When the Toronto International Film Festival 2022 stands just around the corner, the preparations for the fun and excitement are well underway. King Street West, which is known as the Festival Street for Torontonians, is fully embarked on the surprises it has to offer. The street will stop its traffic for the first three days (Sep 08 – 11) of the festival and be open to the public and film buffs to enjoy the last days of summer. All the nearby areas have been embellished with posters and other glittery stuff, making good of the years that fell off in the pandemic. It will provide great excitement with musical performances and night screenings of movies and many of those are free for all who come with family and friends. Visitors are welcome to grab a drink and samples of the delicious treats from the array of food trucks parked along. Air France, one of the sponsors of the event, will offer film trivia for a chance to win top prizes such as film passes as well as a pair of air tickets to Europe, particularly to the cultural destination of their choice.
”The excitement of the film festival is something we want to share with the entire city. Festival Street is where everyone can enjoy and experience the excitement of the Festival”, said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF. Many surprises await everyone participating in the film festival, from performances to open-air screenings.
One of the main attractions of this year’s festival is the relaunching of the Festival Cinematheque ceased to exist in 2019 with various curated lineups. That includes the 4K restoration of Agantuk (The Stranger), believed to be the remarkably personal final film of Satyajit Ray. It’s the story of a middle-class household descended on a potential imposter, hailed by critics worldwide. It’s celebrated as the final film of the auteur in its classic serenity, subtlety and elegance. I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) by Mary Herron, Strictly Ballroom (1992) by Baz Luhrmann, Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) by Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzki, and Tales From the Gimli Hospital Redux (1988) by Guy Maddin are the other four classic films that have been restored in 4K and screened free of charge for all audiences
Shekhar Kapur’s
What’s Love Got To Do With It, Nandita Das’
Zwigato, Shubham Yogi’s
Kacchey Limbu, Rima Das’
Tora’s Husband, Vinay
Shukla’s
While We Watched (Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar), Nisha Pahuja’s
To Kill A Tiger are the other movies appearing on the Indian slate.
TIFF 2022 is delighted to welcome the five-member FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Jury to honour the outstanding works of this year’s screenings. They are Andrea Crozzoli, film critic, writer and director of Cinemazero, from Italy; Marcio Sallem, critic, teacher and writer from Brazil; Max Borg, film critic, writer and translator for the Locarno Film Festival, from Switzerland; Andrew Kendall, Head of the Department of Language and Cultural Studies at the University of Guyana; and Marriska Fernandes, entertainment reporter, film critic and writer for Toronto Star from Canada. The FIPRESCI Award will go to the best movies selected from the Discovery Programme of the TIFF.
Mumbai-based independent filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane joins the Platform Jury headed by Patricia Rozema, writer, director and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Iram Haq, a Norwegian-Pakistani filmmaker. The Platform Prize will be awarded to the best film screened under the Platform Programme of the TIFF. Tamhane’s debut feature film Court was selected as the best film for The Lion of Future award in 2014 at the Venice Film Festival. The Disciple, his second film, had its world premiere in 2020 at Venice where it fetched the FIPRESCI Award too.
The three-member NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) headed by
Dr. Ida Yoshinaga, a professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology will pick up the best feature films from the Asia region.
TIFF announces the presence of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton to showcase their new Apple Documentary series Gutsy, based on The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience, as part of TIFF’s Industry Conference Visionaries Programme. Also, S S Rajamouli, the Indian director known for his inventive filmmaking will discuss the recent global success of his films in the context of art versus commerce and his reputation for pushing the limits of industrialized Pop Cinema.
The world premiere of
Daliland, directed by
Mary Harron will be the closing night’s screen attraction on Saturday, Sep 17, 2022. It tells the story of Salvador Dali’s later years of strange relationship with his wife, Gala, through the eyes of his young assistant James.
Sir Ben Kingsley takes up the role of Salvador Dali with
Barabara Sukowa as his wife Gala.
The 47th season of the Toronto International Film Festival will certainly carve a niche for itself this year too in bringing in the best visual stories the world picked up last year. An estimated audience of around 500,000 will show up after a fallow period of a pandemic. TIFF’s People Choice Award based on balloting has been an indicator of the Oscar Awards many times earlier.
Suresh Nellikode is a film critic
