I'm going to the Toronto International Film Festival

Sorry about kinda abandoning SpaceHey for a bit. A major reason I was adamant about using SpaceHey was the fact that Twitter was becoming unusable for me in my preferred ways of using it. Well, circumstances made my attempt to move on from Twitter a poorly-timed one, my mobile app became usable again (albeit barely), and I installed OldTweetdeck so I'm no longer in any rush to run away. That plus I have my own issues with SpaceHey but let's not focus on that right now.

What are those "circumstances" I mentioned earlier? Well, I'm going to the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday and I'll be there for 6-7 days. Film festivals are places that movie lovers of all shapes and sizes go to watch brand new movies months before they're released to the public. It's my second time at the festival (my first was in 2019) so I'm very excited to take the knowledge I gained from that experience and implement it into this one.

Usually TIFF is a big launchpad for Oscar season, but because of HollyGeddon (my nickname for the dual WGA & SAG-AFTRA strikes), studios are a lot more reluctant to rely on film festival reception so there are very few BIG studio releases. TIFF also showcases a lot of flashy red carpet premieres with A-list celebrities presenting the films and hosting Q&As. Those will be at a minimum at this year's TIFF. American actors are refusing to participate unless their films have signed an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA (which some films like the new Nicolas Cage movie Dream Scenario have). Otherwise, the only people there will be the directors, which there aren't a whole lot of directors that would attract mainstream attention like actors do. Some films, though not a lot so far, have pushed themselves out of 2023 just because they think they'd be wasting a better financial opportunity by releasing without any actor promotion.

There's a fear, though I don't think it's a particularly strong one, that this year's TIFF will have a lower overall attendance due to the lack of big name actors on red carpets. Now see I'm HOPING that's the case, because that means more opportunities for me to get into the movies I want to see. Don't expect to see posts from me while I'm at the festival, but if you want to see my TIFF reviews as soon as I post them, then periodically check my Letterboxd account throughout the week. I'll make a summary post when I get back.

Don't expect me to see Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron though.