Intro for May 7, 2025

Dear Gossips, 

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. As a Canadian, based in Toronto, working in the entertainment industry, TIFF feels like home to me, I am so proud of the reputation the festival has built among filmmakers and what it means to them to screen a film here. 

To mark this milestone, TIFF this summer is launching a 50-film series “through TIFF’s influential moments” curated by CEO Cameron Bailey who shared his thoughts on the selection process today. The screenings will run from June 13 to August 27 at the Lightbox and will feature in-person Q&As with filmmakers, video introductions from artists, and other behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes. Also, on Wednesdays from July 9 to August 13, there will be six free outdoor screenings at David Pecaut Park which is the space right outside Roy Thomson Hall where so many TIFF galas take place. 

And the film that will kick off the series overall on June 13 and also the Downtown Movies in the Park series is:

The Princess Bride!

The Princess Bride won the People’s Choice Award in 1987 and went on to become a classic. It has been years, maybe even decades, since I saw it in a theatre. But the thought of watching it outside on a warm night in July, with a bento box and a cooler is… no longer “inconceivable”. 

Other films scheduled to screen among the TIFF50 that hold special meaning for me include: 

Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho) 

The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)

Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant)

The Killer (John Woo) 

Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons)

Water (Deepa Mehta) 

And Sarah Polley’s Away From Her which premiered at TIFF in 2006, the first time I worked the festival. This was Sarah’s feature directorial debut. She is now an Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking. And speaking of women talking, in 2019, after signing on to the 5050x2020 movement’s gender parity inclusion charter the year before, half of the festival’s Gala presentations were directed by women with the festival continuing in the years since to promote inclusion and equality in its lineup. 

To see the full TIFF50 list and for more information about how to get tickets, please click here. Happy Anniversary!

Yours in gossip,

Lainey