2022 Toronto Film Festival

The Joker, the longtime foil of superhero Batman both in comic books and onscreen, is known for his anarchic sense of humor. But an independent film made much in that same spirit, writer-director-star Vera Drew’s outrageously imaginative The People’s Joker is finding its attempted fair-use satirical exploitation of that same character muffled.

Spanning nineteen years, The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone reveals the memories of Georgie Stone, an Australian transgender teen as she helps change laws, affirms her gender, finds her voice, and emerges into adulthood. Australian director Maya Newell – whose 2013 documentary, Gayby Baby, followed four children of LGBQTI families –  began filming Georgie and her family six years ago, after hearing about her advocacy and wanting to document the teenager’s point of view.

Documentarian Gabriela Cowperthwaite is no stranger to danger stemming from upsetting those in powerful and moneyed positions. Her 2013 film Blackfish, which detailed the systemic abuse of captive orcas at SeaWorld, and involved no small amount of clandestine shooting, brought plenty of threats her way.

After 34 films, Steven Spielberg finally broke down. Not emotionally but cinematically.

Kate Beckinsale - TIFF.  Bella Hadid - New York Fashion Week.

Three-time Golden Globe winner Jennifer Lawrence returns to her indie roots in the upcoming drama Causeway, taking on roles both in front of and behind the camera as leading lady and producer.   More recently known for such mainstream fare as Silver Linings Playbook, The Hunger Games and X-Men franchises, American Hustle, Passengers, and Red Sparrow, Lawrence began her career in the critically acclaimed indie film Winter’s Bone, in 2011.

It started with Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Toni Collette, and Hugh Jackman. And moves like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel’s Wedding and Strictly Ballroom.

In Charcoal, a Brazilian-Argentine coproduction now playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, Irene, a middle-aged woman (Maeve Jinkins), is living a complicated life in a desolate rural area in Brazil. She is married to a man who is secretly having a gay affair, cares for her elderly father who is in a vegetative state and is also raising a young boy.

Billy Eichner was adamant. He needed several more minutes and didn’t want to miss out.

Butcher's Crossing, the adaptation of the novel by John Williams is a grim portrait of men on the Western frontier during the 1870s who go on a doomed buffalo hunt. The film by Gabe Polsky marks the return of Nicolas Cage as a dramatic actor.