TIFF announces new programs on climate change with Autumn Peltier and Greta Thunberg

TIFF Co-Heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente announced today additional TIFF programming for audiences to enjoy as part of the Festival this year. Newly confirmed Special Events, talks and Best of TIFF Film Reunions presented by Bell enhance the audience experience for TIFF 2020.

“TIFF is often the platform for exciting conversations, new talent, and new voices,” stated Bailey and Vicente. “In the midst of a global health crisis, it is clear that stories do not stop.  We are happy to be able to share these screenings and special events with audiences.” 

Reflecting the diversity of TIFF’s audiences and the breadth of their interests, this year’s Special Events lineup focuses on a wide range of topics from around the globe. Advocacy is front and centre in 2020. 

As the world faces a global climate crisis, TIFF presents two new films about activism, passion, and commitment to change.

The Water Walker James Burns | United States
At 15 years old, Autumn Peltier has become a powerful advocate for clean drinking water in Indigenous communities around the world. The Water Walker is a short film that documents Peltier’s powerful journey from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory to New York City as she prepares to speak in front of the United Nations with the hope of preserving the future of Indigenous communities for generations to come.

I Am Greta Nathan Grossman | Sweden  
In August 2018, 15-year-old student Greta Thunberg picketed Swedish parliament calling for action on the climate crisis, eventually inspiring student strikes at schools in communities around the world. In I Am Greta, Nathan Grossman documents Thunberg’s meteoric one-year rise from high-school climate strike organizer to inspiration for a global movement.

There will be a special live conversation with bestselling author Naomi Klein and Anishinaabe water activist Autumn Peltier as they discuss climate activism and its impact on future generations. This special talk will be made FREE to international audiences with the date announced closer to the start of the Festival.

Both screenings are accessible on the Festival’s online film platform, Bell Digital Cinema. The Water Walker will be made FREE to Canadian audiences. Both films are part of TIFF’s Official Selection.

The 45th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10–19, 2020.

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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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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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