{"id":890488,"date":"2026-09-10T12:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890488\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T12:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:46:11","slug":"glitz-glam-and-geopolitical-anxiety-as-tiff-gets-underway-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890488\/","title":{"rendered":"Glitz, glam and geopolitical anxiety as TIFF gets underway \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 The global film industry is coming to Canada\u2019s doorstep for the Toronto International Film Festival amid a trade war that has the United States looking to produce more movies at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 200 feature-length and short films are screening at TIFF from dozens of countries across six continents, ranging from Iran to Ireland and Rwanda to Romania \u2014 and, of course, the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s opening night film is \u201cBeing Heumann,\u201d a biopic about American disability rights activist Judy Heumann, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Sian Heder. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWorkers organize and set up last minute details ahead of the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Nathan Denette<\/p>\n

Another hot ticket is \u201cFjord,\u201d this year\u2019s Palme d\u2019Or winner that dissects what religious tolerance looks like in secular Norway, starring Sebastian Stan as a devoutly Christian father of five.<\/p>\n

Stan is among the celebrities expected to walk the red carpet on Thursday, as is Jodie Comer, who plays a mortician-turned-taxidermist in the musical rom-com \u201cStuffed,\u201d and Naomi Watts, who stars in historical drama \u201cThe Housewife\u201d from Canadian director Ben Shirinian.<\/p>\n

And for the first time this year, there will be a film marketplace where those in the business can buy and sell projects in various stages of development.<\/p>\n

TIFF: The Market comes as Canada and the United States are embroiled in a trade dispute where film and TV are a sticking point.<\/p>\n

American negotiators take issue with Canadian rules requiring U.S. streaming companies to make financial contributions toward Canadian content \u2014 though the Liberal government has already walked those back, to much uproar from the Canadian industry.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has recently backed a federal tax incentive that would make filming in the country more affordable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said he understands the protectionist impulse, though he argued that Hollywood is richer for Canada\u2019s contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians like James Cameron and Denis Villeneuve and Sandra Oh and our two Ryans and all of those people have helped make Hollywood stronger,\u201d he said on a recent video call.<\/p>\n

\u201cHollywood is obviously the leading film industry in the world, but it makes for a stronger industry when it\u2019s able to work with talent from every corner of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as tensions with the United States remain, Canada\u2019s film industry is looking to partner with other so-called \u201cmiddle powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie Roy, executive director and CEO of Telefilm Canada, noted that she was just in France for the Lumiere Summit focused on international cinema, hosted by France and South Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very energized about that because more and more with this context, international co-operation and collaboration is a necessity,\u201d she said by phone. \u201cAnd Canada is the leader in that field. I mean, we are having treaties of co-production with 57 different countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telefilm will have the largest pavilion at TIFF: The Market, where they\u2019ll facilitate meetings between Canadian creators and international financiers.<\/p>\n

She likens it to Team Canada at the Olympic Village \u2014 but in the audiovisual sector.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 The global film industry is coming to Canada\u2019s doorstep for the Toronto International Film Festival amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-890488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}