Sunday, September 20, 2020

September 20 - 45th Toronto International Film Festival Ends



And so, the 45th Toronto International Film Festival comes to an end. Rather than ending on the 20, the event was held from September 10 to 21. This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.  

 
Instead, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions. 

 
Officially the festival concluded on September 19, with the final film premieres and events taking place that day. 

 
However, due to the forty-eight-hour rental period applying to film viewings on the online platform, tickets purchased on September 19 remained usable until September 21. 

 
Due to the unique nature of the 2020 festival, and the fact that celebrities and filmmakers were largely not able to attend the festival in person, the festival announced a roster of 50 "TIFF Ambassadors". 

 
These were actors, actresses and filmmakers who helped to promote the festival through interactive digital experiences and events. 

 
TIFF Tribute Awards 

 
The festival presented the TIFF Tribute Awards, which were introduced in 2019 to honor actors and filmmakers for distinguished achievements over the course of their careers.  

 
Honorees in 2020 included Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mira Nair ('Monsoon Wedding'), and Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao. 

 
For the first time, the ceremony was broadcast live by CTV Television Network, and was hosted by Canadian television broadcaster and entrepreneur Tyrone Edwards and Chloe Wilde of CTV's eTalk. 

 
Regular Awards 

 
Award winners were announced on September 20. The People's Choice Awards were still presented in all three categories, although due to the reduced number of films in the Documentary and Midnight Madness streams, only winners were named for those awards rather than runners-up.  

 
However, even though the first and second runners-up were still named for the main People's Choice award, some of the juried awards were suspended or presented in a different form than usual.  

 
Notably, the Platform Prize was not presented as no films were named to the Platform program, and the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film was not presented due to the limited number of eligible films. 

 
FILMS 

 
The first batch of films slated for the festival were announced on June 24, 2020, and more were announced on July 30. The final announcement of short films and special events took place on August 25 

 
The 2020 American musical concert documentary film 'American Utopia' by Spike Lee ('She's Gotta Have It', 'Do the Right Thing', 'BlacKkKlansman') was announced as the festival's opening film.  

 
The festival also screened Zhao's 2020 American drama film 'Nomadland' as part of a special arrangement which saw the film open at TIFF, 58th New York Film Festival and 77th Venice Film Festival all on the same day. 

 
To see the full schedule of the films premiered, visit the link below: 

 
Congratulations to the winners! 

 
#TIFF2020 

#coronavirussucks 

@TIFF 

@TIFF_NET 

@TIFF_Industry 

@nichecinema

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