Toronto Awards Takeaways: Feinberg on an Off-Year for the Fest

As a long-time film enthusiast and critic who has attended numerous international film festivals, I must say that this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) left me rather underwhelmed – and not just because of the lackluster sales market or the absence of some highly anticipated films.

For over a decade, I’ve been attending the Toronto International Film Festival, which I’ve recently returned from. This festival has historically served as a significant stepping stone for potential Oscar winners, such as “Chariots of Fire” in 1981, “American Beauty” in 1999, and “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008, to name a few. However, its position as a major launchpad was threatened a few years ago when it became resentful because some films advertised as “world premieres” or “North American premieres” were actually first shown secretly at the Telluride Film Festival, an event that happens a few days prior.

Despite the fact that many TIFF attendees would likely find it acceptable to watch a movie that had been screened for a limited audience in a secluded Rocky Mountain town, TIFF chose to take a firm stance: filmmakers and investors were informed that if their film was exhibited anywhere else in North America prior to TIFF, it would not be allowed to be shown at any of the premier venues during the festival’s opening weekend — specifically, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday following the opening night screening — which is a period when most media are present to cover the event.

Over the years following its implementation, we’ve struggled to gauge the policy’s true effect, largely due to factors like the pandemic and strikes that significantly altered TIFF’s atmosphere during certain periods. However, this year, thankfully free from such challenges, we finally got some insights. As a leading awards strategist shared with me, “The opening weekend had a noticeable lack of energy.” In fact, empty seats could be seen in the main venues, there was minimal street and restaurant chatter, and there were only a handful of world premieres showcasing promising award-worthy films.

The films from Amazon/MGM, titled “Unstoppable” and “The Fire Inside“, were well-received as enjoyable entertainment, yet they struggled to make a significant impact in award ceremonies. On the other hand, A24’s film “We Live in Time” is a touching drama that evokes emotions similar to those in “The Fault in Our Stars“, but it lacks the grandeur of a film like “A Star Is Born“. The critically acclaimed actress, Amy Adams, stars in Searchlight’s “Nightbitch“, but its reception among critics has been mixed, making it unlikely to gain much attention from the Academy. There were several other films, but I’ll focus on one that stood out – the world premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot“, which was produced in their 30th year and will be distributed by Universal. This animated feature was the only opening weekend premiere of an awards contender that seemed to garner any significant interest.

Only on Monday did the festival truly start to unveil some major titles such as Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez”, Neon’s “Anora” (both from Cannes and Telluride), Focus’ “Conclave” (from Venice and Telluride) and Vertical’s “The Order”, A24’s “Babygirl” and “Queer”, and Sony Classics’ “I’m Still Here” and “The Room Next Door” (all direct from the Lido). Unfortunately, by this point, a significant amount of press coverage – and thus potential awards attention – had already passed.

This year, TIFF encountered quite a few unfortunate setbacks. To start with, the award season wasn’t particularly rich in options, making it challenging for the festival. Furthermore, some notable figures did attend – Elton John for Disney+’s documentary feature “Elton John: Never Too Late”, Robbie Williams for Paramount’s “Better Man”, and a number of Netflix stars including Angelina Jolie (“Maria”), Denzel Washington (“The Piano Lesson”), Will Ferrell, Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldaña – but many others could not. Nicole Kidman (from A24’s “Babygirl”) had to withdraw due to her mother’s passing. The cast of Focus’ “Conclave” – Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow – were tied up with work commitments in Europe. The director of “Emilia Pérez”, Jacques Audiard, was unable to travel due to a back injury, and the list of such incidents continues.

Mainly, the monotony experienced at this year’s celebration seems to be a consequence of self-imposed wounds, not only due to the restrictive festival-only participation rule but also other factors contributing to it.

It appears that TIFF declined to show the September 5th release, which had garnered significant attention at both the Venice and Telluride film festivals and was later acquired by Paramount, due to potential controversy surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This decision was made to avoid possible backlash. Interestingly, TIFF chose to screen “Russians at War,” a documentary that sparked protests due to its sympathetic portrayal of Russians involved in the Ukraine conflict, instead of the film that could have been an Oscar contender and potentially won the best picture award. The irony lies in the fact that September 5th was the opening night, making it a fitting date for this controversial movie.

Most of the TIFF sales market remained dormant, with only a few significant transactions taking place. Notably, A24 secured the U.S. distribution rights for the nearly four-hour VistaVision film titled The Brutalist, which garnered a strong reaction at Venice. Additionally, Hulu made an unexpectedly large purchase of the opening night film Nutcrackers, starring Ben Stiller. However, there was noticeably less excitement surrounding this film compared to others.

Many other films, boasting well-known actors, attended the festival with the intention of finding a buyer. However, several of these films, such as “The Last Showgirl” featuring Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis, “On Swift Horses” starring Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones, “The Friend” with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, and “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” directed by Embeth Davidtz in her feature directorial debut, all left without securing a buyer.

This leads us to discuss the TIFF Audience Award, a historic predictor of Oscar success. Over the past 13 years, every winner has earned at least a nomination for Best Picture, with three – “12 Years a Slave” (2013), “Green Book” (2018) and “Nomadland” (2020) – even taking home the top prize. However, this year, we found out this morning that the award went to Mike Flanagan’s film, “The Life of Chuck”.

As a devoted cinephile, I must admit that while “Chuck’s Life” seemed promising, it sadly entered the festival with minimal buzz, left little impact on discussions during the event, and remains without a U.S. distributor as of now. In contrast to it, films like “Emilia Pérez,” which placed second, “Anora,” third place finisher, and even “The Wild Robot,” which received a notable twelve screenings, garnered more attention and recognition during the festival.

To put it simply, before the announcement of the audience award, TIFF’s significance for this awards season was questionable. However, the announcement of the audience award didn’t exactly improve its situation.

2024-09-16 01:25

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