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Titane Is Best Film Of 74th Cannes Film Festival
The 74th edition of Cannes International Film Festival ended last week Saturday in Cannes, South of France after 12 days of screening, meetings, and networking.

Americans Jodie Foster and Spike Lee, the Spaniard Pedro Almodóvar, and the Korean Bong Joon Ho declared the festival opened on July 6. This edition lived up to expectation, as it celebrated the reunion with cinema as a great international event full of discoveries, encounters, and sharing.
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The biggest award of the festival — Palme d’or went to Titane directed by Julia Ducournau. Sharon Stone and Spike Lee presented the award. Other winners include Ghahreman (A Hero) directed by Asghar Farhadi and Hytii No6 (Compartment No6) joint winners of the Grand Prix, Leos Carax got the best director award for Annette while Renate Reinsve (Verdens Verssste Menneske — The Worst Person in the World) and Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram) received the best performance by an actress and actor award respectively. The jury prize was a joint award and it was presented to Memoria as directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Ha berech (Ahed’s Knee) as directed by Nadav Lapid. British actor Rosamund Pike presented the award.
 
TIFF Opening, Closing Films Announced
TORONTO International Film Festival (TIFF) co-heads, Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente, have announced that the feature-film adaptation of the Tony award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen, is the opening night gala presentation at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival and will be screened Thursday, September 9 at Roy Thomson Hall. Additional screenings of Dear Evan Hansen will hold at the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre, at the RBC Lakeside Drive-In at Ontario Place, and digitally on the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox platform.

Directed by Stephen Chbosky, it is the story of a senior in high-school with a debilitating anxiety disorder whose private letter to himself as part of a therapy exercise lands in the hands of a fellow classmate with tragic consequences. Starring Tony winner Ben Platt as Evan, along with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, and Nik Dodani, Dear Evan Hansen features songs from the original Broadway sensation.

“There was no question that ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ was the ideal film to launch the Festival this year,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, TIFF. “This film is ultimately about healing, forgiveness, and reaffirms how connected and essential we all are to one another. We couldn’t think of a more important idea to celebrate this year as we come together once again to share the power and joy of cinema in theatres together.

As TIFF resumed this year in the wake of a pandemic that marked and changed all of our lives, we felt it was important to open this year’s Festival with a film that connects to our shared humanity and that reminds us how deeply we need one another, need to be seen by one another, especially in times of loneliness and despair.”

The closing night gala of TIFF 2021, One Second is the newest offering from the acclaimed Chinese director of Raise the Red Lantern and Hero, Zhang Yimou. The film tells the story of a travelling film projectionist and an escaped prisoner connected through cinema. ‘One Second’ is a love letter to movies and a reminder of how they can unite people, regardless of our differences. The 46th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 9 to 18, 2021.

TIFF Tribute Award Recipients Unveiled
AWARD-WINNING documentary filmmaker, writer, singer and activist, Alanis Obomsawin, will be honoured with the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media at this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards, while academy Award-nominated French Canadian filmmaker, Denis Villeneuve, will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award.

The 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards will hold at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. “This year, more than ever, TIFF is delighted to come together and celebrate leading industry talent with the 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF.

The awards honour the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their achievements, recognising leading industry members, acting talent, directorial expertise, new talent, and a below-the-line artist and creator. The 2021 event will be co-produced by Bell Media Studios and, for the second straight year, will be broadcast nationally by CTV and streamed internationally by Variety.

A member of the Abenaki Nation and one of Canada’s most distinguished filmmakers, Alanis Obomsawin is a filmmaker and producer at the National Film Board of Canada, where she has worked since 1967. Denis Villeneuve is an academy award-nominated French Canadian filmmaker best known for having directed Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners, and Incendies.