TIFF To Laud Pedro Almodovar & Spike Lee At Tribute Awards

Brent Lang Executive Editor Rachel Allen has joined Bleecker Street as senior vice president of publicity. She begins her job at the indie studio this week after more than a decade in the public relations industry, including a five year stint at Cinetic Media, where she served as a director of publicity and led campaigns from festival launch to theatrical release and through awards season.

Sylvester Stallone will discuss his 53-year career both behind and in front of the camera at the Toronto International Film Festival in September as part of its In Conversation With… (ICW) series.

Lil Nas X is coming to TIFF.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, announced the 2023 Film Independent Forum, the preeminent conference for independent filmmakers and content creators. 

Talking Heads bandmates David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison will make a public appearance together next month in Toronto for the first time since their 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

TIFF must be the place.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Talking Heads were one of the most important and influential acts to emerge from the 1970s, yet the bandmembers’ relations since their split around a decade later have not been the most harmonious. The group has reunited just once — when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 — and frontman/main songwriter David Byrne has been on the receiving end of a long string of critical comments from former bandmates Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, who say that he deprived them of due credit and other opportunities and was generally unpleasant to work with.

As distributors and exhibition worries about major release date changes due to the ongoing strikes, good news continues to pop up with the dating of awards season adult titles, the latest being the Amazon movie Foe from Lion filmmaker Garth Davis on Oct. 6.

Taylor Swift just got a big vote of confidence as she preps her feature directorial debut.

TIFF continues to build out its speaker lineup despite the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes barring a number of participants from this year’s 48th edition.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what marks the most ambitious film from Peru’s leading producer Tondero and, most likely, Peruvian cinema in recent times, Pedro Almodóvar’s El Deseo, Infinity Hill (“Argentina 1985”) and Tondero have joined forces to co-produce a drama based on the hostage crisis that took place at the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1996. El Deseo executive producer Esther Garcia and Infinity Hill co-founder/chief creative officer Axel Kuschevatzky were in Lima to attend Tondero’s 15th anniversary festivities and for Garcia to receive a tribute from the ongoing 27th Lima Film Festival, which runs Aug.

TIFF has begun announcing their Conversation With… (ICW) series for this year’s fest with Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and Concrete Utopia Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and ParkSeo-jun set to sit down for chats.

TIFF’s Closing Night Gala for its 48th edition is Sly, the new Netflix documentary about 3x Oscar nominated multi-hyphenate Sylvester Stallone.

Strikes or no strikes, the 2023-24 awards season preparations continue. The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild today revealed the key dates for its 11th annual MUAHS Awards, which are set to be handed out Saturday, February 11, at the Beverly Hilton.

Pedro Almodóvar’s “Strange Way of Life” is coming to theatres.

TIFF is honouring big talent.

Pedro Almodóvar’s short film, Strange Way of Life, which had its world premiere at Cannes back in the spring, is hitting theaters in NYC and LA on Oct. 4 thanks to Sony Pictures Classics.

It’s still unclear if a large contingent of actors will make their way to all the fall festivals this year due to the SAG strike, but the Toronto International Film Festival is confidently moving forward with its annual Tribute Awards. Recently added to the annual TIFF programming mix, the Tribute Awards honor not just actors (Michelle Yeoh was a recipient in 2022), but writers (who also may not be at TIFF due to their own strike), directors (who are available after a deal with the AMPTP), and other film industry contributors.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Legendary filmmakers Pedro Almodóvar and Spike Lee are the first honorees announced for this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards. Almodóvar, who won the Oscar for original screenplay for “Talk to Her” (2002), will receive the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media presented by Participant, which recognizes leadership in creating a union between social impact and cinema.

“Some kids have more baggage than others,” Teenie (Tamara Podemski) tells her niece Elora Postoak (Devery Jacobs) on the road home to Oklahoma from California in the opener of the third and final season of Reservation Dogs.