#FIRSTLOOK: “ANYONE BUT YOU” TRAILER

We have been waiting forever for this! The new Trailer for Will Gluck‘s ANYONE BUT YOU starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney!

Synopsis:

In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple. Directed by: Will Gluck Story by: Ilana Wolpert Screenplay by: Ilana Wolpert and Will Gluck Produced by: Will Gluck Joe Roth Jeff Kirschenbaum Executive Producers: Alyssa Altman Jacqueline Monetta Catherine Bishop Natalie Sellers Charlie Corwin Sidney Kimmel Mark O’Connor Sydney Sweeney Jonathan Davino Cast: Sydney Sweeney Glen Powell Alexandra Shipp GaTa Hadley Robinson Michelle Hurd Dermot Mulroney Darren Barnet and Rachel Griffiths

Sony Pictures Canada release ANYONE BUT YOU December 22, 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Sony Pictures Canada)

#FIRSTLOOK: WOMEN IN VIEW CALLS FOR CANADIAN FILM AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY CHANGES

Women in View, whose mission is the achievement of greater gender equity and inclusion in Canadian media, issued Calls to Action today directed at the decision-makers in the Canadian film and television industry. Based upon the findings of the Women in View On Screen Report (WIVOS23) issued in August, the organization outlined eight urgent and necessary steps that must be made to see substantive movement toward an equitable industry. The Calls to Action were presented at this year’s St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF), the same festival that supported the launch of the first On Screen Report in 2012.

The Calls to Action include:
* Commit to equity within parity, holding organizations accountable to equity as a practice, not an achievement.
* Ensure equity efforts are focused, intentional, and thorough.
* Focus on structural interventions to support Indigenous women and Indigenous gender diverse creatives.
* Create pathways to accelerate Black women and Black gender diverse creatives and to dismantle anti-Black racism.
* Explore and acknowledge the complexity and diversity of experiences within the umbrella of Women of Colour and gender diverse People of Colour.
* Audit data/measurement practices and motives.
* Create a funding system map and use it to evaluate progress.
* Implement sector-level interventions that make structural changes permanent and unavoidable.

Detailed actionable recommendations for these exigencies are available on the Women in View website.

“These Calls to Action are only a starting point,” comments Sharon McGowan, Chair of Women in View. “We call on decision-makers in the film and television industry to create their own public Calls to Action, and release them alongside detailed plans and timelines for putting them into practice.”

The results of WIVOS23, presented in August by Lead Consultant Lindsay Valve, clearly demonstrated a decrease overall in progress for women and gender diverse creatives made pre-pandemic, as shown through WIVOS2019 and WIVOS21. Indigenous Women, Black Women, and Women of Colour were the most significantly impacted and underrepresented.

Women in View is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to strengthening gender representation and diversity in Canadian media both on screen and behind the scenes.

To access the full report, please go to the Women in View website or click here for English and here for French

#TRAVEL: BOOKING.COM PRESENT TOP TRAVEL PREDICTIONS FOR 2024

As 2023 enters its final months and 2024 optimistically appears on the horizon, numbness and detachment loom as a result of the perma-crisis, including increased cost-of-living and climate change concerns. People around the world have emotionally checked out of the news agenda and events at home in order to take a much needed breather.

Where in years past travel has been a means to escape life, Booking.com is releasing research that shows that travel is life in 2024 with three quarters (74%) of Canadian travellers revealing that they feel more alive than ever when they are on vacation, and 64% wanting to be more like their vacation self in their day-to-day life back home. That’s because 63% also think they are the best version of themselves while on vacation. And with AI set to transform 2024, travellers are increasingly plugging into tech to do the grunt work, freeing them up to stretch their imagination, tune into their intuition and spark more soul-stirring experiences.

To explore how travel will transport people out of autopilot and into unleashing their best life, Booking.com commissioned research among more than 27,000 travellers across 33 countries and territories, combining it with its insights as a leading digital travel platform to reveal seven predictions for travel in 2024.

1. (Alter) Ego Enthusiasts

In 2024, Canadian travellers will feel more alive by creating their very own epic alter egos on vacation, with more than a third (28%) making up stories about their real life to people they meet on their travels. These alter ego enthusiasts love the thrill of embodying a 2.0 version of themselves, and go to great lengths to reimagine their best self, with more than three in five (52%) enjoying the anonymity of travel and the chance to recreate themselves.

Fueling the idea that people take on different personas when travelling to feel more alive, over two thirds (63%) feel they are the best version of themselves on vacation, able to shed inhibitions and embrace new aspects of their personalities, while 28% would even pay to rent a nicer car than they drive at home to live their finest lives with confidence. What’s more, nearly half (44%) of Canadian travellers feel ‘main character energy’ on their travels, with these performers empowered to be the stars of their own life.

Aliases and avatars abound, both IRL and through VR and AR. Those digital alter egos with a desire for wanderlust can go anywhere and do anything in the metaverse, and in 2024 the people behind them will bring their digital fantasies to life in real-world destinations.

2. Cool-cationers

Heat has officially had its vacay heyday, with scorching temperatures pushing the mercury to record-breaking levels and causing heat waves around the world. Sweltering conditions are accelerating a rise in Canadian travellers chasing cooler climes to revive and refresh themselves. 40% report that climate change will impact the way they plan their vacation in 2024, while 36% say that as temperatures soar close to home, they will use their vacation to cool down elsewhere.

This effect taps into the expected rise of water-centric travel that takes the edge off the heat, and helps people wash away their worries. Three quarters (76%) agree that being close to water instantly makes them feel more relaxed, with over a third (43%) interested in water-centric vacations in 2024. As people dive headfirst into aquatic escapes, mindful water immersion will quickly become the next mainstream version of meditation, where the wild-swimming craze meets the ice-therapy movement (thanks, Wim Hof). This fresh form of feel-alive wellness travel will see floating yoga, water sound baths and snow meditation surge, as well as a boom in ice therapy retreats, underwater hotels and mermania, with water no longer the backdrop but the main event.

3. Surrender Seekers

In 2024, just bring yourself. Canadian travellers increasingly want to surrender themselves to the element of surprise, explore the unknown and venture into uncharted territory on vacation, with 40% keen to book a surprise trip where everything down to the destination is unknown until arrival. Averse to the ‘sameness’ of everyday life and actively avoiding cookie-cutter experiences, the intuitively adventurous traveller of 2024 wants to step outside of the homogenized vacation, with 48% preferring to venture off the beaten path and a quarter (26%) seeking to travel with strangers.

Shifting from rigorous planning to chance encounters and experiences with a roll of the dice, these surrender seekers are relinquishing control for the art of letting go – with carpe diem their life motto. The majority (58%) would like to have no plans set in stone prior to travelling in 2024 so they can go where the wind takes them, while over two thirds (65%) prefer to travel with loose plans so they can change direction based on what feels good in the moment.

The travel industry is already responding fast with tech-enabled flexible services, giving travellers the option to cancel, change plans, and buy now, pay later at the press of a button. The explosion of AI, which has already seen the launch of Booking.com’s AI Trip planner, is going mainstream in 2024: 33% of Canadian travellers would trust AI to plan a trip for them, with a third of baby boomers (30%) and one in five (20%) of the silent generation finally surrendering to AI in order to assist their travels plans in the year ahead.

4. Culinary Excavators

The food archeologists of 2024 will dig deep into the roots of food on vacation to unearth new culinary treasures, with more than half (53%) more interested in learning about the origins of a destination’s ‘must-eat’ delicacies than they were in the past. Culinary excavators are bucking next-gen food trends in favor of preserving the true craftsmanship of traditional dishes; leaning on gastro-tourism to embrace the unique history, geography and produce that makes for one-of-a-kind cuisine that will awaken the senses.

Three quarters (74%) want to try indigenous cuisines in 2024, and heritage flavors are in the spotlight with Canadian travellers putting power in the hands of the under-represented, unlocking the secrets of cultures which may have been lost or forgotten in other parts of the world. Expect an increase in indigenous experiences that take us on trails that tell the story behind the food they serve, bringing pride and income to communities around the globe.

Canada’s foodie travellers in 2024 will be experientialists who fluctuate between digital and physical realities to transform every discovery into a heightened multisensory extravaganza, with a third (36%) wanting an immersive ‘phygital’ food experience enhanced by VR or AR. Think mood altering lighting, paired fragrances and sensual soundscapes that enhance the traces of foodways past.

5. Reboot Retreaters

When things are falling apart back home amid global instability and an ever-hectic world, disheveled travellers are booking one-track trips rooted in self-improvement to bring themselves back to the life they truly want again. The new era of sleep tourism, for example, welcomes sleep concierges and cutting-edge tech to serve the 46% who want to travel in 2024 to solely focus on uninterrupted shut-eye.

For those who are used to sleeping solo, over a quarter (29%) of Canadian travellers would carve out time for a matchmaking holiday to find a spark with a new partner or lover, while 25% would focus on a heartbreak holiday to get over an ex. On the contrary, for those still rocking their relationships, 23% want to deepen that human connection with their partner as their main priority for travelling in 2024. On the flip side, for those increasingly frazzled parents, they are surprisingly seeking solace on completely solo holidays, with almost half (43%) planning to travel alone in 2024, dropping the kids and their partners to prioritize their vitality.

Taking the impetus to reinvent their ‘real’ life even further, 41% revealed that the stripped-back lifestyle of agrarian and indigenous communities, where self-sufficiency is a way of life, would appeal to them in 2024. Beyond just back to basics, the focus is on a better balance with nature and the elements to reset their day-to-day back home.

6. A La Carte Affluencers

Fueled by the cost of living crisis alongside the mainstream stealth wealth trends of 2023, Canadian travellers in 2024 will employ money saving hacks to cut costs, yet level up vacations with ‘à la carte’ luxuries, scoring a rush from travelling like the rich – even if just for a moment in time. These à la carte ‘affluencers’ want to appear wealthy, sweeping away the reality of having to make financial sacrifices, but behind the scenes are focused on see-through spending and curating budget-friendly travel itineraries with the help of their travel partner in crime, AI. In fact, almost half (44%) of Canadian travellers will want insights and tips from AI when on vacation to upgrade experiences with suggested ancillaries and deals, all with a flick of their finger.

Half (48%) plan to pick destinations in 2024 where the cost of living is less expensive than their hometown, while travelling closer to home is also a draw for some who will be searching for luxe-for-less copycat vacations to reduce costs in 2024 (34%). Many (35%) Canadian travellers will be willing to pay for day passes to use the amenities in a five star hotel rather than actually staying there, with a similar number of parents (36%) planning to take their children out of school to travel outside of peak season to make their money stretch further in 2024.

7. Mindful Aesthetes

Once upon a time, the words sustainable and stylish were not necessarily synonymous, with the words ‘eco-travel’ conjuring up visions of primitive campsites. Make way for the intersection of design and mindfulness to influence travel in 2024, opening up new and inspiring doors for travellers who have a desire to make more conscious and responsible choices, not just for a short getaway, but as a way of life.

Gone are the days when comfort and exceptional design were solely associated with excess and extravagance, with a growing movement of hotels and other unique places to stay presenting inventive, yet aesthetically pleasing responses to significant environmental and social challenges. These discerning travellers will hunt down jaw-dropping architecture that has environmental features at its heart, with 40% looking for accommodation that has wow-factor sustainability innovation. Half (50%) want to see sustainability in action, while 56% want to see the outside brought indoors with green spaces and plants in accommodations on vacation.

In 2024, in exchange for contributing to conservation efforts, sustainable itineraries will give travellers exclusive access to the places that they are helping preserve, in the most mindful and responsible way. A large number are interested in sustainable travel apps where they can unlock rewards (44%), such as experiences with locals in off-the-beaten-path areas (51%) or visiting remote locations that tourists otherwise have limited access to (48%). The mindful aesthetes are a reminder that it’s possible to bring home all the vacay feels, but also that bold sense of purpose to feel more deeply connected to the environment and surrounding communities when back at home as well.

Arjan Dijk, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com comments:

“Our 2024 travel predictions reflect the idea that travel is not a means to escape life, but instead a catalyst to live our best lives. From thrilling adventures in a new destination to feeling the pulse of a new culture and every experience in between, travel allows us to become the best version of ourselves. At Booking.com, it’s our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world and we believe in the power of travel to inspire, transform and enrich lives and we are committed to empowering extraordinary experiences that resonate with the heartbeat of each and every traveller in 2024 and beyond.”

#FIRSTLOOK: “THE BOYS IN THE BOAT” TRAILER

Watch the official trailer for #TheBoysInTheBoat, from director George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner. In theatres this Christmas.

Synopsis:

Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Canada)

#REELASIAN: TORONTO REEL ASIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP ANNOUNCED

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian), Canada’s premier pan-Asian festival, today announced its 2023 programming lineup, which will open with Canadian filmmaker Fawzia Mirza’s debut feature The Queen of My Dreams. From November 8 to 19, 2023, the Festival will take audiences on a cinematic journey, transcending borders and bringing the world closer together. This year’s lineup consists of 15 features and 57 shorts from Canada, India, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Reel Asian will also present three thoughtful and creative multimedia experiences through their RA:X programme and welcome a number of esteemed industry professionals for their Reel Ideas conference. For the full programming lineup and ticket information visit reelasian.com.

“The continued success and popularity of Asian cinema in Hollywood has brought our collective stories and experiences to the forefront, leading to significant growth in our community’s industry both abroad and in Canada,” said Deanna Wong, Executive Director, Reel Asian. “We’re so proud to welcome audiences back to the festival, which aims to bridge cultural divides, inspire meaningful conversations, and celebrate Asian voices. There is a need for our stories now more than ever and we hope to continue offering a bigger and better festival each year.”

Below highlights Reel Asian’s programming. For the full Festival programme and schedule, please visit reelasian.com or view the 2023 Programme Guide here.

FEATURES
[*] indicates expected attendance

THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Opening Night)
Dir. Fawzia Mirza * | Canada 2023 | 97 min. | Urdu, English
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.
Official Selection at TIFF 2023
WED, NOV 8 • 7:30 PM • HOT DOCS TED ROGERS CINEMA

THE TASTE OF MANGO
Dir. Chloe Abrahams | United Kingdom 2023 | 73 min. | English
Chloe Abrahams’ debut feature, is an enveloping, hypnotic, urgently personal meditation on family, memory, identity, violence, and love. At its centre are three extraordinary women: the director’s mother, Rozana; her grandmother, Jean; and the director herself. What emerges is a delicately layered, personal and collective portrait of coping with physical and sexual violence, the damage of grief and estrangement, and the possibilities of hope, joy, healing, and reconciliation.
THURS, NOV 9 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

OKIKU AND THE WORLD せかいのおきく
Dir. Junji Sakamoto 攫㘭朇㮼 | Japan 2023 | 90 min. | Japanese with English subtitles
Set near the end of the Edo period, the film presents a fresh take on the time and on samurai culture. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a fallen samurai. The two of them now live in a tenement far from luxury. One day, she meets Chuji (Kanichiro) and love blooms. The problem is that Chuji is a manure man who collects excrement to sell to farmers. Despite the downfall of samurais, there is still a social gap between them.
THURS, NOV 9 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

SMALL FRY
Dir. Joongha Park * | South Korea 2023 | 95 min. | Korean with English subtitles
Ho-jun, a flailing actor, has found relative success as a social media influencer, hawking fishing hacks. He preps his live stream at his preferred fishing spot, only to be disrupted by an obnoxious stranger, Director Nam, a hotshot independent film director about to shoot his first feature. He’s invited rising actress Hee-jin for a quiet pondside chat to convince her that his film will be a star-making breakout role—only Hee-jin isn’t sure about Director Nam’s film, or his ulterior motives. As the day progresses, links between Ho-jun, Director Nam, and Hee-jin entwine and unravel to reveal each character’s ambition, pettiness, and pathos as they try to reel in their respective dreams.
FRI, NOV 10 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

IN FLAMES
Dir. Zarrar Kahn * | Canada, Pakistan 2023 | 98 min | Urdu with English subtitles
Mariam, a medical student, is dealing with her grandfather’s passing, her grieving mother, and preparing for upcoming exams. When an estranged and suspiciously helpful uncle re-enters their lives and promises support with their property and finances, Mariam senses trouble. At school, she meets a charming fellow student who presents a tempting option of marriage and financial security, a supposed avenue of freedom and autonomy. When Mariam begins to feel haunted by the presence of men around her and the spirits of those long gone, escape starts to seem elusive.
Official Selection at Cannes 2023 and TIFF 2023
FRI, NOV 10 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

RIVER リバー、流れないでよ
Dir. Junta Yamaguchi | Japan 2023 | 82 min. Japanese with English subtitles
From the team behind Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Reel Asian Official Selection,2021) comes Junta Yamaguchi’s latest time loop comedy. Set in a quaint inn along the Kibune river near Kyoto, staff and guests find themselves stuck in a continuous two-minute time loop. Mikoto, a waitress, returns to the river bank after each loop, plunging into a relentless cycle of perplexing scenarios. Her coworkers, the cook, and the mystified guests all grapple with mounting confusion. Despair and disorientation engulf those at the inn, as the uncanny sensation of repeatedly returning to the same moment leads to a frantic quest for answers.
FRI, NOV 10 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

WE WILL BE BRAVE
Dir. Chrisann Hessing * | Canada 2023 | 78 min. | English
The Good Guise is an artist collective in Toronto formed to spark conversations around healthy masculinity. From photography and beat-boxing to poetry and martial arts, these talented artists share their unique lived experiences with inspiring confidence and welcome others to join in their mission of finding radical alternatives to shame and punishment. As each of them grapple with upheavals in their personal lives, their resolve is further tested by a dire lack of resources and the burden of racialized discrimination.
SAT, NOV 11 • 12 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF
Dir. Law Chen | USA 2023 | 75 min. | Mandarin, English
A genre-bending mystery that shakes up notions of traditional storytelling. Jerry Hsu is a loving father of three, a recent divorcé, and has been keeping a secret. The Taiwanese immigrant and Orlando resident has been accused by the Chinese police of being an accomplice in an international money-laundering scheme. In an effort to clear his name, Jerry agrees to help the police with busting the operation. Hiding his role in the investigation from his family, Jerry’s world begins to unravel with each step he takes deeper into the conspiracy.
SAT, NOV 11 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

Q
Dir. Jude Chehab * | USA, Lebanon 2023 | 93 min. | Arabic, English
Jude Chehab, a Lebanese American cinematographer and filmmaker, has always known her mother and grandmother to be women devoted to their Muslim faith. During a trip to Lebanon, Chehab is propelled by a curiosity to understand the quest for love, acceptance, and meaning that brought three generations of women in her family to pledge loyalty to a secretive matriarchal religious order operating clandestinely in the country.
Best New Documentary Director Award, Tribeca Film Festival 2023
SAT, NOV 11 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

TIGER STRIPES
Dir. Amanda Nell Eu | Malaysia 2023 | 95 min. | Malay with English subtitles
Free-spirited 12-year-old Zaffan is the first of her friends to get her period and experience the body-changing horrors that come with puberty and menstruation. Set in a kampong, or a Malaysian village, structured around patriarchy and religious expectations, she tries to conceal her pubescent traits out of fear of ostracization. Panic spreads in the village when a monster or demonic spirit is rumoured to be roaming the surrounding jungle. Exposed by her peers, Zaffan eventually learns to embrace herself in the face of exclusion and cultural condemnation.
Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Cannes 2023
Selected to represent Malaysia at the 96th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category
SAT, NOV 11 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

TERRESTRIAL VERSES
Dir. Alireza Khatami * and Ali Asgari | Iran 2023 | 77 min. | Persian with English subtitles
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them. Featuring dynamic and fine-tuned performances, the 11 vignettes with conversations (and confrontations) between onscreen citizens and o!screen interrogators are striking in their ability to feel absurd and regrettably real at the same time, a place where the mundane and the menace coexist. Through these stories, we see how citizens respond to and resist these restraints until the final vignette’s staggering conclusion.
Official Selection at Cannes 2023, Un Certain Regard
SUN, NOV 12 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

SEAGRASS
Dir. Meredith Hama-Brown * | Canada 2023 | 115 min. | English
Judith, a Japanese Canadian woman, and her reluctant white husband attend a week-long couple’s retreat on a coastal British Columbia island, their two daughters in tow. With Judith grieving the recent loss of her mother and her connection to her Japanese Canadian identity, the couple’s disconnect grows as she finds herself infatuated with another, seemingly perfect, interracial couple at the retreat. The parents’ rift impresses upon their daughters, as Emmy, the fearful younger sister, becomes increasingly anxious, while the eldest, Stephanie, cautiously navigates the preteen social dynamics of day camp.
FIPRESCI Prize, TIFF 2023
SUN, NOV 12 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

MUSTACHE
Dir. Imran J. Khan * | USA 2023 | 83 min. | Urdu, English
When 13-year-old Ilyas’s parents yank him out of his comfortable Islamic private school and force him to adjust to life in public school, he develops a plan to change their minds. After a staged fondness for non-halal food and explicit music fails to sufficiently scandalize his parents, Ilyas asks his whip-smart former classmate, Yasmeen, to help devise a more foolproof plan. However, underneath those faux concerns, what really preoccupies prepubescent Ilyas is his wispy, dark mustache growing much sooner than that of his peers, prompting a self-loathing born and reinforced by the taunting and teasing of classmates.
Audience Award, Narrative Feature, SXSW 2023
SUN, NOV 12 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

RELICS OF LOVE AND WAR
Dir. Keith Lock * | Canada 2023 | 40 min. | English
The venerated Chinese Canadian filmmaker Keith Lock narrates the story of how his mother married his father in Australia, who was training with other Chinese Canadian veteran volunteers for the top secret suicide mission, Operation Oblivion. This incredible story is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, a time when Chinese Canadians could not vote, swim in pools, or hire white women for their businesses.
TUES, NOV 14 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

BABY QUEEN
Dir. Lei Yuan Bin | Singapore 2023 | 62 min. | Mandarin, Malay, Teochew, English
A tender and joyful relationship between Singaporean drag queen Opera Tang and her 90-year-old grandmother, who makes many of her performance costumes. The film follows the rhythm of Opera Tang’s day-to-day activities and conversations with chosen family, loved ones, and community, capturing the struggles and joys of being queer through the quiet notation of the personal.
WED, NOV 15 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

SHORTS
This year’s Shorts programming includes:

S-EXPRESS MALAYSIA: MADE BY MALAYSIA: Initiated in 2002, S-Express has become an annual showcase from Southeast Asia. This year, Reel Asian presents S-Express Malaysia, programmed by Chong Lee Yow of Mini Film Festival, featuring five films depicting one’s ability to (un)trap themselves from limitations set upon them, be it bodily, mind, or soul, to achieve relief and victory. FRI, NOV 10 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

LET’S BE FRIENDS: These shorts look at the soft to even slightly off-kilter bonds we find in one another, the realms we exist in, and ultimately, ourselves, despite ongoing change—no friendship bracelets required. SAT, NOV 11 • 12 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

UNSUNG VOICES 12: Six fearless emerging filmmakers embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey online. Reel Asian is proud to present their world premiere here in the 12th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program. SAT, NOV 11 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

EMERGENCE: There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves? SAT, NOV 11 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: More to the situation than what it seems, these shorts choose to examine, tease, and redefine the forces that pull us to make a decision. SAT, NOV 11 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

HERE WE ARE: With societal, political, and magical forces at play beyond our control, this programme brings together a variety of filmmaking approaches to reflect on what can remain in troubling times, and along with it, agency to construct the narrative. SUN, NOV 12 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

THE STRANGE, THE ODD AND THE FAMILIAR: Hmm … this doesn’t seem right?! This programme asks us to sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know. SUN, NOV 12 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX
RA:X
Storytelling beyond the screen. RA:X is Reel Asian’s programming section with interactive elements and innovative storytelling tools that seek to engage audiences in new and exciting ways. All exhibitions and accompanying events are free.

MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM – PIGEONHOLE
Visit the Pigeonhole, nest and rest from the festival chaos, listen to collaborative pigeon music, watch raw footage, compose your own ditties, and collage a flock of desired futures together with other attendees. This immersive multimedia installation is inspired by artist Emmie Tsumura’s evolving relationship with a motley crew of pigeons who visit her kitchen windowsill to eat snacks and hang out on toy keyboards. NOV 8–19, BACHIR/YEREX PRESENTATION SPACE, 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, VARIOUS TIMES

INTERACTIVE WALK AND TALK – EIGHTY THOUSAND STEPS
As a child, Crystal Chan loved when her “Pawpaw” (“grandmother” in Chinese) shared life lessons through fables as the two took walks together. Now Crystal realizes Pawpaw was sharing her journey as a child refugee, hiding tragedy behind adventure. Listeners gradually learn about the heartbreaking contrast between real violence and a child’s interpretation of it. As the listener walks to the store or through a park, they’re forced to examine their steps and stories next to a refugee’s. THURS, NOV 16, THE COMMONS AT 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, VARIOUS TIMES

MINI SYMPOSIUM AND EXHIBITION – THE SARI-SARI XCHANGE
A project that seeks to amplify Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries in Canada, particularly through a community-building residency program that engages artists with digital and extended reality (XR) technologies. There will be a mini-symposium in the morning around issues and accessibility of XR technology, and a public exhibition of works-in-progress will follow in the afternoon. FRI, NOV 17, THE COMMONS AT 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

CANADIAN SPOTLIGHT – FIRST FILMS
In the inaugural First Films event, three award-winning Asian Canadian filmmakers will present and discuss the first films they’ve ever made. The program celebrates their earnest creation, irrational confidence, and the miracle of early- (or pre-)career filmmaking. FRI, NOV 17 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

HERE I AM, Dir. Sami Khan, 2010, 10 min.
Sami Khan’s most recent film The Last Out, co-directed with Michael Gassert, won the 2023 Emmy for Outstanding Business and Economics Documentary.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, Dir. Renuka Jeyapalan, 1999, 5 min.
Renuka Jeyapalan’s debut short Big Girl won the TIFF 2005 Best Canadian Short Film Award and she also directed episodes of Kim’s Convenience, Workin’ Moms, Murdoch Mysteries, Ginny and Georgia, among others. Renuka’s acclaimed feature Stay the Night screened at 2022 Reel Asian.

HACKING ‘TIL MY LEGS FALL OFF, Dir. Joyce Wong, 2004, 8 min.
Joyce Wong’s directing credits include the popular shows Workin’ Moms, Baroness von Sketch, and Run the Burbs and she directed the critically acclaimed feature Wexford Plaza (2016).

WEE ASIAN
Free selection of wholesome shorts for all ages and generations to come together, in a relaxed drop-in screening environment. Attendees will also have an opportunity to participate in fun and simple art activities post-screening. SAT, NOV 18 • 10:30 AM – 3 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

This year’s Wee Asian short film lineup includes:
MON AMI – Canada
EID MUBARAK – USA, Pakistan
GORO GORO – USA
HI ADING – Canada
EVERYWHERE – Hong Kong
SPIRIT OF THE FOREST – India
THE OLD YOUNG CROW (今昔カラス) – Japan
HAIR UNIVERSE (ݚܵசڿਅફ) – South Korea
DANCE ON! NONOKO! – USA, Taiwan

REEL IDEAS
The Reel Ideas conference unites industry professionals, including screenwriters, producers, filmmakers, and performers, to engage in candid discussions about the challenges and successes of starting from scratch, all while drawing inspiration from our roots. Paving a new pathway for today’s storytellers and advocates, celebrating their contributions and giving them their well-deserved recognition.

This year, Reel Ideas presents From the Ground Up, learning from our origins, creative journeys, and the path to forging unique trajectories.

HOW TO FAIL AS A POPSTAR: THE CLUMSY ART OF FINDING YOURSELF (screening and panel)
Discover the comedically honest and heartwarming story of the CBC Gem original short-form series How to Fail as a Popstar. Unravel the creative evolution of the series, which was adapted from Vivek Shraya’s hit play and subsequent book, tracing its journey from page to stage to screen. Vivek and the creative team will join for an insightful conversation about adapting for film, the realities of the music industry, and the power of one’s intersecting identities.
Panelists: Vivek Shraya (creator/artist), Vanessa Matsui (director), Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves (actor)
THURS, NOV 16 • 7 PM • HOT DOCS TED ROGERS CINEMA

JOURNEY BACK: EXPLORING ORIGIN IN FILMMAKING AND CREATING CHARACTER OUT OF “HOME”
There is a profound connection filmmakers forge when revisiting their roots through a cinematic lens. This in-depth conversation explores how filmmakers turn places into their own dynamic character, and unpacks the emotive pull of returning, despite its tensions and contradictions.
Panelists: Fawzia Mirza (director/writer), Zarrar Kahn (director/screenwriter)
THURS, NOV 9 • 2:30 PM • FESTIVAL LOUNGE (401 RICHMOND ST W SUITE 440)

BUILDING FORCES: THE DIRECTOR PRODUCER RELATIONSHIP
The producer/director relationship is a partnership constantly in flux. What is required for these roles to work harmoniously? Panelists will explore the vital but tumultuous collaboration behind every successful film.
TUES NOV 14 • 1 PM • FESTIVAL LOUNGE (401 RICHMOND ST W SUITE 440)

TO THE WRITERS’ ROOM: CANADIAN TV WRITERS ON CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION AND RESISTING TOKENISM (Online YouTube Live Roundtable)
Step into the thrilling world of TV writing as talented writers share their insights into crafting a successful series, advancing careers in the writers’ room, and promoting diversity in showrunning. Explore their creative processes, approach to pitching, and how they navigate tokenism and stereotypes while fostering collaborative writers’ rooms.
Panelists: Rob Michaels (writer/director/comedian), Léa Geronimo (writer/director), additional TBA
WED, NOV 15 • 4:30 PM • ONLINE YOUTUBE LIVE ROUNDTABLE

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN PITCH?
A fun and exciting way to support emerging filmmakers, as the five finalists pitch their projects to esteemed jurors for a chance to win an amazing prize package toward kick-starting or finishing their film. Cheer on a new generation of filmmakers, and let the future of Asian Canadian cinema inspire!
SUN, NOV 19 • 5 PM • CSI ANNEX

For more information, visit reelasian.com.

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of government partners Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Province of Ontario, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Creates, and Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund; and the support of Premier Partners Crave and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada.

About Reel Asian
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian® provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada. This year’s festival runs November 8–19, 2023, showcasing special projects featuring prominent artists, content creators, up-and-coming filmmakers and will also include the “Reel Ideas” program for creative minds in the industry to connect online. Works presented at Reel Asian include films, videos, and presentations by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world.

#TIFF: TIFF ANNOUNCE NOVEMBER 2023 PROGRAMMING

TIFF is delighted to unveil an extensive lineup of programming for the month of November, bringing an exhilarating close to the vibrant autumn season of events. Alongside captivating retrospectives from TIFF Cinematheque, TIFF’s Public Programming team presents a diverse range of engaging activities. As part of the new From the Collection series – the first monthly TIFF series exclusive for our Members – TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey will host a screening of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors: Blue.

Acclaimed German auteur Christian Petzold will be celebrated in a 16-film retrospective on the heels of his latest award-winning hit Afire, which screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this past summer. This retrospective is curated by TIFF Cinematheque Senior Curator Andréa Picard and is one of the largest ever assembled on the director’s work, featuring a number of imported archival prints.

TIFF Cinematheque is also celebrating the centenary of Ousmane Sembène, the Senegalese auteur whose body of work is relatively small with nine features, but whose legacy extends beyond as a world-class satirist, rebel, and revolutionary artist. His work will be celebrated throughout the month of November with screenings of Ceddo, Emitaï, and Xala (TIFF’ 23 Classics Selection), all brand new 4K restorations courtesy of Janus Films.

Public Programming presents the latest Loved It event featuring bestselling author R. F. Kuang (Babel, Yellowface) on The Personal History of David Copperfield; a TIFF Primetime advance screening of the new Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (episodes 101-103) with writers and co-showrunners Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, and the return of International Cinema Cafe. Also returning this year is Sing-a-long-a, featuring special holiday screenings coming this December.

Tickets for all titles below are on sale now.

TIFF CINEMATHEQUE

From the Collection | tiff.net/fromthecollection
These screenings are exclusively available to TIFF Members. To become a Member, visit tiff.net/membership.

Three Colors: Blue, with Cameron Bailey | November 7, 6:30pm
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy is patterned after the colours of the French flag and offers idiosyncratic explorations of the corresponding themes of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

TIFF Wavelengths Presents | tiff.net/wavelengths

Colectivo los Ingrávidos: Ancestralidad y trance | November 8, 6:30pm
Introduction and Q&A with film curator, archivist, and researcher Almudena Escobar López following the screening

Colectivo los Ingrávidos (Mixtec) is a Mexican film collective that approaches cinema as a ritualistic process capable of connecting moments across space and time. Foregrounding the structural qualities of images as a political gesture, this program proposes a cinematic trance of history, myth, and embodiment that bridges the ancestral to the avant-garde. What cinema is possible after 500 years of colonisation and excess? Ancestralidad y trance features a collection of short films including After America, Archivo de Indias, Pintura de Castas, Mordängeln, Chinampas/The Floating Gardens, Itzcóatl, Sensemayá, Quetzalcóatl, and Tierra en Trance.

Boosie Fade Film Club | tiff.net//boosiefade

Style Wars (d. Tony Silver) | November 9, 8:30pm
Introduction by Boosie Fade co-founders Jordan Sowunmi and James Rathbone

An immersive depiction of hip hop’s earliest years in New York City. Rap music had not yet become hip hop’s most well known form of expression, so the documentary largely focuses on graffiti, which at the time had exploded all over New York City’s walls and, most of all, its subway cars.

Staying Alive: The Films of Christian Petzold | tiff.net/petzold
The Goethe-Institut is an arts partner of TIFF.

Transit | November 9, 6:30pm
Adapted from Anna Seghers’ WWII-set novel, the film transposes the plot to an indistinct moment that resembles an uncanny present-day, resulting in a haunted puzzle-play and ingenious companion piece to his postwar melodrama, Phoenix.

Afire | November 10, 6:30pm
A smouldering summer tale exploring love, leisure, and labour with hints of Chekhov and Rohmer.

Yella | November 11, 3pm
Featuring an extended introduction by programmer and writer Jutta Brendemühl
Recently divorced from her broke and abusive husband, Yella is eager to leave the industrial town of Wittenberg in former East Germany for a fresh start in the West.

The State I Am In | November 11, 6:30pm
The first break-out hit of the Berlin School, this tense drama follows two ex-terrorists and their pouty teenaged daughter, Jeanne (Hummer, who is equally excellent in Petzold’s Ghosts) as they plan an escape to Brazil.

Phoenix | November 16, 7pm
Featuring an extended introduction by film critic Adam Nayman
A searing, expressionistic post-WWII melodrama starring the formidable Nina Hoss as a headstrong concentration camp survivor, Phoenix is one of Petzold’s most successful and acclaimed films.

Something to Remind Me | November 17, 6:30pm
An edgy, Hitchcockian psychological thriller with carefully calibrated suspense, this film upends its classical romantic pursuit story with a reality far darker than its illusory surface.

Ghosts | November 18, 6:30pm
A braided tale of loneliness, grief, and yearning set in contemporary Berlin, Ghosts depicts a meeting of lost souls with unnerving ambiguity.

Pilots preceded by The Warm Money | November 19, 6:30pm
In Petzold’s rarely-screened feature debut, two travelling cosmetic saleswomen join forces to combat all the gross men who harass and exploit them. Paired with Petzold’s first collaboration with his mentor and teacher Harun Farocki.

Barbara | November 21, 6:30pm
Removed from a prestigious medical post in East Berlin and reassigned to an underfunded rural hospital near the Baltic sea — her punishment for requesting an exit visa from the GDR — Barbara (Nina Hoss) resentfully isolates herself from her new colleague, chief physician Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld), who she suspects is keeping tabs on her at the behest of the local Stasi officer Schütz (Rainer Bock).

The Sex Thief | November 23, 6:30pm
A stylish, Marnie-riffing tale of two sisters bound by their ancestral family home in Cologne.

Undine | November 24, 6:30pm
Petzold reunites with Transit co-stars Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski in this realist update of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s 1811 story about a water nymph.

Cuba Libre | November 25, 3pm
A dark and moody neo-noir starring Richy Müller as Tom, a perpetually down-on-his luck drifter who tries to win back his ex-lover Tina (a fierce Catherine Flemming), whom he abandoned and betrayed.

Jerichow | November 25, 6:30pm
A reworking of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Petzold’s first film to receive Canadian distribution plays with the conventions of a love triangle to fashion a suspenseful psychological thriller that is pristinely shot, intricately detailed, and finely acted.

Dreileben | November 26, 1pm
A TV mini-series comprised of a trio of interlocking films with 10-minute intermissions (rather than a standard trilogy or omnibus), Dreileben is an invigorating experiment in narrative construction by three of Germany’s leading filmmakers: Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, and Christoph Hochhäusler.

Wolfsburg | November 28, 6:30pm
A sleek and chilling psychodrama in which tension anxiously builds until the very end, Wolfsburg explores the tangled aftermath of a hit-and-run accident in the eponymous city where the Nazis established the Volkswagen industrial complex.

Ousmane Sembène at 100 | tiff.net/sembene

Black Girl preceded by Borom Sarret | November 15, 6:30pm
Ousmane Sembène’s stirring first feature is preceded by the groundbreaking short film that marked his directorial debut.

Emitaï | November 18, 4pm
With unflinching realism, Sembène explores the strains that colonialism places upon cultural traditions and, in the process, discovers a people’s hidden reserves of rebellion and dignity. Presented in a new 4K restoration.

Ceddo | November 19, 1pm
In pre-colonial Senegal, members of the Ceddo (or “outsiders”) kidnap Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) after her father (Makhourédia Guèye), the king, pledges loyalty to an ascendant Islamic faction that plans to convert the entire clan to its faith. Presented in a new 4K restoration.

Mandabi | November 19, 3:45pm
After jobless Ibrahima Dieng receives a money order for 25,000 francs from a nephew who works in Paris, news of his windfall quickly spreads among his neighbours, who flock to him for loans as new troubles rain down on his head.

Xala | November 26, 6:30pm
A pompous businessman finds himself struggling with impotence after taking a much younger third wife, in Sembène’s landmark satire of patriarchy and class in post-independence Senegal. Presented in a new 4K restoration.

TIFF Cinematheque Special Screenings | tiff.net/special

Se7en (d. David Fincher) | November 5, 9:30pm
When a mysterious killer begins perpetrating a string of gruesome, fiendishly inventive murders based on the seven deadly sins, world-weary cop William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) gets assigned to the case while also being saddled with a new partner, hot-headed young detective David Mills (Brad Pitt).

Twenty-eight years after Se7en, director David Fincher reunites with screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker for his newest film, The Killer, playing exclusively at TIFF Bell Lightbox starting October 27.

Carnival of Souls (d. Herk Harvey) | November 12, 8:30pm
Director Herk Harvey’s only narrative feature, Carnival of Souls, is now widely beloved as a cult classic, having been later reappraised as essential viewing in independent genre filmmaking.

Detour (d. Edgar G. Ulmer) | November 22, 6:30pm
Hapless pianist Al Roberts (Tom Neal), while hitching to LA to join his singer girlfriend, is forced into a fatal deception when one of his rides expires; afraid that he’ll take the rap, Roberts takes over the dead man’s car and identity.

Modelled after Edgar G. Ulmer’s Depression-era classic Detour, Christian Petzold’s Cuba Libre also screens this November as part of Staying Alive: The Films of Christian Petzold.

The 39 Steps (d. Alfred Hitchcock) | November 29, 8:15pm
Based on the novel by John Buchan, Hitchcock creates a classic spy thriller for the ages.

Influenced by Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Christian Petzold’s graduation film Pilots also screens this November as part of Staying Alive: The Films of Christian Petzold.

See the North | tiff.net/seethenorth

Archangel with Guy Maddin | November 14, 6:30pm
A traumatized Canadian soldier arrives in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution, only to find himself enmeshed in the lives of his local hosts, in Guy Maddin’s black-and-white 16mm fever dream. Presented in a new 4K restoration.

TIFF Family Films | tiff.net/family

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (d. Steven Spielberg) | November 5, 1pm
The tale of a gentle extra-terrestrial feels as heartfelt as ever more than 40 years later. Screening in 35mm!

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

Silver Screenings: Faces Places | November 3, 11am
This event is in honour of Sylvia Lustgarten (1926–2023) who co-founded the Ageless International Film Festival at the age of 91.

Silver Screenings and the Ageless Film Festival will host a free screening of Faces Places for an intergenerational audience. In this charming, award-winning documentary, director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

International Cinema Cafe | November 5 & 26
Reel Talk is now International Cinema Cafe and continues to provide a snapshot of the best cinema from around the world, with a focus on films submitted for Best International Picture at the Academy Awards and hidden gems that may not see wide release.

Supporter Appreciation Weekend | November 11 & 12
In recognition of National Philanthropy Day (Nov. 15), TIFF will be hosting a weekend filled with special programming, activities, and perks exclusive to Members within the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Stay tuned for more information to come.

TIFF Primetime: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off | November 15, 7pm
Following the Canadian premiere of episodes 101-103 of the highly anticipated new Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, writers and co-showrunners Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski join us for an onstage conversation about their animated adaptation of O’Malley’s iconic Toronto-set graphic novel series. Scott, Ramona Flowers, all seven of her evil exes, and the rest of the original cast from Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World reunite for a familiar but brand new adventure in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Loved It: R. F. Kuang on The Personal History of David Copperfield | November 18, 7pm
R. F. Kuang, bestselling author of this year’s literary sensation Yellowface, joins us in person to present a screening of Armando Iannucci’s ingenious The Personal History of David Copperfield, adapted from Charles Dickens’ iconic Bildungsroman David Copperfield and starring Dev Patel, Hugh Laurie, and Tilda Swinton. Following the screening, Kuang will discuss the film’s influence on her own bestselling novel Babel.

Audiences will be able to purchase pre-signed copies of Kuang’s novels Babel and Yellowface as add-ons when purchasing tickets for this event. Following the in-cinema event, Kuang will also personally sign copies of her books.

This event is presented in partnership with Programming Partner HarperCollins Canada.

TIFF Next Wave: Open Screen | November 29, 6pm
Open Screen invites emerging filmmakers to share something on screen that they’ve created with a community of supportive peers. It can be a finished project or a work-in-progress, something they’ve screened before, or something they’ve been sitting on for a while. Filmmakers will receive helpful feedback and perspective on their work after it plays on the big screen.

Open Screen is co-presented by Future of Film Showcase and POV. This event is generously supported by the RBC Foundation, in support of RBC Emerging Artists.

NEW RELEASES

Opening October 27 | One week only
The Delinquents | Mongrel Media
Argentinian writer-director Rodrigo Moreno reinvents the heist movie from the inside out with this playful, inventive story about work-life balance.

✅ Oscars 2024 – Argentina’s Oscars submission for Best International Feature Film
✅ TIFF 2023 – Official Selection, Centrepiece programme

Playing November 5 | Special Screening
Rojek | Maison 4:3
Filmmakers speak with some of the most senior members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in captivity in Syria. The backdrop is a country trying to stay vigilant as it struggles to recover from years of war. Confronted with the fundamentalist beliefs of the jihadists, the film attempts to trace the rise and the fall of the IS through their personal stories.

✅ Oscars 2024 – Canada’s Oscars submission for Best International Feature Film
✅ Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – Winner, Directors Guild Special Jury Prize (Zayne Akyol)

Playing November 7 | Special Screening
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes | IFC Films
The Urashima Tunnel can grant any wish – for a price. High school boy Kaoru, plagued by a troubled past, teams up with Anzu, a girl who struggles to place obligations before her dreams, to investigate the Tunnel. But the cost of their hearts’ desires may be too high to pay. This is an unforgettable summer story of nostalgia, young love, and bending time itself.

✅ Annecy Festival 2023 – Winner, Paul Grimault Prize

Playing November 23 | Special Screening
Orlando, My Political Biography | filmswelike
Theorist, critic, and curator Paul B. Preciado takes Virginia Woolf’s classic novel as a starting point for a bold, joyous reflection on the nature of contemporary trans life and a celebration of queerness.

✅ TIFF 2023 – Official Selection, Wavelengths programme
✅ Berlin International Film Festival – Four Awards, including the Encounters Award – Special Jury Prize

COMING IN DECEMBER

To cap off 2023, TIFF is thrilled to welcome audiences throughout the month of December and throughout the holiday season. TIFF Cinematheque will feature a Magnificent 70mm series, showcasing crowd favourites like 2001: A Space Odyssey and this year’s blockbuster smash Oppenheimer in stunning 70mm film. Additionally, a Toronto-exclusive New Release title will be announced.

Public Programming will present Sing-a-long-a, a joyous and participatory celebration of musical favourites, including The Sound of Music and, for the first time in this sing-a-long-a format in Canada, The Greatest Showman. Tickets for this series are on sale as of October 18.

The full December Programming release will be unveiled November 15, 2023.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “EILEEN”

Today we get a new Trailer for EILEEN, which stars both Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway. This arrives in theatres this December via Elevation Pictures.

Synopsis:

Based on the book of the same name by bestselling author, Ottessa Moshfegh. Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes enchanted by Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

Directed by William Oldroyd

Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Owen Teague

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “FERRARI”

FERRARI is in theatres this Christmas. Here’s a brand new Trailer for the Holiday release from Michael Mann, starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz.

Synopsis:

It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#FIRSTLOOK: “TITANIC” ARRIVING IN 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™

Revisit James Cameron’s epic masterpiece TITANIC when it arrives for the first time ever remastered on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc™ December 5, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

The beloved, worldwide phenomenon won 11 Academy Awards®*, including Best Picture, and continues to attract new fans 25 years after it was originally released.  Now, viewers can experience all of the drama and spectacle in stunning 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision® and a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack** for the finest visual and audio presentation at home.

TITANIC will be available nationwide in a two-disc set that includes the film on 4K Ultra HD, plus a Blu-ray Disc™ boasting more than five hours of new and legacy bonus content, including new interviews with James Cameron, star Kate Winslet, and producer Jon Landau.  The set also includes access to a Digital Ultra HD copy of the film.

Bonus content included in the national release is detailed below:

Blu-ray™ Bonus Disc

• TITANIC: Stories From the Heart—NEW!

Director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and star Kate Winslet share memories and favorite moments and recount the challenges of making the greatest love story in cinema history. Go back in time with film clips, photos and behind-the-scenes moments.

• TITANIC: 25 Years Later with James Cameron

James Cameron explores the enduring myths and mysteries of the shipwreck, and mounts tests to see whether Jack could have fit on that raft and survived.

• Behind-the Scenes presentation hosted by Jon Landau—NEW!

Jon Landau introduces a series of behind-the-scenes segments showcasing the making of TITANIC.

• Trailer Presentation hosted by Jon Landau—NEW!

Jon Landau shares an inside glimpse into the marketing of TITANIC with a story of how a 4-minute trailer overseen by the filmmakers was delivered to theatres, instead of the original “action” trailer.



• Fan Poster Art—NEW!
• Reflections on TITANIC (4 parts)
• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by James Cameron
• Additional Behind-the-Scenes
• Deep-Dive Presentation narrated by James Cameron
• $200,000,001: A Ship’s Odyssey (The TITANIC Crew Video)
• Videomatics
• Visual Effects
• Music Video “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion
• Still Galleries

4K Ultra HD Disc

• Director Commentary by James Cameron
• Cast and Crew Commentary
• Historical Commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet light up the screen in the timeless and unforgettable story of star-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the legendary and ill-fated maiden voyage of the “unsinkable” TITANIC.  The film became the first movie to earn over $1 billion and to date it has generated more than $2.2 billion at the global box office.

#FIRSTLOOK: “AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER”

We get a first look today at some new stills from AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, coming to Netflix!

SYNOPSIS:
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope.

But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER is a live-action reimagining of the award-winning and beloved Nickelodeon animated series. Albert Kim serves as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Jabbar Raisani and Michael Goi are executive producers and directors alongside directors Roseanne Liang (also a co-executive producer) and Jet Wilkinson. Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore serve as executive producers from Rideback.

Premiere Date: 2024
Episodes: 8 episodes x 1 hour
Executive Producer / Showrunner: Albert Kim
Executive Producers: Jabbar Raisani, Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore, Michael Goi
Cast: Gordon Cormier, Ian Ousley, Kiawentiio, Dallas Liu, Ken Leung, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Daniel Dae Kim