The Toronto International Film Festival® has launched Every Story, a fund to support and celebrate film’s under-represented voices and audiences. This fund represents a tangible commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film and expands upon TIFF’s integrated initiative in support of women in film, Share Her Journey. Through this fund, TIFF is committed to expanding its diversity and inclusion efforts by upholding three primary pillars: challenging the status quo; celebrating diverse storytellers and audiences; and creating opportunities for creators who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or 2SLGBTQ+ and other equity-seeking creators.
TIFF recognizes that there are systemic barriers to sharing some stories, and that, even with the inception of Every Story, it may not be possible to capture all the unique lived experiences of individuals at the intersections of equity and accessibility. That’s why Every Story is not just a fund, but also a goal. Seventy-six of this year’s Festival selections were either created or co-created by cisgender or transgender women, or non-binary or two-spirit filmmakers. Seventy-five percent of Industry Conference speakers identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color. This is the beginning of a journey to highlight the stories that may have previously been untold and address the reasons for their erasure.
“The tides have turned. Now is the time to reexamine what inclusion means and how it manifests in our industry,” said Joana Vicente, TIFF executive director and co-head. “With the support of wonderful partners and donors, TIFF will expand upon current efforts for equity-seeking creators and diverse audiences, and create more robust, intentional programs to foster creativity and make space for these much-needed voices.”
In support of the Every Story fund, TIFF announced that, as fund founding partner, NBCUniversal will match all donations made to Every Story in 2021. Additionally, they will partner with TIFF in developing opportunities to build career momentum for creators, talent, and journalists by providing access and additional resources via programs like the Media Inclusion Initiative and TIFF Talent Development programs. This partnership with TIFF and the Every Story fund builds upon NBCUniversal’s commitment to creating content that reflects the world in which we live and diversifying the industry’s landscape by creating access and opportunities for equity-seeking talent.
As part of Share Her Journey, the CHANEL Women Writers’ Network will support a year-round program to advance the careers of women and non-binary alumni of TIFF Writers’ Studio. CHANEL’s participation extends and enriches TIFF’s support for writers and writer-directors by providing funding to facilitate the acceleration and development of their projects and by offering opportunities to connect with a diverse network of mentors and peers.
As previously announced, thanks to a renewed commitment from RBC bank, the RBC Women Creators’ Initiative will support the TIFF Talent Accelerator program, provide TIFF Industry access for women and non-binary creators and film professionals, and support TIFF’s International Women’s Day programming.
Programming reflecting the fund’s mission begins now with this year’s Festival.
Festival programming highlights
In Conversation With… Kristen Stewart
Celebrating the stories of two remarkable women, Share Her Journey presents In Conversation With… Kristen Stewart, an intimate conversation focused on Stewart’s career and her captivating performance as another compelling woman — the late Princess Diana — in the upcoming film Spencer, which premieres at her namesake Princess of Wales Theatre. Stewart, who has been vocal about LGBTQ+ representation behind and in front of the camera, will discuss her love for “soul-driven and explorative” cinema at this free, live virtual event.
TIFF Storytellers’ Spotlight
TIFF Storytellers’ Spotlight: A Women in Film Panel, presented by RBC, will feature a candid conversation between Festival filmmakers about their careers. This panel will bring together Festival filmmakers Justine Bateman (Violet), 2019 TIFF Talent Accelerator alum Shasha Nahkai (Scarborough), and Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto (Srikandi) in conversation to share their stories of forging their own path in film and achieving their dreams, as well as offering advice for aspiring and up-and-coming filmmakers.
Industry Conference highlights
PERSPECTIVES Writing in the Margins: The Need for New Voices and New Platforms in Film Criticism
Representation and lack of diversity in film criticism within prominent outlets is an ongoing issue plaguing the film industry. Three distinguished voices in film criticism — Carlos Aguilar, Jourdain Searles, and Caden Mark Gardner — come together to discuss its future, how established systems need to change, and the new spaces and opportunities being forged by diverse writers.
PERSPECTIVES Filmmakers on Africa’s Cinema Industries: From Development to Distribution
Generously supported by Anne-Marie Canning
Africa’s impressive list of TIFF ’21 Official Selections spans the Platform, Midnight Madness, Special Presentations, and Wavelengths programs, with the title in the latter category boasting the position of Opening Night Film. For a continent of storytellers and an “archipelago of cultures,” there are still too many African filmmakers who must reckon with western preconceptions that guard pathways to industry and bind creative autonomy. Hear about this and much more — including patterns in which distributors purchase “global” film rights that neglect African audiences — in this panel discussion between Festival filmmakers and TIFF programmer Nataleah Hunter-Young.
VISIONARIES Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Generously supported by Anne-Marie Canning
Born in Bangkok, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of the most influential and revered visual artists of this time. His incisive, visceral relationship with the moving image often draws on the ancestral myths of his country to reflect on his surroundings, from global social issues to the political concerns of modern Thailand. Join us for a conversation with the filmmaker — whose latest feature, Memoria, was one of two Jury Prize winners at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival — moderated by TIFF sr. film curator Andréa Picard.
VISIONARIES Sahraa Karimi
A Share Her Journey initiative generously supported by Betty-Ann Heggie
Sahraa Karimi is a renowned director and activist, and the first woman to chair Afghan Film. Her first feature, Hava, Maryam, Ayesha (2019), was shot entirely in Kabul with Afghan actors and received critical acclaim at its Venice premiere. On August 13, Karimi called on the international film community to protect filmmakers and other creatives from Taliban violence through a deeply honest open letter.
For TIFF’s closing Industry Conference session, Karimi joins us to speak about fleeing her home country, how the international film community can support and care for Afghan artists, and the role film plays in affecting change.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More