TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey promises plenty of buzz at Toronto film fest

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The star wattage might be turned down at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, but CEO Cameron Bailey is promising crowd-pleasing movies will still be at the centre over the next 10 days.

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As the annual celebration of cinema kicks off Thursday amid dual strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, TIFF’s traditional diet of glitzy red carpets will lack many of the A-listers that usually descend on Toronto’s entertainment district each September.

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With the strikes dragging on throughout the summer, notable fall releases that might have been unveiled in Toronto shuffled off into next year, including Zendaya’s Challengers (which was slated to open the Venice film fest) and Dune: Part Two.

But speaking to Postmedia in a phone interview this week, the longtime festival director says that the organization is adapting to the changed environment — as it has many times over the years.

“We put this festival on at the same time every year, but every September is different. And you never know what you’re going to get,” Bailey says. “Sept. 11 happened during the festival, we’ve dealt with SARS, we’ve dealt with economic swings, and downturns, COVID shutdowns … all kinds of things that have affected all different sides of the festival.”

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So the lack of star power, he added, isn’t going to dampen enthusiasm among moviegoers.

“Once tickets went on sale, we knew that our audience was turning up, as they always do every year, and in the same numbers or even a bit more,” Bailey says.

Still, this year’s film fest won’t be completely devoid of big names. Sean Penn, Viggo Mortensen, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Salma Hayek, Nicolas Cage, Dakota Johnson, and Finn Wolfhard, among other notable industry personalities, are expected to attend.

A doc on legendary actor Sylvester Stallone will close the fest next Saturday.

“He’s always played the strong, silent, tough guy,” Bailey says of Sly, which will hit Netflix later this year. “But what the doc reveals is that he is, at heart, a writer, he is a man of words. He created these characters — Rocky and Rambo — for himself. He’s a man who wrote his career into existence and that’s something I think not everybody knows. You may just know him as a star who defeats bad guys in movies, but he’s a genuine artist. He’s a real writer and that really comes through in the film.”

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But even beyond the actors, big music stars will be coming to Toronto. In a coup, TIFF will screen a remastered version of the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, with the band participating in a Q&A that will be moderated by filmmaker Spike Lee.

Legendary singer Paul Simon will also attend to support In Restless Dreams, a documentary about the making of his most recent album, Seven Psalms.

In town for their doc Hate to Love, Nickelback will perform a free show at TIFF’s Festival Street Friday night.

TIFF will also serve as the launch pad for several anticipated world premieres, including Taika Waititi’s soccer dramedy Next Goal Wins with Michael Fassbender, Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils with Amanda Seyfried, Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money and David Yates’ Pain Hustlers.

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But with TIFF being less of a star-studded affair this year, Bailey thinks the festival has a chance to reinvent itself somewhat and to shine a spotlight on emerging talent.

TIFF’s tribute award, which in the past has gone to well-known names like Benedict Cumberbatch, Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet, will go to Colman Domingo, whose performance as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin has earned early buzz.

“I was looking back recently to 1986 when we did a spotlight on a kind of a weird Spanish filmmaker, who hadn’t been seen in North America before. His name is Pedro Almodovar, and of course now he’s an icon,” Bailey says. “He’s a legend and we’re presenting him with an award this year at the festival. But in 1986, most people in Toronto had never heard of him. So I always encourage people attending the festival to seek out something that they’ve never heard of. Look for something that is going to surprise you and allow you to kind of expand your view of the world and your view of this art form.”

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Since 2010, 10 films that have screened first at TIFF have gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its coveted People’s Choice winner almost always goes on to become a fan favourite across Canada and a big player during awards season.

“People love movies here, but it’s not a snobbish film audience,” Bailey says of festival goers. “They really embrace stories that speak to the heart, as well as the head, and people coming to TIFF love the experience of discovering new films. It’s not just for an elite group.”

Bailey says Toronto crowds respond to stories that feel “fresh.” He namechecks popular titles like The Big Chill, The Princess Bride, Slumdog Millionaire, Moonlight, The Silver Linings Playbook, 12 Years a Slave and American Beauty as films that helped solidify the festival as a place to bring less mainstream fare that would eventually be embraced by more widely.

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Once the fest winds down, TIFF will embark on a search for a new partner after its leading sponsor, Bell, announced it was ending its sponsorship at the end of this year.

But Bailey isn’t flinching at that challenge.

“We did some great things together over the past 28 years, in terms of both the festival and our year-round programming. We’re really thankful to them, but now it’s time to start up with a new partner who is ready to work with one of Canada’s top cultural brands.”

The 48^th edition of TIFF runs from Sept. 7-17. For tickets and info, visit TIFF.net.

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X: @markhdaniell

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