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80th Venice International Film Festival Closes September 9

The 80th edition of Venice International Film Festival, which opened on August 30, will close on September 9, and on that day, winners of the Lions and other official prizes of the 2023 edition of the festival will be announced. The festival opened with Italian director, Edoardo De Angelis’ film, Comandante, and so far, the festival has been running with a diverse line-up of movies competing for the prestigious Golden Lion prize. This year, 23 movies are vying for the Golden Lion and other awards of the festival that will be decided by an international jury for the main competition presided over by the award-winning director, Damien Chazelle (Whiplash and La La Land). He leads nine other jurors featuring in the main competition. One of the highlights of the opening ceremony was the award of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded to Italian director, Liliana Cavani. Later this week, another lifetime award will be handed to Actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai of Hong Kong, China. According to the festival schedule, about 19 fiction films and documentaries, two television series, and a short film will play out of competition. Also, films will be showcased in the horizon category of the festival. Actress Caterina Murino, who hosted the opening ceremony, is anchor of the closing on September 9.

Toronto International Film Festival Opens On September 7
The 2023 edition of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on September 7 and will run for 10 days. The 10-day festival will feature films representing 70 countries around the world. Nigeria is among the 70 countries that will have their flags flying at the festival. Orah, a revenge drama written and directed by Nigerian filmmaker, Lonzo Nzekwe, will screen at the industry select programme at the TIFF. The industry select programme is a programme of screening for accredited buyers during TIFF. ‘Orah’ and the 11 other films curated for this programme will be available for worldwide acquisition beyond the official selection. “As the media industry continues to evolve, TIFF strives to foster creative innovation in both the development and business of storytelling,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. We will continue to expand our successful Industry Selects initiative, a TIFF curated selection of films for the marketplace to find global audiences and are very excited to present a very high level calibre showcase.” TIFF has also announced new additions to the 2023 Industry Conference, with a dynamic array of Connections, Microsessions, and Spotlight sessions. TIFF’s Industry Conference is supported by Ontario Creates and Telefilm Canada. All sessions will take place at Glenn Gould Studio.

Our Connections, Microsessions, and Spotlight sessions are intimate opportunities for professionals to learn from and connect with decision-makers who can help forward their future projects and careers,” said Geoff Macnaughton, Senior Director, Industry & Theatrical. “They include a mix of curated and co-produced sessions designed to fuel co-production, sustainability, and responsible storytelling.” The other films that will feature in the industry select programme with ‘Orah’ include, Amelia’s Children (Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal), Bonus Track (Julie Jackman, United Kingdom), Borderline (Jimmy Warden, United States), The Boy in the Woods (Rebecca Snow, Canada), Dance First (James Marsh, United Kingdom), The Home (James DeMonaco, United States), Inheritance (Neil Burger, United States/United Kingdom/Egypt/India), Les Hommes de Ma Mere (Anik Jean, Canada), Queen of Bones (Robert Budreau, Canada/United States), Umbrella Men II: Escape from Robben Island (John Barker, South Africa) and Vera and the Pleasure of Others (Romina Tamburello and Federic Actis, Argentina). Nigerian-Canadian star, Oyin Oladeja, plays the lead in Orah and she stars as an illegal immigrant working as a taxi driver in Canada. ‘Orah’ also starts Lucky Ejim, O.C Ukeje, Tina Mba and Kelechi Udegbe. Also, screen diva, Geneveive Nnaji, will have her new film, I do Not Come To You By Chance, screen at the prestigious TIFF. The movie is directed by Ishaya Bako and it will see the screen diva making a big return to the scene after her debut movie as a director, Lion Heart.

Tokyo International Film Festival Announces
Opening, Closing Films
Organisers of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) have announced the opening and closing films for the 2023 edition of the festival, which begins October 23 and ends November 1. Perfect Days, from legendary German filmmaker, writer and photographer, Wim Wenders, will open the 36th TIFF, while the TIFF Closing Film will be the hotly anticipated Godzilla Minus One, directed and written by YAMAZAKI Takashi, who also supervised the visual effects. Since its first appearance in 1954, Godzilla has captivated the world beyond Japan, continuing to astonish new and existing generations of filmgoers. Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the monster, Godzilla Minus One will roar as the closing film of TIFF.