Hello Dayton937!
It’s hard to believe that Labor Day is here…and it will soon be time to head to Toronto again for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The line-up at TIFF is extensive – “209 features, 6 Classics, 10 Primetime films, and 66 shorts” – so I have a lot of decisions to make. The pass that I have will allow me to see dozens of dozens of films with other press and industry folks (these are no-frills screenings…just the movies plus lots of networking and movie-talk while waiting in lines). In addition, I will get 10 tickets to public screenings – the events that get media attention – red carpets, big stars, Q&A’s, etc.
I’ve been scanning the line-up and making some initial picks, but I definitely leave room for some word-of-mouth and industry buzz to guide my decisions once I’m in Canada.
On this side of the festival, here are a few titles I’m looking forward to seeing:
HAMNET is the new film directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao (NOMADLAND). I love the cast, and the film looks lovely.
ETERNITY looks like it will be fun. I love the entire cast.
Richard Linklater’s NOUVELLE VAGUE – about the making of the French New Wave classic BREATHLESS (Linklater has 2 films at the festival…clearly a busy man).
There are a handful of films playing at TIFF that I’ve already seen – like ELEANOR THE GREAT (starring National Treasure June Squibb – opening Sept. 26 at THE NEON), BLUE MOON (Richard Linklater’s fantastic film starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott & Bobby Cannavale – which will be playing at the OUT HERE DAYTON Film Fest on October 10), and NUREMBERG (a fascinating courtroom drama about the Nuremberg trials starring Rami Malek, Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon – certain to be a NEON fan favorite this Fall). Because I won’t be screening them at the festival, I won’t be “reviewing” them in this blog per se…but I urge you to find out more about each of them.
Starting Thursday, Sept. 4, I’ll keep track of each film that I see at TIFF in this daily blog. I appreciate Dayton937 for allowing me to use this platform to keep my thoughts in order and stay in touch with NEON fans. www.dayton937.com/tag/tiff
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan McNeal, manager of THE NEON
