The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020.Calum Slingerland, "TIFF Still Plans to Have a Physical Festival in 2020". Exclaim!, May 28, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions.Victoria Ahearn, "TIFF still planning some type of physical festival, execs say". CBC News, May 28, 2020.
Officially the festival concluded on September 19, with the final film premieres and events taking place that day;Victoria Ahearn, "A pandemic-tailored guide to the Toronto International Film Festival 2020". Global News, August 27, 2020. however, due to the 48-hour rental period applying to film viewings on the online platform, the festival platform remained open until September 21 to honour tickets purchased on closing day.Eli Glasner and Jackson Weaver, "What worked and what wowed the mostly virtual TIFF 2020 film fest". CBC News, September 19, 2020.
Planning The festival's executive director Joana Vicente and artistic director Cameron Bailey spoke about the festival's plans in a video conference call launching the international We Are One: A Global Film Festival; Bailey also discussed some of the festival's plans in an interview on IndieWire's "Screen Talk" podcast.Peter Howell, "What will TIFF 2020 look like?". Toronto Star, May 28, 2020. Plans included efforts to act as a "united platform" to screen films that had been slated to premiere at other cancelled festivals such as the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, and efforts to capitalize on the resurgence of drive-in theaters by staging some live screenings at drive-in venues. In a joint statement with the Venice Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, which along with TIFF are generally considered the "big four" autumn film festivals that often compete with each other to land major film premieres in a normal year, the organizers of all four festivals committed to a spirit of collaboration and unity, designed "to serve the filmmakers, audiences, journalists and industry members who keep the film ecosystem thriving."Eric Kohn, "How Venice, Telluride, NYFF, and TIFF’s 2020 Collaboration Will Affect the Festival Circuit". IndieWire, July 8, 2020.
On June 24, organizers indicated that a smaller program of 50 films would be screened in a conventional manner, using social distancing strategies such as drive-in or outdoor screenings, over the first five days of the festival, and would then remain available on a dedicated streaming platform for the remainder of the festival."Toronto International Film Festival plans scaled-down event, virtual red carpets". CBC News, June 24, 2020. The digital platform was launched in July 2020 as the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox, with a curated selection of past TIFF films available for short-term digital rental in the weeks leading up to the festival."TIFF launches digital platform online film rentals ahead of festival" . Victoria Times-Colonist, July 10, 2020. The digital platform included both a professional option for international critics and industry, and a public option available only to Canadian viewers; ticket prices were the same regardless of whether the viewer was attending a physical screening or watching the film online. The industry platform also included an additional program of 30 films not part of the official public program, designed to act as a film market due to the pandemic-associated shutdown of international travel.Jeremy Kay, "‘After Love’, ‘Saint-Narcisse’, among 30 sales titles to join TIFF industry roster". Screen Daily, September 1, 2020.
Venues for the festival included the TIFF Bell Lightbox, with social distancing strategies in place, as well as two outdoor screens at Ontario Place and one at Polson Pier.Becky Robertson, "TIFF movies will be screened at three separate outdoor theatres for 2020 festival". BlogTO, August 12, 2020. The Isabel Bader Theatre was initially announced as one of the screening venues, but was removed from the event calendar due to social distancing restrictions remaining in place at the University of Toronto.Jeremy Kay, "TIFF adds special events including new edition of Planet Africa, live talks series". Screen Daily, August 25, 2020. Initially, organizers announced that in-person film screenings would be "masks optional", but were criticized for creating a potential superspreader event as the social nature of the festival could increase the risk for COVID-19 transmission. The festival reversed the decision within 24 hours, citing a surge of new cases in Ontario, and made masks mandatory at the physical screenings.
With a smaller than normal program, both festival programmers and critics noted that films which have a tendency to be overlooked at a normal TIFF, such as documentaries and titles by emerging film directors in the Discovery program, could potentially have a better chance than usual of standing out and gaining attention.Anne Thompson, "TIFF 2020: Fewer Oscar Movies and Gala Premieres Means Docs and Discoveries Could Stand Out". IndieWire, July 30, 2020.
In 2021, Bailey and Vicente indicated that although the 2020 festival saw reduced ticket sales compared to 2019, it was simultaneously the most successful event in the festival's entire history in terms of business activity and sales to film distributors,Barry Hertz, "TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’s hybrid event". The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2021. which provided the initial seed of the festival's subsequent decision to launch a full official film market starting in 2026.
Ambassadors Due to the unprecedented nature of the 2020 festival, and the fact that celebrities and filmmakers were largely not able to attend the festival in person, the festival announced a roster of 50 "TIFF Ambassadors", actors and filmmakers who helped to promote the festival through interactive digital experiences and events."Celebrity news: A new crop of actors and directors named TIFF ambassadors". Toronto Star, July 23, 2020.
Awards TIFF Tribute Awards The festival presented the TIFF Tribute Awards, which were introduced in 2019 to honour actors and filmmakers for distinguished achievements over the course of their careers. Honorees in 2020 included Anthony Hopkins, Chloe Zhao, Mira Nair and Kate Winslet.Michael Rosser, "Anthony Hopkins, Chloe Zhao, Mira Nair to receive TIFF Tribute awards". Screen Daily, August 12, 2020. For the first time, the ceremony was broadcast live by CTV Television Network,"Toronto film festival's TIFF Tribute Awards to air on CTV". CP24, August 12, 2020. and was hosted by Tyrone Edwards and Chloe Wilde of CTV's eTalk.Clayton Davis, "TIFF Tribute Awards Go Virtual With Kate Winslet, Chloé Zhao — and Shawn Mendes". Variety, September 15, 2020.
Regular awards Award winners were announced on September 20. The People's Choice Awards were still presented in all three categories; due to the reduced number of films in the Documentary and Midnight Madness streams, only winners were named for those awards rather than runners-up, although first and second runners-up were still named for the main People's Choice award.Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 20, 2020. However, some of the juried awards were suspended, or presented in a different form than usual; notably, the Platform Prize was not presented as no films were named to the Platform program, and the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film was not presented due to the limited number of eligible films. Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, in association with TIFF, announced the creation of the Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award, which awards filmmakers who create films with a social message.Chloe Hatzitolios, "Watch Shawn Mendes cover Stevie Wonder for the 2020 TIFF Tribute Awards". eTalk, September 15, 2020.
Award Film Director People's Choice Award Nomadland Chloé Zhao People's Choice Award, First Runner Up One Night in Miami... Regina King People's Choice Award, Second Runner Up Beans Tracey Deer People's Choice Award: Documentaries Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness Shadow in the Cloud Roseanne Liang Best Canadian Feature Film Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer Best Canadian Feature Film, Honorable Mention Fauna Nicolás Pereda Best Canadian Short Film Benjamin, Benny, Ben Paul Shkordoff Best International Short Film Dustin Naïla Guiguet FIPRESCI Award Beginning Dea Kulumbegashvili NETPAC Award Gaza mon amour Tarzan and Arab Nasser Amplify Voices The Disciple Chaitanya Tamhane Night of the Kings Philippe Lacôte Amplify Voices, Honorable Mention Downstream to Kinshasa Dieudo Hamadi Changemaker Award Black Bodies Kelly Fyffe-Marshall Share Her Journey Sing Me a Lullaby Tiffany Hsiung
Programme American Utopia by Spike Lee was announced as the festival's opening film.Kate Erbland, "TIFF 2020: Spike Lee’s ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Will Open This Year’s Festival". IndieWire, July 21, 2020. The festival also screened Chloé Zhao's film Nomadland, as part of a special arrangement which saw the film open at TIFF, NYFF and Venice all on the same day.
The first batch of films slated for the festival was announced on June 24, 2020, and more were announced on July 30. The final announcement of short films and special events took place on August 25.
Gala presentations English title Original title Director(s) Production country Ammonite Francis Lee United Kingdom, Australia Bruised Halle Berry United States, United Kingdom Concrete Cowboy Ricky Staub United States David Byrne’s American Utopia Spike Lee United States Good Joe Bell Reinaldo Marcus Green United States I Care a Lot J Blakeson United States Nomadland Chloé Zhao United States One Night in Miami... Regina King United States Pieces of a Woman Kornél Mundruczó Canada, Hungary, United States
Special presentations English title Original title Director(s) Production country Another Round Druk Thomas Vinterberg Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden The Disciple Chaitanya Tamhane India Falling Viggo Mortensen Canada, United Kingdom The Father Florian Zeller France, United Kingdom Penguin Bloom Glendyn Ivin Australia, United States Shawn Mendes: In Wonder Grant Singer United States Summer of 85 Été 85 François Ozon France, Belgium True Mothers 朝が来る, Asa ga Kuru Naomi Kawase Japan
Contemporary World Cinema English title Original title Director(s) Production country Bandar Band Manijeh Hekmat Iran New Order Nuevo orden Michel Franco Mexico, France Night of the Kings La Nuit des rois Philippe Lacôte Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Senegal Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre Lili Horvát Hungary Quo Vadis, Aida? Jasmila Žbanić Bosnia Under the Open Sky すばらしき世界, Subarashiki Sekai Miwa Nishikawa Japan
Masters English title Original title Director(s) Production country Notturno Gianfranco Rosi Italy, France, Germany
TIFF Docs English title Original title Director(s) Production country 76 Days Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous China, United States City Hall Frederick Wiseman United States Enemies of the State Sonia Kennebeck United States Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer United States Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer Canada Lift Like a Girl Ash Ya Captain Mayye Zayed Egypt, Denmark, Germany MLK/FBI Sam Pollard United States The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott Canada No Ordinary Man Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt Canada
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