The Toronto International Film Festival® has launched Every Story, a fund to support and celebrate film’s under-represented voices and audiences. This fund represents a tangible commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film and expands upon TIFF’s integrated initiative in support of women in film, Share Her Journey. Through this fund, TIFF is committed to expanding its diversity and inclusion efforts by upholding three primary pillars: challenging the status quo; celebrating diverse storytellers and audiences; and creating opportunities for creators who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or 2SLGBTQ+ and other equity-seeking creators.
TIFF recognizes that there are systemic barriers to sharing some stories, and that, even with the inception of Every Story, it may not be possible to capture all the unique lived experiences of individuals at the intersections of equity and accessibility. That’s why Every Story is not just a fund, but also a goal. Seventy-six of this year’s Festival selections were either created or co-created by cisgender or transgender women, or non-binary or two-spirit filmmakers. Seventy-five percent of Industry Conference speakers identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color. This is the beginning of a journey to highlight the stories that may have previously been untold and address the reasons for their erasure.
“The tides have turned. Now is the time to reexamine what inclusion means and how it manifests in our industry,” said Joana Vicente, TIFF executive director and co-head. “With the support of wonderful partners and donors, TIFF will expand upon current efforts for equity-seeking creators and diverse audiences, and create more robust, intentional programs to foster creativity and make space for these much-needed voices.”
In support of the Every Story fund, TIFF announced that, as fund founding partner, NBCUniversal will match all donations made to Every Story in 2021. Additionally, they will partner with TIFF in developing opportunities to build career momentum for creators, talent, and journalists by providing access and additional resources via programs like the Media Inclusion Initiative and TIFF Talent Development programs. This partnership with TIFF and the Every Story fund builds upon NBCUniversal’s commitment to creating content that reflects the world in which we live and diversifying the industry’s landscape by creating access and opportunities for equity-seeking talent.
As part of Share Her Journey, the CHANEL Women Writers’ Network will support a year-round program to advance the careers of women and non-binary alumni of TIFF Writers’ Studio. CHANEL’s participation extends and enriches TIFF’s support for writers and writer-directors by providing funding to facilitate the acceleration and development of their projects and by offering opportunities to connect with a diverse network of mentors and peers.
As previously announced, thanks to a renewed commitment from RBC bank, the RBC Women Creators’ Initiative will support the TIFF Talent Accelerator program, provide TIFF Industry access for women and non-binary creators and film professionals, and support TIFF’s International Women’s Day programming.
Programming reflecting the fund’s mission begins now with this year’s Festival.
Festival programming highlights
In Conversation With… Kristen Stewart
Celebrating the stories of two remarkable women, Share Her Journey presents In Conversation With… Kristen Stewart, an intimate conversation focused on Stewart’s career and her captivating performance as another compelling woman — the late Princess Diana — in the upcoming film Spencer, which premieres at her namesake Princess of Wales Theatre. Stewart, who has been vocal about LGBTQ+ representation behind and in front of the camera, will discuss her love for “soul-driven and explorative” cinema at this free, live virtual event.
TIFF Storytellers’ Spotlight
TIFF Storytellers’ Spotlight: A Women in Film Panel, presented by RBC, will feature a candid conversation between Festival filmmakers about their careers. This panel will bring together Festival filmmakers Justine Bateman (Violet), 2019 TIFF Talent Accelerator alum Shasha Nahkai (Scarborough), and Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto (Srikandi) in conversation to share their stories of forging their own path in film and achieving their dreams, as well as offering advice for aspiring and up-and-coming filmmakers.
Industry Conference highlights
PERSPECTIVES Writing in the Margins: The Need for New Voices and New Platforms in Film Criticism
Representation and lack of diversity in film criticism within prominent outlets is an ongoing issue plaguing the film industry. Three distinguished voices in film criticism — Carlos Aguilar, Jourdain Searles, and Caden Mark Gardner — come together to discuss its future, how established systems need to change, and the new spaces and opportunities being forged by diverse writers.
PERSPECTIVES Filmmakers on Africa’s Cinema Industries: From Development to Distribution
Generously supported by Anne-Marie Canning
Africa’s impressive list of TIFF ’21 Official Selections spans the Platform, Midnight Madness, Special Presentations, and Wavelengths programs, with the title in the latter category boasting the position of Opening Night Film. For a continent of storytellers and an “archipelago of cultures,” there are still too many African filmmakers who must reckon with western preconceptions that guard pathways to industry and bind creative autonomy. Hear about this and much more — including patterns in which distributors purchase “global” film rights that neglect African audiences — in this panel discussion between Festival filmmakers and TIFF programmer Nataleah Hunter-Young.
VISIONARIES Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Generously supported by Anne-Marie Canning
Born in Bangkok, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of the most influential and revered visual artists of this time. His incisive, visceral relationship with the moving image often draws on the ancestral myths of his country to reflect on his surroundings, from global social issues to the political concerns of modern Thailand. Join us for a conversation with the filmmaker — whose latest feature, Memoria, was one of two Jury Prize winners at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival — moderated by TIFF sr. film curator Andréa Picard.
VISIONARIES Sahraa Karimi
A Share Her Journey initiative generously supported by Betty-Ann Heggie
Sahraa Karimi is a renowned director and activist, and the first woman to chair Afghan Film. Her first feature, Hava, Maryam, Ayesha (2019), was shot entirely in Kabul with Afghan actors and received critical acclaim at its Venice premiere. On August 13, Karimi called on the international film community to protect filmmakers and other creatives from Taliban violence through a deeply honest open letter.
For TIFF’s closing Industry Conference session, Karimi joins us to speak about fleeing her home country, how the international film community can support and care for Afghan artists, and the role film plays in affecting change.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More