Festival Daily






September 10, 2021
Stranger than Fiction: Doc films that blur the lines between real and imagined
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
By Caley Moore What is documentary? The simple answer – non-fiction film – seems to have become more complicated recently. In film or other media, the line between fact and fiction is often nebulous. Director Michael Moore has frequently been accused of manipulating the plots of his landmark documentaries, and even NBC admitted to using digitally enhanced fireworks – described by on-air hosts as a “cinematic device” – in its coverage of the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. While films that combine non-fiction footage with invented components are nothing new, more and more documentarians seem to be experimenting with crossover...

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Homegrown Talent Shines in Short Cuts Canada Programming
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Directors
By Tammy Stone People do not generally assume that a grape would be tastier if it was as big as a watermelon, or that a child’s plastic craft table should accommodate a royal family dinner. Similarly, in the arts, no one asks if a haiku could benefit from a few extra syllables, or wonders if the Mona Lisa might have more impact if it were as big as Jackson Pollock’s Lavender Mist. For some reason, this same sensible logic does not apply in the world of cinema, where more often than not, short films are defined by what they are not: in...

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Before, During & After: A jaunt through the Talent Lab experience
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Directors
By Thom Ernst   The Talent Lab is one of those brilliantly conceived ideas that could only come out of a festival like TIFF. This four-day creative course allows a select group of promising filmmakers to work alongside their peers while also being given the unique opportunity to connect with some of the most well-respected names in the industry.   ON THE EVE OF TALENT LAB“We would like the participants to be overwhelmed by the end of four days. Overwhelmed by possibility, that is,” says Sandra Cunningham of Strada Films who, along with partner Brad Fox, co-produce the programme. Her intention is simple: “That...

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Agnès and I
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Directors
By Ghita Loebenstein Talking to Agnès Varda is like being in one of her films. We meet on the patio of l’Espresso Bar Mercurio where uniFrance is hosting a luncheon for its French filmmakers and their cohorts. Olivier Assayas is deep in conversation with Piers Handling. Mabrouk El Mechri, the young director of buzz-title JCVD is surrounded by a throng of beautiful women. The Dardenne brothers have just left. We find a table in the corner. A life-sized statue of a gold lion sits beside us, peering over the conversation, and Varda begins to talk, as if she is in mid-thought....

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A Round With… Aaron Poole
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Celebrities
By Kate Lawrie Who: Aaron Poole, star and producer of last year’s This Beautiful City, appearing this year in Atom Egoyan’s Adoration and Jamie Dagg’s SundayWhere: Marben, 488 Wellington Street WestWhen: 7pm, August 27What: A glass of malbec and a local premium pilsner As the large party two tables over converse energetically about how Baby Duck was the “drunk” of choice for teens in the 1970s, the Daily’s Editor-in-Chief sat down before Festival mania hit for a chat with the charming Canadian multi-hyphenate Aaron Poole. KL: How did you get into acting? AP: I moved from a small town to go to...

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