Hollywood’s
annual exodus to Toronto for North America’s biggest film festival will be
online-only this week, as coronavirus and a closed Canadian border force
A-listers to stay home and peddle their upcoming films remotely.

The Toronto
International Film Festival typically draws half a million attendees to its
celebrity-studded red carpets and diverse lineup of world premieres, which
include early Oscars frontrunners looking to spark momentum and unheralded
arthouse flicks hoping to find distributors.

This year,
even the stars themselves are not on the guest list. Only movie lovers who are
already based in town will be able to attend drive-in premieres and socially
distanced screenings at a dramatically pared-down festival boasting just 50
feature films on show — compared with a typical 300-odd.

But
organizers insisted the show must go on, and have called on movie legends
including Martin Scorsese, Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet to
participate in virtual talks and galas, in an unprecedented “hybrid”
format starting Thursday.

“We
still wanted to do a festival… it’s important for our audience, and I think
we just all need some inspiration that art can provide,” co-head Cameron
Bailey told AFP.

“And
there’s also just the fact that the business of the film industry as well —
the buying and selling of film that happens at our festival and others as well
— needs to continue.”

Several
festivals have been scrapped this year, including the glamorous Cannes and the
elite Telluride gathering in Colorado.

At a
perilous time for the industry at large, Hollywood productions have been
brought to a months-long standstill by Covid-19, and the Oscars themselves
postponed.

As a result,
Toronto officials announced a collaboration with those fall festivals pushing
ahead — including the ongoing Venice and upcoming New York — to jointly
promote new cinema.

Screenings
of hotly Oscar-tipped “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand, will
take place “almost simultaneously” on Friday at Toronto and Venice —
which would normally compete for world premieres — said Bailey.

“It
didn’t make sense to be competitive this year, with so much at stake,” he
said, calling the film about transient older Americans roaming the Midwest in
search of seasonal jobs a “wonderful story” featuring “certainly
one of the best performances I’ve seen all year.”

Other buzzy
award season titles airing at Toronto include Winslet’s 19th century lesbian
romance “Ammonite,” Idris Elba’s neo-Western family drama
“Concrete Cowboy” and Regina King’s racial politics adaptation
“One Night in Miami.”

Winslet will
receive the festival’s second annual achievement award along with Anthony
Hopkins — whose acclaimed dementia drama “The Father” also screens
— and rising “Nomadland” director Chloe Zhao.

The festival
in Canada’s largest city is often seen as a key step on the journey to Oscar
glory — recent best picture winners including “Green Book” and
“The Shape of Water” emerged as frontrunners at Toronto.

Last year,
Taika Waititi’s Nazi satire “Jojo Rabbit” received a major boost by
winning the Toronto People’s Choice Award. It went on to bag six Oscar
nominations including a best-adapted screenplay win.

TIFF will
open this year with Spike Lee’s latest film, a timely movie adaptation of
“David Byrne’s American Utopia.”

Documenting
the former Talking Heads frontman’s Broadway show and album of the same name,
the film addresses issues including police violence and anti-black racism.

Lee
“has been a vocal artist on so many issues over the years — it feels like
this year in particular, what he’s been saying for decades is resonating with a
lot more people,” said Bailey.

TIFF runs
through September 20.