Jurriën timber
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its Visionaries informal conversation series presented by The Hollywood Reporter, led by Spike Lee, Guillermo del Toro, Nadine Labaki and The King’s Speech producer See-Saw Films.
Oscar-winning director Lee will be on hand to discuss his long career in Hollywood, which includes the groundbreaking 1992 biopic Malcolm X. French filmmaker Ly will also be in Toronto for the world premiere of Les Indésirables, the follow up to his debut feature Les Miserables, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for best international feature at the 2020 Oscars.
And del Toro, who has shot many of his movies in Toronto, including the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, will take part in the Visionaries series to talk about his cinema of fantastical worlds, as will See-Saw founders Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, whose prestige film output includes Lion and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog.
Also set for an informal conversation in Toronto is Nadine Labaki, director of the Cannes award winner Capernaum, Emmy winning, two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker, and Indian documentary maker Anand Patwardhan.
Elsewhere, the Dialogues section as part of TIFF’s Industry Conference will feature appearances by The Dead Don’t Hurt director Viggo Mortenson, Sisterhood director Nora El Hourch, Je’vida director Katja Gauriloff, Expats director Lulu Wang and Cord Jefferson, who helmed American Fiction.
“Our Industry Conference aims to be a pivotal platform for thought-provoking discussions by industry leaders. The sessions and speakers reflect our commitment to diverse perspectives and creative exploration towards sparking innovation within the industry,” Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer, said in a statement on Monday.
The Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 7 to 17.