TIFF programmers say international content can shine amid actor's strike at 2023 festival

Programmers with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hope the ongoing actor's strike in the United States will lead international and homegrown films to get more attention at the 2023 festival.

With a broad programming slate of international and Canadian films, the talent behindmany of them will still be in attendance during the 10-day long festival, which runs from Sept. 7 to 17. But Hollywood performers likely won't be among them, as the SAG-AFTRAstrike continues, actors are not allowed to attend film premiers, festivals or give interviews about completed work.

Norm Wilner, the acting lead programmer for Canada, says the festival has become associated with American premiers, but that's not what it's all about.

"The studios who are forcing the strike are the ones saying that it's going to affect the fall festivals," he said during a media event Thursday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. "We have, I think the last number I saw was 73 or 74 per cent of our films which are not American at all, and we are an international festival."

He says the strike might shift the spotlight to other projects.

"There are plenty of other films that are just as deserving of attention that could actually get some this year, including the Canadian films," Wilner says.

And when it comes to big names, Wilner noted that superstar Hong Kong actor Andy Lau will be in attendance for a conversation, as will the well-know Spanish director Pedro Almodvar.The festival will also play host to a public reunion of the band Talking Heads, whose former membersDavid Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison will join director Spike Lee for a moderated Q&A after a screening of their 1984 concert filmStop Making Sense.

Kelly Boutsalis, the festival's international programmer for Canada, echoes Wilner'shope that the strike's impact will lead more eyeballs to see Canadian productions, which she says are well represented at this year's festival.

"We were very rich with choices and we had so many that it felt a little bit obscene how much we have," she said, adding there's a particular breadth of Indigenous projects this year.

"I feel like we have the most varied Indigenous content that we've ever had at TIFF."