On the eve of the 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival, as I pack up my TIFF survival kit, add my tickets to my phone, and put the final touches on my TIFFR schedule, I thought I would take some time to reflect while I sit in eager anticipation of the official start of the festival. 

I’ll admit this year TIFF feels a bit different. For one, the film industry remains in turmoil amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, with the writers and actors rightfully continuing to strike in order to achieve more fair compensation. So it’s hard not to feel the effects of the strike on the TIFF line-up, with many online proclaiming this to be an “off” year for the festival with its overall lack of buzzier flicks (with some exceptions for movies like The Boy and the Heron, Anatomy of a Fall, Hit Man and The Holdovers). As a result it does feel that this year is already a bit muted, forcing us to temper our expectations for the surprise celebrity sighting or the impromptu post-movie Q&A. But that’s nothing a free Nickelback concert can’t fix! 

But to be honest I’m very much looking forward to a bit of a quieter festival. TIFF for me has always been about the smaller films. It never really made sense to watch the big premiere for a movie that was going to be released one to two weeks later (e.g. 2019’s Hustlers). TIFF has always been an opportunity to support the lesser known, and I’ve always made a point to try to catch something from a Canadian or an international filmmaker, particularly as those are the movies that may not necessarily get that wide release or that streaming release. The Platform category is a particularly great category to follow for those of a similar mindset. 

And on a personal note, TIFF feels a bit different for me because it feels like this is the first year I’ve taken the festival seriously. This is the first year where I’ve dedicated time to attend the festival and take in all it has to offer. And this will also be the first year I will be attending the Film Circuit Summit as a representative of my local film group Markham at the Movies. It’s been a joy and a struggle to navigate the ins and outs of the festival, from understanding the membership tiers, to lurking on the forums for all the tips and tricks, and to ultimately fighting for those coveted tickets. It feels like a true culmination of a year well spent trying to watch as many movies in theatres as I can, all while putting my thoughts down on paper to really understand my own tastes and preferences. 

So on that note, if you’re interested in following my TIFF experience this year, I’ll be posting short mini reviews of the movies on twitter (@yearincinema) and here on the blog. I hope that these will serve as a bit of a time capsule for myself, but may also serve as a bit of a preview for you for movies you might want to watch in this upcoming year. 

The movies I’ll be catching at the festival are as follows (in order of when I’ll be watching them):

1. I Don’t Know Who You Are | Director: M.H. Murray | Canada – https://tiff.net/events/i-dont-know-who-you-are
2. North Star | Director: Kristin Scott Thomas | UK – https://tiff.net/events/north-star 
3. The Boy and the Heron | Hayao Miyazaki | Japan  – https://tiff.net/events/the-boy-and-the-heron
4. Dream Scenario | Kristoffer Borgli | USA – https://tiff.net/events/dream-scenario
5. Woman of the Hour | Director: Anna Kendrick | USA, Canada – https://tiff.net/events/woman-of-the-hour
6. Great Absence | Kei Chika-ura | Japan – https://tiff.net/events/great-absence 
7. Concrete Utopia | Um Tae-Hwa | South Korea – https://tiff.net/events/concrete-utopia
8. Monster | Kore-eda Hirokazu | Japan – https://tiff.net/events/monster
9. Mimang | Director: Kim Taeyang | South Korea – https://tiff.net/events/mimang
10. Hit Man | Director: Richard Linklater | USA – https://tiff.net/events/hit-man  
11. NYAD | Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | USA – https://tiff.net/events/nyad 
12. Fingernails | Director: Christos Nikou | USA – https://tiff.net/events/fingernails
13. Evil Does Not Exist | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Japan – https://tiff.net/events/evil-does-not-exist 
14. Smugglers | Director: Ryoo Seung-wan | Korea – https://tiff.net/events/smugglers 
15. Ru | Director: Charles-Olivier Michaud | Canada – https://tiff.net/events/ru 
16. The Breaking Ice | Director: Anthony Chen | China – https://tiff.net/events/the-breaking-ice
17. A Normal Family | Director: Hur Jin-Ho | South Korea  – https://tiff.net/events/a-normal-family
18. The Movie Emperor | Director: Ning Hao | China – https://tiff.net/events/the-movie-emperor
19. Thank You For Coming | Director: Karan Boolani | India – https://tiff.net/events/thank-you-for-coming 
20. A Difficult Year | Director: Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache | France – https://tiff.net/events/a-difficult-year
21. Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Robert McCallum | Canada – https://tiff.net/events/mr-dressup-the-magic-of-make-believe 
22. Fallen Leaves | Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Finland, Germany – https://tiff.net/events/fallen-leaves
23. Anatomy of a Fall | Director: Justine Triet | France  – https://tiff.net/events/anatomy-of-a-fall
24. Queen of My Dreams | Director: Fawzia Mirza | Canada – https://tiff.net/events/the-queen-of-my-dreams 
25. Sly | Director: Thom Zimny | USA – https://tiff.net/events/sly 

Here’s to a great festival!