TIFF to celebrate 50 years of risk and discovery with summer screening series
TORONTO - The head of the Toronto International Film Festival says risk-taking has been central to the organization's legacy, a spirit captured in a series of summer screenings that celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Titled 'the TIFF Story in 50 Films,' the series will showcase films that have defined the festival's evolution. Screenings will run June 13 to Aug. 27 at the Lightbox in Toronto.
Curated by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey and a team of past and present programmers, the collection spans five decades, featuring global breakthroughs including Danny Boyle's 2008 rags-to-riches drama 'Slumdog Millionaire' and Canadian classics such as Atom Egoyan's 1984 directorial debut 'Next of Kin.'
Bailey says the lineup reflects TIFF's own narrative, which he describes as a 'love story' between curators, audiences and filmmakers.
He points out that several selections are films TIFF championed early on — titles that connected with Toronto audiences before going on to achieve global success.
For instance, he says Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 thriller 'Diva' flopped at the French box office but found new life — and cult status — after resonating with audiences at TIFF.
'As you go through the whole list, there's a little bit of a story either about how the festival and the Toronto audience helped launch that film into world, or how that film helped define what our festival was,' says Bailey.
Several screenings will include appearances by talent from the films, including a special presentation of 1994's 'The Shawshank Redemption,' followed by a Q&A with cinematographer Roger Deakins and his wife and creative partner, James Deakins.
One film that stands out for Bailey is 'Dead Ringers,' David Cronenberg's 1988 horror thriller that opened TIFF that year. He remembers being in the audience, struck by the power of its première.
'It was quite visceral in many ways. Not what you would call an easy watch. Our team at the time decided that that was an important film to open the festival with, to send a signal that this is the highest achievement in Canadian cinema that year,' he says.
'It's a tough movie, but we think you're up for it, right? And we respect the Toronto audience enough to show them movies that can be challenging. That's part of the story we want to tell as well.'
As for the story Bailey wants to tell in the next 50 years of TIFF?
'I have no crystal ball. I can't tell you what technology is going to do to transform the film world,' he says.
'But what I know is that the creative talent is still going to be critical for this. And so what I think about when I think about the next 50 years with TIFF is making sure that we keep tracking down and elevating talent.'
He highlights TIFF's Next Wave program — which allows Toronto high school students to program films — along with the festival's several talent development initiatives, including the Directors' Studio and Series Accelerator, as examples.
Bailey also wants TIFF to continue being a platform where stars can emerge, noting that Florence Pugh — now fronting Marvel's latest film 'Thunderbolts*' — was discovered in North America largely through 2016's 'Lady Macbeth,' which premièred at TIFF and is also featured in its 50th-anniversary list.
'We've shown that we can discover films and filmmakers who will become globally significant year after year. That's what I want us to keep doing.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.
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