Toronto Film Fest Reducing Lineup By 20%; Retires Vanguard, City To City Sections
The Toronto International Film Festival is taking a bold step to reduce its lineup of films by 20% for the 2017 edition, in what is likely to be welcome news to some attendees who have lamented in recent years the bulging selections and sidebars. TIFF also says it is retiring the Vanguard and City to City sections.
“As we build on the success of the Festival’s past four decades, we’re challenged to balance providing a generous choice of movies for over 400,000 festival-goers with maintaining strong curatorial focus,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of TIFF. “For 2017 we’re offering a refreshed, more tightly curated edition. In addition to trimming the lineup, we’re excited to introduce two new Festival programmers to the TIFF team.”
With that in mind, the fest today unveiled 14 diverse programs (see full list below) and a programming team of 22, including two new additions.
Kiva Reardon, a programmer at the Miami Film Festival will now program Africa and the Middle East for TIFF. For the past two years she worked as the Programming Associate to Bailey. Peter Kuplowsky will program Midnight Madness, taking the reins from Colin Geddes. After three years where Kathleen McInnis helped to build the Festival’s international shorts selection, Short Cuts will now be programmed by Jason Anderson and Danis Goulet.
“This week we celebrate La La Land, Moonlight, Lion, Arrival, Hidden Figures, Manchester By the Sea, I Am Not Your Negro, Jackie, Toni Erdmann, The Salesman and all the other Oscar-nominated films showcased last September in Toronto,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “As we look forward to this year’s Festival, we’re finding new ways to select the best of the year for our audiences and enhance the experience for our industry and media delegates.”
The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Programs are:
Contemporary World Cinema
Compelling stories, global perspectives.
Discovery
Directors to watch. The future of world cinema.
Gala Presentations
Movie stars. Red-carpet premieres. Major audience interest.
In Conversation With…
Engaging onstage conversations with leaders in the film industry and beyond.
Masters
The latest from the world’s most influential art-house filmmakers.
Midnight Madness
The wild side: midnight screenings of the best in action, horror, shock and fantasy cinema.
Platform
Directors’ cinema now. Launched in 2015, this juried program shines a light on up to 12 selections that demonstrate directorial vision from international filmmakers.
Primetime
Serial storytelling: television in its artistic renaissance.
Short Cuts
The world. In short form.
Special Presentations
High-profile premieres and the world’s leading filmmakers.
TIFF Cinematheque
Curated gems from the history of Canadian and international cinema.
TIFF Docs
Candid and unscripted: the best non-fiction cinema from around the world.
TIFF Kids and TIFF Next Wave
For the next generation of movie lovers.
Wavelengths
Daring, visionary and autonomous voices. Works that expand our notions of the moving image.
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