‘Women Talking’ Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir & ‘The Swimmers’ Filmmaker Sally El Hosaini Set As 2022 TIFF Tribute Award Honorees

Aretha Franklin and Tony Bennett, and performed at the 1995 state dinner that President Clinton hosted for President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil. Hard-nosed jazz fans might have shrugged him off as a pop-jazz quisling who spent much of his time on gospel-powered covers and catchy funk anthems. Yet he gracefully drew on all manner of influences, interweaving jazz, classical and pop with a sureness of touch that defied classification.

Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, and Rooney Mara hug it out with director Sarah Polley at the premiere of Women Talking during the 2022 Toronto Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on Tuesday (September 13) in Toronto, Ontario.

A legendary moment! Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh reunited fourteen years after costarring in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor — and it was for a very special occasion.

The Whale, which is making the rounds on the festival circuit. The Fraser's 24 movie is being lauded by festival-goers and was generating Oscar buzz even ahead of its premiere.

Fourteen years after they last appeared together onscreen, former co-stars Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh reunited at TIFF.

On a break from his Madison Square Garden residency, and shortly after the Don’t Worry Darling Venice Film Festival world premiere, Harry Styles hit Toronto as his Amazon Studios Prime Video feature drama, My Policeman, made its world premiere and to a great standing ovation at the Princess of Wales Theatre.

EXCLUSIVE: Five days before filmmaker Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) was ready to declare “Action, background action” on the set of The Swimmers, the film fell apart due to the pandemic. “We just thought it was curtains for the film, which was heartbreaking,” the director recalled. “It just came to a halt, and there could be no promises of anything for anyone.”

EXCLUSIVE: dick clark productions and Tubefilter today announced the return of the The YouTube Streamy Awards on December 4.

Clayton Davis “Tár” is a musical, but not in the way you might think. Set to a rhythmic beat of classical orchestration, writer and director Todd Field triumphantly returns to the director’s chair some 16 years after “Little Children” (2006) and 21 years after his debut “In the Bedroom” (2001). In the process, Field proves the third time is the charm and “Tár,” which screened at Venice and Telluride, has emerged as a major Oscar contender. At the forefront of this epic drama is another fiery and near perfect turn from Cate Blanchett, who is poised to earn her eighth acting Oscar nomination and could even nab a potential third statuette.

Foo Fighters were joined by Sir Paul McCartney at a special tribute concert for the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins, at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday. There were tears, cheers and heartfelt tributes from a host of rock legends as thousands of fans gathered in honour of Hawkins, who was found dead in his hotel room in Colombia in March. Sir Paul’s appearance was a surprise, causing the crowd to go wild as Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl introduced him, along with The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.

Alissa Simon Film Critic This fall, Arab filmmakers will be out in force at such prestigious international fests as Venice and Toronto. Venice alone boasts six features from first- and second-time Arab directors in its official sections, plus an additional six works-in-progress at its Final Cut Production Bridge. Meanwhile, Toronto opens with “The Swimmers,” a drama from U.K. helmer Sally El Hosaini based on the journey of Syrian sisters and Olympic hopefuls Yusra and Sara Mardini, who fled the war in their home country for Germany. Yusra competed in the 2016 and 2021 Summer Olympics. An additional six Arab films will screen at the Canadian fest. Dek: Arab filmmakers embrace genres and issues as festivals and distributors take notice

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Hot off of its Venice Film Festival premiere, a concept album for Cate Blanchett’s “Tár” is set to be released on Oct. 21. The film bowed to rave reviews and a six-minute standing ovation. The Focus Features film, releasing Oct. 7, stars Blanchett as the fictional Lydia Tár, a globally renowned, gay and sometimes tyrannical conductor of a German orchestra, who finds herself in the crosshairs of a perilous #MeToo scandal. The film is director Todd Field’s first movie in 16 years, following the critically acclaimed “Little Children” (2006) and his breakout “In the Bedroom” (2001).

Venice Film Festival officially kicked off the fall Oscar race on Thursday afternoon with Todd Field’s “Tár,” a drama starring Cate Blanchett as a famous composer embroiled in a public scandal. The film was showered with an ecstatic six-minute standing ovation as the crowds at the Sala Grande Theatre kept chanting “Bravo!“ even surprising Blanchett at times.As Venice chief Alberto Barbera took her hand, Blanchett bowed — but the clapping went on. When the applause finally ended, a misty-eyed Blanchett turned to someone on her team and said: “Let’s get a drink.”Surely, Blanchett’s work in “Tár” will be one of the most toasted performances of Oscar season. The rave reviews for the film all but guarantee the actor, who has two Academy Awards acting wins, will land her eight Oscar acting nomination this winter.

The 49th Telluride Film Festival opens Friday in a much-awaited edition that is set to feature world premieres of Searchlight’s Oscar hopeful Empire of Light from director Sam Mendes, starring Olivia Coleman and Colin Firth; Women Talking from director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara and Frances McDormand in the ensemble; Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh; and Sony/Netflix’s sizzling new version of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover with Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell; among other films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kore-eda Hirokazu will be the star turn at Emerging Japanese Films, a Los Angeles showcase organized by Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization. The event, running Sept. 27 – Oct. 1, 2022, at the Harmony Gold Preview House, consists of four newly-released, dramatic and awards-worthy Japanese feature films and a retrospective night that honors Kore-eda, whose “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018. Kore-eda will take part in a live video conversation after the screening of his “Like Father, Like Son,” a child-swap drama film that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks previously optioned for remake.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Coo-Coo 043,” a family drama set in the world of racing pigeons, has been set as the opening film of the 2022 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. The closing film is comedy “Marry My Dead Body.”  “Coo-Coo 043” is the second film directed by Chan Ching-lin (“The Island That All Flow By”) and stars Golden Bell Awards winners Yu An-shun and Yang Li-yin, along with Golden Harvest Awards best new performer Hu Jhih-ciang and emerging new talent Rimong Ihwar. Chan was previously nominated for Golden Horse Awards best short film for “A Breath From the Bottom,” and as best new director with his feature debut “The Island That All Flow By.” As a work in progress, “Coo-Coo 043” previously participated in the 2021 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion.

The Everything Everywhere All at Once and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress is set to receive the Toronto International Film Festival’s  inaugural TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award presented by BVLGARI at the fest’s upcoming Tribute Awards on Sunday, Sept. 11 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Toronto Film Festival will honor composer Hildur Guðnadóttir with the Variety Artisan Award at this year’s Tribute Awards. Along with Guðnadóttir, Welsh Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter Sally El Hosaini will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM at the annual TIFF Tribute Awards. This awards season, Guðnadóttir composed the scores for two films, Todd Field’s “Tár” and Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.” Guðnadóttir cemented her place in Oscar history when she became only the fourth woman to win an Academy Award for original score for “Joker.”