2024 TIFF In Conversations With…Cate Blanchett, Steven Soderbergh, Zoe Saldaña, Hyun Bin and Lee Dong-wook; Visionaries Lineup Includes Alfonso Cuarón, Pete Docter, Franklin Leonard and More

This morning TIFF announced the lineup for this year’s In Conversation With…at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, taking place September 5–15, 2024, and will include Academy Award winners and iconclasts alike as Cate Blanchett, Zoe Saldaña, Steven Soderbergh, and Hyun Bin and Lee Dong-wook, will participate in moderated discussions about their work and creative processes.

“TIFF 2024’s stellar lineup of speakers for our iconic In Conversation With… series reflects our vision that film and creative culture have the power to open minds, spark new ideas, and impact the world around us,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer. “We are thrilled to connect our public audiences with a dynamic roster of global trailblazers through these in-depth conversations.”

Visionaries, a popular part of TIFF’s Industry Conference, features inspirational onstage conversations with individuals who are forging creative and business pathways in the industry. This year’s illustrious list of Visionaries are: Alfonso Cuarón, Pete Docter, Franklin Leonard, Steven Moffat, and Malala Yousafzai. The Media Partner for the program is The Hollywood Reporter. The full Industry programming lineup will be announced later this week.

“TIFF is the world’s largest public film festival because we have cultivated audiences across all demos by ensuring a scope of programming that delivers a rich array of public and Industry initiatives,” continued Lee. “As we approach the 50th edition of the Festival next year and our very first official content market in 2026, we look forward to future collaborations with our Industry partners, creators, and visionaries, ensuring that TIFF continues to grow as a voice for new ideas, collaboration, and cultural exchange for all.”

New this year, TIFF and Rolex will present a new in-person event titled Play the Part, a spirited conversation with two participants of the Rolex mentoring program, Mentor Jia Zhang-Ke (Caught by the Tides, A Touch of Sin, Still Life) and Protégé Rafael Manuel (Filipiñana, 102 Narra). Directors Jia and Manuel will provide insights into their approach to documenting social and political change in their respective countries, and the highly collaborative process of making films.

TIFF’s second annual Black Excellence Brunch, presented by RBC and Brand USA, and hosted at Soluna, with media partner ESSENCE, returns this year to celebrate Black leaders of the Canadian and international film industries. This year’s theme, The Rise of the Multi-hyphenate, will explore the rise of actors becoming writer-director-producers to own the narratives being created and shared.

Festival Street is once again preparing to take over King Street West, between University Avenue and Peter Street, from September 5 to 8. There will be fun, free activities for all ages, including the TIFF Art Market in partnership with Toronto Film School, where Toronto’s local film festivals and arts organizations will have booths sharing art exhibits, programming information, and more. Also, new this year, TIFF has partnered with the Toronto Downtown West BIA for a fun Festival Scavenger Hunt with prizes to be won. The full list of Festival Street activities will be shared later this month.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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