After two years of severely scaled-back, pandemic-era editions, the Toronto International Film Festival looks to make a full-throttle return this year. The festival — long known as a key platform for awards season titles as well as a launch pad for celeb-friendly commercial films in addition to more esoteric arthouse and international movies — runs Thursday through Sept. 18.
Expect a return to the kind of star-studded red carpets and postscreening Q&As that Toronto audiences clamor for. And while a small selection of films will be available online for viewers in Canada, the emphasis is very much on the in-person event.
“I wouldn’t call it a rebuilding year because a rebuilding year is a year when you have no hope of winning the championship. So for us this is a comeback year,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF. “In the sense that we wanted to come back strongly and we wanted to just remind our audience here in Toronto, and the people all over the world who would usually come to Toronto, that if they haven’t been able to come in the last two years, there’s a lot of great reasons to be here.”
