TIFF 14

Director James Ford Murphy knows how to sell his first film, Lava, with just a song. He should, since that’s how he first pitched the film to Pixar, where he’s worked as an animator since working on A Bug’s Life in the late 1990s.

Catherine Keener has a passion for Canadian film that she earned while working on director Charles Binamé’s Elephant Song alongside actors Bruce Greenwood, and Xavier Dolan, and she’s proud to talk about it, especially now that she understands how hard it is to make a film in Canada.

Alan Turing is one of the geniuses who helped bring an end to the Second World War, thanks to his efforts with early computer science that were used to decrypt Nazi communication, but his life was a mix of troubles and triumphs, to say the least. During an era when society was fanatically homophobic almost universally around the world, as a gay man–even one serving great science–Turing was ultimately given radical treatment as a punishment for his sexuality just a few short years after he helped serve his country.

Laura Dern is refreshing in almost every way–on screen and off. In her latest film, Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild starring Reese Witherspoon, Dern plays a role that is tough and beautiful, with layers that add meaning throughout the story. Maybe best of all, the narrative is refreshingly different, with an ending that is happy, but not what you might expect.

One of the hits of Midnight Madness this year, during the Toronto International Film Festival, was director Adam Wingard’s, and writer Simon Barrett’s The Guest, a twisted, funny, clever action and horror hybrid that stars Dan Stevens and Maika Monroe.

Rooth Tang was glowing with quiet nerves and calm smiles when I met him at the Japan Film Night Party during the Toronto International Film Festival. At the time, it was just a couple of hours to go before his film would premiere at the festival, and before we left for his big debut, we chatted outside the party about his career, and what it was like coming to TIFF with his first feature-length film, Sway.

The Toronto International Film Festival is always a wild adventure, and that adventure usually means that I don’t have a lot of time to post things that I’m working on during the festival’s run. The best I can often do is blog about whatever I can, and post videos and photos whenever time allows.

Tuesday and Wednesday were two of my biggest days at the Toronto International Film Festival, aside from the always epic first Saturday of the festival. Tuesday started out fairly reasonably with writer, director and actor Pat Mills sitting down to discuss his film, Guidance.

The Toronto International Film Festival did not slow down much this year after the first busy weekend, which was kind of a surprise. For as long as I’ve been going to TIFF, the first four days of the festival have always been blockbuster, while the week after kind of fizzles away. This year though, TIFF has kept the pace going, and it’s kept me busy late into the week.

Actor Bill Nighy is a legend, and this photo from the after-party for his latest film, Pride, at the Toronto International Film Festival proves it. Not many actors can pull off that calm, cool, and charming look that Nighy seems to have trademarked.