bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

The race for the Oscars heats up this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, where a raft of films will focus on survival in dark times, with mounting political, religious and racial tensions around the world.
More than 300 feature and short films from 74 countries will be screened at the 42nd TIFF, the biggest film festival in North America, which opens on Thursday and runs until September 17.
The event is often seen as a way for Oscar-conscious studios to generate buzz about their films, with hundreds of filmmakers and actors to hit the red carpet in Canada’s largest city.
However, Toronto is facing increasing competition from other events for the best films and brightest stars.
Highlights from Venice film festival: the Oscars launchpad
“This year’s big theme is survival,” says festival chief executive Piers Handling.
From climate change and overpopulation to terrorism, North Korea and fringe right-wing groups in America, people worldwide are facing “an atmosphere of great uncertainty and a real fear about certain issues,” he says. “I think it’s a very unsettling time for many of us.”
“Some of the films are absolutely uplifting, showing that individually or collectively, you can overcome if you harness your resources and work together. But of course, not all the films have a happy ending,” he says.
Handling cites The Mountain Between Us, starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet as two strangers fighting to survive after a plane crash in the wilderness, or Stronger about the 2013 Boston Marathon attack, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, as examples of films showing individuals trying to survive.
By contrast, American director Alexander Payne offers a quirky solution to the issue of human consumption rapidly exhausting the Earth’s resources. His science fiction social satire Downsizing, about a man who chooses to shrink himself to simplify his life, stars Matt Damon.
Matt Damon’s Downsizing opens Venice film festival and impresses critics
Other featured films chronicle efforts to live on in times of war and chaos.
Among those expected to generate buzz are the Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman, Angelina Jolie’s Cambodian genocide drama First They Killed My Father, and Kings, based on the 1992 Los Angeles riots, starring Daniel Craig and Halle Berry.
In previous years, films such as Spotlight , 12 Years a Slave , and Slumdog Millionaire went on from winning the Toronto festival’s People’s Choice award for best picture to take the top honour at the Oscars.
Last year, the musical La La Land won the prize and took home six Oscars including best actress and best director – but not the top prize, despite the shocking mix-up with Moonlight .
Many of the films being positioned for accolades this year will have already premiered at the Venice, New York or Telluride film festivals before screening in Toronto.
“The season is very crowded,” says Handling.
They include Battle of the Sexes with Emma Stone and Steve Carell as tennis stars Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney’s Coen brothers-scripted Suburbicon.


La La Land gets Oscars boost with Toronto film fest audience prize win
But Handling insists Toronto continues to be the launch pad for Oscar contenders.
“I think Toronto is still seen as the key place to amplify films going into awards season. Films may premiere in Venice or Telluride but the amplification actually happens here in Toronto,” he says.
Notably among the hundreds of guests expected to grace the red carpet in Toronto are Clooney, Stone, Lawrence, Elba, Damon, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain and Liam Neeson.
The festival will also host intimate talks with Jolie, Javier Bardem, Gael Garcia Bernal and Helen Mirren.
From the music world, rock legend Eric Clapton will be on hand for the premiere of the documentary Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, as will Eminem for his film Bodied about rap battling, and Drake, who produced a documentary The Carter Effect about NBA star Vince Carter, who played for years in Canada.


Lady Gaga will perform following the screening of the documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two.


Oscars race intensifies at Toronto International Film Festival, where survival is the theme

Idris Elba and Kate Winslet in a still from The Mountain Between Us. Photo: courtesy of TIFF

Jake Gyllenhaal in Stronger. Image courtesy of TIFF

Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour. Image courtesy of TIFF

Emma Stone and Steve Carell as tennis stars Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes. Image courtesy of TIFF

Julianne Moore and Matt Damon in the film Suburbicon. Image courtesy of TIFF

Halle Berry in the film Kings, based on the 1992 Los Angeles race riots. Image courtesy of TIFF

A scene from First They Killed My Father. Image courtesy of TIFF

A scene from Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars. Image courtesy of TIFF

Culture

Film & TV

Idris Elba and Kate Winslet in The Mountain Between Us, Jake Gyllenhaal in Stronger and Angelina Jolie’s First They Killed My Father among the 300 films showing at the largest film festival in North America
