Geoff Macnaughton has been appointed TIFF’s director of industry. Macnaughton will oversee the organization’s industry programming and talent development initiatives, as well as industry-related sales and services. He will continue to act as lead programmer of Primetime, the Toronto International Film Festival’s program highlighting the best in international television series.
Macnaughton has been with the organization for 12 years, as a sr. manager on both the industry and festival programming teams. His balance of artistic vision and business acumen has allowed him to build strong and strategic relationships with partners, including distributors, sales agents, producers, and promotional agencies, both local and international.
“Geoff worked his way up on TIFF’s Industry team, winning the trust of buyers, sellers and creators as he helped grow our reach and impact every year,” said Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of TIFF. “He brings a wealth of experience to his new position as director of industry, and recently adding Festival programming to his portfolio has expanded his expertise and network.”
“I am extremely excited for this opportunity to help shape what TIFF offers to the local and international industry,” said Macnaughton. “The film and television landscape is constantly changing, and it’s important for us to be mindful of these developments in order to provide meaningful business, talent development, and networking opportunities for all.”
Macnaughton will begin his new post immediately, reporting to Bailey, and will work closely with the Festival programming team on transition plans.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More