Toronto International Film Festival 2016

#IrishAbroad: Irish film talent to shine at 2016 Toronto International Film Festival

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival will focus the eyes of the global film industry on Ireland once again, with an unprecedented 8 Irish films in the official programme, as well as the Northern Irish film The Journey.

Six Irish feature films will screen at TIFF with Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture featuring Rooney Mara and Jack Reynor; Aisling Walsh’s Maudie starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke; Alan Gilsenan’s Unless; Lorcan Finnegan’s IFB Catalyst Project Without Name; John Butler’s Handsome Devil and Gerard Barrett’s Brain on Fire. The programme also includes Vincent Gallagher’s short film Second to None and Forever Pure, a feature documentary from Roads Entertainment.

Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board CEO James Hickey will participate in a panel discussion taking place as part of this year’s TIFF Industry Conference. The panel will focus on co-producing with Europe and will address how the continent’s evolving borders and changing financial landscape impacts co-productions and international access to working with Europe.

James Hickey commented:

Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals in the world and offers us an ideal platform to pitch opportunities for co-production and inward investment into Ireland to the many North American and international participants at the festival. Canada has also been a very important co-production partner for Ireland in the past, with recent successes including Room and Brooklyn, and we look forward to continuing this fruitful relationship in Toronto.

Fionn O’Shea, star of John Butler’s Handsome Devil, has been selected to participate in the 2016 International Actors Programme at TIFF. This is an exclusive opportunity to take part in private, industry-focused programming and training.

The TIFF Talent Campus participants for 2016 include You’re Ugly Too director Mark Noonan. This is a is a comprehensive five-day artistic development programme that takes place during the Festival, supporting the next generation of creators by providing them with opportunities to network, learn, develop their careers and tell their stories.

Irish producer Kathryn Kennedy (My Name Is Emily) will participate in Producers Lab Toronto which kicked off yesterday. The tightly knit networking event will provide an exclusive programme of one-on-one meetings, case studies and extensive funding sessions for the 24 hand-picked participants with the aim to initiate and support the realization of trans-atlantic co-productions.

Irish talent will be on display with Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, which had cinematography by Robbie Ryan; J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls, starring Liam Neeson; Jeff Nichols’ Loving, starring Ruth Negga; Mick Jackson’s Denial, featuring Andrew Scott; and Adam Smith’s Trepass Against Us, which features Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Killian Scott, and Barry Keoghan.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18.