Summer Box Office Report, Is Netflix Changing Tune on Theatrical?, & TIFF Lineup with President Cameron Bailey

24:46Anne Thompson:But no, they're just that's a political football. You know, that's the hot potato that they're tossing around. And I don't think Rob Bonta is that obsessed with it. He's filing an antitrust lawsuit. That's what it's about. So let's move on to the new titles that have dropped at the New York Film Festival. As expected in the spotlight section, we have things like the Palm Door winner Fjord and other high profile can titles like Jordan Firstman's Club Kid and Werner Herzog's. But the newer ones are Werner Herzog's fucking, I have to do this the right way, bucking, bucking, faster, Jonathan Glaser music documentary Joy of Joys and Tom McCarthy's newly titled environmental ensemble drama, A Statement, which is Sony Pictures Classics.

25:40Anne Thompson:And that one's interesting. It goes back to a 1980 gathering of scientists recognizing the danger of global warming. warming. So, Brian, you get to recommend something for people to watch this week. Well, I will just say I'm just looking forward to a whole fall of Werner Herzog pronouncing in his accent bucking faster. It's just going to be so much fun. I'm looking forward to that one that looks like a fun concept and premise. But, you know, this is it was actually tough. You know, of all the things I was prepping for this podcast this week, I would say coming up with a recommendation this week was actually tricky because we're just in the doldrums of August here and, you know, in the middle of some of the fall TV shows.

26:28So I'm kind of hard to press to recommend one particular thing. It's a bit early to just say looking forward to the 2026 NFL season. But I will shout out a small movie opening in limited release this weekend called Union County. And this was at Sundance. And it's a movie starring Will Poulter and Noah Centineo. And it's an addiction drama about two brothers living in rural Ohio, I believe. And the program that they're in, in which they're having to go to court and talk about their recovery and the efforts that they go to. So it's really more about the recovery process. And what's really fascinating about the film is that it has this kind of documentary element in that all of the courtroom scenes, they have other real people who are actually going through this very process.

27:28and those are happening and edited alongside the fictional ones with Will Poulter. And it's very seamlessly done and surprising how they kind of just managed to sit in the courtroom and film all this and get that kind of real life perspective. And so it was just one that, you know, stuck with me a little bit. And it's a charming film, a good performance from very, very subdued from Will Poulter.

27:56Anne Thompson:My pick is the new Amazon series. It's very like it's like the polar opposite of your serious Sundance movie, which often happens with Ryan as well, by the way. My pick is the new Amazon series Sterling Point from my old ass director Megan Park. And she returns to another bucolic summer in Canada on a lake with young people, folks, who are fun and lively and entertaining and very troubled all at the same time. It has a family drama. It has mysteries from the past that need to be resolved. It has various and sundry love interests that need to be resolved, as you would expect. And it's a lot of fun.

28:44Anne Thompson:So I'm not promising anything super serious here. It's more fun than anything else. I loved My Old Ass. So yeah, that sounds like a good one. My Old Ass is better than this series. I'm going to tell you that much. Okay, just saying. All right, we're going to go on to Cameron Bailey. All right. First, I want to welcome back to Screen Talk, Cameron Bailey. Thank you. Good to be back. TIF CEO. And I think you're the first person who's come on for the... No, no, that's not true. Tom Quinn has been on twice. But you're in rare company. So this incredibly sprawling film festival has a lot of new titles that are sure to be in the awards conversation, and emerging artists and a new market that's launching this year.

29:35Anne Thompson:And we'll talk about all of those things. But Cameron, first, please meet Brian Welk. Hello, Brian. Thank you so much for being here, Cameron. Great to talk with you. And, you know, it seems like you got a lot on your plate. So we appreciate you taking the time for us. It's my pleasure. Glad to be back. So I'm going to launch into the program. You have many, many sections. And galas are the best known titles, along with special presentations. and the opening nighter. So let's start with that. Being Human from Oscar winner Sean Hedder of Coda fame, also from Apple. That one looks like an Oscar contender to me, Cameron.

30:12Anne Thompson:What do you think? I think it's a great, great movie. Of course, she is coming off of Coda, which won the Best Picture Oscar. And she's, I think, again, telling a story about people who are trying to maybe get more than they've been given, maybe more than they're seen as deserving. And in this case, she's telling a true story, story of Judy Heumann, an amazing disability rights activist who began her work in the 1970s and has continued ever since. And, you know, a lot of the things we now take for granted, certainly in North America and in some cases around the world, things like curb cuts to accommodate wheelchair users, all kinds of other accessibility things that are now part of the landscape.

31:02Although they were passed into law at a certain point in the 70s, they were not enforced, they just weren't happening. And Judy Heumann is the one who fought to make them happen. She's kind of the Erin Brockovich of that time and place. And this is her story. It's one of those really energizing movies, makes you cheer for what she and the people she rallied around her were able to accomplish. And it stars Ruth Madley, a British actor who I wasn't so familiar with. She's done a bunch of work in the UK, but this is her first, I think, Hollywood leading role. And she is just amazing. I think everybody's going to want to see her performance.

31:45and it's just a great movie to see as well.

31:47Anne Thompson:So the other one I'm looking forward to is Martin McDonough's Wild Horse 9. That just looks like a hoot. What do you think? Is that awards or not awards? I'm not sure. I can't tell. I want to see it. I mean, and I'm not going to be the one to tell you, it's definitely awards. What do I know? One person. What I can say is that if you love Martin McDonough's movies, as I think many of us do, you're probably going to love this one as well. Three Billboards, Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Right, right. Yes. Yeah, all of those great movies that are, they're comedies, but they're also, they've got a dramatic edge to them in many cases.

32:29The writing is great. He's able to direct actors to terrific performances. And here he's got some actors, Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, and others who were having a lot of fun with a story of spycraft, American spies in Latin America, doing the things that we know American spies have done in Latin America.

32:53Anne Thompson:A Canadian is telling us this, of course. I mean, it's history, so I don't think I'm wrong here. But Malkovich especially has a role that is just so juicy. And, you know, although the history is from a while ago, this is, you know, based, I think, maybe loosely inspired by real events. There's still a lot of relevance to what we're seeing right now. So a lot of fun, but it's got something to say, too. Yeah, I'm sure there is. Yeah. And tell us about the Chris Rock movie. I remember Top 5. Top 5. You were there, right? I think that sold out of TIFF in a bidding war. Do you remember this? I sure do.

33:36Yeah, that was the first big movie, one of the first big movies to really blow up out of the Princess of Wales in Toronto. We hadn't had that theater for long, but it's since become one of the most popular places for movies that are coming in looking for a U.S. acquisition in particular. Chris Rock has, I think, here made a very L.A. industry movie. I think you're going to find it very interesting and to watch and Brian as well. But it's both a kind of a satire of just how the business works and what's required to succeed and to stay on top. Misty Green is the title. She's also the title character.

34:20She's played by Rosalind Elazar. She's terrific in the film. We're presenting her with one of our TIFF Tribute Awards, which we're really excited to do. And because I think a lot of people may have seen her play supporting roles in series and films. but this is a big, juicy leading role. She plays an actor who's had one big success. She has an Emmy Award, but she also has a really chaotic life and she's trying to just get by, get through, stay on top, find the right roles. Chris Rock is in the movie as well as a director who's worked with her in the past but knows she's a little bit of trouble and he's trying to help her.

34:58And then Adam Driver has this really juicy role as a producer who's also a big enabler of Misty's worst instincts. So it's a lot of fun to watch.

35:12Anne Thompson:Uh-oh. I cannot wait to see this one. And I could go on at great length here, but I think I will point out that you've got Canada's own Hudson Williams in conversation as a passionate, heated rivalry fan. I would like to see that. and then does he have a movie or anything else? He has a series called Iaga, which is a Canadian series shot here. We're launching that as well. So that's also going to be worth seeing. But yes, I think a lot of people will show up just to be in the room with Hudson and hear what he has to say and maybe look at him a little bit too. He and I were like sitting next to each other during the cocktails period of the Oscars.

35:57Anne Thompson:Oh, is that right? It was wasted on me a little bit, in a way, I would suggest. Because I love that show, but the one that gets me going is Conor Story, I hate to say. Ah, okay. Yeah, he's the one who I respond to. Okay, enough of that. You've also got the Alex Gibney musk. Was there anything about the four-parter that surprised you? You know, there's an interesting way that the doc is structured. in terms of the words of Elon Musk over many years and how he's represented in the film. I won't spoil it, but I think it's a really interesting approach that Alex has taken. The movie is comprehensive.

36:42I mean, this goes back to the early days, the beginnings of Elon Musk. So the whole history, some of us would have followed some of that. but it knits all of those things together from the early days whether it's time in South Africa or his early attempts to launch himself as a tech entrepreneur to of course what he's become now and it's all in there and there's great footage that he uses but Elon's own words and and voice are a big part of the story as well.

37:18Anne Thompson:I admit that Prima Fassi worries me a bit, as much as I love Cynthia Erivo, and I really do love her, because it was such a tour de force one-woman show on Broadway with Jodi Karmu, which I saw. She won a Tony, I think. How did they turn that into a film? Well, it's still got the core of the moral dilemma. You know, this is a lawyer who really almost exalts in defending men who've been accused of sexual misconduct, including assault, who then finds herself in a situation where she sees just how unfair the justice system can be. So that's still there, but it does open the story up beyond what people might have seen on stage.

38:04So, you know, we go into other locations, we see other characters, It just feels like it. I never I didn't see the play and I never felt like it was stage bound at all. It very much feels like a movie.

38:15Anne Thompson:OK, I look forward to that. You're also showing many of the Cannes and Sundance films that folks will have seen and they'll also see them in Telluride in New York if they haven't seen them. And the competition is for these festivals is for world premieres. So was there any lack of quality? Did you pull back on the scale from what it used to be? No, not really. We actually have almost exactly the same number of films this year as we did last year. We were able to secure some films that we're really excited about. In addition to Misty Green, I would point people to I Play Rocky. And if you've seen the trailer, that's the movie.

38:52It's incredibly inspiring. And it's a story many of us may know parts of. Not seen the whole story told like this before. And Anthony Ippolito is uncanny as Sylvester Stallone. And then Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother, the Bassem Tariq film with Mahershala Ali in the lead. Just a great premise. And he completely delivers. I kind of like to see a whole series of movies with this character. He is an assassin with a heart. And he's got one big mission during the movie, which has to do with making sure that a little baby gets the nourishment it deserves. But he also has to kill a few people.

39:32So it's a lot of fun.

39:34Anne Thompson:I love Mahershala Ali, of course. So a little bit before Brian gets his hands on you, what is the, tell us about the changes in the platform section, which is now competitive. So we are, we're really excited about this. Platform started in 2015. So it's been going for a while. We've had great movies in there over the years. Then we released High Life. Moonlight was in platform in one of its early iterations. this year for the first time the winner of the platform prize if it's a film not in the english language is immediately put into the oscar conversation it becomes eligible as do the films that are voted on by their individual countries so that's an addition platform is one of six competitions at film festivals that that's a new thing for including can in venice in Berlin and Sundance in Pusan.

40:31Correct. So we're excited about that. Of course, the competition has more than just foreign language films in it. But it's, I think, a great opportunity for whatever film wins. It'll bring more attention to the films in the selection. So we're really happy about that. We've expanded it from 10 films in the past to 12 films this year. We also have a great jury of five jurors. We used to have just three, and it's presided over this year by Pablo Trapero, the great Argentinian filmmaker. So we're excited about that. Other jurors include Ama Asante from the UK and Sylvia Chang from Hong Kong and others as well.

41:13So it's going to be a great list.

41:15Anne Thompson:Brian, it's all yours. Yeah, a lot to talk about with the market and just the the titles that the people are going to discover and be bidding on. I mean, first you had Obsession last year, which has been the absolute talk of the town. And for so long, are there going to be other discoveries like that this year that you're excited for, things that are available that you want to point people towards? Yeah, and listen, poor Peter Klopelski, our Midnight Madness programmer, has just been hounded ever since Obsession blew up with what's this year's Obsession? Um, you know, not every year is going to deliver that.

41:54We don't know where that will land yet. Uh, but he's got a great lineup in Midnight Madness. There's a lot of great, uh, genre films outside of Midnight as well. I would include Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother in that, um, that's already distributed. Um, but, um, there may be some others to come. Um, I would say one film that I'm really excited about in platform, um, this is not like a horror genre movie, It'll have a different life, I'm sure, but it's called Ang. It's from India, A-N-G-H. And it is from a part of India that has never been seen in a feature film on screen before from a place called Nagaland.

42:30And it is just hypnotizing. It's this beautiful, beautiful portrait of the moment when this indigenous community who live largely in the forest first begin to make contact with the Brits and the Americans as well. And it's a remarkable portrait, beautifully, beautifully shot. So that's one, but there'll be many others too. and you know we have to wait and see what the what the market and what the audience and what the press tell us is the one that they think is going to blow up and be something like Obsession. I will also say we are bringing Curry Barker and Indra Navarrete back and we're doing a special conversation with them in the market because we do want to talk about how this became the phenomenon that it did.

43:19Anne Thompson:And Focus is of course trying to push them for awards. That's why they're there. That's right. Speaking, let me just add one quick thing there. Speaking of awards and speaking of focus, you may already know about the film Elsinore with Andrew Scott. It's terrific. I don't know if you've had a chance to see it yet, but... I'm going to see it in Telluride, I think. Okay. All right. Well, from what I've seen this year... Given that it's a Canadian premiere. I mean, I don't know what's going to be in Telluride, but maybe you do. it's one of the finest performances I've seen all year. So I'm really excited that we'll have it as well.

44:02Okay. Well, the other big news this year, you're finally launching the TIFF market, and this is really formalizing deal-making at a market when there's been a lot of informal deal-making going on for so long. Clearly, there was an appetite here for something on the calendar between Cannes and AFM, which is still coming back this November, back to Los Angeles. But, you know, is that going to crimp your style at all? How are you going to carve out a slot in the middle of the calendar, especially when you probably have a lot of international people who are maybe choosing between AFM and TIFF? So what is the thinking there in terms of putting it in this moment?

44:52You know, I think the advantage that we'll be able to bring to the international industry is the combination of a big market and a big festival. So you've got the people coming in for the festival, both the business people, the dealmakers, but also the talent are in town. You've got the opportunity to watch films that are for sale with a North American audience, which you don't even get at the Cannes market or the Berlin market or others as well. So we think there's a real opportunity. We are all working towards sustaining this business of independent films, of films that are beyond the commercial mainstream, but have commercial potential.

45:35Festivals, I think, are a big, big part of that. We all want this ecosystem to thrive, and we think the market's going to do that. And we know from some of the early supporters of the market idea in Toronto, the big American And agencies, companies like Goodfellas in France, major, major international sales company, they were on board right away. And they'll have a big presence here in Toronto, as will others. We already have seen packages that are being announced as being brought to market in Toronto for the first time. And we're looking to see more and more of that kind of activity. And we want to make sure that, you know, the business that we're in, which is finding those new filmmakers, some of them will go on to make massive Hollywood blockbusters, but they need nurturing early on.

46:24And that's what we think both the festival and the market will do. And how do you anticipate the TIFF market alongside the festival itself? Is that going to have an impact on the acquisition titles that are playing at the festival? Will those completed films maybe have a harder or just a slower time getting attention or finding a buyer as they contend with all these buzzy packages that are being introduced? I don't think so. You know, people at any major festival, including ours, because we do show, you know, quite a lot of stuff we think people want to see, they have to make choices every day.

47:02Where do you want to be? What screening do you want to be at? sometimes if you even if you're coming here as an industry professional it'll be a public screening you'll want to see a certain thing with the audience if you were in the in the room last year the royal alexandra when obsession launched that was the best way to see it do you know what i mean and the the filmmakers want the buyers there but we also have press and market screenings that are combined where both the journalists and the industry professionals can see films that aren't uh those screenings aren't for the public and then this year we're going to have a lot of market only screenings as well.

47:36Films that in many cases are not an official selection, but people want to present them to buyers here. We'll have about 200 of those in addition. So every day you're going to be making choices. And in some cases, you're going to want to see things with an audience. But the festival in the market happened essentially in the same place, they intersect, and people will be able to get from one venue to another, whether it is a talk in the market. We've got Pam Abdi and Mike DeLuca and Gary Oldman and many others giving talks in the market. And that's just like minutes away, steps away from the big public screening you may want to see.

48:15Anne Thompson:Will press have access to those? Press will have access to those, yes. Obviously, yeah, that proximity, I guess, is a big factor and probably a selling point as well. And so that's very exciting. And you You mentioned 200 different market screenings of just the non-selections. Is that a big step up from what you'd done in the past? Yeah. Over the last several years, more than half a decade, we had done, I'd say, between 50 and 100 of those. We called them private screenings then. But it's a significant increase. But I think the people who have been coming consistently to TIFF will know how those work.

48:57So it's very similar to in past years. but just more of them. And this is really a product of really a demand for this, I'm guessing. Can you take us through some of what you were hearing that led to this decision and led to launching this this year? Sure. We heard from the sellers that they just want more opportunities to get their films and series in front of potential buyers, both U.S. buyers, but international buyers as well. And Toronto has been a great gathering place for that. And, you know, every year, although it seems like we're a big festival with a whole lot of movies, we turn away thousands and thousands of them every year, right?

49:39And some of them have real merit. But they just don't, they don't make the cut here. There's just, you know, not the space for them. And they still are looking for places to show. So the market will help with that. And then also, you know, know, there's a fairly long gap between the May Marche in Cannes and then the next opportunity to present new work packages, essentially, that aren't yet shot to potential investors and co-production partners. And we think we can help with that as well. Because as I mentioned, we have a lot of the key people already gathered here. So it seems like it's just a good opportunity.

50:20Anne Thompson:And if there's some movies that don't make your deadline in time, they'll go to AFM. That's just the way the calendar works. Yeah. And so what sort of attendance are you anticipating? What sort of engagement for this inaugural year? And can you tell us about some of the lineup of packages that have been unveiled so far? Sure. So we're expecting about 6 ,000 market delegates this year, which would be up about 1 ,000 over what we had last year. And we're looking for that to be just the starting point for the growth. Ideally, if we're doing this right, more people want to come and do business. and then we announced recently we have kind of international financing forum that we do with the provincial creative industries agency here called Ontario Creates and that has about 50 projects that are being brought to market looking for international financing and then independent of that some of the companies have already begun to announce through the trades projects that are also being brought to market as packages and I think there will be more to come as well.

51:29And I think you already touched on this a little bit, but, you know, take me through how you really plan to stand out from CAN and from some of those other markets for those international buyers who are choosing and, you know, really finding your selling point that makes the TIF market so attractive. Yeah. Listen, I think there's two main things that work as advantages in Toronto's favor. One is we're a public festival with a big public audience. The audience will be a part of the market. There'll be some cases where we can show a film that a seller wants to present with not just buyers in the room, but also an audience in the room.

52:09And we have the ability to offer that as a service that we can provide to them. So we can have some like real live moviegoers in the room when they're showing their film. And some movies just work best with an audience and not with just, you know, a couple of dozen industry professionals in the room. So that's something that I think is unique to Toronto. And then the other thing is, you know, Toronto is not just a big public festival, but it's a really cosmopolitan environment that you're walking into. So this is a city that of the, I mean, I got this little somewhat nerdy stat recently of North American airports.

52:48It is number two only to JFK in terms of international flights in and out of the continent. So you can get to Toronto on a direct flight from just about anywhere in the world, certainly anywhere that people make movies or TV shows. And when you land, you'll find people who speak your language. No matter where you're coming from, you'll find the food and just the vibe that you're used to. And Toronto offers that in a way that maybe some of the other markets and major centres don't. So we're going to lean into that. we're going to make it a truly global market and it's one of the things that toronto has always

53:24Anne Thompson:been known for is the friendly audiences the distributors being able to see how they react to their films and also you have this extraordinary global uh programming where you can lean into korean movies and all the different audiences and people who live in toronto you always do that and and i think that's one of your great strengths because you're talking about an international thing. It's not just America. And I was just going to say that that community, too, of just being able to walk out onto the street right out of a theater and then two minutes down the road, just going to another one. And to be able to do that with the market and with the deal making, I think that's that's going to be really great and something that makes Toronto very special.

54:09Anne Thompson:And I thought you were going to say going to a great restaurant down the street. That's that's where my mind goes. Sure. You know, I hope you do. Thank you, Cameron, so much, really, really, for coming by. My pleasure. Can I just add one more quick thing? For the first time this year in our gala program, which plays in our biggest house, Roy Thompson Hall, we will have a gala that is a Vietnamese production. It's called Spirit Guardians. It's a great movie. And if you remember back when we first discovered the films of Chen Kai-Gue or Zhang Yimou from China or John Woo, but this is a period epic.

54:43It's set in 10th century Vietnam. but it has that scale and that those production values of those movies that so impressed us back in that day and I think Vietnam is one of those countries that is really on the rise in terms of international cinema so we're hoping that that's going to be a new discovery for people as well.

55:02Anne Thompson:Thank you for coming it's always a pleasure. Thank you for having me.