Best known in cinephile circles for his collaborations with director Richard Linklater in the Before trilogy and BOYHOOD, Ethan Hawke is also no stranger to the Toronto International Film Festival as a writer, director, and actor. His latest directorial effort, SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION, played at TIFF ’15, while he also personified the late jazz tr…

Sarah Polley began her career in film at the age of four, appearing in the Disney movie ONE MAGIC CHRISTMAS. After her roles in Atom Egoyan’s THE SWEET HEREAFTER, Terry Gilliam’s THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN and Doug Liman's GO gained her attention as an emotionally intuitive and intelligent young actor, she attended the Director’s Lab at the…

Hear from one of our country’s most inspiring artists, who is still making documentaries about her Indigenous community at age 84 At age 84, Alanis Obomsawin is still crafting incisive documentaries about the Indigenous crisis in Canada with over 40 projects to her name in collaboration with the National Film Board. At the heart of her work is the …

In 2016, Richard Linklater brought his awesome casual hangout movie — and “spiritual sequel” to DAZED AND CONFUSED — EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! to TIFF Bell Lightbox. After screening the film, Linklater sat down for a talk moderated by Theresa Scandiffio, the Senior Director of TIFF's Adult Learning department. Their conversation spans Linklater’s enti…

The great Jill Soloway is the creator, writer, director, and executive producer of TRANSPARENT. While Soloway was at TIFF '16 with the show's third season, they delivered a keynote address at the TIFF Industry Conference on the female gaze — which we’ve reproduced here. On this week’s TIFF UN/CUT, Soloway’s keynote address explores the power of the…

This week on TIFF UN/CUT, we hear from Canadian film and art legend Michael Snow. From Flightstop, his iconic collection of life-size Canada Geese sculptures that hang in Toronto's Eaton Centre, to his landmark experimental films La Région Centrale (1971) and Wavelength (1967) (the title of which inspired the Toronto International Film Festival's p…

The first wave of Festival announcements has passed, and among the bombshells is the news that honourary Torontonian Guillermo del Toro’s latest film will premiere at TIFF ‘17. THE SHAPE OF WATER is many things — an aquatic love story between a lonely janitor (Sally Hawkins) and an amphibian, an ironic commentary on the American dream, a tribute to…

George A. Romero, the father of the zombie film and a fiercely independent filmmaker, passed away last week at the age of 77. On this week's episode of TIFF Un/cut, hear an in-depth conversation with Romero conducted by then-TIFF Midnight Madness Programmer Colin Geddes in 2012. From NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, his low-budget 1968 film which made ton…

Before he created the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, which inspired HBO's award-winning series GAME OF THRONES, George R.R. Martin was a kid growing up in an underserved neighbourhood, selling made-up stories for a penny each, until he raised his prices to a nickel. In this hour-long talk hosted by TIFF Cinematheque director Jesse Wente and recorde…

This week on TIFF UN/CUT, hear a master class from the subject of a current retrospective. Something in the Air: The Cinema of Olivier Assayas traces the French auteur’s eclectic catalogue, from his early music videos for electro-pop stars Jacno and Winston Tong, to his documentary portrait of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, to his brilliant wo…

As Canada celebrates its 150th birthday this weekend, it's time to look back at this country's greatest cinematic achievements. A sizeable amount come from Toronto filmmaker David Cronenberg, who having made 21 features between 1969 and 2014, has received top honours at Cannes, the Berlin Film Festival, and TIFF. In 1999, Cronenberg was inducted in…

What was Hollywood even like before Laverne Cox? The ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK star has made historic in-roads for the trans population, forever changing the conversation of representation in film and television after becoming the first openly transgendered actor and activist to win an Emmy Award and appear on the cover of Time magazine. In 2014, Lav…

On this episode of TIFF Un/cut, TIFF Kids short filmmakers Eduardo Bertaina (THE LOUDEST SILENCE), Arvid Klapper (BAKA), and Meloni Poole (TRIGGA) talk to host Chandler Levack about making films for - and starring - children. They discuss the idea that films for kids don’t need to be bouncy or animated (3:50), discuss collaborating with young actor…

In [his essay]( http://www.tiff.net/the-review/straub-huillet-wind-trees/index.html) for the TIFF Cinematheque retrospective [*Not Reconciled: The Films of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet*](http://www.tiff.net/#series=Not-Reconciled:-The-Films-of-Jean-Marie-Straub-and-Danièle-Huillet), James Quandt writes that “Even the pair’s non-operatic fi…

Documentary audiences are growing everyday. With the rise of new exhibition platforms and an increased presence in the theatrical landscape, docs are a powerful medium to reach a wide audience. The activists, the anarchists, the voices of the disenfranchised - these documentarians use the burgeoning cinematic medium as a call to action and to ignit…

Documentary duo Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier of Mercury Films have collaborated on some of the most commercially successful and visually stunning documentaries in Canadian history, including Watermark and Manufactured Landscapes (selected by TIFF as one of 150 Definitive Works in the Canada on Screen programme). This conversation will …

Canada’s impressive legacy of comedic talent led to the creation of enduring classics like SCTV, Kids in the Hall and Trailer Park Boys. Now, a new crop of talented voices have emerged on the Canadian television scene, reinvigorating the reputation of Canada’s comedic resonance at home and abroad. These cutting edge creators are here to discuss the…

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has made waves with recent changes to the access of Certified Independent Production Funds. These efforts have provided Canadian productions with more flexibility to secure funding and increase quality CanCon — affecting all corners of the industry, including actors, writers, pr…

Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves is one of the most ambitious – and deliriously-titled – films to come out of Canada in a long, long time. Co-written and directed by the two young Montreal filmmakers Simon Lavoie and Mathieu Denis, the film posits what could have happened after the 2012 Quebec student protests, otherwise …

In a wide-ranging conversation conducted at TIFF '16, experimental filmmakers Kazik Radwanksi and Matias Pineiro talk about their work, their process, and how they've developed their voices over the years. With discussion of working with actors and non-actors alike, the importance of doing work that is not in film in order to stay in touch with lif…

This screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by TIFF Artistic Director, Cameron Bailey, and TiKA The Creator, producer of #Gyalcast. The panel will feature CBC Arts writer Peter Knegt, co-founder of Collective of Black Artists, BaKari Lindsay, and filmmaker and founder of Black Women Film! Canada, Ella Cooper. Media Partner Vice …

LGBTQ activist David France joins us for an extended conversation following a screening of his Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award–winning documentary How to Survive a Plague, and returns after the event for a book signing. This event is co-presented by Penguin Random House Canada.

"After the election, I got all these messages from people saying 'I didn't know what to do with myself. So I went and saw your film.' If people need to seek it out as a place of solace, or as a reminder that we can have empathy, I'm happy that I didn't wait any longer to make it." Moonlight Director, Barry Jenkins, talks about discovering another l…

In celebration of his highly anticipated memoir Testimony, legendary songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson joins George Stroumboulopoulos for a unique onstage conversation about his life, music, and artistic influences both with The Band and as a solo artist, as well as his collaborations with award-winning musicians and filmmakers such as Ronn…

Following a screening of Julie Taymor's acclaimed The Tempest, Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood joins award-winning stage director and actress Martha Henry for a discussion of William Shakespeare's original play, Taymor's film adaptation, and Atwood's highly anticipated novel Hag-Seed, a re-telling of The Tempest as part of the Hogarth Shakes…