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Opening film | Dear Evan Hansen by Stephen Chbosky |
---|---|
Closing film | One Second by Zhang Yimou |
Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Founded | 1976 |
Awards | Belfast (People's Choice Award) |
Festival date | September 9–18, 2021 |
Website | tiff |
The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.[1] Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival was staged as a "hybrid" of in-person and digital screenings.[2] Most films were screened both in-person and on the digital platform, although a few titles were withheld by their distributors from the digital platform and instead were screened exclusively in-person.
Artistic director Cameron Bailey indicated that while the 2021 festival would not fully return to the size of program that it offered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, it would be significantly bigger than the reduced lineup that was offered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[1] Overall, the festival featured over 100 films, including a special retrospective program devoted to the work of Canadian documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.[3]
In-person screenings were held at the festival's traditional venues, including the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Princess of Wales Theatre and Roy Thomson Hall, the latter two of which hosted the world premiere of Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, the festival's opening night gala presentation.[3] Denis Villeneuve's film Dune received an IMAX world premiere screening at the Cinesphere.[3]
As in 2020, digital screenings took place on the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox platform.
In addition to Toronto, the festival also staged a number of satellite screenings in other Canadian cities for the first time.[3]
The festival presented the TIFF Tribute Awards, which were introduced in 2019 to honour actors and filmmakers for distinguished achievements over the course of their careers.[4] The ceremony took place on September 18; as in 2020, it was broadcast by CTV.[4]
The first two honorees announced were Alanis Obomsawin as the recipient of the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media and Denis Villeneuve as the winner of the Ebert Director Award.[4] Jessica Chastain and Benedict Cumberbatch were subsequently announced as the recipient of the Actor Awards.[5][6] Dionne Warwick received the special tribute award,[7] filmmaker Danis Goulet was named the recipient of the Emerging Talent Award,[7] and cinematographer Ari Wegner received the Variety Artisan Award.[8]
The festival's main awards were announced on September 18, some live during the Tribute Awards broadcast and others on social media following the ceremony's conclusion.[9] A few high-profile titles in the festival program, namely Dune, Last Night in Soho and Spencer, were not eligible for the People's Choice Award, as their distributors had not permitted them to be screened online on the digital platform.[10]
Award | English Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|
People's Choice Award | Belfast | Kenneth Branagh | United Kingdom |
People's Choice Award, First Runner Up | Scarborough | Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson | Canada |
People's Choice Award, Second Runner Up | The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion | New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia |
People's Choice Award: Documentaries | The Rescue | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | United States, United Kingdom |
Documentary, First Runner Up | Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over | Dave Wooley, David Heilbroner | United States |
Documentary, Second Runner Up | Flee | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden |
People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness | Titane | Julia Ducournau | France, Belgium |
Midnight Madness, First Runner Up | You Are Not My Mother | Kate Dolan | Ireland |
Midnight Madness, Second Runner Up | Dashcam | Rob Savage | United Kingdom, United States |
Platform Prize | Yuni | Kamila Andini | Indonesia, Singapore, France, Australia |
Platform Prize, Honorable Mention | Good Madam | Jenna Cato Bass | South Africa |
Best Canadian Feature Film | Ste. Anne | Rhayne Vermette | Canada |
Best Canadian Feature Film, Honorable Mention | Scarborough | Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson | |
Best Canadian Short Film | Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice | Zacharias Kunuk | |
Best Canadian Short Film, Honorable Mention | Nuisance Bear | Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden | |
Best International Short Film | Displaced (Pa vend) | Samir Karahoda | Kosovo |
Best International Short Film, Honorable Mention | Trumpets in the Sky | Rakan Mayasi | Palestine, Lebanon, France, Belgium |
FIPRESCI Award | Anatolian Leopard (Anadolu Leoparı) | Emre Kayiş | Turkey, Poland, Germany, Denmark |
NETPAC Award | Costa Brava, Lebanon | Mounia Aki | Lebanon, France, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, United States |
Amplify Voices | The Gravedigger's Wife | Khadar Ayderus Ahmed | Somalia, France, Germany, Finland |
A Night of Knowing Nothing | Payal Kapadia | India, France | |
Changemaker Award | Scarborough | Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson | Canada |
Share Her Journey | Astel | Ramata-Toulaye Sy | Senegal, France |
Share Her Journey, Honorable Mention | Love, Dad (Milý tati) | Diana Cam Van Nguyen | Czech Republic, Slovakia |
The first 13 films selected for the festival were announced in June 2021. The gala and special presentation programs were announced on July 20,[11][12] while Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery titles were announced on July 28,[13] TIFF Docs, Midnight Madness and Wavelengths were announced on August 4,[14] Shortcuts and Platform were announced on August 11,[15] and Primetime was announced on August 13.[16]
Walt Becker's Clifford the Big Red Dog was initially selected to be one of the Gala Presentations, but was withdrawn from the festival, after US distributor Paramount Pictures pulled it from its release schedule due to the rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19.[17]
The festival also announced a special event screening of an unspecified new film by Steven Soderbergh.[18] Details of the film were not announced in advance, except that it was not expected to be his known upcoming film KIMI.[18] Soderbergh ultimately premiered a reedited version of his 1991 film Kafka titled Mr. Kneff.[19]
English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|
Belfast | Kenneth Branagh | United Kingdom, Ireland | |
Bergman Island | Mia Hansen-Løve | France, Mexico, Brazil, Germany | |
Dear Evan Hansen | Stephen Chbosky | United States | |
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Will Sharpe | United Kingdom, United States | |
The Forgiven | John Michael McDonagh | ||
The Good House | Maya Forbes, Wally Wolodarsky | United States | |
Jagged | Alison Klayman | ||
Lakewood | Phillip Noyce | United States, Canada | |
Last Night in Soho | Edgar Wright | United Kingdom | |
The Mad Women's Ball | Le Bal des folles | Mélanie Laurent | France |
Night Raiders | Danis Goulet | Canada, New Zealand | |
One Second | 一秒钟 | Zhang Yimou | China |
Silent Night | Camille Griffin | United Kingdom | |
The Survivor | Barry Levinson | United States | |
The Worst Person in the World | Verdens verste menneske | Joachim Trier | Norway |
English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|
Ahed's Knee | הַבֶּרֶךְ | Nadav Lapid | Israel, France, Germany |
Ali & Ava | Clio Barnard | United Kingdom | |
All My Puny Sorrows | Michael McGowan | Canada | |
The Box | La Caja | Lorenzo Vigas | Mexico |
Benediction | Terence Davies | United Kingdom, United States | |
Charlotte | Eric Warin, Tahir Rana | Canada, France, Belgium | |
Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over | Dave Wooley, David Heilbroner | United States | |
Drive My Car | ドライブ・マイ・カー | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
Encounter | Michael Pearce | United Kingdom, United States | |
The Eyes of Tammy Faye | Michael Showalter | United States | |
The Falls | 瀑布 | Chung Mong-hong | Taiwan |
France | Bruno Dumont | France, Italy, Germany, Belgium | |
The Guilty | Antoine Fuqua | United States | |
The Humans | Stephen Karam | ||
I'm Your Man | Ich bin dein Mensch | Maria Schrader | Germany |
Inexorable | Fabrice Du Welz | Belgium, France | |
Inu-Oh | Masaaki Yuasa | Japan, China | |
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds | Lingui, les liens sacrés | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | France, Chad, Germany, Belgium |
The Middle Man | Bent Hamer | Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway | |
Mothering Sunday | Eva Husson | United Kingdom | |
Official Competition | Competencia oficial | Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn | Spain |
Petite Maman | Céline Sciamma | France | |
The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion | United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Canada, New Zealand | |
The Starling | Theodore Melfi | United States | |
The Story of My Wife | A feleségem története | Ildikó Enyedi | Hungary, Germany, France, Italy |
Sundown | Michel Franco | Mexico, France, Sweden | |
Three Floors | Tre piani | Nanni Moretti | Italy, France |
Violet | Justine Bateman | United States | |
Where Is Anne Frank | Ari Folman | Belgium, Luxembourg, Israel, Netherlands, France | |
Wolf | Nathalie Biancheri | Ireland, Poland |
English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|
Dune | Denis Villeneuve | United States | |
A Hero | قهرمان | Asghar Farhadi | Iran |
Memoria | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Thailand, Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico, China | |
Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 | Bjørn Johnson, David Belton | United Kingdom, United States | |
Mr. Kneff | Steven Soderbergh | United States | |
NBA Films for Fans ("Shorty", "Inheritance", "Born Identities", "Draft Day", "The Shot") |
Romeo Candido, Shawn Gerrard, Kathleen Jayme, Thyrone Tommy, S.M. Turrell | Canada | |
Spencer | Pablo Larraín | United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Chile | |
Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine | Sam Dunn, Marc Ricciardelli | Canada |
English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|
7 Prisoners | 7 Prisioneiros | Alexandre Moratto | Brazil |
Are You Lonesome Tonight? | 熱帶往事 | Wen Shipei | China |
Compartment No. 6 | Hytti nro 6 | Juho Kuosmanen | Finland, Estonia, Germany, Russia |
Costa Brava, Lebanon | Mounia Aki | Lebanon, France, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, United States | |
The Daughter | La hija | Manuel Martín Cuenca | Spain |
The Gravedigger's Wife | Khadar Ayderus Ahmed | France, Somalia, Germany | |
The Hill Where Lionesses Roar | La colline où rugissent les lionnes | Luàna Bajrami | France, Kosovo |
Întregalde | Radu Muntean | Romania | |
Jockey | Clint Bentley | United States | |
Kicking Blood | Blaine Thurier | Canada | |
La Soga 2 | Manny Pérez | United States | |
Maria Chapdelaine | Sébastien Pilote | Canada | |
Medusa | Anita Rocha da Silveira | Brazil | |
Murina | Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović | United States, Brazil, Croatia, Slovenia | |
Nobody Has to Know | Bouli Lanners | France, Belgium, United Kingdom | |
The Odd-Job Men | Sis dies corrents | Neus Ballús | Spain |
The Other Tom | El otro Tom | Rodrigo Plá, Laura Santullo | Mexico, United States |
Out of Sync | Tres | Juanjo Giménez | Spain, Lithuania, France |
Small Body | Piccolo Corpo | Laura Samani | Italy, France, Slovenia |
Terrorizers | 青春弒戀 | Ho Wi Ding | Taiwan |
True Things | Harry Wootliff | United Kingdom | |
Unclenching the Fists | Разжимая кулаки | Kira Kovalenko | Russia |
Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash | Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas | Edwin | Indonesia |
The Wheel | Steve Pink | United States | |
Whether the Weather Is Fine | Kun Maupay Man it Panahon | Carlo Francisco Manatad | Philippines |
Program | Title | Year | Director(s) | Production Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lighting the Fire 1 | The Canoe | 1972 | Alanis Obomsawin | Canada |
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance | 1993 | |||
Lighting the Fire 2 | Amisk | 1977 | ||
Incident at Restigouche | 1984 | |||
Moose Call | 1972 | |||
Portraits 1 | Mother of Many Children | 1977 | ||
Puberty, Part 1 | 1975 | |||
Puberty, Part 2 | 1975 | |||
Portraits 2 | No Address | 1988 | ||
Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child | 1986 | |||
The Dignity of Children 1 | Our People Will Be Healed | 2017 | ||
Snowshoes | 1972 | |||
Walking Is Medicine | 2017 | |||
The Dignity of Children 2 | Children | 1972 | ||
Christmas at Moose Factory | 1971 | |||
Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair | 2021 | |||
Mount Currie Summer Camp | 1975 | |||
Sigwan | 2005 | |||
When All the Leaves Are Gone | 2010 |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Attica | Stanley Nelson Jr. | United States | |
Burning | Eva Orner | Australia | |
Beba | Rebecca Huntt | United States, Mexico | |
Becoming Cousteau | Liz Garbus | United States | |
Comala | Gian Cassini | Mexico | |
The Devil's Drivers | Mohammed Abugeth, Daniel Carsenty | Qatar, France, Lebanon, Germany | |
Flee | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark | |
Hold Your Fire | Stefan Forbes | United States | |
Julia | Julie Cohen and Betsy West | ||
Listening to Kenny G | Penny Lane | ||
Oscar Peterson: Black and White | Barry Avrich | Canada | |
The Rescue | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | United States, United Kingdom | |
Three Minutes: A Lengthening | Bianca Stigter | Netherlands, United Kingdom | |
Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace | Heather Hatch | Canada |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Aloners | Hon-ja-sa-neun Sa-ram-deul | Hong Sung-eun | South Korea |
Anatolian Leopard | Anadolu Leoparı | Emre Kayiş | Turkey, Germany, Poland, Denmark |
As in Heaven | Du som er i himlen | Tea Lindeburg | Denmark |
A Banquet | Ruth Paxton | United Kingdom | |
Dug Dug | Ritwik Pareek | India | |
Farha | Darin J. Sallam | Jordan, Sweden, Saudi Arabia | |
The Game | Ana Lazarevic | Serbia, United States | |
Learn to Swim | Thyrone Tommy | Canada | |
Lo Invisible | Javier Andrade | Ecuador, France | |
Quickening | Haya Waseem | Canada | |
PAKA (River of Blood) | Paka | Nithin Lukose | India |
Scarborough | Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson | Canada | |
Snakehead | Evan Jackson Leong | United States | |
To Kill the Beast | Matar a la Bestia | Agustina San Martín | Argentina, Brazil, Chile |
Tug of War | Vuta N'Kuvute | Amil Shivji | Tanzania, South Africa, Germany, Qatar |
Wildhood | Bretten Hannam | Canada |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
After Blue (Dirty Paradise) | After Blue (Paradis Sale) | Bertrand Mandico | France |
Dashcam | Rob Savage | United Kingdom, United States | |
Saloum | Jean Luc Herbulot | Senegal | |
Titane | Julia Ducournau | France | |
You Are Not My Mother | Kate Dolan | Ireland | |
Zalava | Arsalan Amiri | Iran |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
The Capacity for Adequate Anger | Vika Kirchenbauer | Germany | |
Dear Chantal | Querida Chantal | Nicolás Pereda | Mexico, Spain |
earthearthearth | Daïchi Saïto | Canada | |
Futura | Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher | Italy | |
The Girl and the Spider | Das Mädchen und die Spinne | Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher | Switzerland |
Inner Outer Space | Laida Lertxundi | Spain | |
Neptune Frost | Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman | United States, Rwanda | |
A Night of Knowing Nothing | Payal Kapadia | India, France | |
Polycephaly in D | Michael Robinson | United States | |
the red filter is withdrawn | Le-deu-pil-teo-ga Cheol-hoe-doeb-ni-da | Minjung Kim | South Korea |
Ste. Anne | Rhayne Vermette | Canada | |
Train Again | Peter Tscherkassky | Austria | |
The Tsugua Diaries | Diários de Otsoga | Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes | Portugal |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Arthur Rambo | Laurent Cantet | France | |
Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres | Ivan Grbovic | Canada |
Earwig | Lucile Hadžihalilović | United Kingdom, France, Belgium | |
Good Madam | Mlungu Wam | Jenna Cato Bass | South Africa |
Huda's Salon | Hany Abu-Assad | Palestine, Egypt, Netherlands, Qatar | |
Montana Story | Scott McGehee, David Siegel | United States | |
Silent Land | Cicha Ziemia | Aga Woszczyńska | Poland, Italy, Czech Republic |
Yuni | Kamila Andini | Indonesia, Singapore, France, Australia |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Colin in Black & White | Ava DuVernay, Colin Kaepernick | United States | |
Hellbound | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea | |
The Panthers | Tom Hern, Halaifonua Finau | New Zealand | |
Sort Of | Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo | Canada |
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice | Zacharias Kunuk | Canada | |
Anxious Body | Yoriko Mizushiri | France, Japan | |
Astel | Ramata-Toulaye Sy | France, Senegal | |
Beity | Isabelle Mecattaf | Lebanon, United States | |
Boobs | Lolos | Marie Valade | Canada |
Brothers | Bhai | Hamza Bangash | Canada, Pakistan |
Charlotte | Zach Dorn | United States | |
Defund | Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Araya Mengesha | Canada | |
Displaced | Pa Vend | Samir Karahoda | Kosovo |
Dust Bath | Seth A. Smith | Canada | |
Fanmi | Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, Carmine Pierre-Dufour | Canada | |
A Few Miles South | Ben Pearce | United Kingdom | |
The Future Isn't What It Used to Be | Adeyemi Michael | United Kingdom | |
Hanging On | Alfie Barker | United Kingdom | |
I Gotta Look Good for the Apocalypse | Ayçe Kartal | France | |
I Would Never | Kiran Deol | United States | |
The Infantas | Las Infantas | Andrea Herrera Catalá | Spain |
Little Bird | Tim Myles | Canada | |
Love, Dad | Milý tati | Diana Cam Van Nguyen | Czech Republic, Slovakia |
Masquerade | Egúngún | Olive Nwosu | United Kingdom, Nigeria |
Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics | Terril Calder | Canada | |
Motorcyclist’s Happiness Won’t Fit Into His Suit | Al motociclista no le cabe la felicidad en el traje | Gabriel Herrera | Mexico |
Nuisance Bear | Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden | Canada | |
Ousmane | Jorge Camarotti | Canada | |
Saturday Night | Rosana Matecki | Canada | |
Shark | Nash Edgerton | Australia | |
Soft Animals | Renee Zhan | United Kingdom | |
Some Still Search | Algunos Siguen Buscando | Nesaru Tchaas | United States |
Srikandi | Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto | Canada, Indonesia | |
Successful Thawing of Mr. Moro | Lyckad upptining av herr Moro | Jerry Carlsson | Sweden |
Sycorax | Lois Patiño , Matías Piñeiro | Portugal, Spain | |
The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night | Fawzia Mirza | Canada | |
Together | Albert Shin | Canada, South Korea | |
Trumpets in the Sky | Rakan Mayasi | Palestine, Lebanon, France, Belgium | |
Twelve Hours | Paul Shkordoff | Canada | |
White Devil | Benjamin Dickinson, Mariama Diallo | United States | |
You and Me, Before and After | Madeleine Gottlieb | Australia | |
Zero | Nula | Lee Filipovski | Canada, Serbia |
A new program which saw classic films that screened at TIFF in past years made available for streaming on Crave, paired with talks by actors or filmmakers involved in the production.[20]
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner | ᐊᑕᓈᕐᔪᐊᑦ | Zacharias Kunuk | Canada |
Special screenings of selected Gala or Special Presentations films in other communities across Canada.[21]
Film | Location | Date |
---|---|---|
Charlotte | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan | September 13 |
Dune | Montreal, Quebec | September 12 |
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Summerside, Prince Edward Island | September 13 |
I'm Your Man | Markham, Ontario | |
Night Raiders | Collingwood, Ontario | |
Night Raiders | Saint John, New Brunswick | |
Official Competition | Prince Rupert, British Columbia |
As in 2020 the Industry Selects program screened films for industry professionals, acting as a film market due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic having impacted the ability of filmmakers and critics to travel to international film festivals, but was not made available for the general public.[22]
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|---|---|---|
107 Mothers | Cenzorka | Peter Kerekes | Slovakia |
America Latina | Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo | Italy, France | |
Cadejo Blanco | Justin Lerner | Guatemala, United States, Mexico | |
Carmen | Valerie Buhagiar | Malta, Canada | |
La Civil | Teodora Ana Mihai | Belgium, Romania, Mexico | |
Cool Abdoul | Jonas Backeland | Belgium | |
Domingo | Raúl López Echeverría | Mexico, Austria, France | |
The Hole in the Fence | El hoyo en la cerca | Joaquín del Paso | Mexico, Poland |
The King of All the World | El Rey de Todo el Mundo | Carlos Saura | Mexico, Spain |
The Last Mark | Reem Morsi | Canada | |
My Night | Ma nuit | Antoinette Boulat | France |
Night Blooms | Stephanie Joline | Canada | |
Nightride | Stephen Fingleton | United Kingdom | |
Nr. 10 | Alex van Warmerdam | Netherlands, Belgium | |
Old Henry | Potsy Ponciroli | United States | |
Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle | Onoda, 10 000 nuits dans la jungle | Arthur Harari | France, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Italy |
The Pink Cloud | A Nuvem Rosa | Iuli Gerbase | Brazil |
Quake | Tinna Hrafnsdóttir | Iceland | |
Reflection | Відблиск | Valentyn Vasyanovych | Ukraine |
The Score | Malachi Smyth | United Kingdom | |
Shankar's Fairies | Irfana Majumdar | India | |
A Tale of Love and Desire | Une histoire d'amour et de désir | Leyla Bouzid | France |
The festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list, collecting the films named as the top Canadian films of the year by critics and film festival programmers from across Canada, was released on December 6, 2021.[23]