Out was Harvey Weinstein and his Big and Little Indie films and in was a lot more female directors and films that don't have the Hollywood star power.
My Tiff was stacked with volunteer shifts at the beginning of the festival and watching a few films during the week followed by a closing night shift and a couple of rush lines.
This year's People's Choice Winner was my favourite film that I saw at the festival this year and I saw it the day before the festival so I was hoping it would have been A Star is Born because I wasn't able to see that film this week even though I was volunteering on that shift and got to see the Stars of the film.
Here is the list of films I saw this year in my order of Preference.
1. Green Book - Look for Academy Award nominations for Viggo Mortenssen and Mehershali Ali who gave stellar performances in this film. This is a multi layered film that is beautiful and thoughtful.
2. Driven - Jason Sudekis plays the neighbour of the Delorian designer and they get involved in some shady dealings together. Fun to watch the production design of this film.
3. This Changes Everything - A documentary that was close to my heart because it showed data on how women are not given the same opportunities as men in the film industry and if you are a visible minority you have even less chances of getting work in the industry.
4. Public - Emilio Esteves directs this drama about homeless men who decide to take over the public library on one cold night in Cincinnati. The scene at the end is very memorable.
5. Sharkwater Extinction - This is the final film by Rob Stewart the champion activist for the survival of Sharks and putting a spotlight on how shark finning is destroying our ecological environment. This film is both beautiful, brutal and sad because it's bittersweet that the film was made but Rob Stewart didn't live to see it's fruition. The family were in attendance at the screening.
6. A Private War - Rosamund Pike plays a tortured journalist who is compelled to go to war zones to tell people's stories at the risk of her own life. This is a true story of a female journalist who would go to lengths that her male counterparts wouldn't. She covered historic news events that no one else did.
7. Widows - Starring Viola Davis and Michelle Rodriguez who play widows who join forces with other widows who are threatened to come up with the money that was lost after their failed heist. Viola Davis is as intense as expected. Liam Neeson plays her husband and his character does a lot of unexpected things. Colin Farrel plays a shady Mayoral candidate and Daniel Kaluuya plays a totally evil sadistic enforcer. This is a Hollywood blockbuster of a film
8. Life Itself - Created by the writer of the TV show This is Us. - This is a film that is broken up into a few stories with some connecting links. The most compelling story was with Antonio Banderas who finally plays a good man in this film. Bring the tissues for this one.
9. Vox Lux - Natalie Portman plays a badly behaved pop star who's hard living takes a toll on her. A big stretch for Portman but I think the film could have been better in the hands of a different director.
10 Husband Material - I was at the world premiere of this Bollywood Film. This film was more of a music video strung together with some aggressive character dialogue. I didn't connect with the characters of this predictable film and didn't stay for the whole film but the audience who obviously knew the actors were enthralled with it. I think this has a specific audience that isn't me.
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