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| Jia Zhangke's Platform |
The news comes after speculation that TIFF was getting competitive, and, in a sense it does, since this showcase of select films offers a showcase of the best of the best alongside the other range of films that drives audiences wild during the eleven days of the festival. Competition isn’t anything new to TIFF, since jury prizes for Canadian films, shorts, and debut features are staples of the fest, and, presumably, the People’s Choice Award still stands as the award of awards/Palme equivalent since it encompasses the whole festival and is essentially the festival's calling card.
Frankly, I like the news mostly because it
emphasizes world cinema and the artistic merit of film, rather than the gong
show of the Oscar race. I’m as guilty as
anyone of getting awards-crazy during TIFF, but it was getting out of hand
recently with films being reviewed on a scale of one to Best Picture. The
addition also means more auteur-driven cinema, or at least a more focused placement
of auteur-driven cinema, since the popular Masters sidebar remains in the
festival.
Platform joins Primetime as TIFF’s new
programmes for 2015. The only other notable change is the collapse of Short
Cuts Canada and Short Cuts International into one programme. Don’t worry too
much about Canuck shorts being underrepresented, though, since the recent programmers announcement indicates that there’s still the same number of eyes
looking at for Can Con as there were the year before.
The programme list for TIFF 2015 is:
City
to City
Bringing global cities to Toronto
audiences. A snapshot of where’s hot right now. This year’s city: London.
Contemporary
World Cinema
Compelling stories, global perspectives.
Discovery
Directors to watch. The future of world
cinema.
Gala
Presentations
Movie stars. Red-carpet premieres. Major
audience interest.
In
Conversation With...
Engaging onstage conversations with leaders
in the film industry and beyond. (Formerly titled Mavericks.)
Masters
The latest from the world’s most influential
art-house filmmakers.
Midnight
Madness
The wild side: midnight screenings of the
best in action, horror, shock and fantasy cinema.
Platform
Directors’ cinema now. This juried section
spotlights the next generation of cinema visionaries and features a dozen
films, one of which will receive a Best Film prize of $25,000.
Primetime
Serial storytelling: television in its
artistic renaissance.
Short
Cuts
The best short films from emerging and
established Canadian and international filmmakers.
Special
Presentations
High-profile premieres and the world’s
leading filmmakers.
TIFF
Cinematheque
Curated gems from the history of Canadian
and international cinema.
TIFF
Docs
Candid and unscripted: the best non-fiction
cinema from around the world.
TIFF
Kids
Family films from around the world:
entertaining and illuminating.
Vanguard
Provocative, sexy… possibly dangerous. This
is what’s next.
Wavelengths
Daring, visionary and autonomous voices.
Works that expand our notions of the moving image. (Now includes the former
Future Projections programme.)
Programming Subsections:
Contemporary
World Speakers
Watch, experience, and participate in
post-screening discussions with film directors and subject experts.
TIFF
Next Wave
For the next generation of movie lovers:
selections approved by our youth-driven TIFF Next Wave Committee.
TIFF runs Sept. 10 - 20, 2015.
