Category: media

This seemed to be the year that the critics turned on the Toronto International Film Festival, hitting it from left and right, high and low. Peter Howell says that while some of the criticism was the result of pampered writers whining unnecessarily, “a discernable amount of energy was missing from the fest this year… TIFF is still a superb event, but it’s clearly a festival in transition.”

“Slumdog Millionaire, an inspirational comedy about a poor Mumbai orphan who unexpectedly knows all the answers to the Indian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?, was the audience favourite at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival, which came to a close on Saturday.”

The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up this weekend with a collection of low-profile, film buff-friendly works meant to bring out the technical side of cinema – film as high art, rather than easy entertainment.

Five years into its campaign for a new home, the Toronto International Film Festival still needs to raise CAN$49m to hit its CAN$196m goal. But the new venue is already rising: “What’s intoxicating is the way the innovative architect Bruce Kuwabara has designed the cinemas as cubic sculptures suspended transparently within the five-storey Lightbox podium, almost… like apples hanging from a tree.”

“What gives with all the gross-outs? I know festival films are supposed to stretch boundaries and challenge audiences, but I can’t remember a year when so many TIFF titles should have included barf bags with the ticket purchase.”

“Reginald Hudlin, a Hollywood veteran who was brought to Washington-based Black Entertainment Television three years ago to overhaul programming, is leaving the embattled network… Before joining BET, Hudlin was a vocal critic of its programming; as programming chief, however, he vigorously defended the schedule — even as he pledged to dramatically alter the lineup with original scripted shows.”

“The City of Toronto should designate the TIFF Group a ‘major cultural organization’ and more than double its financial support, says a staff report to the city’s economic development committee.”

With satellite radio still struggling to attract a mass audience, Sirius chief Mel Karmazin is taking direct aim at terrestrial radio, saying it “sucks” as an investment compared with satellite. The CEO’s message, delivered at a Merrill Lynch conference, seemed to fall on deaf ears Tuesday, though, and Sirius XM stock sank to a price not seen in more than five years.

“Fifty percent of female characters appeared on programs with workplace settings and 50 percent on programs with domestic settings. This is a departure from previous studies, which found female characters were significantly more likely to be found in shows centered around home and family.”

“The factors that were meant to boost independents – including new private equity investment, the relative accessibility of digital filmmaking and studio investment through specialty arms – have done nothing of the sort. The festival circuit this year has yet to identify an art-house or independent break-out hit.”