TIFF Says “Postponing Is Definitely Not A Possibility”

With the Cannes Film Festival all but canceled, the pressure now mounts towards Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival, both scheduled for September. Unlike Cannes’ anti-streaming stance, the two major fall festivals have been more lenient towards Netflix and other streaming platforms. Will they go digital? It’s looking more and more likely …

In a new interview with TIFF executive director and co-head Joana Vicente and artistic director Cameron Bailey [via Variety] the future of TIFF is being vehemently worked on and it looks like a digital expansion is in play for this coming September’s edition.

Vicente explains, “Postponing is definitely not a possibility on the table right now. [Based on] everything that we are learning, things might get worse in October or November if there is a second wave.”

She added, “We know that there are a lot of industry members and delegates that will not be able to travel to Toronto because they are coming from all over the world. It’s going to be a modified version of the festival. We’re going to look at doing some kind of social distancing. Maybe it’s not six feet [of separation], but maybe there’s a seat in between.”

Bailey is just as hopeful, but cautious, as his cohort stating that a public festival is still in the works alongside a digital option, although, it’s still unclear, right now, “how big that digital component is and what it looks like.”

“We are absolutely planning for a public festival and a strong industry component,” he said. “We are going to follow what happens with public health guidelines, of course, and that will determine more. We hope that by the middle of June, say, we’ll be able to make a call [as to] which way we are leaning. But we will deliver a festival this year.”

My take on this …

If TIFF goes digital then it would probably come with screening far less major studio and more arthouse fare that was going to be at Cannes, Locarno, and Venice. Also, there could still be a major American presence there with just the streaming platforms alone — Netflix has Ben Wheatley’s “Rebecca,” David Fincher’s “Mank,” Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking About Ending Things,” Ron Howard’s “Hilbilly Elegy,” Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” Antonio Campos’ “The Devil All the Time,” (Gina Prince-Bythwood’s “Over the Moon,” Mike Flanagan’s “Midnight Mass” and “The Prom” (Streep/Kidman).

As of now, TIFF 2020 is expected to begin on September 10.