The Toronto Film Festival has promoted Geoff Macnaughton to director of industry. Macnaughton will oversee the organization's industry programming and talent development initiatives, as well as industry-related sales and services. He will continue to act as lead programmer of Primetime, the festival’s strand…

The Cannes Competition line-up of 50 years ago was an extraordinary one; a who's who of iconic filmmakers. Among the 26 competing for the Palme d'Or were Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Andrzej Wajda, Pierre Étaix, Lindsay Anderson, Volker Schlöndorff, Costa-Gavras, Éric Rohmer, Glauber Rocha, Ronald Neame and Dennis…

TIFF has made some staff moves. Diana Sanchez has been appointed to the newly created role of senior director, film, effective April 15, 2019. She will oversee the programming strategy for the Toronto International Film Festival; TIFF Cinematheque; Film Circuit (the organization's nationwide film network); and…

After a successful festival run, Clara has been acquired by Screen Media for U.S. distribution, the company said today. Clara, starring Patrick J. Adams and Troian Bellisario, tells the story of an obsessive astronomer and a curious artist who form an unlikely bond, leading to a profound, scientific discovery. A May…

The commoditization of film continues apace. By the counts on Boxofficemojo.com, theatrical feature releases have reached 648 for the year. That's about two films per day, a rate that promises another 98 movies by December 31, even if we don't get a year-end rush. The 2018 total, if current patterns hold, would be…

AFI Fest closes this week, marking the end of the Fall Festival season that began with a bang with the August/September triple-feature that is Venice, Telluride and Toronto, at which the vast majority of major Oscar hopefuls were unveiled. Which is not to say there weren't a few films from the first eight months of…

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Giant Little Ones, the coming-of-age drama from Canadian director Keith Behrman that had its world premiere earlier this fall as a Toronto Film Festival special presentation. The plan is for a March 2019 platform theatrical release. Josh…

EXCLUSIVE: APA has signed Mexican writer-director Alejandra Márquez Abella on the heels of the Toronto Film Festival, where she world premiered her second feature film The Good Girls in the Platform section. It was a return to the fest for Márquez Abella, whose debut Semana Santa bowed there in 2015. Set in 1982, The G…

Fox Searchlight has acquired a pair of short films acquired at the Toronto Film Festival and has set one-week Oscar-qualifying runs beginning today in Los Angeles for both of them. The pics, the A.V. Rockwell-directed Feathers and the Shelly Lauman-directed Birdie, were part of TIFF’s Short Cuts lineup earlier this…

EXCLUSIVE: David Mackenzie has heard the people. Coming away from the opening night TIFF premiere of his Netflix epic Outlaw King, the filmmaker has cut 20 minutes from the movie before its Oct. 17 debut at the London Film Festival, spurred by the Toronto audience response. A passion project for the Hell or High Water …

EXCLUSIVE: After acquiring the Natalie Portman-Jude Law music drama Vox Lux out of TIFF, NEON is giving the Brady Corbet-directed movie an awards season push with a limited release on Dec. 7. This will be followed by an expansion on Dec. 14 and another wide break on Dec. 21, playing into Christmas and New Year’s. The…

A24 has acquired North American rights to In Fabric, Peter Strickland's stylish horror film that just had its world premiere the the Toronto Film Festival in its Midnight Madness section. The distributor plans a 2019 theatrical release. Bankside Films negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. The news comes as…