Authors — Allan Tong
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“I Think You’re Confusing Me with Mike Myers”: Michael Moore Addresses his Fans at TIFF
With just a few hours notice, Michael Moore threw an impromptu party for his fans at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. Announced on Facebook, an afternoon People’s Party welcomed the first 100 folks who lined up outside a Mexican restaurant down the street from the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Also getting in were the first 100 ticket holders from the premiere of his latest doc, Where To Invade Next. The film’s a road trip that spotlights economic and political policies in other countries that Moore feels America should have. For instance: Italy, where workers get 35 days annual paid […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 19, 2015 -
“I Prefer Not to Hear ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ with a Bad Drumbeat Behind It”: Keith Richards at TIFF
Keith Richards swept into Toronto late this week to inject fresh excitement into TIFF just as the parties were waning, filmgoers were yawning and industry heavvies were flying back to the States. Sporting a snakeskin jacket, a Jamaican-coloured headband and impenetrable mirrored glasses, the 71-year-old rhythm guitarist for The Rolling Stones was here to promote Morgan Neville’s documentary, Keith Richards: Under The Influence. It enjoyed its world premiere here last night before playing today on Netflix. The consensus in Toronto holds that Under The Influence is really a commercial for Richards’ latest album, Crosseyed Heart, also released today. No surprise that […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 19, 2015 -
Respect and Integrity in 27 Days: Peter Sollett Discusses Freeheld at Bloomberg/IFP’s “Business of Entertainment” Breakfast
“Finding a way to produce this movie in 27 days was a riddle we were always solving,” recalled director Peter Sollett. “And doing it in a way that had integrity, the kind that Laurel and Stacie had, was a challenge and a mission statement.” Sollett was speaking at a Bloomberg/IFP “Business of Entertainment” breakfast, hosted by IFP board member and Bloomberg principal, Katherine Oliver, high above downtown Toronto and overlooking Lake Ontario on the eve of the world premiere of his latest feature, Freeheld, at TIFF. Oliver was introduced by IFP and Made in New York Media Center Executive Director […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 13, 2015 -
There’s Still Hope for Cinema: Ted Hope in Toronto
On a chilly night earlier this week at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox, Ted Hope addressed a capacity audience of filmmakers to wax about the future of film. For 90 minutes, the former CEO of Fandor and producer of indie classics 21 Grams, Happiness and In The Bedroom held a Socratic, existential discussion that (unsurprisingly) dismissed Hollywood’s traditional blockbuster-based mentality. “We’re stuck in a rut of legacy practices,” he declared. Hope urged new distribution and marketing models, yet failed to offer a framework in its place. Instead, Hope and SampoMedia’s Michael Gubbins engaged in an abstract dialogue that inspired many filmmakers in […]
by Allan Tong on Jan 16, 2015 -
“I’m Not Trying to Wreck Anything”: Douglas Trumbull, Kubrick and Truth at 120 Frames-Per-Second
Jean-Luc Godard said that cinema is truth at 24 frames-per-second, but Douglas Trumbull feels it should be 120, or at least 60. The director and special effects wizard behind Blade Runner, Close Encounters of The Third Kind and 2001: A Space Odyssey speculated about the future of cinema at the TIFF Bell Lightbox last weekend as part of a Stanley Kubrick retrospective. A sold-out audience of mostly male cinephiles and tech-heads listened intently to their SFX guru as he denigrated the standard 24 fps format of today’s cinema, though he admitted, “It’s a beautiful medium. I’m not trying to wreck anything.” […]
by Allan Tong on Nov 10, 2014 -
“I Am Here to Declare the Word ‘Documentarian’ Dead”: Michael Moore’s Documentary Commandments
Michael Moore loves TIFF and this week he paid the festival back with a series of events and screenings, including the 25th anniversary presentation of Roger & Me and a keynote speech at the Doc Conference. The love affair began in 1989 when Roger & Me — about first-time filmmaker Moore chasing Ford Motors CEO Roger Smith to talk about layoffs that devastated his hometown of Flint, Michigan — captured the audience award and launched the film. Thom Powers, TIFF’s international documentary programmer, described the movie at the Monday night screening (to showcase the new digital restoration) as a “linchpin film […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 12, 2014 -
“Take What’s Useful from Your Teachers”: Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua at TIFF
This week Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua unveiled their new thriller The Equalizer at TIFF, but over the weekend they spoke at a 90-minute Mavericks conversation. About 500 fans packed the elegant Isabel Bader Theatre a few miles north of the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Saturday afternoon to hear Washington, who dominated the casual chat. Several times, Washington implored the many actors in the audience to perform on stage, not film. “Acting is acting,” he declared. “I don’t know what film acting is. The truth is the truth.” His first love is theater; film was an accident in his life. “I wasn’t planning […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 10, 2014 -
“Books First and Experience Second”: Edward Zwick’s Advice To Young Filmmakers
Edward Zwick is at TIFF to premiere his chess drama Pawn Sacrifice, but over the weekend he spoke to young filmmakers from around the world at Films of City Frames. The Saturday morning event unveiled short films produced by New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, London’s National Film and Television School, Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Paris’ Groupe Esra and the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts. The films featured the new line of sunglasses of sponsor Giorgio Armani, who presented the event with Rai Cinema and Luxottica in association […]
by Allan Tong on Sep 9, 2014 -
Old, Faded Pictures: Vilmos Zsigmond on McCabe & Mrs. Miller
“We didn’t want it to look good. The whole idea was to make some old, faded pictures.” Master cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was talking about McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the 1971 anti-Western he shot under Robert Altman’s direction. Speaking in a thick Hungarian accent, the 84-year-old had just watched a rare 35mm screening with a packed audience at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox, which is hosting an Altman retrospective. “That is an amazing print,” he declared. For 30 minutes after the screening, Zsigmond candidly recalled shooting the film, which almost didn’t get released. Now it’s considered a classic, perhaps Altman’s best. “The […]
by Allan Tong on Aug 12, 2014 -
“Makin’ Your Own Rules”: Ron Mann’s Altman
Altmanesque. Ron Mann asked a dozen admirers to define that term in Altman, his new documentary about the director of *M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Player, Gosford Park and 40 other features spanning an astonishing five decades. “Inspiration,” Paul Thomas Anderson answered unsurprisingly. “Creating a family,” Lily Tomlin offered. “Makin’ your own rules” was James Caan’s definition. Mann’s portrait of Robert Altman is exciting and eloquent but nearly too reverential, more a tribute than a biography. The capacity audience at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox Friday night didn’t need reminding of Altman’s greatness. The Canadian premiere of Altman kicked off a retrospective that […]
by Allan Tong on Aug 4, 2014
