- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.2% | 24.65 | $ | |
SCS | -0.7% | 12.88 | $ | |
BCC | 0.48% | 139.569 | $ | |
GSK | 0.06% | 38.845 | $ | |
NGG | -1.28% | 65.66 | $ | |
BCE | -0.33% | 33.6 | $ | |
RIO | -0.13% | 69.61 | $ | |
BTI | -0.02% | 35.284 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
RELX | -0.6% | 46.015 | $ | |
JRI | -0.38% | 13.23 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BP | 0.74% | 33.125 | $ | |
AZN | -0.36% | 77.19 | $ | |
VOD | 0.21% | 9.68 | $ |
Magic of cinema in focus as Mendes celebrates Toronto festival comeback
As crowds finally flocked back to the Toronto film festival after two years thwarted by Covid-19, Hollywood's top directors from Sam Mendes to Steven Spielberg put the escapism and collective experience of cinema in the spotlight with their latest films debuting at the event.
"American Beauty" and "1917" director Mendes on Monday premiered "Empire of Light," his new drama set at a 1980s cinema on the south coast of England, in which its employees battling mental health issues, extra-marital affairs and racism seek comfort in the silver screen.
It comes on the heels of the Toronto debut at the weekend of Spielberg's "The Fabelmans," a semi-autobiographical take on the great director's childhood, and the cathartic role filmmaking and art played at difficult moments in his early years.
"It was a way of telling a story about how movies and music and popular culture and art generally... can help heal you when you're broken," said Mendes on the Toronto red carpet for his film.
"We're here because we love movies, we want to support them from whatever side of the spectrum we are. And I think we all felt maybe that was gone forever" due to Covid-19, he told AFP.
The film stars Olivia Colman as the movie theater's duty manager, who is drawn to a charismatic -- and much younger -- employee (Michael Ward) even as she copes with previous grief in her own life.
Unlike Spielberg's movie, which featured a young budding director coping with his parent's marriage and anti-Semitic bullying, Mendes opted not to put himself in "Empire of Light."
"It wasn't just autobiographical. I thought the easy route would have been 'and here's this little boy and he's grown up.'
He added: "For whatever reason, I was drawn to a different way of telling that story.
"I think part of it was being in lockdown, and being in the pandemic, and feeling the vulnerability of the world, and the feeling that perhaps all this... would never happen again."
- 'A lot of fear' -
The Toronto International Film Festival, North America's largest movie gathering, is renowned for drawing large cinephile audiences as well as glamorous A-listers to its world premieres.
This meant it was especially vulnerable to the impact of Covid-mandated lockdowns on movie theaters, and crowds this year have returned in numbers not seen since 2019.
Spielberg earlier told attendees at "The Fabelmans" premiere that the pandemic's arrival had motivated him to make his deeply personal film because "we all had a lot of time, and we all had a lot of fear."
"I don't think anybody knew in March or April of 2020 what was going to be the state of the art, the state of life, even a year from then."
Toronto festival head Cameron Bailey told AFP that many of the movies submitted this year had contained "a kind of reflection on the significance of the film itself, of visual storytelling, of watching films together and that collective experience."
Also in Toronto on Monday, "La La Land" director Damien Chazelle gave festival attendees a brief first look at "Babylon," his eagerly awaited movie tracing the roots of Hollywood via drug-fueled 1920s Los Angeles.
The movie starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, out in December, delves into early Tinseltown's dark side, with a first-look trailer showing characters inspired by real silent-era stars attending wild parties complete with mounds of cocaine, topless dancers and even an elephant.
- 'Extreme living' -
"It was about capturing the spirit of that time, which is a lot more I'd say 'Wild West' than even our conceptions of the 'Roaring Twenties,'" Chazelle told an audience.
"There was more excess, more drugs, more extreme living on all ends of the spectrum than I think a lot of people realize."
The movie, which is still in production and has not been shown in full to audiences, is already being positioned by studio Paramount as another awards contender from Chazelle, who made the Oscar-winning "Whiplash" before his youngest-ever best director Academy Award for "La La Land."
TIFF, North America's largest movie gathering, runs until Sunday.
F.Pedersen--AMWN