The 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will be taking place September 9-18 this year. With both virtual and in-person screenings, this year’s festival features over 100 astonishing films in its Official Selection, in addition to outstanding events featuring celebrated guests and TIFF’s industry conference. This is an exciting event that Toronto residents often look forward to all year long.
TIFF is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine recognized that TIFF “is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars, and market activity.” Founded in 1976, TIFF has become a permanent destination for film culture. TIFF’s mission is to “transform the way people see the world through film.”
Since its launch, one of TIFF’s leading principles has been to celebrate and amplify the voices of exceptional filmmakers working in Canada. TIFF is also committed to greater representation of voices by challenging the status quo, celebrating diverse storytellers and audiences, and making space for Black, Indigenous, people-of-colour, women, and LGBTQ+ creators and other under-represented talent. TIFF’s programming team works to ensure that the films they curate are reflective of the audiences they serve.
Several ticket options are available to audiences this year, from individual film tickets for in-person screenings (on sale to the public September 6th) to packages for digital film screenings that allow access to up to 20 digital films (on sale now). All ticket details are available here.
In-person screenings will take place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Roy Thomson Hall, the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre, and Festival Village at Ontario Place. Festival Village comprises the Cinesphere IMAX Theatre, Visa Skyline Drive-In, RBC Lakeside Drive-In and the West Island Open Air Cinema. If you haven’t been to any of these incredible Toronto venues, now is a great opportunity to check them out!
The Festival’s virtual experience is presented by Bell, with screenings on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox available across Canada. In Conversation With…talks and interactive Q&A sessions with actors and filmmakers will be hosted on TIFF Bell Digital Talks, available worldwide. To increase the accessibility of the film festival, all films screened digitally will be closed-captioned.
New this year, audiences across Canada can enjoy the excitement of TIFF in their own communities with TIFF’s Coast-to-Coast Screenings. Film Circuit, TIFF’s film-outreach program since 1995, will host in-cinema screenings in select locations across the country for one evening in each location, to help ignite and celebrate audiences’ return to movie theatres.
TIFF has announced twelve films coming to the Festival’s Official Selection for 2021:
- Le Bal des Folles directed by Mélanie Laurent (France) from Amazon Studios
- Benediction,directed by Terence Davies (United Kingdom) from Bankside Films
- Belfast, from director Kenneth Branagh (United Kingdom) from Focus Features
- Charlotte, directed by Eric Warin and Tahir Rana (Canada/Belgium/France) from Elevation Pictures and MK2 Mile End
- Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, directed by Dave Wooley, David Heilbroner (USA)
- The Guilty by director Antoine Fuqua (USA) from Netflix
- Jagged, HBO documentary on iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, directed by Alison Klayman (USA)
- Lakewood, directed by Philip Noyce (Canada)
- Last Night in Soho, directed by Edgar Wright (United Kingdom) from Focus Features
- Night Raiders, directed by Danis Goulet (Canada/New Zealand) from Elevation Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films
- Petite Maman, directed by Céline Sciamma (France) from Elevation Pictures and NEON
- The Starling by director Theodore Melfi (USA) from Netflix
Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will also have a World Exclusive IMAX premiere at the Cinesphere Theatre at Ontario Place.
TIFF has also announced 11 galas and 21 special presentations (high-profile movie premieres with the world’s leading filmmakers) chosen for the festival’s programming, including the highly-anticipated festival opener Dear Evan Hansen.
The remaining 30 films set to screen at TIFF feature a number of notable celebrities, many of whom will travel to Toronto for the festival. Stars to look out for include Olivia Munn, Octavia Spencer, Judi Dench, Danny DeVito, Dionne Warwick, Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Riz Ahmed and more.
TIFF’s notable film programs will also return this year including Contemporary World Cinema, Discovery, TIFF Docs, Indie Films, Midnight Madness, Primetime, Wavelengths and TIFF Short Cuts. All films can be found here, while digital screenings can be found here.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival? Connect with BAZIS on social media (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) and let us know!