The Toronto International Film Festival opened Thursday in a very different format, festival participants recognize that the various coronavirus adaptations the festival has brought are vital, but it is unclear what a largely virtual occasion will be like. networking opportunities and to relaunch their careers.
TIFF is the time for the “Big Five” film festivals to embark on the slow reopening of public events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It took something different from the Venice Film Festival when it was presented last week.
The festival, the oldest in the world, required participants to wear masks, be checked for temperature and physically distanced, but became present in person. TIFF, for its part, has released most of its projections. projections behind the wheel or outdoors, and some projections decided from physical distance in theaters.
Organizers have also reduced the number of titles from more than 330 in 2019 to around 50 this year, and have not scheduled red carpets or face-to-face discussions. This is the thrill of stargazing for festival goers and it means that filmmakers have fewer opportunities. interact directly with the festival and with each other.
“The dream is to have the premiere of your film at one of the biggest festivals in the world and immerse yourself in this experience,” Director Tracey Deer said of the experience.
Her autobiographical film Beans, encouraged through her reports when she was a 12-year-old woman living in Kahnawake, the Oka crisis, will have her world premiere at TIFF on Saturday.
It will be his first feature film, which he considers a little bittersweet.
“It’s a new untested logo format,” Deer said. “You need to delight as a filmmaker with a movie at the festival. So it’s disappointing. “
Rainbow Dickerson, one of Bean’s main actors, echoed those concerns. Dickerson, who also decided as one of the festival’s 4 “rising stars,” described how it had been more than a year since the film was shot.
The festival would have been an opportunity for her and her teammates once again to unite as an artistic team “and celebrate and kiss, and simply feel the power to be in combination again. “
Instead, he filmed his Remote Rising Stars panel segment in Los Angeles, where he will also see the festival and participate in the online resources TIFF offers creators to advertise their films. She and Deer said they were grateful that the festival was held digitally. to cancel and were excited, but they said a few portions were missing.
“We lack red carpets together, photo opportunities and we’re in the same room as people,” Dickerson said. “It’s just another power than chasing someone in a box on a screen. “
Switching the festival from the big screen to a computer screen presents more threat than just the power of the audience. Attracting filmmakers and audiences from around the world to a marriageless occasion generates enthusiasm for the most sensitive artists and spreads word-of-mouth recommendations that help what the industry in general expects.
“Toronto has a history of tasteful creator,” said Carlos Aguilar, independent film critic for LATimes, Variety and other media. “Often, lucky films get the audience award or generate a lot of enthusiasm, and then we communicate it for months later, as a component of the Oscars. “
This hum is created organically, with a crowd-generated boost in a shared area and the exchange of recommendations between strangers online. This procedure will largely move to social media now, “strange waters that have never been tested before,” Aguilar said.
David Poland, editor-in-chief entertainment newsman Movie City News, said all those settings would fundamentally replace the way the festival works.
The drastically small number of films in TIFF takes him away as a true pioneer, he said.
But TIFF is far from the only one. Earlier this year, the Oscars postponed their rite due to the pandemic and took a position in April February, prolonging the awards season by two months, which makes the start of September too early, Poland said.
“Starting in Toronto and reaching the finish line is not simple and expensive,” Poland said. “Basically, fall festivals may not worry about this year’s awards season. “
Despite this, the prospects are bad. Madeleine Sims-Fewer, co-director, co-writer and violation star, said a smaller festival can attract more attention to smaller independent films, anything Dickerson and Deer have also pointed out.
In addition, they are under pressure that the opportunity to participate in the festival is a great opportunity, regardless of the format.
“It’s one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and it’s a massive center of attention,” Sims-Fewer said. “Having that in TIFFArray . . . It’s huge. Yes, it’s exciting. “
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