The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.
Alanis Obomsawin, is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers.
The 11th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 4 and September 13, 1986. The Decline of the American Empire by Denys Arcand was selected as the opening film. It won People's Choice Award at the festival and later got nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at Oscars.
Trick or Treaty? is a 2014 Canadian documentary feature film by Alanis Obomsawin about Treaty 9, a 1905 agreement in which First Nations peoples in northern Ontario surrendered their sovereign rights. The film is the first by an indigenous filmmaker to be selected to the Masters program at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is the 43rd film by Obomsawin for the National Film Board of Canada.
We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice is a 2016 Canadian documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin about the First Nations activist Cindy Blackstock and her court case against the federal government of Canada for underfunding social services to children living on First Nations reserves.
The Conformist (冰之下) is 2017 Chinese drama film directed by Cai Shangjun. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
Loving Pablo, internationally known as Escobar, is a 2017 English-language Spanish biographical crime drama film directed by Fernando León de Aranoa, based on Virginia Vallejo's memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar. It was screened out of competition in the 74th Venice International Film Festival and in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
Three Peaks is a 2017 German-Italian drama film written and directed by Jan Zabeil. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
You Disappear is a 2017 Danish drama film directed by Peter Schønau Fog. The film was based on Christian Jungersen's novel by the same name. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Life and Nothing More is a 2017 Spanish drama film directed by Antonio Méndez Esparza. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was produced by Aquí y Allí Films with support from ICAA, TVE and Movistar+. Distributed by Wanda Vision, it was theatrically released in Spain on 1 December 2017. The film was critically praised and received several accolades, winning the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel is a 2017 Nigerian comedy film directed by Ishaya Bako. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
Luk'Luk'I is a Canadian drama film, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The feature directorial debut of Wayne Wapeemukwa, the film is an expansion of his earlier short film Luk'Luk'I: Mother, which premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to the festival were members of underrepresented groups, such as women and people of color. The People's Choice Award was won by Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly.
The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision." Introduced in 2015, the award is presented to a film, selected by an international jury of three prominent filmmakers or actors, from among the films screened in the Platform program. The program normally screens between eight and twelve films; only one winner is selected each year, although as with TIFF's other juried awards the jurors have the discretion to give honorable mentions to other films besides the overall winner.
Murmur is a Canadian docufiction film, directed by Heather Young and released in 2019. Young's full-length directorial debut, the film stars a cast of largely non-professional actors and centres on Donna, a lonely, alcoholic woman who is ordered to perform community service in an animal shelter after being arrested for drunk driving; when she adopts an older dog from the shelter to save him from being put down, she finds new meaning and purpose in her life but becomes obsessed with saving animals to the detriment of her own well-being.
The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions.
The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021. Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival was staged as a "hybrid" of in-person and digital screenings. Most films were screened both in-person and on the digital platform, although a few titles were withheld by their distributors from the digital platform and instead were screened exclusively in-person.
Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair is a Canadian short documentary film, directed by Alanis Obomsawin and released in 2021. The film intercuts excerpts of former Canadian senator Murray Sinclair's 2016 acceptance speech, when he was presented with an award by the World Federalist Movement-Canada in honour of his role as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, with the personal testimonies of various survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
The 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 8 to 18, 2022.
The TIFF Tribute Awards are an annual award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to honour distinguished achievements in filmmaking. Unlike the festival's regular awards, which are presented based on audience or jury voting during the festival, the TIFF Tribute Awards are presented to people or organizations selected by the board and announced in advance of the festival. Recipients are selected from among the cast and crew of the films in that year's festival lineup.
