By Nicholas Porteous

It’s the evening of the premiere of Oklahoma! and the show is a massive hit–cause for a big celebration among everyone involved. It’s also the first show Richard Rogers (Andrew Scott) composed without his lyrical collaborator Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke). Hart can’t stand the musical, and opts to head to the afterparty bar before the curtain call. He’ll be the first one there and the last to leave. Blue Moon is a classic Richard Linklater joint, which is to say one man enters a room, has roughly 15-20 conversations in real time, and then the credits roll. It’s also one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen at this year’s fest.

Hart is a phenomenal character around which to build a real time, conversation-based movie. He treats everyone like his therapist. He doesn’t just wear his heart on his sleeve–his whole psyche is turned inside out for the world to see. He’s not an open book. He’s an exploded encyclopedia. You get the idea. And Hart isn’t a blathering fool either–the guy’s a legendary writer. He knows how to talk. And everything he says is, at its baseline, either funny or illuminating. The sum of his often hilarious conversations is a rich and painful mosaic of a tragic artist, unaware he’s nearing the end of his life.

Hawke completely transforms as Hart. The voice, the rhythm, the mannerisms, and have I mentioned he’s somehow a few feet shorter? The supporting cast crackles and pops as needed contrasts to Hart’s outrageous personality. But the real shining star of Blue Moon is the words themselves—I can imagine Hart would’ve loved that.

Blue Moon screens at TIFF ’25:

Tues. Sept 9 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

tiff50 day five is perhaps the most star-studded yet, taking the festival right to the summit! premieres for some of the festival’s most-anticipated titles: frankenstein, the testament of ann lee, eleanor the great, and the smashing machine all took place!

some of our day five highlights:

•amanda seyfried and lewis pullman at tiff for the testament of ann lee

•noah jupe at tiff for & sons

•lily james at tiff for swiped

•lee byung-hun at tiff for no other choice

•callum turner at tiff for eternity

•mia goth, oscar isaac, and jacob elordi at tiff for frankenstein

•scarlett johansson and june squibb at tiff for eleanor the great

•dwayne johnson, emily blunt, benny safdie at tiff for the smashing machine

(photo/video credit: mr. will wong)

On Sunday, September 7, 2025, the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) residents, alumni and friends gathered during TIFF for the annual CFC HOMECOMING. This year’s event celebrated the creative spirit and impact of CFC’s alumni and programs, while helping raise vital funds to support the next generation of storytellers.

The event also showcased the incredible achievements of the CFC alumni – with over 29 films at TIFF this year.

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) welcomed invited guests for an unforgettable afternoon of connection, creativity, and community.

Highlights of the event included:

Inspiring remarks from Carly Beath, CFC’s Director of Development; Neishaw Ali, President of SPIN VFX and CFC Board Chair; and Jonathan Bronfman, CEO of MARZ who announced a significant multi-year commitment from the Paul Bronfman Family Foundation in support of Canadian storytellers. The Foundation’s generous gift will ensure the annual CFC/CSC Cinematography Intensive for female Canadian DPs continues to flourish, nurturing the next generation of talent behind the camera. In recognition, a space on the CFC campus will be renamed in honour of Paul Bronfman, a lifelong champion of Canadian creators and of the CFC.

Live entertainment featuring a high-energy set by DJ Craig Dominic, performance by the incredible UNITY dance, and some mind bending acts by local mentalist Yan Markson.

Immersive activations on site most notably at the Netflix cottage, where guests stepped into the cinematic universe of Netflix, including a dedicated Frankenstein installation celebrating the highly anticipated new film from Director Guillermo del Toro, a CFC Board Member.

Food & beverage experiences from local vendors with a curated selection of refreshments to enjoy throughout the day.

(Photo credit: George Pimentel Photography)

cfccreates.com / @cfccreates / #CFCHomecoming

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable cultural organization that drives the future of Canadian storytelling. Their intensive, hands-on programs in film, television, and entertainment technologies empower, shape and advance opportunities for Canadian creators and entrepreneurs working in screen-based industries.

Click here for key messaging on CFC and their annual Homecoming event.

By Nicholas Porteous

Larry (Miles Teller) wakes up in a bizarrely rules-oriented afterlife, having choked to death on a pretzel as a senior citizen. About a week later, his wife of many decades, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), joins him. They’re ready to spend eternity together. The only problem: it turns out her first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who died in the Korean War, has been waiting for her this whole time, she’s got a week to pick her eternal partner.

Eternity takes an age-old what if scenario and riffs on it to hilarious near-perfection. It’s full of deep belly laughs and a perfectly calibrated comic cast. Elizabeth Olsen goes above and beyond as Joan, a newly dead woman trapped in a very specific kind of hell. She brings tremendous gravity to the mainly joke-driven screenplay, and carries the memories of TWO soulmates in her bones. Miles Teller and Callum Turner are perfect fits–Miles as the irritable-but-sweet older man reborn into a young man’s body (apparently we inhabit the afterlife in our “happiest” physical form), and Callum Turner as the undeniably more attractive war veteran who left his wife too soon.

Eternity ponders the value of an idyllic relationship cut short versus a lifelong, comfy and imperfect one. The Movie isn’t without seriousness, but mostly plays in a heady comedy space, inventing a series of rules and parameters for the characters to play and speculate within. It never totally breaks away from the intellectual games and into something deeper or more ineffable, and it begins to feel its length around the third act. While I give it points for not wriggling out of a concrete answer for its seemingly unanswerable premise, the journey to get there feels a little long winded by the end–and not as moving as the premise would allow. Still, if you’re looking for an original romcom, Eternity is a charming and often uproarious journey worth the ticket.

Eternity screens at TIFF ’25:

Thurs. Sept 11 at 6:35 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

Sun. Sept 14 at 6:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

ROOFMAN IS ONLY IN THEATRES ON OCTOBER 10, 2025! Today we get a new Featurette.

Paramount Pictures Presents

In Association with Miramax / FilmNation Entertainment / Von Waaden Entertainment

A High Frequency / Hunting Lane / 51 Entertainment / Limelight Production

A film by Derek Cianfrance

“ROOFMAN”

SYNOPSIS

Based on an unbelievable true story, Roofman follows Jeffrey Manchester

(Channing Tatum), an Army veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing

McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname:

Roofman. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six

months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for

Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his

double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat

and mouse as his past closes in.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY

Channing Tatum, Derek Cianfrance, Jonathan Montepare, Charles M. Barsamian, Rick Covert, Jack Selby, Sam Romano, Jonathan Glickman, Thom Zadra, Matthew Von Waaden, D. Mark Von Waaden, Chris Parker, Tyler Zacharia, Jeff Portnoy, Steven J. Toll, Randy Jones Toll

PRODUCED BY

Jamie Patricof, p.g.a., Lynette Howell Taylor, p.g.a., Alex Orlovsky, p.g.a., Duncan Montgomery, Dylan Sellers

SCREENPLAY BY

Derek Cianfrance & Kirt Gunn

DIRECTED BY

Derek Cianfrance

STARRING

Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang and Peter Dinklage

Today, Disney Branded Television revealed the official trailer and poster for the upcoming original series “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire.” The first two episodes of the music-driven series will premiere on Disney Channel on September 12 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, with new episodes weekly. All 16 episodes will be available on October 15, 2025 on Disney+.

Also announced, the “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire Original Soundtrack” from Walt Disney Records, featuring 14 brand-new songs, is set for release October 10. Lead single, “S-L-A-Y,” will be available on September 12 on all platforms.

Synopsis: “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire” tells the story of a tween vampire girl who leaves the safety of Transylvania to attend a performing arts boarding school. Living amongst humans for the first time, she pursues her passion for music while keeping her vampire identity a secret, something that’s made more challenging when her overprotective father charges an overzealous ghost to live with her at the school. Vampirina, or “Vee,” is an already beloved character from the popular book saga and the record-breaking Disney Jr. series. “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire” is the first live-action portrayal.

Cast: The main cast is completed by Kenzi Richardson as the edgy and adorable Vee; Jiwon Lee as Sophie, Vee’s kind and girly-girl roommate; Shaun Dixon as the intriguing and laid-back Elijah; Milo Maharlika as the 600-year-old ghost, Demi; and Faith Hedley as Britney, a super-talented legacy student. The recurring cast features Kate Reinders (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”) and Jeff Meacham (“black-ish”) as Vee’s loving vampire parents. Kim Coles (“Living Single”) is Dean Merriweather of Wilson Hall Academy of the Arts.

Guest Cast: EmmyⓇ Award winner Mykal-Michelle Harris (“Raven’s Home”) as the delightful and dangerous Ruby, Jenna Davis (“M3GAN”) as magnetic classmate Megan, viral sensation Ariel Martin (aka Baby Ariel; “ZOMBIES”) as megacool popstar Millie Eyelash, and star of “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” Janice LeAnn Brown as her character Billie in a mystical crossover episode.

Credits: From the team behind “Julie and the Phantoms,” Dan Cross and David Hoge serve as showrunners and executive producers. Creator of hit series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” Tim Federle is executive producer, with Bronwyn North-Reist as executive producer and Meg Deloatch (“Family Reunion”) as executive producer. ​​The series was developed for television by Randi Barnes

Toronto’s culinary elite are enhancing their craft with Mokable, a premium confectionery showcased at premier venues like DaNico, Fairmont Royal York, Hazelton Hotel: One Restaurant, Lyla Toronto, Ficoa, and Tatin Bakehouse. Following the buzz of Battle Mokable – an industry showcase that took place this July, executive chefs, pastry chefs, and mixologists are now proudly weaving Mokable into their kitchens and beverage programs, highlighting its transformative potential.

Mokable is an innovative coffee confectionery that transforms entire coffee beans into an ultra-fine powder, capturing 100% of the bean’s aroma and flavour while preserving the natural oils and acids typically lost in traditional brewing. With over a decade of experience in coffee beverage development, Mokable’s global founder discovered that up to 70% of a coffee bean’s flavour is discarded with the grinds—an insight that became the foundation for this groundbreaking approach.

Mokable’s Rise in Toronto
Launched in North America in February 2025, Mokable made its debut in Toronto, chosen as the first city for its dynamic culinary scene.
Born in Japan, and winner of the 2025 Grand Prix Japan Food Selection and 2024 JFEX Innovation Award, Mokable is a versatile delight—able to elevate culinary experiences, enhancing both sweet and savoury dishes while complementing expertly crafted cocktails and coffee. This bold yet adaptable flavour has impressed award-winning chefs and mixologists across Toronto. What began as an exclusive ingredient in select restaurants and bars (like Miku Toronto and Bar Pompette) has quickly become a staple for some of Toronto’s most influential culinary innovators.

Where Toronto’s Culinary Talents Are Showcasing Mokable
Toronto’s culinary community eagerly anticipates the inspired creations that will emerge from Fairmont Royal York, Hazelton Hotel: One Restaurant, and the artisanal Tatin Bakehouse—each poised to showcase Mokable in an elevated way. ​​Below is a selection of some of the city’s premier establishments currently featuring Mokable, highlighting the ingredient’s rising popularity among Toronto’s chefs and mixologists, who embrace Mokable for its exceptional flavour and sustainable ethos.

DaNico
Since Mokable launched this February, chef Daniele Corona and pastry chef Nikhil Londe have continued to offer SAVE THE COFFEE at DaNico, featuring Itakuja namelaka a fabulous cross between a ganache and a crème pâtissière, Jivara soft caramel, finished with Fruity Mokable crunch with cocoa.

Lyla Toronto

Created by Chef Michael Medeiros and featured at Lyla Toronto, the Mokable Mousse is a decadent composition of Fruity Mokable mousse, rich roasted ganache, and a textured Roasted & Fruity soil, delivering a harmonious balance of depth, flavor, and playful sophistication.

Ficoa
Ficoa’s Mokable mousse offers creamy and silky texture featuring apricot gel, hibiscus infused Mokable mousse, and beautifully dusted with beet-guajillo by chef Esau Garcia.

Deauville Club Restaurant
Mokable has inspired multiple collaborations across the city, including a joint TIFF initiative. No Vacancy beverage director and general manager Troy Gilchrist, Hornitos Tequila, and Deauville Club Restaurant created a movie-themed cocktail as a nod to Frankenstein, one of the most highly anticipated films at TIFF this year. The collaboration took place at Deauville Club Restaurant, located within Revery Hotel, a boutique property in the Curio Collection by Hilton.

Frankenfoam, available exclusively during TIFF, features Hornitos Black Barrel Tequila with Roasted and Fruity Mokable liqueurs, blended with passion fruit, strawberry, acid-adjusted pineapple juice, and ginger beer. The mixture is milk-punched for striking amber clarity and topped with a Fruity Mokable foam made with Calpico syrup, Prosecco, lemon, vanilla, and egg white, finished with a dusting of dehydrated strawberry.

Battle Mokable: An Arena Designed for Both Chefs and Mixologists

On July 21, 2025, more than 100 culinary professionals—from MICHELIN and award-winning chefs to line cooks, sous chefs, and mixologists—came together at Cirillo’s Culinary Academy for Battle Mokable. The highlight of the event was the timed black box challenge, where chefs and mixologists were tasked with creating a dish or cocktail using only the black box’s ingredients. Unlike traditional competitions, Battle Mokable brought both chefs and mixologists into the same arena, with teams formed separately for each discipline. Roles within the groups were thoughtfully balanced, creating space for collaboration across different areas of expertise while showcasing the full breadth of culinary and cocktail talent. The challenge not only pushed the limits of creativity in both food and drink, but also deepened connections among participants, showcasing how Mokable inspires innovation across the entire culinary spectrum.

The Mokable Masters
At Battle Mokable, chefs and mixologists were instructed to step outside their comfort zones. In the end, only two chef and mixology teams were selected as champions.

By Nicholas Porteous

In Hamnet, Chloe Zhao enlivens an enduring masterpiece with a beautiful work of speculative fiction surrounding the real-life origins of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, adapted from a novel by Maggie O’Farrell. It’s a dark and dramatic counterpart to Shakespeare in Love, working backwards from the classic text (and the very little we know of Shakespeare’s life) to uncover a primal story of how we process our pain through art. In this case, it’s about a marriage, immeasurably rocked by the death of a child.

You likely know the broad strokes of the tale already: William (Paul Mescal) and Agnes (Jessie Buckley) meet, fall in love, and raise a family, until London pulls him away. The plague strikes, their only son Hamnet dies. Shakespeare is absent at the crucial moment. Shortly thereafter, Hamlet debuts. One of the great works of art. The connection between Hamlet the play and Hamnet the lost child is mysterious, but Hamnet will make you believe in Shakespeare’s potentially not-so-hidden intentions.

Bring. Kleenex. My press screening–typically more muted than a regular TIFF audience–sounded like a symphony of sniffles throughout, and I doubt yours will be any different. The ideas of enduring loss, love and transcendent creativity are simply too powerful. Jessie Buckley is the embodiment of motherly grief and spiritual devastation, and Zhao’s naturalistic, airy approach to the material enables both Buckley and Mescal to discover profound moments of pain in the spaces between their words. The children are also extremely impressive, with Hamnet himself (Jacobi Jupe) delivering more than a few stunning moments. The movie lives and dies by our memory of this child, and Zhao’s decision to put him front and center pays off enormously–rather than abstracting him for the audience to project upon. It’s near-impossible for me to imagine Hamnet won’t be recognized this awards season.

Hamnet screens at TIFF ’25:

Mon. Sept 8 at 6:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre 

Thurs. Sept 11 at 2:00 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Sat. Sept 13 at 12:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

In Select Theaters November 26, 2025
and on Netflix December 12, 2025, today we get a new Teaser for WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY.

DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson

WRITER: Rian Johnson

PRODUCERS: Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson

CAST: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church

SYNOPSIS: Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny). After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson writes and directs Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and assembles another all-star, award-winning cast.

we don’t believe we’ve finally made it through the first weekend of TIFF, but make no mistake, we’re still reaching for the peak! tiff50 monday is expected to be the biggest day of the festival with both FRANKENSTEIN and THE SMASHING MACHINE set to bow.

some highlights from day four:

•kerry condon at tiff for train dreams

•dustin hoffman and leo woodall at tiff for tuner

•alyvia alyn lind at tiff for wayward

•toni collette at tiff for wayward

•sarah gadon at tiff for wayward

•paul mescal at tiff for hamnet

•june squibb at tiff for eleanor the great

•édgar ramirez at tiff for it would be night in caracas

•wagner moura at tiff for the secret agent

•angelina jolie at tiff for couture

•rami malek, richard e. grant, leo woodall (with meghann fahy), james vanderbilt at tiff for nuremberg

highlights:

angelina content:

nuremberg afterparty:

the team also was thrilled to visit the much-talked-about CRITERION CLOSET pop-up, which runs only through today! it was epic!

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)