TIFF Lineup 2022 - Galas & Special Presentations

by Nathaniel R

Kelvin Harrison Jr stars in "Chevalier"

The Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8th through 18th this year. Of "the Big Five" festivals (the others being Berlinale, Cannes, Sundance, and Venice) Toronto doesn't have a traditional competition lineup with juries... though their audience award winners tend to get a lot of "Oscar-bound" style press. Like those other festivals they having very exciting lineups for cinephiles. If the titles showing at Venice (which happens just before it) and TIFF are as enticing as they sound, 2022 is going to explode in cinematic quality. What follows is a list of their Galas and Special Presentations though it's worth noting that TIFF usually has hundreds of movies so this is only the two most high profile programs that they've announced. 

GALA PRESENTATIONS

These are the high profile films, usually with movie stars, that are getting the full red carpet glitzy treatment. Usually they're either World Premieres or Canadian premieres of major titles that premiered in Europe...

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Venice 2022: The "Tár" Tease and the Competition Lineup

by Nathaniel R

Cate Blanchett in TÁR

Most sites just give you a list of film titles but we always aim to provide you with more information which is one of the (several) reasons we're slower with the news! Over 50% of the competition titles at Venice this year come from just three countries: France, Italy, and the US and a lot of titles are connected to Netflix. Outside of those countries we get one film from Asia, one from the Middle East, two from South America, and two from UK/Ireland. If you include the Out of Competition titles there's more variety with Canada, Denmark, Ukraine, The Phillipines, and Estonia entering the chat.

After the jump a little bit about each of the 22 films competing for the Golden Lion, and a few of the Out of Competition films including the new Lars Von Trier. Plus that bewitching teaser to Tár, Todd Field's first film in 16 years...

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Julianne Moore to preside over the competition jury at Venice

by Nathaniel R

Julianne at the Met Gala. Image: AFP/Angela Weiss

Exciting news to report. Julianne Moore, who originally inspired my own career writing about film and thus this website, will lead the jury at the 79th annual Venice International Film Festival. The festival runs August 31st-September 10th so expect lots of Julianne gowns this summer. What a nice full circle monent this will be for the Oscar winning actress. She's a previous winner of the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for Far From Heaven (2002) and this year she'll help determine who wins that same prize twenty years later. Penélope Cruz took the prize last season for her work in Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers which helped pave the way to her fourth Oscar nomination... 

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Tribeca: Jon Hamm Gets a ‘Corner Office’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Offices in movies and television are typically represented in a stark and uninteresting way, where joy goes to die and monotony rules each boring day (even in comedies like The Office). That’s certainly the case in Corner Office, a Tribeca entry that casts Jon Hamm as Orson, a new employee who is intent on following a carefully-set schedule that ensures no time for shenanigans and nothing more than a five-minute break each hour for any sort of non-work activity. While Orson is dull and has no ability to read social cues, he too finds his time in the office draining, until he discovers a door to a large and old-fashioned office that no one else seems to know exists…

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Cannes Diary #2: Sweet cruel nature and Hollywood's top gun

by Elisa Giudici

Did Tom Cruise save Cannes Film Festival on the very first day? Well, he surely helped the 75th edition with old school star power. Thierry Frémaux welcomed Tom Cruise as a king, a savior, or maybe just a big Hollywood player willing to lend all of his charismatic  in order to give a sense of a grandiose overture.

Considering how good reviews are for Top Gun: Maverick, Cannes needed Cruise more than Cruise needed Cannes. Nevertheless, the actor presented himself as an ally of festivals and theatres, a strong advocate of in-person cinematic experiences. In the dedicated Q&A, Cruise said that during the pandemic he reassured even the popcorn guy at his local cinema, who had phoned him to know if Top Gun Maverick could end up on a streaming platform as an exclusive. 'No way!' Wait, the popcorn guy at Cruise’s nearest cinema has his phone number? was my first reaction. Well, Cruise is for sure #TeamGoingToTheTheatre. He claims he goes regularly himself, wearing a cap so he's not recognized...

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