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.
William Norman McLaren, LL. D. was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. McLaren was also an artist and printmaker, and explored his interest in dance in his films.
M. Butterfly is a 1993 American romantic drama film directed by David Cronenberg and written by David Henry Hwang based on his 1988 play. The film stars Jeremy Irons and John Lone, with Ian Richardson, Barbara Sukowa, and Annabel Leventon. The story is loosely based on true events which involved French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu.
Bright Young Things is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by Stephen Fry. The screenplay, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, provides satirical social commentary about the Bright Young People—young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians—as well as society in general, in the interwar era.
Hiam Abbass, also spelled Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director with Israeli and French citizenship. She is known for her roles in films such as The Syrian Bride (2004), Paradise Now (2005), Free Zone (2005), Munich (2005), The Visitor (2007), Lemon Tree (2008), Insyriated (2017), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). She gained prominence for her role as Marcia Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023). She has also acted in the Channel 4 series The Promise (2011), the Lifetime miniseries The Red Tent (2014), the Hulu comedy series Ramy (2019–present), and the Hulu drama series The Old Man (2022).
Rob Stewart was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films Sharkwater and Revolution. He drowned at the age of 37 while scuba diving in Florida, filming Sharkwater Extinction.
Ahmad Abdalla El Sayed Abdelkader is an Egyptian film director, editor and screenwriter.
Andrey M Paounov is a Bulgarian writer and director best known for his documentary feature films. His debut Georgi and the Butterflies won the Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. His first feature The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories was included in the 46th International Critics' Week of the Cannes Film Festival 2007. The Boy Who Was a King (2011), Andrey's second full-length documentary, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. It won the Best Documentary Feature Jury Award at the 2012 RiverRun International Film Festival. Walking on Water, following renowned artist Christo's Lake Iseo project, premiered at Locarno Festival 2018.
The Wild Hunt is a 2009 Canadian horror film written, produced, and directed by Alexandre Franchi and starring Mark Antony Krupa, Ricky Mabe, and Kaniehtiio Horn.
Evelyn Lambart was a Canadian animator and film director with the National Film Board of Canada, known for her independent work, and for her collaborations with Norman McLaren.
The Duke of Burgundy is a 2014 British erotic romance drama film written and directed by Peter Strickland, and starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia and Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn.
It's Only the End of the World is a 2016 drama film written, directed and edited by Xavier Dolan. The film is based on the 1990 play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce and stars Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, and Vincent Cassel. It is about a young playwright who reunites with his family after a 12-year absence to inform them he is going to die.
Two Lovers and a Bear is a 2016 Canadian drama film written and directed by Kim Nguyen and starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The film was released on 7 October 2016, by Entertainment One. It is Gordon Pinsent's final feature film.
Boys in the Trees is a 2016 Australian fantasy drama film directed by Nicholas Verso. It was screened in the Discovery section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. The plot follows two boys who reconnect over their memories and fears as they walk through the woods on Halloween night, 1997.
The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2017. There were fourteen programs, with the Vanguard and City to City programs both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down by 20% from the 2016 edition. Borg/McEnroe directed by Janus Metz Pedersen opened the festival.
Under the Tree is a 2017 Icelandic dark comedy drama film directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but did not get nominated.
Cardinals is a 2017 Canadian thriller film directed by Grayson Moore and Aidan Shipley. The film stars Sheila McCarthy as Valerie Walker, a woman who has just recently been released from prison after killing a coworker in a drunk driving incident, when Mark, the son of the man she killed, shows up on her doorstep demanding answers of his own.
Float Like a Butterfly is an Irish drama film, directed by Carmel Winters and released in 2018. The film stars Hazel Doupe as Frances, a young Irish Traveller girl who idolizes Muhammad Ali and aspires to become a boxer.
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone. Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur, was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. That year, she won the Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Her third feature film, MS Slavic 7, which she co-directed with Campbell, had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019. She has also directed several short films, such as Veslemøy's Song (2018) and Point and Line to Plane (2020).
Brother is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written, produced and directed by Clement Virgo. An adaptation of David Chariandy's award-winning novel of the same name, the film centres on the relationship between Francis and Michael, two Black Canadian brothers growing up in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario in the early 1990s.
