Lights, Lido, Action: The Autumn Festivals Open the Race for Awards Season
As Venice takes over the Lido and Toronto readies its screens, the autumn film festivals are firing the starting gun on awards season with lifetime honours, starry premieres and a crop of hopefuls.
The film calendar has reached its most glamorous stretch. As summer fades, the great autumn festivals take over, and with them arrives the annual ritual of premieres, red carpets and the first serious talk of which films might go the distance.
Venice opens the season
The action begins on the water. This year's Venice Film Festival runs from 2 to 12 September on the Lido, the elegant strip of coastline that transforms each autumn into one of cinema's most closely watched shop windows.
There is a familiar name at the head of proceedings. The actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal is presiding over the jury, the panel charged with the near-impossible task of choosing a single winner from a field of very different films.
That top prize remains an open question. The main competitive Golden Lion has not yet been decided, and by its nature it is almost impossible to predict, resting entirely on the private deliberations of the jury as the festival unfolds.
Honours for two screen veterans
Some of the festival's awards are already settled, however. A Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is being given to the American actor, director and producer George Clooney, one of the most recognisable figures in modern Hollywood.
He is not the only veteran being celebrated. A second Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion is going to the American actress Ellen Burstyn, a nod to a long and distinguished career that stretches back across some of the defining films of her generation.
Such honours set the tone for the whole festival. They frame Venice not just as a launch pad for new work but as a place where cinema pauses to acknowledge the careers that have shaped it over the decades.
Toronto picks up the baton
No sooner does Venice wind down than Toronto begins. The 51st Toronto International Film Festival is set to run from 10 to 20 September, overlapping just enough to keep the momentum of the season rolling from one city to the next.
Toronto opens on a pointed note. The festival kicks off with Being Heumann from the CODA director Sian Heder, a choice of opening-night film that signals the kind of stories the programme wants to put front and centre.
The scale of the line-up is considerable. The festival is reported to feature 64 titles across its Gala and Special Presentations sections, including 32 premieres, a dense schedule that gives distributors and critics plenty to argue over.
The names to watch
The list of filmmakers heading to Toronto reads like a roll call of familiar talent. It is reported to include Anton Corbijn with A Talent for Murder, John Madden with Onwards and Sideways, and Chris Rock with a film titled Misty Green.
One title arrives with a particular head of steam. Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, spoken of as an awards contender, is reported to be travelling to Toronto after its world premiere at Venice, a classic festival one-two punch.
The long road ahead
For all the champagne and flashbulbs, this is really the opening lap of a marathon. The films that shine on the Lido and in Toronto now will spend the coming months chasing attention, and only a few will still be talked about when the awards are finally handed out.
