about their desires. Interestingly it's part of a trilogy of films and the final film, Kjaerlighet (Love) just debut at Venice to rave reviews. Norway will announce their choice on September 19th. While Oscar loves World War II dramas, they aren't the sure thing they once were in this category so maybe the heat on Armand at Cannes will still burn bright enough? 

In the past week the official Best International Feature Film competition has more than doubled in size. 19 additional countries have announced their representative title. In other words, with 41 titles announced we're almost halfway to knowing the full list. The three submission charts and finalist prediction chart have all been updated -- yes the general Osar charts will soon follow. The complete list (thus far) and a note about where/when you can see the films if you live in the US, follows after the jump. For brevity's sake we've highlighted one new title from each chart to focus on here on the main page...

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French & Italian Finalists for Oscar Submissions

by Nathaniel R

The selection of France and Italy's contenders in Oscar's Best International Feature Film race are always a big deal; the two countries thoroughly dominated the category in the 20th century and they're still the all-time stat leaders 24 years into the new century. France announced an official finalist list of four films. We also know which films Italy is choosing between though there are no "finalists" per se since they skip that step and go straight to voting. Let's look at the possibilities after the jump...

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TIFF ’24: Embeth Davidtz Directs “Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight”

By Abe Friedtanzer

Actors becoming directors can feel like an event, especially when they opt to cast themselves in their projects. Embeth Davidtz, who grew up in South Africa, takes that auspicious step with a deeply personal story set in 1980s Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), screening the film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where she’s in good company with her Junebug costars, Amy Adams (Nightbitch) and Alessandro Nivola (The Brutalist). She now has her most significant role since Schindler’s List, thirty-one years back...

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