The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for 2019 was held from September 5-15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Key Points:
i. The film ‘Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band’ directed by Daniel Roher was premiered as the opening film of the festival (first Canadian documentary film).
ii. The film ‘Radioactive’ directed by Marjane Satrapi was showcased as the closing film of the festival.
iii .Mission of TIFF: To transform the way people see the world through film.
iv. Malayalam-Hindi bilingual film, Geetu Mohandas’s Moothon (The Elder One), shot guerrilla style in Mumbai’s red-light district, premiered at the 44th TIFF.
List of winners:
| Award | Film | Director |
| People’s Choice Award | Jojo Rabbit | Taika Waititi |
| People’s Choice Award: Documentary | The Cave | Feras Fayyad |
| People’s Choice Award: Midnight Madness | The Platform | Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia |
| Best International Short Film | All Cats Are Grey in the Dark | Lasse Linder |
Indian delegation
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) of the Government of India in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) participated in the 44th TIFF. i. The delegation included Shri Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Director General, Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and Ms. Dhanpreet Kaur, Deputy Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and others.
India Pavilion
- The India Pavilion was inaugurated by the High Commissioner of India to Canada Shri Vikas Swarup.
- Nearly 60 eminent personalities from the film-making sector & film festivals had participated.
IFFI
- The 50th, the Golden Jubilee Edition, of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from November 20-28, 2019.
- IFFI 2019 poster and brochure were also released at the 44th TIFF.
India Breakfast Networking Session
i. An India Breakfast Networking Session was hosted by I&B Ministry on the side-line of its participation at the 44th TIFF. It was attended by Ms Apoorva Srivastava, Consul General of India, Toronto; Mr Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director & Co-Head, TIFF and others.
ii. As part of policy outreach, the Indian Delegation met Canadian Government officials.
iii. India and Canada will to take proactive measures to facilitate Co-Production.
iv. India is positioned on the global stage as the ‘All in one destination to make films’.
Heartland International Film Festival
Ms Hannah Fisher, Programming Head of Heartland International Film Festival of United States of America, notified that there could be a special focus on India under the ‘Foreign Language Category’ in the Heartland International Film Festival 2019 (28th Edition) scheduled to be held from October 10-20, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
About TIFF:
♦ First held: 1976